We're on what, 35 points now. 9 games to go. Last season with the injuries and all the other excuses, we got 42 points. So what would be a satisfying minimum points total this time round? Anything below 40 would be a real let down imo. A possible vote-changer. Between 40-44: kind of okay-ish. 45-48: where I think we should be. 49+: lovely jubbly, Ralph in and all that. Thoughts?
The club and even Ralph himself would be looking for progress from last season but even if we only match last season then there's no reason to change things as 11th-14th is probably around about par for us. if we went on an horrific run and failed to get another win then the question would need to be asked but i'm certain that that won't be the case and Ralph will still be here next season. I'm going for 45+ points as very satisfactory and any trip to Wembley as fantastic, failing to match last season would be a slight let down but as I say, I don't think that it will happen.
I think we will be in your okish band, maybe upto 44 points and a bit meh. Hen we will get some lines around Ralph needing his own players and give him more time to gel the team. I think next season could be interesting for and with Ralph, but we do need to push on and I'm still not totally convinced that, in so much as I can't think of any EPL manager who has had as much slack as he has been cut, and I wouldn't think 44 pts at the end of 2023 would be acceptable.id be hoping as a club we would want to be pushing 55 maybe 60 pts. I get the comments that may come back as so does everyone, but we are here talking about our expectations.i certainly would worry for him is we start next season the way we started this, by means of our points return, regardless who we are up against (albeit I thought we played well this seasons first 7 or 8 games).
Myself I'm expecting our form to pick up again after the international break. I think we can reach 45+ points. Certainly that's where I think a squad of our quality should be. 40-44 would be an anti-climax, but no need to push any sort of panic button. If the new owner is willing to give Ralph a couple of new signings in the summer - first teamers, not 'ones for the future' - then I really think we will have a top quality team for next season.
Very disappointed today. As much as we played well it seems baffling to play your 3rd and 4th choice striker in a cup match against one of the worlds best sides. Particularly when we're marooned in midtable Obviously I'm not changing vote despite jokes made previously but I'm a bit concerned that he's seemed to take the cups less seriously this season and hope its not the start of a pattern, possibly with owner input.
Well last season despite us plummeting in league from Jan onwards he went virtually full strength in every round. This season we've been comfortably in midtable and he's made far more changes and rode his luck a couple of times as a result. Today was always a big ask anyway as City are one of the best sides in the world and have the leanest defence in the PL. Given those two facts you're not giving yourself the best chance when you play your 3rd & 4th choice strikers (both of whom a majority of fans would agree aren't PL quality). Like I said I'm not saying I want him to go or slagging him off or anything. I'm just a bit disappointed as we seemed to lack the mentality of really going for it compared to last season and hope it's not a sign of things to come.
Anyone understand why our form has fallen off a cliff? Just when it really seemed like the team were clicking it’s gone again
I'm not really sure it has. Think we played well today for example. Had a couple of bad results in league but think that's a combination of beach/one eye on today. I'm not really that arsed whether we finish 11th or 15th but I do think it's quite important that we finish the season relatively strongly and not completely collapse like last season. I think we will too as we're a better side this season and we have a lot more close matches now.
We're very streaky under Ralph. We'll go on mad runs, be it good or bad. If only we could identify the catalyst for each
Team was okay today, but probably should have started Che although Shane did okay. AA looking more and more likely to not work out. I think Scad said about 8 months ago he shoots and shoots. We are seeing that, but rarely on taeget
I think the plan made sense, the strikers have to put in a shift against citeh with the pressing. Any potential victory would have been tight and could of gone into ET, having our match winners fresher and on the pitch in the crucial minutes has logic to it. Just so happens when they’re ready to come on, Sally rushes in and Mike didn’t hesitate
Agree with all of that, but it wasn’t the pen that killed us off, it was Foden’s goal, and none of our defence was to blame for that; it was just pure ****ing brilliance tbf.
Broja and Adams are more than capable of putting a shift in and pressing. We've had two excellent performances against them already this season so why do we need to change the plan? You can't base your entire strategy on the chance of it going to extra time in my view. We'll have to agree to disagree but when you're an underdog against a team with a brilliant defence then it seems mental to leave your best striker out.
It had to be Che and Broja to start for me today but Ralph hinted before the Spammers game that he felt loyalty to Shane because he helped to get us through against Swansea and has picked him since. That was the wrong call for me and we needed our best XI starting against Citeh as it's tough enough to compete with them anyway. That said, we did play well but I feel that our good approach play would've been better served by strikers who have actually scored a few this season.
Apart from the top 3 and the bottom 3, every team blows hot and cold at various points in the season. Look at Brighton; excellent before Xmas, now on a 6 or 7 game losing streak. Spurs were dogsh*t a month ago, then they beat Man City. I think Ralph pushed the panic button too soon after the Villa/Newcastle defeats by changing things against Watford. If we’d played two strikers we’d probably have won it. Just need to use these final games to get the team back to playing their best, ready for next season. And that includes trying to get Che and A. Armstrong playing well together because Broja won’t be here next season.
