The Race for the Title, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or even 6th Thread.

[Erm33]

What you haven't said is that it is likely to be the conference league!

Perfect to add to our audi cup

 

[bubble07]

5th and 5 points off 4th this time tomorrow....

 

[Saoirse]

What you haven't said is that it is likely to be the conference league!

It could be a very rare case of an actual, non-pre-season trophy we're legitimate favourites for... depending on how other leagues finish the strongest competition we'd face could be Sassuolo, Granada, RC Lens, Union Berlin, CSKA Moscow, and whoever gets knocked into it after finishing 3rd in the Europa League Group Stages.

Would also be interesting to see what happened with attendances. Would Levy knock the prices for the group stage specials against Welsh League part-timers down to a tenner? Would the ground potentially be embarrassingly half-empty anyway? Might I finally be able to accumulate enough ticketing points to get some decent away days?

 

[hughy]

Say we don't get in to the top 4, how high do we have to finish to go straight in to the EL group stage, 5th?

I can imagine it will go back to 2-legged ties next season (unless anyone has something official to state otherwise), playing 6 games to get in to the group stage could be killer. 3 was bad enough this year.

 

[Saoirse]

Say we don't get in to the top 4, how high do we have to finish to go straight in to the EL group stage, 5th?

I can imagine it will go back to 2-legged ties next season (unless anyone has something official to state otherwise), playing 6 games to get in to the group stage could be killer. 3 was bad enough this year.

5th and 6th both go straight to the GS. The spot which led to Europa League qualifying has been replaced with the Conference League spot, where we'd go into a two-legged playoff before the group stage.

 

[homer hotspur]

5th and 5 points off 4th this time tomorrow....

We were 5 points off 4th this time yesterday!

 

[1882andallthat]

It's pretty simple over the next 7 days.
We need 6 points from our next 2 games, and we need to hope Man United avoid defeat today which could indirectly mean that Man City are still in need of having to beat Chelsea next week to clinch the title.

If we aren't within 2-3 points of Chelsea by the end of next week because we've haven't won our next two games and they haven't dropped points in the City game, we can pretty much forget about top 4.

 

[homer hotspur]

It could be a very rare case of an actual, non-pre-season trophy we're legitimate favourites for... depending on how other leagues finish the strongest competition we'd face could be Sassuolo, Granada, RC Lens, Union Berlin, CSKA Moscow, and whoever gets knocked into it after finishing 3rd in the Europa League Group Stages.

Would also be interesting to see what happened with attendances. Would Levy knock the prices for the group stage specials against Welsh League part-timers down to a tenner? Would the ground potentially be embarrassingly half-empty anyway? Might I finally be able to accumulate enough ticketing points to get some decent away days?

Would definitely be half empty at best for those group games. Having said that , 30,000 would be quite impressive for a midweek night match against this level of opposition.

 

[Saoirse]

Would definitely be half empty at best for those group games. Having said that , 30,000 would be quite impressive for a midweek night match against this level of opposition.

It could be worse. At one point UEFA was planning on putting some of the games in at a Thursday 3pm slot to appeal to the Far East market, before they realised that empty stadiums to try and promote crap football matches to Chinese people who almost certainly have better things to watch wouldn't work.

 

[Marty]

It could be a very rare case of an actual, non-pre-season trophy we're legitimate favourites for... depending on how other leagues finish the strongest competition we'd face could be Sassuolo, Granada, RC Lens, Union Berlin, CSKA Moscow, and whoever gets knocked into it after finishing 3rd in the Europa League Group Stages.

Would also be interesting to see what happened with attendances. Would Levy knock the prices for the group stage specials against Welsh League part-timers down to a tenner? Would the ground potentially be embarrassingly half-empty anyway? Might I finally be able to accumulate enough ticketing points to get some decent away days?

Unless UEFA have changed something around, the ECL kickoff is 5.55 on Thursdays whether we're home or away (the EL will be 8.00 the same day) so the risk of a half or even quarter full stadium will definitely be there no matter who we would get drawn against.

 

[Marty]

It's pretty simple over the next 7 days.
We need 6 points from our next 2 games, and we need to hope Man United avoid defeat today which could indirectly mean that Man City are still in need of having to beat Chelsea next week to clinch the title.

If we aren't within 2-3 points of Chelsea by the end of next week because we've haven't won our next two games and they haven't dropped points in the City game, we can pretty much forget about top 4.

I think if we can pass one or both of WHAM and Liverpool we've had a successful run in. I just don't see top four happening the way Leicester and Chelsea are going, even five points is too much ground to make up.

 

[Saoirse]

Unless UEFA have changed something around, the ECL kickoff is 5.55 on Thursdays whether we're home or away (the EL will be 8.00 the same day) so the risk of a half or even quarter full stadium will definitely be there no matter who we would get drawn against.

I believe they have - those slots are split between the two competitions. The 'better' slot is prioritised based on market pool size, hence why in the Europa GS we've always had the home ties at 8 and the away ties at 5.55 (now 5.45). It should be the same here with the silly slots only coming into play if Chelsea or Arsenal are home on the same day as us in the Europa League or Conference League knockout rounds, in which case we'd be moved to a 5pm on Wednesday nightmare slot.

 

[Metalhead]

Will the ECL count as our ESL punishment?

 

[Westmorlandspur]

I think if we can pass one or both of WHAM and Liverpool we've had a successful run in. I just don't see top four happening the way Leicester and Chelsea are going, even five points is too much ground to make up.

There is not a cat in hells chance that we will catch Chelsea. They are probably second best team in the league right now. If Timo starts scoring they could win the league next season.
Cannot see Leicester collapsing but that is our only hope. We have to win our next 4 and hope to be within 3 points of Leicester for the final showdown away at the Kingpower.
It’s possible but they need 2 wins and a draw in next 4 to stop it happening. If they don’t beat Newcastle next up then it is definitely on as they have difficult games and a cup final.
If we get top 4 after this crap season .............speechless.

 

[1882andallthat]

I think if we can pass one or both of WHAM and Liverpool we've had a successful run in. I just don't see top four happening the way Leicester and Chelsea are going, even five points is too much ground to make up.

I wouldn't give up on it entirely because Chelsea have City and Leicester to play and we play Leicester in the last game. If there is any slim chance it is only a runner if we win all of our remaining games or drop no more than 2 points before the Leicester game. Lose any game before then and we're done.

 

[Shadydan]

Top 4 is done, we just need to finish in the EL places and avoid that ECL.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

I wouldn't give up on it entirely because Chelsea have City and Leicester to play and we play Leicester in the last game. If there is any slim chance it is only a runner if we win all of our remaining games or drop no more than 2 points before the Leicester game. Lose any game before then and we're done.

I think it’s all down to us. Win 4 and we take it to the last day.

 

[Erm33]

I think it’s all down to us. Win 4 and we take it to the last day.

Exactly this.

We have to win all 5 games or top 4 is totally done. 0 margin for error. We need to be brave and go for the throat against inferior opposition.

The other results will allow us the chance to sneak in there if and only we win all 5 games.

 

[Saoirse]

Disgraceful really. I think it's only fair that United get a 20 point deduction

 

[Erm33]

Disgraceful really. I think it's only fair that United get a 20 point deduction

Both Liverpool and United should forfeit the game