Are we on course for our best ever Prem season?

[donny1013]

The media don't seem to be talking us up at all. The fact that if we win are two games in hand we are 3rd is seemingly swept under the carpet. And when the big teams are mentioned it's always Man Yoo, Citeh, Chelski, Liverpool and Woolwich, we rarely get a mention.

 

[jondesouza]

The media don't seem to be talking us up at all. The fact that if we win are two games in hand we are 3rd is seemingly swept under the carpet. And when the big teams are mentioned it's always Man Yoo, Citeh, Chelski, Liverpool and Woolwich, we rarely get a mention.

That's good though. We always play much better when there's less pressure on us.

Quick straw poll - apart from me, SP and Neville who thinks we can actually win the damn thing this season?

 

[felmani26]

That's good though. We always play much better when there's less pressure on us.

Quick straw poll - apart from me, SP and Neville who thinks we can actually win the damn thing this season?

I can't see for the life of me us ever catching City and the demise of United has been slightly exaggerated, they will be up there with Cty fighting till the death. As ar as the rest, I think if we are looking in the short term then 3rd place is very much attainable but there are a lot of variables and Chelsea still possess a great squad who are more than capable of pulling results out of the bag when called upon and Arsenal havent been out of the top 4 for a long time and won't relinquish without one hell of a fight.

One game at a time but the signs are good for us and mentally we know we can compete and grind out wins when they would have fallen by the wayside. For me though, the key to this season above all else rests in the hands of Harry and the outcome of the court case.

 

[mpickard2087]

That's good though. We always play much better when there's less pressure on us.

Quick straw poll - apart from me, SP and Neville who thinks we can actually win the damn thing this season?

I dont think we are consistent enough to challenge for the title yet. City have so much quality, especially upfront and Utd are still going to be right up there at the end of the season.

Chelsea will be tough to overhaul but a lot of their players seem to be maybe past their best now and this new approach means they arent defending as well as previous seasons. If we can stay in contention and avoid a poor run of results then I think 3rd is possible.

 

[tototoner]

I like the way we have gone completely under the radar, and our 2 games in hand are QPR and Everton at home

6 points needed from them to challenge

 

[StartingPrice]

I can't see for the life of me us ever catching City and the demise of United has been slightly exaggerated, they will be up there with Cty fighting till the death. As ar as the rest, I think if we are looking in the short term then 3rd place is very much attainable but there are a lot of variables and Chelsea still possess a great squad who are more than capable of pulling results out of the bag when called upon and Arsenal havent been out of the top 4 for a long time and won't relinquish without one hell of a fight.

One game at a time but the signs are good for us and mentally we know we can compete and grind out wins when they would have fallen by the wayside. For me though, the key to this season above all else rests in the hands of Harry and the outcome of the court case.

Yeah, butnone of us are saying we are clear front-runners, or anything.
Just that with an extremely good run of form from us coupled with unforeseen circumstances negatively impacting our rivals, we might just put ourselves into the shake-up at the end.
Take Citeh, for instance: I agree, ATM, they are looking unstoppable, but, today, Kompany was sent-off, so they will be loosing him for a game or too and, IMHO, he has quietly been establishing himself as they most consistently affective player over the last couple of seasons. Will they replace him effectively? How will they cope with some real adversity - I am nearly certain at some stage they will lose a few games on the trot?
Will their particiapation on all fronts for the first time take a toll on them - I mean, it affected us, and I know they are good but are they that good?

I truly do believe that they will have to face far more than they have so far this season before they can be truly judged a great team.
Don't mistake me, Citeh could face down any adversity they get and prove to be a truly great team - but we don't know that yet. I know I could be wrong, but I also think there is a possibility that I ciould be right...

I dont think we are consistent enough to challenge for the title yet. City have so much quality, especially upfront and Utd are still going to be right up there at the end of the season.

Chelsea will be tough to overhaul but a lot of their players seem to be maybe past their best now and this new approach means they arent defending as well as previous seasons. If we can stay in contention and avoid a poor run of results then I think 3rd is possible.

...and, anyone who remembers correctly will recall that what fooked us last season was how we performed (or not, as the case may be:roll against teams in the final 3rd of the table. If we had gained anything like a respectable points total against those teams we would have been challenging second and not finishing 5th. Well, I think we are in a far better position to perform consistently against those teams this season - and our chances are based more on consistent performances against all of the teams around and below us (in real terms, everyone bar the Mancs), and if we perform more consistently than the Mancs we might just have a chance.

Take United for instance: aside from having beaten us minus our knobbled most important player (Modric), and our major Summer signings, they have done nothing spectacularly more than us this season. We got shafted by Citeh at home - but they out did us in that. Otherwise there is little in it - so why are you building them up that much. I truly believe we will beat them at WHL this season.

