Assuming we win our last game, we will end this season on 75 points. 2014: 79 2013: 73 2012: 70 2011: 68 Basically says it all, we are not really progressing much, we are consistently finishing with 70 points and above, and will end this season with lower points than last season, that is not what you call progress. These end of season points tally point to a pattern, we are not going any higher and have basically found our ceiling limit, under this regime at least. The stats do not lie as they say, nobody can look at this and say yeah we're making major progress, we aren't, certainly not the progress to win the league. And every year we have the same pattern of going on an amazing run, and then dropping away, or being completely ****, and finding major form, nothing ever majorly consistent.
This year I have felt more confident against the top 4 teams.....like the fact we have a true DMF. Also that we apply different tactics depending who we play. For me, I see this as progress. Comparing points for each season is easy to do but doesnt give you a true picture either .. some years are more competitive than others, some got more injuries than others, some are not after a world cup has been played. Go with your gut feeling - and my gut feeling says we are better this year. I think if we bring someone like schneiderlin then we really can apply a third tactic with two TRUE dmf to close games off. IF you then add a top striker on top of this then you can finish games off in different ways as well. Finally, a GK that can save us 6-10 points a season would really bring us close. Add them all together and we will win the title
If you think we're better this season, then that's your prerogative but I don't see it. Still a bit dodgy defensively, susceptible to counter-attacks, struggle to break down teams with rigid tactics, one-dimensional, play lacking width, cumbersome on the ball, getting knocked out of the CL early again and our results against the top sides aren't significantly better than last seasons. This season: Chelsea - 1 / 6 Man Utd - 1 / 6 City - 4 / 6 Spurs - 1 / 6 Liverpool - 4 / 6 11/30 points Last season: Chelsea - 1 / 6 Man Utd 1 / 6 City 1 / 6 Spurs - 6 / 6 Liverpool 3 / 6 12/30 points They're actually worse! Overall, it's been an okay season but not that good, in my opinion. Retaining the FA Cup will be nice if we do it, but other than that, we've pretty much stagnated after spending £80m on attempting to reinforce our squad.
Surely league position is far more important than points tally.The chances are we'll finish third this season so wont have to pre-qualify for the Champions League.
I'm saying I'm indifferent. I'm asking what difference has it made to us? In the years we've had to qualify, what impact would you say it had on our season in terms of chances of winning the league or champions league?
Which makes a difference because...? 2014/15 - Had to play the CL qualifiers - got to last 16 and will finish (probably) 3rd in the league 2013/14 - Had to play the CL qualifiers - got to last 16 and finished 4th in the league 2012/13 - didn't have to play CL qualifiers - got to last 16 and finished 4th in the league 2011/12 - Had to play the CL qualifiers - got to last 16 and finished 3rd in the league 2010/11 - didn't have to play CL qualifiers - got to last 16 and finished 4th in the league You're right... the difference it makes is simply astounding.
Excellent. As you can from our results I posted in the last few seasons when we had no CL qualifier, that reduced chance of injuries really spurred us onto great things.
It was tactical, we let you beat us, to have your cup final, and be so elated on a high, that you'd lose concentration for the rest of the season, and it worked wonders, just look at how bad your form got literally right after you beat Arsenal, everything fell apart after that, it was all part of the plan my friend, all part of the plan.
League Position > Points Haul. Some seasons where we've barely scraped 4th would have given us enough points to win the league in other seasons. It should be pretty obvious to most that post-Christmas we've improved. It was our disastrous start that hampered us.
It's more patently obvious that we can't maintain good form for a whole season. We're always rubbish for a period and top drawer for a period. You can't say that our disastrous period 'hampered us' because we always have a poor period at some point. You could similarly argue that our brilliant period luckily saved us. There is no evidence from this season to suggest that we have the tools to maintain a 9 month period of title-winning form.
