What's new

Race for the Top 4 - 2017/18

ralvy

AVB my love
Jun 26, 2012
2,505
4,603
Absolutely, City drawing with Palace means they can no longer win the league.

haha, well played. But you're sort of trolling: City were not under any preasure to take those points (given the huge point advantage they had over second place)... for us, it's different, we're already behind our rivals, and if we want to remain competitive in the race for top four, then these next couple of games are pretty close to being must wins for us (specially considering these are two of the softest teans we will be facing for the rest of the season). So yes, should we fail to deliver against these two, I for one would stop worrying that much about ending top four this season.
 

slartibartfast

Grunge baby forever
Oct 21, 2012
18,320
33,955
I think these fixtures, putting teams 2 games behind and playing catch up, are a fkin disgrace to be honest.
Still if we can win our next 3 games with Liverpool facing City next then that would be great.
Swansea are shite. West Ham will be tough and Everton wont be easy but IF we play our best and take our chances we're capable of battering all of them.
 

Bobbins

SC's 14th Sexiest Male 2008
May 5, 2005
21,548
45,031
Liverpool can't defend for shit. They'll get beaten a good few more times by the end of the season.

But hold on they just spent £75m on the greatest defender the world has ever known, I don’t think they will ever concede a goal again. :confused:

Perhaps more pertinently though, they have only lost 2 games all season, less than everyone except City. Their defence isn't great, but their problem is an inability to keep clean sheets, leading to them needing to outscore opponents (which they keep demonstrating they're more than capable of) they're not conceding hatfuls of goals and losing games (apart from against us and the City drubbing, which everyone gets).

Lots of people underestimating Liverpool because their defence isn't great.
 

homer hotspur

Well-Known Member
Dec 7, 2014
2,868
4,637
I think people are concentrating too much on the situation as it currently stands. It is nearly always the case that it is the teams who get involved in the latter stages of Europe and domestic trophies who suffer in the league when everything piles up in March/April. Injuries, fixture congestion, squad depth all become massive factors. There is also the January transfer window which could have an impact - Liverpool have already strengthened a major weak spot . As things stand, I don't somehow see us quite making top 4, but the hard half of the season is now upon us and we don't yet know how it will all pan out. I am reading Poch's book at the moment and have just read the chapter on March last season - we were out of Europe and had only 3 matches in the month including the FA Cup home tie with Millwall. He makes it clear what a difference this relatively easy schedule made as injured players recovered and they had so much time to re-group and plan for the rest of the season. Of course, this takes us into the whole league position v potential trophy glory debate..............
 

WiganSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
15,974
32,682
I think we will finish above Arsenal, but finishing above one of Liverpool, Chelsea and United will be difficult.

We still have to play at Anfield and Stamford Bridge so that's probably 2 lots of 3 point swings to those fuckers right there. I'm not sure we will do it unless we can pull a couple of results out the bag in those games.
 

dagraham

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2005
19,115
46,080
It’s goind to be a dog fight, that’s for sure.

In fact, advancement in Europe or not could be the key for all the teams. We’d obviously all love to get to the quarters or semis, but ironically it could harm us or our opponents chances if we do and vice versa.
 

tototoner

Staying Alert
Mar 21, 2004
29,387
34,059
It’s goind to be a dog fight, that’s for sure.

In fact, advancement in Europe or not could be the key for all the teams. We’d obviously all love to get to the quarters or semis, but ironically it could harm us or our opponents chances if we do and vice versa.
We'll just have to win the Champions League and qualify that way
 

Phomesy

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2013
9,188
14,102
Perhaps more pertinently though, they have only lost 2 games all season, less than everyone except City. Their defence isn't great, but their problem is an inability to keep clean sheets, leading to them needing to outscore opponents (which they keep demonstrating they're more than capable of) they're not conceding hatfuls of goals and losing games (apart from against us and the City drubbing, which everyone gets).

Lots of people underestimating Liverpool because their defence isn't great.

I rated this "agree" because I do - however, we should remember that this time last year Liverpool also looked the goods - then Mane went to Africa and the wheels fell off.

If they can avoid such a fall off this year then, yes, they are almost guaranteed Top 4.
 

SpursDave88

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
2,193
5,831
I don't currently see us finishing above Liverpool this time. There is such an overreaction every time they lose, you forget they have only lost twice in the league all season, to us and City. IF we win both our games in hand we are still a point behind them in the league and we still have to play them at Anfield were we have really struggled in recent years. Obviously things can change very quickly in football, but as I said earlier, we should still be regarded as outsiders for a top four finish, with the current top 4 being expected to remain. Obviously it is not that unlikely that we manage it, but we need to go on a good run and in particular we need to go to Anfield and Stamford Bridge and actually get some results as well as beating Arsenal and Utd at Wembley.
 

Mr Pink

SC Supporter
Aug 25, 2010
54,770
99,331
For me, we'll need to beat United and Arse at Wembley, as I don't think we'll take more than a point from Anfield and Stamford Bridge.
 
D

Deleted member 27995

I don't currently see us finishing above Liverpool this time. There is such an overreaction every time they lose, you forget they have only lost twice in the league all season, to us and City. IF we win both our games in hand we are still a point behind them in the league and we still have to play them at Anfield were we have really struggled in recent years. Obviously things can change very quickly in football, but as I said earlier, we should still be regarded as outsiders for a top four finish, with the current top 4 being expected to remain. Obviously it is not that unlikely that we manage it, but we need to go on a good run and in particular we need to go to Anfield and Stamford Bridge and actually get some results as well as beating Arsenal and Utd at Wembley.
So in short we have to keep winning?
 

spurs-r-us

Well-Known Member
Aug 21, 2008
2,201
3,017
Liverpool have a steel to them this season, it appears that Klopp is getting his message across. Too many draws like us last season, but they're scoring bags of goals too. Their goalkeepers are shit, but Van Dijk should help keep things steadier. They should finish top 3 I reckon.
 

TH1239

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2011
3,691
8,964
The one outstanding question, which there appears to be a myriad of views on, is what happens if this squad finishes 5th or 6th this season? Will there actually be an exodus of players with no Champions League football (and the revenue it comes with) and the lingering issues about wages? Would the club refuse to sell any core players, irrespective of their desires to leave, and basically expect them to knuckle down and deliver a smashing first season in the new stadium? It's a World Cup year, so the transfer market is going to be really chaotic in August.

One thing is for certain: 2018 is going to be a defining year for the club's direction.
 

cider spurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2016
9,399
23,731
We're still in the mix for top 4. All things considered, I'll take that.

Playing at Wembley for the season, long term injuries to deal with, Sanchez suspension. Still in the mix for top 4.

Lamela's back in the fold, Wanyama on the cusp of return ( maybe even today,) Alderweireld to return.

Feck worrying about the others, we've pretty much played half a season with 2nd choice defence and Midfield enforcer missing. Still in the mix for top 4.

They've not shook us off and second half of the season we're going to be hopefully playing with more first choice players in the team.

Time to kick arse and kick on.
 
Top