So, not playing on all fronts, unlike Citeh, we will have:

• A fresher team than last season.
• A team with a further year's (including CL) experience.
• A player, in Scott Parker, who individually encapsulates all of the drive and nous we lacked to defeat those final third teams last season.
• A striker who scores goals, and Defoe appearing to have some form back as a bonus.

I'm sure I could think of more - and remember, we are talking about how we could perform more consistently against all of the teams we should really consider on a par or below us this season, which will have the major impact on our final league performance, and not on how we compare player for player with Citeh.

A real outside chance, maybe, but an outside chance all the same. In which case I love that they are totally writing us off.

 

[dontcallme]

Proper teams concentrate on the next game...and don't have their head in the clouds looking ahead MONTHS in advance.

It could equally be our worst points total ever in the Prem and we could get relegated!

If Redknapp, Levy or one of our players wrote my post you'd have a point. But as I'm just a fan starting a discussion on a football forum you don't.

 

[stemark44]

Early days yet but at the moment we are not playing well enough and not dominating possession.

 

[Narnill]

Early days yet but at the moment we are not playing well enough and not dominating possession.

Agree 100% while it's good to be winning games we've not been convincing in the last 3 games at all, two of which are the bottom sides in the league.

We need to start holding possession more and putting in controlled performances rather than being under the cosh but winning games with the odd moment of individual brilliance.

As a team we're not playing as well as our team should be.

 

[sussex.spur]

To answer the opening question - it's possible


Man U and Man C are the two class teams in the League, but both will have a loss of form at some stage. History suggests that Man U will handle the pressure of the last 12 games better than any other club.

I think Chelsea are a team full of big egos with a young manager who is new to the Premier league. It will be interesting to see how they react to a few bad results. If they don't feel they can win the league, and I'm not saying they have reached that stage yet, then their big name players might only show up for the Champions league games.

But at the moment I see Man U, Man C and Chelsea in a fight for the top three places, with us, Liverpool and Arsenal in a fight for the fourth slot.

 

[sweyid]

I think the title is out of reach, but I think we'll be battling Chelsea for the 3rd spot, while Arsenal and Liverpool will be battling between eachother for 5th.

Arsenal rely to heavily on RvP, he's pretty much the entire team these days. If he gets injured they're pretty much shite, Liverpool aren't impressive at all and Chelsea aren't the team they used to be.

 

[Jakes]

That's good though. We always play much better when there's less pressure on us.

Quick straw poll - apart from me, SP and Neville who thinks we can actually win the damn thing this season?

I do. Rather unlikely but in no way impossible. Shan't be betting the mortgage on it though

 

[jimmy-jojo]

If Redknapp, Levy or one of our players wrote my post you'd have a point. But as I'm just a fan starting a discussion on a football forum you don't.

Those people do not live in a bubble. I'm a firm believer that the attitude of fans can transfer to a team.

You could have posed the same question on the first day of the season...and in all honesty it's what we should be aiming for at the beginning of each campaign, anyway.

I believe the best way to achieve that is to not look too far ahead of ourselves and slip into complacency by making assumptions about future results.

 

[hughy]

I think our whole season still depends on our January transfer activity. If one of VDV or Adebayor got a serious injury, we're quite plainly fucked. We're getting away with murder at the back too, it seems. If we can buy a decent CB to cover, and a striker who can adapt quickly to our team I don't see why we can't finish in the top 3.

 

[dontcallme]

Those people do not live in a bubble. I'm a firm believer that the attitude of fans can transfer to a team.

You could have posed the same question on the first day of the season...and in all honesty it's what we should be aiming for at the beginning of each campaign, anyway.

I believe the best way to achieve that is to not look too far ahead of ourselves and slip into complacency by making assumptions about future results.

Since the beginning of football fans have spoken about their future chances and analysed how well they can do this season.

Every season fans talk about who they think will win the league, who'll get relegated, who their team should buy and every imaginable situation.

The idea that as fans we shouldn't write on message boards because of a paranoid idea that players read it and then that translates onto the pitch is pathetic.

This is a discussion board, lets discuss and debate.

 

[StartingPrice]

Agree 100% while it's good to be winning games we've not been convincing in the last 3 games at all, two of which are the bottom sides in the league.

We need to start holding possession more and putting in controlled performances rather than being under the cosh but winning games with the odd moment of individual brilliance.

As a team we're not playing as well as our team should be.

I personally have watched with my very own eyes Manchester United win literally dozens of games in a season where they totally failed to convince - as they waltzed their merry way to the title :wink:

We won. They gave us three points. Five wins and a draw from six games! We don't need to do this, that or the other - we need to keep on winning.

