Having a quick gander at the league table, I noticed something which I guess should be obvious: we are better than the teams below and worse than the ones above. It's kind of what tables are for, but I have not seen such a neatly divided table for a long time. First there is the top eight. All big teams with great squads. Then there is us in ninth. Great first team, dubious squad. Then there is everyone else. So, is this it? Ninth this year? Or will we a) overachieve or b) drop, disappointingly, into the lower echelons?
I predicted 8th/9th at the start, so I am very happy to be up where we are. I think once all the absentee's recover and we have some easier fixtures, we should stay around where we are. I have forgotten what it feels like to win though, so I would love it if we could nick 3 points at Cardiff. Unfortunately I'm not that optimistic...
Agree with this. I still think we can be top 8 if we get our wounded back and add a couple but I'll be happy with top 10.
I think Southampton and Newcastle will finish 8th & 9th but not sure in which order. Both of our teams are currently the best of the rest but also some way off a sustained push for top four. A few injuries in the same area and our squad is decimated. God help us if Remy get's injured. It's the same for your guys, the moment your keeper and one of your CB's is injured the cover just isn't good enough.
There is no problem with overachieving...top six would mean that we had played greatly above ourselves and some other sides had played badly. Top ten would be a good result for our second season, though I would hope we could improve the following season. Many clubs would consider repeated midtables as a decent return, but don't think Nicola would agree. 8-9th is about right...7th would be excellent.
I think we're as good as Newcastle, and the other team we could challenge above us is Everton, who were lucky enough to get Lukaku (just got to look at West Brom this season to see the impact he had for them) and Deulofeu. Without those two on loan, I don't think they'd be much higher than us.
I think we'll struggle over the holiday period. We look tired & there's very little we can do about it* (*bench yesterday). Our pressing game has all but disappeared. I'm usually the last person to say this but.......we need re-enforcements!
We've had ridiculously bad luck with the injuries of the last few weeks - they've ALL been in defensive positions. Not worried in the slightest by our recent run. This won't happen like that again. Prior to that point we were (are) a top 6 contending team.
Gap above us now...looking at the teams above us I think it will be hard to close up. Newcastle is our best bet if we are to overtake anyone before May.
My hope going into the season was to push Everton hard for 7th with finishing ahead of them being the best success we were likely to achieve, that was before they loaned in Lukaku, Barry and Deulofeu... The targets now have to be Newcastle and possibly Spurs if they don't get their act together and finishing above either of them I'd probably deem a success. I was one of the most grounded during our heady start and actually had to stop myself from posting at times because I didn't want to be a party pooper whilst some were getting a bit carried away, but even though I saw this sticky patch coming from the second the fixtures were released I still feel pretty gutted. 9th would be good progress all in all but I still can't help feeling it would be disappointing to finish there after our bright start.
I agree that our team is very good, maybe not top 6 but certainly top 8, however our squad is pretty poor. It just isn't feasible to finish in the top 6 at present.
Every team has a dodgy spell during the season - we are having ours now. Don`t panic Captain Mainwaring.
