2023/24 - The Race For..................

[mil1lion]

Confident we’ll finish above United, let’s just hope that means CL.

Some tough ones for us given it's between England and Germany. Bayern v Arsenal and Leverkusen v West Ham. I guess if the others go further it might be ok to see them both lose to the Germans. Maybe need Liverpool to win the Europa and City to get further than Bayern.

 

[Ginola+Tonic]

I'm relatively concerned this season could end up on a really sour note. We seem to be struggling for form and labouring through games and we've got a very tough run coming up. Could do with hitting some form soon.

What type of ending would be sour in your eyes?

We’re definitely getting top 6.
We’re 9 points ahead of 6th (Man United) albeit they have a game in hand now.
we have tough games for sure but a top 5 finish is very good.

 

[rossdapep]

I'm relatively concerned this season could end up on a really sour note. We seem to be struggling for form and labouring through games and we've got a very tough run coming up. Could do with hitting some form soon.

Think you're worrying a bit too much

We had a really sour end under Poch in 2016.

But that turned out to be a blessing because it gave Poch certainty of what was needed going forward.

I'm pretty sure Ange has already reached a conclusion with some and some may be in the "needs to show more territory".

If they don't step up in these last 8 games it will only make the summer window easier.

Regarding targets for this season. I think we have already achieved it to a degree.

It was always about building and establishing a foundation.

Vicario, Van de Ven, Romero, Porro is a great foundation to build on.

Son is the main man.

Udogie, Johnson and Sarr have shown that they are the future.

Maddison, Bentancur, Bissouma, Kulusevski are going to be important players but need competition/rotation.

Other teams have been way further behind when starting their new process.

Also, it's very easy to see where we need to improve.

A collapse would only speed up some players exits

 

[rossdapep]

United lost both Lindelof and Martinez for the season so they really shouldn't be a problem

 

[yankspurs]

United lost both Lindelof and Martinez for the season so they really shouldn't be a problem

Don’t think we need to worry about them but a 5th CL spot isn’t set yet. Can’t rely on it. Need 4th.

 

[Ginola+Tonic]

Think you're worrying a bit too much

We had a really sour end under Poch in 2016.

But that turned out to be a blessing because it gave Poch certainty of what was needed going forward.

I'm pretty sure Ange has already reached a conclusion with some and some may be in the "needs to show more territory".

If they don't step up in these last 8 games it will only make the summer window easier.

Regarding targets for this season. I think we have already achieved it to a degree.

It was always about building and establishing a foundation.

Vicario, Van de Ven, Romero, Porro is a great foundation to build on.

Son is the main man.

Udogie, Johnson and Sarr have shown that they are the future.

Maddison, Bentancur, Bissouma, Kulusevski are going to be important players but need competition/rotation.

Other teams have been way further behind when starting their new process.

Also, it's very easy to see where we need to improve.

A collapse would only speed up some players exits

Do you really see us collapsing?
If so why?

I really don’t see that.
I think we win our next 2 against Forest and a very depleted Newcastle.

 

[CookieYiddo]

Top 4 is in our hands but 5th place would still be an incredible season in my opinion all things considered. I would have snapped your hand off for 5th at the start of the season and now there is added bonus that 5th has a good shot at CL

 

[Gbspurs]

What type of ending would be sour in your eyes?

We’re definitely getting top 6.
We’re 9 points ahead of 6th (Man United) albeit they have a game in hand now.
we have tough games for sure but a top 5 finish is very good.

I'm not sure but I'd like us to start playing good football again.

 

[Trix]

What type of ending would be sour in your eyes?

We’re definitely getting top 6.
We’re 9 points ahead of 6th (Man United) albeit they have a game in hand now.
we have tough games for sure but a top 5 finish is very good.

It may as well be 10 with the goal difference.

 

[Marty]

It may as well be 10 with the goal difference.

Yeah United won't finish above us. I'm willing to put a lot of money on that.

