We need points on the board asap, our end to the season is brutal. I hate the idea of Burnley away last game of the season, but hopefully they're relegated already by that point. They struggle to score in general, so by then I'd assume they'd just give up.
WE HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME NUMBER OF POINTS AS WE DID AT THIS STAGE OF THE 2015/16 SEASON. The difference here is that now we aren't in the drop zone, have 3 bad teams below us, and are on a good run right now. After this point in the 15/16 season, we went on a dreadful 9 game run where we won 1, drew 1 and lost 7, which basically condemned us. I don't see us doing that this time around.
I'm not phased by West Ham one jot, I reckon if we hadn't won 3 on the bounce I'd have been more confident than if we'd drawn yesterday. If we beat Brentford then it's all of a sudden game on for a late surge for mid table. Positive mental attitude boys.
15-18 points needed and I can see 4 winnable games in that run in, so 3-6 draws on top could be possible. 7-10 positive results out of 17 remaining games. It's all looking a lot better than it did 4 weeks ago and I am now not entirely convinced we are going down anymore. It's almost more a question of can you see the others picking up 4+ MORE points than us in the run in?? Burnleys games in hand are Villa and Everton so they could be closer but with one win so far this season I can't see them getting the 2 wins to leave them a point behind us at this stage and have as many "tough games" as us. Watford arguably have the hardest run in of the 4 teams and look to have thrown in the towel and Norwich despite having picked up recently are still shipping goals for fun and didn't strengthen their defense in January...
Burnleys big issue is scoring, not conceding. I think the former is a much bigger worry, as being open the back but being able to score goals offers way more opportunities than being solid at the back but not being able to score, as if you're only scoring 0 or 1 a game, there's always a chance of conceding a **** equalizer or worse.
You have to go as high up the table as 13th to find a team scoring a point a game on average this season. There is no way 7 teams are all going to start hitting a point a game form from now till the end of the season. A point a game would leave Norwich on 31, Watford on 30 and Burnley on 31. If we can manage a win between the next 2 of West Ham and Brentford taking us to 24 and Norwich lose both then I'll start feeling a lot more comfortable. Our final few games are horrific and We've already played all the floating jobbies at home, these games away to Norwich and Burnley are not what we want. Added to that we're always **** against Brighton, we're always **** at Southampton, Everton will be ****ing baying for blood after last week, and just about every other team when we play them will be make or break for their season's and it's not quite as easy as we initially think. The loss of Trippier is going to be huge. For the majority of the season teams have simply laughed their tits off at the options we presented them with, attack us on either flank and we were ****ed especially down our left hand side. Targett is going to have to come in and play brilliantly. The fact we've shored up the right back area and now lost that fills me with some dread but lets just see what happens. There has been a huge improvement across the board from the team and its amazing what a bit of confidence can do. The sooner points are on the board the better.
Yas, all 3 teams aren't suddenly going to "do a Wigan" (or "do a Sheff Utd" if we're being old school). Watford have had a new manager boost, but it hasn't had any effect yet and with 2 points from thr last 33 available, I would be astounded if they suddenly come good. Norwich had some recent good form, but it was against teams with major problems, they're playing better under Smith, but still their team is massively below Prem quality. Burnley? Games in hand, but they've been riding their luck for years and it's inevitable you'll get found out soon if that happens. If we also factor in that Brentford and Leeds are both dropping like a stone, the picture opens up a lot more. Okay so Trippier will be a big loss, but it's clear he's not carrying the team, with Joey playing out of his skin, and Fraser and Willock hugely improved, we're in a much better position to cope with an injury like that. Next 2 games very interesting, even if we can't get points vs West Ham, a win against Brentford opens things up massively.
Agreed, our end to the season is awful. Liverpool, City, Arsenal and then away to Burnley final game of the season. We need to be safe by then. We need points asap. We best pray that ASM stays fit and I am hoping for a bit of a miracle with Wilson coming back in March. Trippier is a bad injury, but the fact that we now have a solid looking LB and Manquillo might be finding some kind of form, and also that we've found a formation that we can actually defend in, it's a good sign. Our defence looks a lot better but not just because of the players, but also formation and work rate. I think we will stay up. I think we'll get 4 wins before the end of the season a handful of draws. I expect a shock win at one of the big teams.
If we open a 7 point gap over the bottom 3, 8 if you factor in Norwich's GD that would be massive for us but demoralising for them too.
Also, considering we still have to play Burnley and Norwich, we could simply draw against them and it's really bad for them. Burnley will probably be irrelevant as they'll likely be already relegated, but in case they're not, a draw would probably doom them and keep us away from them. Norwich will really need and want to beat us, but I think we'll beat them, which will seal their fate.
I'm going to respectfully disagree Tash, Points win prizes and clean sheets are harder to come by than a few lucky goals. Burnley have won 1 game all season and are more likely to get out of the mire than Norwich for me. I know Norwich have hit a patch of golden form, for them, but they've scored 14 - FOURTEEN - goals this year and 6 of those in the last 5 games, against Watford - scored 3 vs 10 men, Everton - 2, who couldn't with T-rex arms in goal, and a goal vs Palace. Apart from that they've struggled massively in front of goal and have also shipped a league high 50 goals so far and are just over the half way mark. Norwich in my mind were gone before us and while the table looks ok for them atm they are one result from Watford and Burnley, who have a game and three games in hand respectively, they will be back at the foot of the table. If Burnley can get their new lad firing and keep a few clean sheets they will be closer to getting out of it than Norwich, I honestly think it could come down to us vs them on the last day of the season.
Most NUFC thing ever - We win the next 5 and should be safe before we then lose every game to the remainder of the season and have to **** ourselves final few games
But you clearly recognise that scoring more goals is probably more likely to keep you up than being solid at the back and trying to scrape draws and 1-0 wins? If you score plenty and your defence is ****, the enemy still have to take their chances, but if you sit back and park the bus and score 0 or 1, you're always at risk of the opposition getting a flukey goal
Norwich's next features are tough: Liverpool a Southampton a Brentford h Leeds a Chelsea h OK, they could expect to beat Brentford, and get a point from Leeds, but that'll still leave them with just 21 points from 29 games, which is precarious to say the least.
Personally feel if you could keep 38 clean sheets you'd stay up every year, you can score 40 but if you concede 80 you could be relegated without a point.
