Tonight you celebrate and drink to forget your actual performance, but tomorrow you still wake up next to Van Gaal
Thursday Today following the match please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image You absolute fool Astro. Do you even keep a track of what you're spouting? #doinganastro
And today you wake up to realise that your squad is still **** and your manager is a man you have a very low opinion of. And the 1980's were a long time ago.
Sorry didn't see this thread when I created my Top 4 and Relegated 3 prediction thread, I know there is some overlap there... Strange one to call this season, teams have really had fluctuating form so far.
Fluctuating, but not enough to make a real difference to final positions. Arsenal, Leicester and City have all consistently displayed the form of title challengers - no real bad runs between them but enough dropped points to stop any of them being convincing yet. Spurs and Utd have consistently looked like top four candidates - picking up enough points in tight games to stay up there, but not enough to be looking further up the league. As Chief says, none of the teams below 5th have shown anything like the consistency or quality needed to push further up the table. West Ham do have some credentials for a challenge, having beaten Arsenal, City and Chelsea early in the season, but have dropped right off since then so hard to see them pushing further. Stoke could also push for the top five, but I think they will still fall short. There are only really three questions remaining for the top four: Will Leicester keep their level up right to the end of the season? Which of Arsenal and City will get the consistency needed to win the title? Which order will Utd and Spurs finish in? Imo Leicester will drop off around March and April and probably finish fifth. Arsenal will stop bottling it just long enough to get over the line and win the league Spurs will finish ahead of Utd by a couple of points and take third spot I also reckon Stoke could nick sixth spot from West Ham in the last few weeks of the season.
Good post. I agree with most of it, however I think Arsenal are more likely to buckle under the challenge of fighting for the title with City. At least City have been through that before, winning it on GD from us will stand them in good stead. I just feel that historically Wenger's teams have not been mentally strong (since the Invincibles era), and they rely too much on the form of one or two key players rather than the team as a whole. All teams rely on their key players but Sanchez + Ozil is so crucial for Arsenal, plus goals from Giroud. Any kind of injury to them or loss of form (Giroud) will dry up the goals, and I'm not convinced about them defensively (DM + back 4). City on the other hand also rely on Aguero, Silva and Toure, and Aguero in particular is injury prone, but I get the feeling they are a better unit as a whole and they have other big characters in the team that can drag them through the rough spots. Kompany's bad injury may well level the playing field a bit, so I still think it'll be close, but in a very close race I'd back the experienced team that have done it before. Same as in Suarez's good season when I felt Liverpool would get pipped at the end because they did not have the experience of being in close title battles and winning them. Arsenal have not been in a title race for quite some time, I'd back City if it remained close.
I dunno, I always see City as being more reliant on Aguero than any other club is reliant on any other player. Although tbh City have also always been highly reliant on Kompany and have coped reasonably well recently without him. You would usually tend to back the experienced team who have been there and done it. But that said I would have backed us for the same reason in 11/12, but when we had experienced players out injured we didn't have what was needed to get us over the line. Admittedly our injury problems then were at least twice as bad than City's this season, but the experience side doesn't always win out in a tight race. If Arsenal do suffer an injury to a key player then I could see them dropping off the pace quite quickly, but if both City and Arsenal keep their players fit I think Arsenal will win it in the end.
I don't think they rely on him as much as they did a few seasons ago. Not now they've finally realised that he can't have his cake and eat it too.
I watched City the other day and it seemed to me, for the first time this season they've clicked. And they looked very good for it. I just have the feeling they will go on a confident run of games now... while Arsenal won't be as consistent.
Rich list. No wonder results in the premiership are so unpredictable and matches competitive. Most clubs in the premiership now have the potential to recruit some of the best players. 9 premiership clubs are in the top 20 richest clubs and probably most will be in the top 30 after the new broadcast revenue is shared. In the top 20, Premiership: 9 clubs Spanish La Liga: 3 clubs Italian: 4 clubs German: 3 clubs French: 1 club http://www.theguardian.com/football...ich-list-premier-league-real-madrid-barcelona
Look at this from the Sky Sports 'pundits' http://www.skysports.com/football/n...-soccer-saturday-pundits-predict-the-top-four the headline being; Merse predicts: Man City 1st, Arsenal 2nd, Tottenham 3rd, Man Utd 4th Merson predicts United success shock! They all say the top three is City, Arsenal and Spurs, with us battling Leicester for fourth. I think we're battling Spurs for fourth myself. The fact that Leicester have only the league to think about and a grand total of 16 games left this season will help them in the long run.
I think the only thing we need to worry is ourselves. If LVG and his team play anywhere to their ability then 4th should be a doddle. But dont underestimate LVG/team to cock it up. Like treating Villa at home as Barcelona. A far too cautious pedestrian approach will be his undoing. Leicester I think will now drop off. Vardy seems to have come off the boil. And looking at their team yesterday (ok not a full strength one) they didn't give the impression they will win more than they draw or lose. If Mahrez goes off form that's it.
Don't really agree there, what last night highlighted was that their reserves aren't as well stocked and strong as everyone else's but given they only have the league to think of it no longer matters. They've got 16 games left. If ourselves and Spurs go into the latter stages of the Europa league and the FA cup we've got double that. They still played well. Drinkwater, Vardy didn't come on until late and Mahrez didn't at all (unless I missed it at the end or something). They've got a squad more than capable of sustaining sixteen more games. I do agree that we should piss it though, with the squad we have.
We will be lucky enough if we could make it to top 4. I hope Mers is right and it seems that Spurs are also a little bit shaky if they can win this weekend. If the team wins, I'll be on cloud nine for a week. Crossing my fingers until March for the final result of rankings.