I think our whole season still depends on our January transfer activity. If one of VDV or Adebayor got a serious injury, we're quite plainly fucked. We're getting away with murder at the back too, it seems. If we can buy a decent CB to cover, and a striker who can adapt quickly to our team I don't see why we can't finish in the top 3.

I think you are overstating the case, a little, this season - Adebayor and Defoe have shown that they can form a good partnership, so if VDV gets injured we should be able to bluff our way through. The real worry is if Adebayor gets a serious injury - then will be in a position more akin to last season's, only without the Crouchster, but with Defoe looking a bit moreon form and Pav. desperately needing to bang goals in to get into the Ruskie's EC team. It's now November (more-or-less), so we just have to rough it out until January and hope Ade doesn't get a serious injury, or, if he does, we cope better than last season with what is left.

Since the beginning of football fans have spoken about their future chances and analysed how well they can do this season.

Every season fans talk about who they think will win the league, who'll get relegated, who their team should buy and every imaginable situation.

The idea that as fans we shouldn't write on message boards because of a paranoid idea that players read it and then that translates onto the pitch is pathetic.

This is a discussion board, lets discuss and debate.

But that's not what he is saying.
I agree with him.
What he is saying (and this isn't paranoia, but observation by many observers over many decades), is that the crowds at the stadia, and their collective state of mind, can and does translate on occasions to the teams on the pitch. It doesn't take much of a stretch of imagination from there to understand that if the fans who attend matches spend the rest of their week on MBs they are susceptible to overriding concensus of a positive or negative affect.
There is a long history of psychological and social experiments, and historical evidence, showing the effects of atmosphere transmission amongst crowds of people.
Knowing that, and trying to get that idea over to other members of an MB is not pathetic.
In spite of all of the evidence to the contrary, if you wish to continue believing this is not so that is fine with me, you are entitled to make your own mind up. And you are entitled to argue according to your understanding on a fans MB - to to dismiss and denigrate someone else's opinion, which is, after all, based on a seriously sound intellectual footing, is just wrong.

 

[kendoddsdadsdogsdead]

Since the beginning of football fans have spoken about their future chances and analysed how well they can do this season.

Every season fans talk about who they think will win the league, who'll get relegated, who their team should buy and every imaginable situation.

The idea that as fans we shouldn't write on message boards because of a paranoid idea that players read it and then that translates onto the pitch is pathetic.

This is a discussion board, lets discuss and debate.

Is probably nothing to do with whether players read it, more the fact that the fans that go to the game become complacent, already looking ahead with the three points already in the bag. That atmospheres transfers onto the pitch. I've seen it a lot. Thats why the crowd today will have a big impact on this game. Decent atmosphere and i'm confident. If you can hear the players shouting then i'll be a little bit concerned.

 

[hughy]

I think you are overstating the case, a little, this season - Adebayor and Defoe have shown that they can form a good partnership, so if VDV gets injured we should be able to bluff our way through. The real worry is if Adebayor gets a serious injury - then will be in a position more akin to last season's, only without the Crouchster, but with Defoe looking a bit moreon form and Pav. desperately needing to bang goals in to get into the Ruskie's EC team. It's now November (more-or-less), so we just have to rough it out until January and hope Ade doesn't get a serious injury, or, if he does, we cope better than last season with what is left.

Not at all. As good as Ade has been in his short time here, it's plain to see what player is the biggest goal threat in our team. I'm still not entirely convinced that Ade and Defoe will be the dominant force we all hope they will be, if they ever have to start together. I think we might see Ade dropping too wide and Defoe coming too deep, we will be creative but there wont be anyone there in the box to finish the job. We know already that even an on-form Defoe will struggle to forge an attacking relationship with VDV.

It's mainly opinion, of course, but I can't see us coping so well.

 

[StartingPrice]

Not at all. As good as Ade has been in his short time here, it's plain to see what player is the biggest goal threat in our team. I'm still not entirely convinced that Ade and Defoe will be the dominant force we all hope they will be, if they ever have to start together. I think we might see Ade dropping too wide and Defoe coming too deep, we will be creative but there wont be anyone there in the box to finish the job. We know already that even an on-form Defoe will struggle to forge an attacking relationship with VDV.

It's mainly opinion, of course, but I can't see us coping so well.

Yes, but I said overstating the case a little and not overstating the case massively...and when I said Ade and Defoe have shown they can play together, I never said they would be a dominant force (they are your words). Let's face it they wouldn't have to score that many goals to be a massive improvement on last season.

So, I repeat, you are overstating the case a little - we should be able to cope for a few games if VDV is injured...even if it is not ideal.

We would be in far more trouble if Ade got injured, but even then I believe we would perform better than last season with our three remaining strikers.

 

[chinaman]

When Van Brittlelegs is injured, which is often, Arsenal won't score. I think Liverpool will finish above them.

We will be battling it out with Chelsea and Manure for 2nd Place.