I agree with what everyone is saying about the difference in standard of WHU's opposition and ours, but it's points that count. They have gained experience of the PL, played games and won...must be good for confidence. We were certainly dealt a crap hand, as we now have a few must wins. Not in the sense of staying up, but in order to keep belief.
West Ham have definitely started well though and last night's game went with the form book. Big Sam said there were no dirty tackles in the game last night, which is true but there was time wasting, cynical trips and about four bookings for dissent.
I would have liked to have seen WHU's magnificent start if they had been dealt with our order of fixtures. I, like others, have been impressed by their league position. But then I looked at their fixtures/results since the start of the season. There's nothing exceptional there. Last night's win against QPR was probably the best they've done so far. I'll reserve judgement about WHU until they play some teams with League winning aspirations, as we have done. I suspect their league position will start to become more realistic when that happens, whatever belief they might have in themselves.
Well the same Ref that did the QPR - WHU debacle is doing our next match, he will need a new notebook.
Hmm, that didn't come out as I intended. I'm sure that read back OK, when I wrote it. I've written it better in post #46.
I agree TSS, but you still have to go and win the points and they have done that. The fixture list has not been kind to us but losing to Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal and Everton will not get us relegated alone and many sides will loose these games. The problem is facing such a tough run of fixtures at the start of the season puts pressure on the 'winnable' games and all the while confidence has taken a knocking. Luckily I believe we have the right man and team behind him in place to bring the players through the tough run's of fixtures and results and the quality in our squad to get us enough points to survive. I think West Ham will finish about 11th because many premier league sides struggle against their style of play....but West Ham can do what they want, so long as we can pick ourselves up and have a real good go at winning games of football we'll be alright.
I hope there is a big turn out! I've got my tickets for for the match our players will need everyone support! Who else is going? COYR's
Can't make Fulham, but have just got two Spurs tickets for me and my son...looking forward to it. Kingsland near the noisy end, so my son will be happy.
Yes, WHU have played some matches and won some points, but let's not go overboard about what they have done. Given the same fixture list I would have expected Saints to have achieved something similar. I'm not taken in by WHU's league position. They'll drop down lower. In terms of self-belief, actually, I don't think it will have affected the team anything like as much as it has affected some of the fans. The team have the stats at their disposal. They are professionals, and they should be able to look past the artificial league position [OK, every position is artificial until the season ends] they currently find themselves in. I think we'll see a different story when we've played a few more of the weaker teams in the division. If we don't, then January can't come soon enough.
