It really is Leicester then one from 3 for the second auto and I would put my money on Southampton with Leeds 3rd
I think that’s the safest bet, but I have this niggly feeling that Farke’s experience and style of play might end up really counting in the close season. If you excuse his classically slow start, Leeds’ form is neck and neck with Leicester
Norwich put a good battling performance in last night & probably deserved a draw , Sara should of put his chance away . For me Sara looks a bit fatigued playing pretty much every game & could use a rest maybe replaced with Nunez , Gibbs or Sorensen. Much improved performances in 2024 & reasons to believe we still have something to play for . Leeds having a £36m player shows the gulf in talent the 3 relegated sides have which makes the position Ipswich are still in even more impressive. Top 4 are pulling away then it's a paper thin margin for those last 2 play off spots
Farke's view: “Credit goes first of all to Norwich, I think they were definitely one of the best sides that have played at Elland Road during this season. I expected a complicated game anyway, first of all, because Norwich is a really good side. I knew that they are also coming on the back of consecutive wins in January - five games unbeaten, three wins on the spin - and they would come here also to play with freedom. They had nothing to lose because no one really expected them to win points at Elland Road, and they have many technical players; many, many good individuals and they played with bravery. Even if they went 1-0 down they kept going, in terms of playing."
After the distraction of yet another Liverpool cup tie which I'm just taking as a treat to be on TV for a change during my Sunday roast ,(14:30 ITV) we have a run of fixtures that may define how our season will pan out . 10 points or better from the next 5 & we could be in with a shout still . Most of our players are back now so no more excuses for Wagner
I feel the same about Liverpool and just hope for a performance like last night. The Coventry match at home will be a key test. Win it and we could be in the top 6. Watford at home will also be a challenge, but I fancy our chances in the other three.
A 0-0 or 1-1 & a replay at C R would be great but we haven't won in the last 18 meetings a Liverpool record since 1994 when Goss scored on the last game of their old kop
An overall good team effort, but that doesn't win us points. Although we may be 5/6th top scorers in the league, the lack of a clinical finisher either from the forward line or the attacking mids shone last night, especially with (sorry to pick on him, but) Idah's dallying Add the lack of real creativity with balls from the midfield, the signs for a radical summer overhaul are there. Would it be good to make the playoffs, sure. Would it be good to go up, endure another woeful season of failure, no. Especially as that will push us another 2 seasons behind a re-organisation
I had a quick look at the fixtures for the rest of the season and of the 16 remaining games I believe only 3 are against teams in the current top 8 (Leicester, Ipswich and Coventry).
Got to agree about Sara, I feel his performances have been dropping over the last month or so, still good but not as good as he normally is, and it has to be down to fatigue. He has played almost every minute of every game this season and been heavily relied upon. As much as I would be interested to see him tested against a premier league midfield at the weekend, I think I’d rather he was rested for the league. Nunez looked really good again last night, particularly in the 2nd half
The answer to whether or not he's fatigued lies in his fitness stats. I think Sara would be justifiably aggrieved if he were to be denied a first opportunity to play at Anfield. Unless the numbers dictate otherwise, he should at least start and be given 45 minutes. After all, the Coventry game is not until a week on Saturday, and the next game (QPR) a week after that.
Anfield could be seen as an incentive to create motivation to reach the playoffs. With a nearly fully fit squad, as many players as possible should get a chance to play and develop that incentive. We'll almost certainly lose, having failed to beat the Reds in the 18 most recent encounters. 1994 was our last win against them with the only goal from a Goss volley from outside the area.
There is also mental fatigue in terms of concentration which has been shown in some uncharacteristicly sloppy passing at times recently. But yes I was thinking the Coventry game came sooner so he should get to play a part in the game at least.
What usually happens in cup games is players that got us this far like Long , Mcallum, Idah, Hernandez etc keep their place because they were the ones that won the previous games . To drop them all & go with our strongest team only to be battered anyway seems counter productive. There is more chance of me winning the lottery than us winning the FA Cup so a combination of rewarding players that don't usually start & fielding a competitive side needs to be balanced. If memory serves me Sara played all the cup games too
If Sara gets 45 mins and if we are being smashed we can take him off at half time if not give him 60 mins
Indeed, but isn't that just part and parcel of fatigue as such? You routinely see the combination of the two -- physical and mental -- as you near the end of a game?
It is of course but in your reply you said this would be recorded in his fitness stats, I am not sure mental fatigue would
