What's everyone's thougths on our following 3 fixtures: Liverpool away Southampton home Swansea home West Brom away is 01st January but it comes at a time of 3 games in 8 days or 4 games in 11! Nightmare schedule. Liverpool got royally stuffed last weekend by Villa, a great result for the young Villains but it does mean that Pool away this weekend is going to be even more difficult. Southampton are doing alright now, they have won 3 and drawn 2 of their last 7 games. They'll make it difficult for Fulham without a doubt as they're fighting for the points. Swansea are also doing well and will be difficult too. To be honest if we end up with 6 points from December I'll be happy, taking into account the way we've been playing recently. However, it could quite easily be just the 3! I don't think we'll get anything at West Brom either. Sorry for the pessimism. I'll be delighted if I'm proved wrong.
I'm in step mode at the moment - 'One Game at a Time'. In many respects I'm pleased that the Liverpool game is away - I suspect the Cottage might have been a tad flat at kick off time. Also I have to believe that the team cannot perform as badly two weeks in a row. Liverpool will be hurting but conversely they didn't play all that badly, and may take us for granted. So, against the odds, a point possibly ? Talking of odds and kind of related to the thread, Ladbbrokes have today said, Not that I am for one second suggesting we will go down, but the article does reinforce the need to get some points on board soon.
In my opinion no lees than 6pts over the next 3 games would be good enough, its not that we will be playing top notch clubs.
Not top notch but we're looking poor right now and the teams we're playing are on form, given our dismal away form difficult to suggest more than 6 points. I'm not concerned about going down. I like the fact our dip in form has come now, every club has one in fairness but we need results and quickly. Just goes to show those dropped points at Reading, Southampton, Man City and Sunderland (loss) really do Show our weakness in this campaign. There have been plus points Arsenal - as an example but the rest has been fairly average to me.
I think it's fair to say that most of us expected us to perform better in the new year, after having spent considerably on much needed players to fill positions which we are depleted in. Jol himself is culpable in not bringing in a replacement for Murphy, as Tavares, Richardson and Karagounis have just reeked of desperation and despite the fact that none of us expected them to have the vision of Murphy, or technique of Dembele, they have simply failed to live up to whatever small expectations we had of them. Despite the fact that I am behind Jol 100%, and let me first make that clear, there should be a certain amount of pressure on his shoulders at the moment, probably the same as there is on O'Neil's and Pardew, both of whom are also under-performing with a talented squad. A team that includes the likes of Schwarzer, Hangeland, Diarra, Ruiz and Berbatov should not be looking to avoid relegation but push on for a top six finish, and currently we are no-where near that (despite the points difference). If as Jol claims, that the players were not up for the fight against QPR, then he must ask himself why that was. Surely it is a manager's job to motivate his players? Lastly, I agree with Ros, anything less than six points from those four games must be seen as failure. Saying we would be happy with four is unacceptable. If we aren't going to get three points from either Swansea or Southampton at home then who are we going to beat? None of those sides right now are bang in form or world beaters and we must look to take maximum points from three if not all four of them.
Don't know if this will cheer everyone up - we're on par with the last season , and well ahead of the game compared to two seasons ago - please log in to view this image Obviously the recent dip is a concern but as the graph shows it's in the nature of the beast to have at least one per season.
Bandit very much in agreement with what you said. I may have posted my annual doom and gloom thread,but the facts are we should by now after being an established Premiership club, "December" we should be saying will we be top 6, could we win the cup how will we do in Europe next season,but now once again will we avoid relegation. So comes Jan no more of the likes Bandit has mentioned, but some class,so we can revel in the glory us fans and the chairman deserve.
We looked very tasty before Dembele left and we didn't have Murphy then. Agreed investment needs to be made, but our 'problems' won't be sorted in January, the Summer is the best time for building (another) team. I can quite easily say I'd be happy with 4 points over the Christmas period; I'm a supporter, it's if the players and staff say they're happy with that amount of points that we have a problem. What I want and what I think we can get sadly have sweet FA to do what happens on the pitch. Once Ruiz comes back things will look up, but I wouldn't count on finding that mystical, class, attacking centre mid in January.
Having said all this, we've been unlucky with injuries. This has had an effect on results and performance as we haven't had a settled side in runs of games. The back up squad isn't as good as I thought it was.
And there's the problem. The recent slump has been a team that hasn't included Hangeland, Diarra and Ruiz, due to injury and suspension. Hangeland's back, Ruiz is a couple of weeks away (which doesn't help for December) and I'm not sure about Diarra's situation. The next few games are going to be a test for the others, but when everyone is fit we look a lot better - on the pitch, not just on paper - than we have just recently.
Bidley I agree that Dembele's form softened the blow of Murphy leaving, but Dembele was always going to leave at some point. I criticise Jol for not bringing in Murphy's replacement rather than Dembele's because the timing of Dembele's exit gave Jol little time to find a replacement. Dembele was not Murphy's replacement as they are very different players. To sum up, we lack creativity, which we all know. Captain Unfortunately, PL teams rarely have the opportunity to field their 11 best players due to the nature of injuries/suspensions/fatigue/international matches etc, so we must build a squad of players who are good enough to step in if needs be. The fact is, the likes of Richardson/Karagounis/Briggs/Senderos, the majority of our bench, are not good enough to compete at this level, so when they need to step in and play, it brings down the quality of our first 11.
What I mean is, Diarra was Murphy's replacement. We only supposedly started missing Murphy when Dembele left, which suggests that Murphy had been replaced adequately. Murphy's leadership attributes are very missed though, I agree.
Bidley: Yes, Murphy's leadership is what we miss most. I think the plan was to replace the creativity he brought to the team by restructuring the way we play, with the playmaker becoming the man behind the striker (Ruiz, when available). With our without Dembele, the players we had enabled us to be just as creative when they are all fit. Which brings me on to... Bandit: Yes, I agree that we can't expect everyone to be fit all the time and that we need stronger reserves. But you said a team with all those players shouldn't be where we are. You're right, but when we were a team with all those players, we weren't! To end on a note of harmony, adding more depth and quality to the squad could only be good.
4 points it was then. At least its better than 3! That's the only positive really. I'm disappointed but hopeful we can pick some points up. The other teams will smell blood shen they play us as we are out of form, on a terrible run of results and concede easily. Big Mart can turn us around I'm sure.
You on the sauce already? We have collected 1 point from the above or are you predicting a win tomorrow to take us to 4 points?
