Prediction League 4th spot

12 games to go. We need to make up 14 points on City.

4) City 47
5) Manu 41
6) Soton 40
7) Spam 40
8) Pool 38
9) Watford 36
10) Stoke 36
11) Everton 35
12) Us 33

I was bullish when Gus took over. Even considered that we would run again for the title.
But he digressed big time by playing Mikel every single minute.

He has given me hope by dropping Mikel from the squad against Barcode.
As long as Mikel plays less than 60 mins total till the end of this season, we have very good chance to make 4th.

Reasons:
City would & should be in free fall (14 pts) - Pep, League cup, CL, Yaya, Silva not in Pep's plan etc.
Manu already in free fall (only 8 pts) - Jose, UEFA, Mata not in Jose's plan etc
Soton, Spammers, Pool, Everton & Stoke - can all fancy Europe place.So do we!!

Matches are going to be extremely tough in the next 6 weeks.
As long as there is no clear separation between Europe places & chasing pack - final 6 matches will be even more interesting.

Title will be won by fewest points ever. We have one hell of a run in.

As far as I am concerned 4th spot is easier than CL win.
Just drop Mikel from the squad and 4th is ours to lose. Simples Gus!!

What is your predo for 4th spot?

 

I don't know who the f@ck does these fixtures planned.
But
We, Everton, City, Palace, Swans have 7 road games out of 12.

Spuds & Goons have 6 on the road - which makes sense. Same for Toon, Villa, Bourne, Soton, Sun, Wat, West Brom.

But Manu, Pool, Lester, Stoke, Spam have 5 games on the road. Wtf??

 

We all play the same fixtures, stop bitching about it.

 

Unfortunately there are many other teams ahead of you who have no reason to go in free fall

 

That's because we have already played our "road games"

 

They don't have to. Distance between us & them doesn't necessitate any free fall.
All they need to do is - continue their 1.5 pts / game, we need to step up (read drop Mikel) and get atleast 2+ pts per game.

towards the business end, you have 2 less road games to worry about

 

Conversely, you could continue your 1.2 points per game and the rest don't need to step up?

The best way to look at it is compare fixtures remaining. Will give a much better idea, but I think it's a big ask. Spurs, Arsenal, City and Leicester don't look anywhere like dropping the points needed for anyone to catch them atm.

 

Guys, not too long ago we witnessed City make up 8 pts from 6 games over a certain team for the title.

You are saying we cannot make up 14 pts from 12 games? All we need to do is show up & drop Mikel!

 

Realistically we have no chance of 4th. 14 points is far too big a margin left to catch up with so little of the season left. City wont lose that many more games if Kompany stays fit, they just lost to a very, very good team yesterday.

As for us, top 6/7 is a very realistic target and one we should be aiming for. I'd quite like us to qualify for the Europa League as i'd hope it would be the perfect chance to give some youngsters the opportunity in the starting XI. Mix them with a bit of experience and we should be giving a real go. We have to get there first, mind.

 

Good points. The only thing is, I don't see the youngsters getting a chance. Hope I'm wrong though.

 

City are inconsistent but I doubt we will nick fourth place.

Worst case scenario we catch the plastics and get their Europa spot.

Better to play part-time next season and do a Liverpool 13/14 and challenge for title.

Or at very least a Van Gaal 14/15 and get a plastic top 4 spot

 

Back in the real world Chelsea avoid relagation by 1 point.

 

Just drop Mikel from the squad and 4th is ours to lose. Simples Gus!!

Are you high??

Mikel has been OK since brought back in but any which way, one player wont turn our season around that much. Back in the real world please.

Top 6 is best case, top 4 is long gone.

 

You got to be kiddin' me..

One player don't make any difference, unless it is Mikel. It becomes 12 vs 10.
His only strength is giving power to opposition.
Any sensible guy would agree 2 players light is too difficult.

After Mikel got in we have shipped 3 goals to Everton, 2 goals each to West Brom & Watford.

I will stick to my Predo.
If Mikel makes more than 60 mins in total appearance we won't make top 10.
If he is dropped consistently we will be near 4th spot for sure.

You may give the Predo with & without Mikel.

We walk by faith & not by sight!!
Mikel will be dropped is the faith.

 

I wish all our remaining games were away(apart from United!), we haven't lost since the first day of the season

 

You only just this weekend got closer to 4th than bottom. I'd go easy on this kind of talk if I were you

 

Dropped Mikel & we were super slick against the team which beat u few days ago in 3pt lane.

Gus meddled with line up for 10 games. Looks like he has his s#!t together now.
Sky is the limit (not in Neville way)

 

Yeah, you really don't want to start comparing results against opposition either

 

And was Mikel to blame for how ****e we were before Guus came in?!! No.

He barely got a kick under Jose, and our form has improved since he's been a regular. You just only see it one way.

I'm not into making nonsense predictions based on 1 players inclusion or exclusion.

However we won't get top 4, we probably won't get top 6. Right now I'd say we'll finish around 7/8 regardless of Mikel.

Just like with Jose, you're very quick to turn on a guy who is one of our longest servants and been an important squad player for many years.

 

I think Newcastle being absolutely awful was of greater help than Mikel not being played. And Matic, Ivanovic etc who played yesterday have had far worse games this season than Mikel has. Hyperbole of the highest order.