Quote from: ChicagoLion on January 22, 2020, 01:23:58 PMLooking forward to winning games we didn’t expect.Not happened yetTo be fair I don't think many expected to win at Burnley or to beat Watford yesterday given the abject form and lack of a striker. The results have picked up a bit even if the performances haven't.Be nice to get back to expecting to beat dross like Burnley and Newcastle though. Although I get what you mean, a result against one of the better teams would be most welcome.
Looking forward to winning games we didn’t expect.Not happened yet
Quote from: ASHTONVILLA on January 22, 2020, 01:29:52 PMQuote from: ChicagoLion on January 22, 2020, 01:23:58 PMLooking forward to winning games we didn’t expect.Not happened yetTo be fair I don't think many expected to win at Burnley or to beat Watford yesterday given the abject form and lack of a striker. The results have picked up a bit even if the performances haven't.Be nice to get back to expecting to beat dross like Burnley and Newcastle though. Although I get what you mean, a result against one of the better teams would be most welcome.He means the so-called bigger and/or better and or much higher placed teams in the league. Everybody else has a win against them, eg:Burnley - beat LeicesterNorwich - beat Man CityBournemouth - beat Man U and ChelseaWatford - beat Man U and WolvesBrighton - beat Spurs and ArsenalWest Ham - beat Man U and ChelseaNow it doesn't really matter who we beat, as long as we finish above three other teams, but a win or two against a couple of those sorts of teams would make our job a whole lot easier, as we've got a fairly difficult run in.
I think we will knock one or two of them over. We have to play all of United, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal (and Wolves) at home.
Quote from: Mellin on January 22, 2020, 03:39:50 PMI think we will knock one or two of them over. We have to play all of United, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal (and Wolves) at home.I could be wrong but has Mourhino ever beaten us at home over the years?
I take it I'm not the only one to notice we've actually won more league games than Arsenal now.
Quote from: SoccerHQ on January 21, 2020, 10:52:39 PMI take it I'm not the only one to notice we've actually won more league games than Arsenal now. I hadn't!
Quote from: Lastfootstamper on January 22, 2020, 10:38:15 PMQuote from: SoccerHQ on January 21, 2020, 10:52:39 PMI take it I'm not the only one to notice we've actually won more league games than Arsenal now. I hadn't! And only one win fewer than Sheff Utd who everyone seems to agree are having a great season. They're basically much better at getting draws than us.
But that's a more significant feat than we're letting on, in reality. There are teams in this league with a lot of steel who are good at seeing out games against better opposition, or under the cosh away from home, at which we're very poor.It's been mentioned we have more wins than Arsenal, but their performance this week is a good example of something we wouldn't be able to do - despite struggling to bed-in a new style of play at the moment, and missing their best player through injury, even after going down to 10 men halfway through the 1st half they managed to claw back a game (twice) against a decent team in Chelsea. That's something we'd be incapable of doing with 10 men and without our best player (Grealish). Can you imagine.Our game management is really poor. The second half on Tuesday was better than anything we've seen in a while now, but let's not get carried away - we're still well off Arsenal or Sheff Utd's pace.
Quote from: Smithy on January 23, 2020, 02:22:21 PMQuote from: Lastfootstamper on January 22, 2020, 10:38:15 PMQuote from: SoccerHQ on January 21, 2020, 10:52:39 PMI take it I'm not the only one to notice we've actually won more league games than Arsenal now. I hadn't! And only one win fewer than Sheff Utd who everyone seems to agree are having a great season. They're basically much better at getting draws than us.But that's a more significant feat than we're letting on, in reality. There are teams in this league with a lot of steel who are good at seeing out games against better opposition, or under the cosh away from home, at which we're very poor.It's been mentioned we have more wins than Arsenal, but their performance this week is a good example of something we wouldn't be able to do - despite struggling to bed-in a new style of play at the moment, and missing their best player through injury, even after going down to 10 men halfway through the 1st half they managed to claw back a game (twice) against a decent team in Chelsea. That's something we'd be incapable of doing with 10 men and without our best player (Grealish). Can you imagine.Our game management is really poor. The second half on Tuesday was better than anything we've seen in a while now, but let's not get carried away - we're still well off Arsenal or Sheff Utd's pace.
