For some reason I woke up this morning thinking how good a season we really have been having. And how quickly we've gotten used to being in the lofty heights of the table. We're on 50 points, equal with Chelsea, given that we - stupidly threw a point away at the Emirates a fortnight ago -1 - stopped playing when 2-0 ahead to Wolves gifting them a draw -2 - might have gotten a point at home to Chelsea had David Luiz been rightly sent off in the 5th minute. -1 - Possibly not lost subsequently to Norwich having 1.5 defenders on the pitch (and Shola). - Collapsed At Fulham in spectacular fashion after going ahead, or given up the lead twice at home to West Brom, which again was part of that awful run we had after the Chelsea game in December. -1 So there you have it. Call me Deluded with a capital D, but I can easily see 5-6 points lost in those games, points we could, possibly should have earned, adding to the 50 we are currently sitting on. Those were the games where we threw away our chances of 4th spot and CL qualification. And when you think back to the games, we threw those points away. We weren't beaten cause the other team was outplaying us, we were just not quite on the money. We were soundly beaten at Liverpool, Tottenham, City and arguably Fulham this season, but apart from those 3/4 games, one could argue we were competing for the points in every other game, even if we weren't performing at our best. So really, taking all that in, there's a lot to look forward to for next season. I think Sunday will be a real benchmark for us. Liverpool have been poor lately, we've been getting results. Liverpool have rolled us over consistently in the last 4 years, bar at SJP last season when they were in disarray. Our back four will be make-shift and Gerrard always steps it up against us sadly. I'd be very content with a draw on Sunday. Ps: Give Suarez a rotten reception.
I don't know, I think I only agree with you on the second one, the Wolves result. The rest of them just strike me as things that happen in football, and happen to every other team; things just even out over the course of a season. We were deservedly beaten by Fulham, and you highlighted it yourself about Luiz being sent off- we 'might' have gotten a point, and therefore 'possibly' might not have lost at Norwich. Bit too tenuous for me, the only place where we honestly shouldn't have dropped points was the Wolves game.
I'm not saying we should have gotten those points, rather that the missing points that would have put us in CL contention escaped us in those particular games, in which we weren't destroyed, rather just having off days and circumstances not helping us. I think next season will be different, 3rd and 4th spot will require more points. The CL talk in the papers has been ridiculous, but looking back today, it wasn't that far out of our reach.
What if Wolves had got their 'should have been penalty' at their place, or didn't have their last minute equaliser chalked off What if Man U had made their pressure tell when we drew at Old Trafford ect. Works both ways Other than the Chelsea one (and I think we'd have gone on to win the game) the rest were our own fault
Ah, what indeed. But, if the poitn of the thread is that next season beckons with the ageless appeal of an opportunity not yet spoiled, one can not help but agree
Some people bring up the point about us getting just as many points without Saylor from just as many games, but that's not really a good way to look at it. We could have done better with him, and achieved more points.
Ditto. That was my point. It was our own fault, rather than just being ran over by opposition like last year, where we were just so clueless in a whole set of games. I'm also glad we haven't been getting as many red cards or giving away silly penalties. Away to Bolton last season comes to mind where we simple self destructed. Or West Brom away just before Hughton got sacked when we simply not showed up and got rolled over. At the moment it seems we don't have to play our best to at least get a draw. I think it's easier to manage a team that loses the occasional game because they played poorly and were off the pace than a team that gives their all and just gets beat due to the other team having way more quality (ManU at home last season comes to mind).
And what if we hadn't got the pen at Old Trafford? Shola hadn't worked his magic and got the last minute equalizer against Sunderland? Or against Spurs? There are so many things hat just happen in football. At Wolves we were poor, but every team has had long periods when they have been poor, we had it for 45 mins then, 45 mins vs Fulham and when we had no defenders. That's not bad. If you want things that could be tenuous, had Carew scored the penalty last season, we wouldn't have done as well in that gamje (probably lost), been on a bad run fom the start, possibly been relegated, done a Leeds and self-destructed and now be playing Oldham, Rochdale and Dagenham rather than Man Utd, City and Chelsea.
