Man City v Spurs.

Spurs are a strange one. I'm not sure AVB has got full control over the dressing room or something. He doesnt seem confident enough to pick his best team. Defoe must be pretty hacked off if you ask me. Every time he plays he scores yet barely gets a look in.

 

Cardiff held Man Utd to a draw which means they've played the same amount of games as us and have only one point more than us.

Makes our game on Sat 07-Dec that little bit bigger now.

 

Let's concentrate on West Brom at home and Swansea away before we concentrate on them, they've got potentially tricky games against Tottenham and Everton before then as well.

 

West Brom is another big game for us as the way the league is unfolding it's likely that the bottom half will be very congested and a fair few points off 9th upwards.

If we can beat West Brom we can start to put a sizeable gap from us to the bottom half.

I fancy us to beat Swansea as they have a small squad and play in the Europa League on the Thursday, then have Chelsea on the Sunday and our game on the Wednesday. Three games in 6 days is a huge ask, especially given the quality of the opposition.

EDIT: They have Man City away on the Sunday.

 

Don't forget West Brom play Villa tomorrow, think the supposed top 7 could get broken by Southampton, Newcastle or both this year, though still think Swansea, West Brom and Villa could be close to those two teams if they have a bad run.

 

The good thing is if we win on Saturday, you'd like to think we can get away from being involved in the battle at the bottom.

 

This is our realistic goal. Anything on top is a bonus, but I disagree that either we or Southampton will break into the top 7, I genuinely don't think it's achievable with our level of investment. Southampton might if they keep spending the Liebherr money, but as long as we're all on the same page we can continue to enjoy the football.

 

I don't think we'll break top 7. We have done very well so far with injuries but it only takes one bad run of injuries and confidence is quickly dented. You then have to recover that form and confidence. We are only a third of the way through so there is a long way to go and a lot of games to play. There is a heavy schedule just around the corner now which tests all squads. We still lack depth whichever way you dress it up. That typically tells at some stage. We could strengthen in January (I doubt it but we might try to nab a couple of contract dwellers on the cheap). However with us that is typically foreign talent which takes time to adapt and have an effect. Obviously that could be different if we bought players with experience of the league but I don't think we are interested in that kind of policy.

 

And spending that kind of money.

 

It's basically in Ashley's hands as to whether we kick on and look to attack the top 8 with any real purpose.

As you say an injury to Remy and suddenly it's a case of "where are the goals going to come from"? We've got decent depth in the middle of the park, even out wide once Jonas is abck we then have Ben Arfa, Sissoko, Gouffran and Jonas to cover two positions between the four of them.

I'd like us to sign a young right back to cover for Debuchy, Remy permanently (highly unlikely) and another striker. Shane Long or Jordan Rhodes for me. Both are likely to be avaible for around 6m so it's a no brainer. If we did that kind of business, even if Remy wasn't made permanent we'd then have a very capable squad and Ashley could rightly demand a top 10 finish as a minimum requirement.

 

To be fair the point on top 7 was, certain teams like Tottenham and Everton are struggling and remember 2 years ago who thought at this point who thought we could finish 5th. Still think the target is to finish top half and would take 10th now.

 

You never know. Logically I expect ourselves and Southampton will be left behind. Strange things can happen though. If the top sides get in a bad trot or lose key players then there can be a sniff. As you say finish top half and we're over the moon. To be honest just a season of not being in any danger of the drop would be nice.

 

There was those that said we wouldn't survive, I think we've proved them wrong anyway.

 

Ryan Gauld is the man I now want.

However if we could add a Jordan Rhodes, Long or Ings then I'd be really pleased. Or offload Cisse and get 2 of them. We are starting to look like we need some cover at right back. I wonder if they might go back for that Burnley lad they were watching. Trippier. Burnley are going really well.

 

How about all us not606'ers put £1,000.00 each into a kitty to buy a player of our own choice for the club?

 

The key's not to buy those who are already under a spotlight (Gauld, for example), but to find those we don't know about. The lad Theophile at Cardiff, for example, would have made an excellent RB cover. That's what I am hoping for, a few developing players who are almost already there; one RB, one winger, one striker.

 

Blasphemus fool!

 

Infamy, infamy, they've all got it infamy.

Can you imagine some of the names Theophile would get?

 

I want Shane Long even more. What a touch for that first goal.

 

What a goal! Special!

Chris Brunt fires a quarterback style pass over the top from inside his own half, Shane Long watches it drop over his shoulder before killing the ball with a wonderful first touch. He then shifts it on to his left foot, wrongfooting Nathan Baker, and hammers in a low shot into the corner. Brilliant goal!

Very special it would seem.

Missed it though.