Quote from: AsTallAsLions on January 23, 2020, 02:30:46 PMQuote from: Smithy on January 23, 2020, 02:22:21 PMQuote from: Lastfootstamper on January 22, 2020, 10:38:15 PMQuote from: SoccerHQ on January 21, 2020, 10:52:39 PMI take it I'm not the only one to notice we've actually won more league games than Arsenal now. I hadn't! And only one win fewer than Sheff Utd who everyone seems to agree are having a great season. They're basically much better at getting draws than us.But that's a more significant feat than we're letting on, in reality. There are teams in this league with a lot of steel who are good at seeing out games against better opposition, or under the cosh away from home, at which we're very poor.It's been mentioned we have more wins than Arsenal, but their performance this week is a good example of something we wouldn't be able to do - despite struggling to bed-in a new style of play at the moment, and missing their best player through injury, even after going down to 10 men halfway through the 1st half they managed to claw back a game (twice) against a decent team in Chelsea. That's something we'd be incapable of doing with 10 men and without our best player (Grealish). Can you imagine.Our game management is really poor. The second half on Tuesday was better than anything we've seen in a while now, but let's not get carried away - we're still well off Arsenal or Sheff Utd's pace.I don't disagree that getting draws important, or that Sheff Utd are good at it, but at the same time we're not a million miles from it. We were 4 minutes from drawing with Spurs, 6 minutes from drawing with Arsenal, and 1 minute from drawing with Liverpool. All of which were games we were leading. Add those 3 points and the only difference between us and Sheff Utd is the result against them (which they deservedly won).Yes, this is a whole of lot of if's but's and maybe's, and I'm certainly not saying we deserve to be higher - we are where we are on merit - I'm just trying to point out the distance to upper mid-table isn't as big as some people think.
Quote from: Smithy on January 23, 2020, 07:40:26 PMQuote from: AsTallAsLions on January 23, 2020, 02:30:46 PMQuote from: Smithy on January 23, 2020, 02:22:21 PMQuote from: Lastfootstamper on January 22, 2020, 10:38:15 PMQuote from: SoccerHQ on January 21, 2020, 10:52:39 PMI take it I'm not the only one to notice we've actually won more league games than Arsenal now. I hadn't! And only one win fewer than Sheff Utd who everyone seems to agree are having a great season. They're basically much better at getting draws than us.But that's a more significant feat than we're letting on, in reality. There are teams in this league with a lot of steel who are good at seeing out games against better opposition, or under the cosh away from home, at which we're very poor.It's been mentioned we have more wins than Arsenal, but their performance this week is a good example of something we wouldn't be able to do - despite struggling to bed-in a new style of play at the moment, and missing their best player through injury, even after going down to 10 men halfway through the 1st half they managed to claw back a game (twice) against a decent team in Chelsea. That's something we'd be incapable of doing with 10 men and without our best player (Grealish). Can you imagine.Our game management is really poor. The second half on Tuesday was better than anything we've seen in a while now, but let's not get carried away - we're still well off Arsenal or Sheff Utd's pace.I don't disagree that getting draws important, or that Sheff Utd are good at it, but at the same time we're not a million miles from it. We were 4 minutes from drawing with Spurs, 6 minutes from drawing with Arsenal, and 1 minute from drawing with Liverpool. All of which were games we were leading. Add those 3 points and the only difference between us and Sheff Utd is the result against them (which they deservedly won).Yes, this is a whole of lot of if's but's and maybe's, and I'm certainly not saying we deserve to be higher - we are where we are on merit - I'm just trying to point out the distance to upper mid-table isn't as big as some people think.But this what pisses me off. I can see us getting relegated but if we can just stay up, I think players like Luiz, Nakamba, Engels, Konsa will be solid players by next year so with a few extra signings we could be a reasonable unit. I have a horrible feeling we’ll get relegated and they’ll all be stars next year.