Champions League Contention

[Duncan Shaw]

Well we might have to sell one of them, so if one or both of Emi or Luiz do want to leave I can't see us trying too hard to change their minds, it'll just be case of getting the biggest fee for them.

This is my thinking too, i think we'll see one of those two or Watkins leave in the summer.  Maybe even if we get CL.

Just really flat this morning, as we have all seen how this story goes with Villa so often!

[brontebilly]

Man United will continue to drop points anyway. Johnny Evans is their best defender currently. Man City will annihilate us most likely but West Ham are very average as are Ajax. Focus on the next week and things might be positive again ahead of Wolves.

[PaulWinch again]

If we continue to sit back against decent sides I think we’ll fall away. Our success has been built on front footed attacking play that has actually had the effect of protecting our shaky defensive play. We have to be proactive and not fade away meekly. Yesterday was meek and we allowed Spurs to control the game.

[Risso]

Both Man U and Spurs will overtake us, I guarantee it.

[Drummond]

Just being in the champions league would do more for our profile than winning the conference.

Maybe but imagine the damage done if we have our assess served to us on a plate in the first round? I think we’ve done amazing to still be in 4th place by March. However the standards of performance have dropped off since Christmas. In that time we’ve lost to Newcastle, Utd and Spurs, all teams we beat last season comprehensively. We’ve had terrible luck with injuries but squad depth should alleviate that somewhat. When Ollie is misfiring who can we bring in? When Kamara has been injured we struggle to cover for him. Champions league is way too soon for this squad currently.

Considering Newcastle and ManU couldn't get out of a hardish and a modest group respectively, both have donn the double over us does suggest we'd be well short

And Man City won it and we restricted them to two shots all game when we beat them.

[chrisw1]

Both Man U and Spurs will overtake us, I guarantee it.

That's how I felt after the Man U game.  Then we built up an 11 point gap and things looked rosy.  Starting to worry again now with the red on top of the injuries.

[Drummond]

Both Man U and Spurs will overtake us, I guarantee it.

Ooh, and if we lose to West Ham, they'll definitely finish above us too, and we have to play Brighton. Bottom half awaits.

[chrisw1]

Both Man U and Spurs will overtake us, I guarantee it.

Ooh, and if we lose to West Ham, they'll definitely finish above us too, and we have to play Brighton. Bottom half awaits.

Chelsea are 19 points behind us in 11th.  I know you're always negative Drummond, but that's a bit daft tbh.

[Risso]

We'll finish 6th, behind Man U and Spurs.

[chrisw1]

We'll finish 6th, behind Man U and Spurs.

5th or 6th.  Losing 8 points to Man U would be a massive capitulation.

[ez]

The west ham game has now become a massive game for us.

[Drummond]

The west ham game has now become a massive game for us.

Every game we play is massive in the context of our season, as it is for everyone looking to win something or to qualify for Europe.

It's different this season, as it's the first time, for a very, very long time, that we've been challenging for honours (the Conference League) and for qualifying for Europe. Last season was hope over expectation, whereas this season, because of how well we've done to date, we're in the leading pack, rather than chasing them down.

I think we all shit the bed a bit yesterday, even as fans we were subdued (this is not a criticism or bigger fan than you style post) because we don't expect to be here. Yet.

[LeeB]

We'll finish 6th, behind Man U and Spurs.

I worried after the Boxing Day calamity that we'd repeat that season under Gregory when we were flying until Christmas then collapsed, and I fear this is now the case.

[Risso]

We'll finish 6th, behind Man U and Spurs.

I worried after the Boxing Day Captain that we'd repeat that season under Gregory when we were flying until Christmas then collapsed, and I fear this is now the case.

And every single season under O'Neill.

[eamonn]

Calendar years 2023 and 1998 we were the second best team in the country.

Unfortunately, because we had a crap start to 97/98 and crap finish to 98/99, that late 90s era faded into insignificance.

I would hate if we repeat that pattern again. We've got two months to ward off the witches.