that's the bit that makes me laugh,they are so arrogant,with nothing to be arrogant about,the amount they spent ,they should be out of sight
whatever one's opinion is of AVB, I fail to see how he can be blamed for anything really. We've already got the same amount of points as we had last year and we still have a game to go. If we win on Sunday, we get our highest ever premier league points total. So, If anyone wants to compare him to Redknapp, he's actually done better... in just his first season in charge! Unfortunately, others teams have got more points than us. he's already equalled redknapps points tally of last season, yet we finished 4th with that same amount of points. To potentially finish with 72 and miss out in 5th place, is just very very unlucky.
Why are we so forgiving over the points that Arsenal got from poor refereeing and dodgy penalties (i.e. cheating)? Is it this "it all evens out over a season" thing that stops people from being really sore? Surely by now it's clear that doesn't happen, so that if there is a one point difference at the end (again) then the contribution of refs is more than just something that can be put down to chance, we should be effing furious, and I am. I guess the other thing that stops people complaining is that it might sound like "sour grapes" when there's been 38 games to get ahead of another team, but that's also ridiculous considering the finishing margin is so small. Fact is if one dodgy decision goes a different way then the table is changed, and teams shouldn't have to get extra points to compensate for incompetence. Yet another argument might be that refs make mistakes evenly, so that no team really benefits. But again that's not true and some teams continue to benefit where others don't. Again, there's no cosmic force that forces these things to even out, and in fact there's plenty of 'cosmic forces' that ensure refs are not 'evenly incompetent'. All in all, I can't think of another sport / industry where the officials determine the final result as much. We just don't want to admit it for these reasons and others. So the situation will continue to happen. And in the end it's at least as important to our final position as any other factor people have cited here and elsewhere.
I know we are slagging off the goon fan's,but the chav's are just as bad,the **** we got from them about Thursday night football.when they fluked the C/L,now they are desperate to win it,as they, were the C/L
Like you say Vim, it just sounds like sour grapes. But there's no doubt about it, a few penalties would have made a difference to our season, especially when others around us get them.... It's unbelievable how we haven't had one and it's a fair shout to say that we've potentially got less points as a result. I'd be interested to see how many penalties each team has had, and what it's meant to them in terms of points. Whenever we're near the box and go down... we just get told to get up, or get done for diving. As **** as it is, it's out of our control. However, having sufficient players on the pitch to do the job, is within our control. Where is our striker? and where are our goal scoring midfielders? That's more of the issue.
we have scoring midfielder's,Dempsey,siggy and Bale,but no strikers,or creative midfielder,which has let us down IMO
well lets be realistic here tots, Bale is a striker now. has been for half the season or more. Siggy has scored what 3 prem goals? Dempsey has scored about 7 - which is ok, I suppose. Look at Arsenal though. Cazorla - 12 Walcott - 14 Podolski - 11 Arteta 6. The top 3 names play in similar positions to those you mention. Arteta plays a deeper role and even he has nearly as many goals as Dempsey! The facts don't lie mate. Edit: even if you want to include Bale's goals (20), with just those names mentioned, we've still got 13 goals less. Which shows just how heavily we've relied on him to win us matches and get the goals.
Unfortunately the stats above speak for themselves....... That, a misfiring striker and the anomolous penalty count and you probably have our season in a nutshell....
pretty much. but forget the refereeing decisions, these issues with the team have needed sorting for ages. Will we learn this summer and actually get some proven quality to match our rivals? Or will we keep wasting money on average players who don't push us on, or help us to compete on the same level? I don't see things changing. Not when you read that we're supposedly close to a 19 year old croatian who's likely to go into the development squad, or the likes of Tom Ince who is being signed from the championship and could well be a transfer that helps us go "sideways", not forwards. 6 million here, 5 million there, most of it's wasteful.