To get to 66 points this season United need to average 2 points per game from now until the end of the season. That in itself is unlikely, though admittedly not impossible.

If we win three more games we're on 66 points. And we'd be disappointed if that is all we end up with.

I'm not worried about United at all now.

 

[spurs mental]

Yeah United won't finish above us. I'm willing to put a lot of money on that.

To get to 66 points this season United need to average 2 points per game from now until the end of the season. That in itself is unlikely, though admittedly not impossible.

If we win three more games we're on 66 points. And we'd be disappointed if that is all we end up with.

I'm not worried about United at all now.

We should never have been worried about United, which plenty of us said a couple of weeks back when they went on run of scabby wins where they were dominated and still won.

They should have lost at the weekend too, but somehow seem to get these results. Their longest unbeaten run is still 4 games all season I believe.

I still think we will finish 4th. Villa likely to be missing Watkins for at least this week, and with Europe next week again it'll be interesting to see how Emery juggles his squad.

 

[easley91]

I'm not sure but I'd like us to start playing good football again.

I get we didn't really trouble Fabianksi, but you don't think some of the approach play through the lines was good football last night? Genuinely curious, as I thought the midfield functioned a lot better and we found ourselves in positions to put the ball in the box. It was just that final pass or decision which let us down.

 

[philll]

I can't shake the worry about United but the worry is diminishing to nothing with Martinez out again. He was instantly their best CB when he came back after the first injury and without Lindelof as well they're down to Maguire, Evans and Varane (plus random academy players we've never heard of) for at least 5 of their remaining 9 league matches (plus the FA Cup semi final against Coventry) and it'll be a miracle if Evans and Varane don't pick up injuries in that time too. Before that semi they've got Chelsea (A), Liverpool (H) and Bournemouth (A) so I can only see the gap getting bigger, which we can help along by doing the business at home against Forest on Monday.

 

[Kingellesar]

It's going to be a very close race, both us and Villa have tough fixtures. I would say advantage is with us due to playing 3 of the bottom 4 and Villa still in Europe. Watkins potential injury could be a big blow to them as well.

Could do with City putting out a statement performance against Villa, big 3+ win.

Not sure why everyone is worried about United, they have won 2 of their last 5 league games. Against Luton and Everton....

 

[muppetman]

It's going to be a very close race, both us and Villa have tough fixtures. I would say advantage is with us due to playing 3 of the bottom 4 and Villa still in Europe. Watkins potential injury could be a big blow to them as well.

Could do with City putting out a statement performance against Villa, big 3+ win.

Not sure why everyone is worried about United, they have won 2 of their last 5 league games. Against Luton and Everton....

I think people are more worried about us and how we are struggling to put teams away, rather than being particularly concerned about Utd suddenly coming good.

For me, even when we've been off it, we've still been competitive and so I think we will be fine and should get 4th.

 

[Kingellesar]

As I said though, we have 3 of the bottom 4, even at our worst, we are more than capable of 3 wins, which would put us on 66 points (67 with goal difference over United), meaning they would need 2.11 average ppg.....

 

[Westmorlandspur]

United lost both Lindelof and Martinez for the season so they really shouldn't be a problem

Just a month I read.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

Some tough ones for us given it's between England and Germany. Bayern v Arsenal and Leverkusen v West Ham. I guess if the others go further it might be ok to see them both lose to the Germans. Maybe need Liverpool to win the Europa and City to get further than Bayern.

We need Villa and Liverpool to get at least 4 pts each. Win and a draw and extra pt for getting through.
If Arsenal and hammers go out they can still get pts . Win one game and lose the other, go out on aggregate . Germans only get one more pt than us on each match. Having said that I am fearful of Arsenal knocking out Bayern, just for the fact they might win the bloody thing.
Hope Bayern are saving themselves for next week.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

I also think if we'd won more games we'd be doing better in the league.

Great point also if we conceded less our goal difference would be much improved.

 

[Duffman]

As much as it pains me to say it, I don't see Arsenal having any issues getting past Bayern over two legs