Fair point deedub,I couldn't think of a number 7. I wasn't comparing him with Harry Roo but to let a 7 point gap fall by losing to Fulham and Liverpool is just the same as Harry did the year before. If the goons lose or draw and we win then there's an improvement in the points tally but no improvement in the position,it means we have to paly 2 qualifying matches when we were once sitting proudly in 3rd place. But as I posted let's give him another season. No Ferguson or Mancini might help us along.
I always accepted we were never near good enough to win the CL this year so never looked down at the Europa League. As far as I'm concerned its a chance to make history and become the first British side to win all European trophies. Top 4 is looking extremely unlikely for you but I'm not sure why you are throwing in the towel completely. Stranger things have happened on last days. Personally I hope Arsenal don't win as it means no matter what we do in our game they can't get 3rd and the idea of a playoff is beyond laughable considering we beat them home and away. Also, You can't fluke 13 games (CL), it simply isn't possible
I don't want to blame the ref decisions as we end up sounding like the goons. All teams will look at decisions against them and think the referees are anti their team. I will admit that It is amazing how we haven't had one penalty all season though. That is quite a stat in 37 games. IMO reasons why we may miss out are: 1) The start of the season and waiting until the end of August to buy Adebayor. 2) injuries to major players. It is no surprise our defence has looked a lot worse since Sandro's injury. 3) Adebayor only playing when he feels like it. 4) not buying a striker in January. Taking all that into account AVB has done amazingly to get us to potentially our highest points total. At worst we will equal it.
I agree with you on the gap. Plus last year you had Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, City and Everton all away so there was always a likelihood the 13 point gap would be reduced as you had played easier games whereas Arsenal had pretty much played all the top 6 home and away bar Chelsea and City by Mid-March. This year top 4 may be lost because of home losses to Wigan and Fulham. Each to their own but I know which outcome I'd prefer. That said AVB deserves at least a season and a half to stamp his authority on the side.
Walcott's as much of a striker as Bale is and Arteta's goals are pretty much all penalties, I believe. Ultimately if we miss out by such a fine margin we can blame pretty much anything but it's been a decent season for us regardless of whether we make it or just miss out, even if it would feel horrible to do so.
We've had a couple of lucky decisions go our way but last season we got absolutely nothing from refs. Not trying to wind you up but Tottenham really have themselves to blame if they finish 5th, it should have been over after the second NLD
Last season we could blame losing to Norwich or QPR as much as we could blame losing to Wigan and Fulham this season. Ultimately last season we were better than this season for most of it but then blew it by playing appallingly for a long period. This season our poor run at the end only lasted those 2 league games, I'd say going unbeaten and picking up 15 points from our last 7 is not only in form but quite impressive considering in that run we played City and Everton at home and Stoke, Chelsea and Swansea away. Our trouble is Arsenal have not just done well, they've been excellent in the run in, taking 23 of the last 27 points available. Not sure there's much preference you can have for either outcome but I'd say the more consistent season was preferable especially if we get more points.
injuries cannot be a reason. Every team gets injuries every season, it's standard and something which each team have to be prepared for. It's about having the quality in depth to deal with it, which we don't have.
It wasn't really the same situation though TMT. We were 13 points ahead of Arsenal last season at one point. it was the England situation which caused unrest. That was much more significant that AVB losing 1 away game to a Liverpool side who've massively improved this season, and 1 bad defeat to Fulham at home. There's always a couple of poor results that come back to back in anyone's season, which we have to expect, despite how disappointing it is. - But Harry's spell went on for about 2 months! If we get 72 points and finish 5th, it's bad luck and others have just done slightly better than us. If you finish on more points than the previous season, you've improved, regardless of where you finish.
That's quite incredible really that it's not enough to get you guys 4th. I would say it shows how the PL is becoming a more competitive and balanced league, also staggering that this year only 6 points between relegation and mid-table!
"If you finish on more points than the pervious season, you've improved, regardless of where you've finished" Try telling that to Peterborough United.
