Champions League Contention

[Nunkin1965]

3 times this season we've been two-nil up

Man U 3-2 Villa
Villa 3-3 Brentford
Villa 2-2 Chelsea

7 points lost from positions where proper, professional game management should have seen us over the line.

Wouldn't have changed our current league position, but 4th spot would be pretty well guaranteed and we'd be a point behind Pool.

I do think that the next step in the development of the team is for us to become tighter defensively. It's something that Unai should be working on for next season.

Obviously having a (relatively) injury free back 4 would go a long way towards achieving that goal.

Being better defensively will help in terms of the effort players need to make in order to see out games. Retaining posession, knocking the ball around whilst running diwn the clock must be better.

Improving our gamd control will have a positive knock on on terms of fitness, fatigue etc. and that might also help with injuries, bookings and suspensions.

If we did this we'd be challenging for the title and we're way off that.
Isn't  it possible to just enjoy the progress we've made so far?

[PeterWithesShin]

We've dropped 7 points from winning positions, the best in the league. That's why we're 4th. Spurs have dropped 20, Arsenal 9, Man City 10, Man U 17 for some context.

[Brazilian Villain]

What's that Brazilian drink? Caiporinha or something? Anyway, time to celebrate now. No way Spurs come back from this.

Caipirinha, but if you've no cachaça to hand, you can make a Caipiroska (vodka) or a Caipirissima (rum).

how is it different to rum?

Rum is usually made from molasses whereas cachaça is made from sugar cane juice. I feel it gives you a different buzz as well.

Cachaça also works well in a batida, where it's blended with a fruit. Love a batida de maracujá (passion fruit) before dinner.

[LeeB]

There's a realistic chance that a win at Brighton next week could seal it, should today hold on as it is and they lose at Chelsea and Liverpool.

[Monty]

I think the agony about these thrown away leads, few as they've been, comes from the sense that as a team we basically show up or don't. So the Forest defeat doesn't hurt as much as the Chelsea draw, because we were never going to even score in the former as we just weren't at it, but we got ourselves in a winning position in the latter and lost it.

But yes, of course, we're pretty stunning at holding leads normally.

[Smithy]

3 times this season we've been two-nil up

Man U 3-2 Villa
Villa 3-3 Brentford
Villa 2-2 Chelsea

7 points lost from positions where proper, professional game management should have seen us over the line.

Wouldn't have changed our current league position, but 4th spot would be pretty well guaranteed and we'd be a point behind Pool.

I do think that the next step in the development of the team is for us to become tighter defensively. It's something that Unai should be working on for next season.

Obviously having a (relatively) injury free back 4 would go a long way towards achieving that goal.

Being better defensively will help in terms of the effort players need to make in order to see out games. Retaining posession, knocking the ball around whilst running diwn the clock must be better.

Improving our gamd control will have a positive knock on on terms of fitness, fatigue etc. and that might also help with injuries, bookings and suspensions.

Those three are literally the only games - all season - where we've lost points from a winning position.  Every other game - every single one - where we've taken the lead (23 times in total), we've ended up winning.

Not winning from 2-0 up feels like a proper kick in the balls, but we're actually VERY good at winning when we take the lead. The best in the league, in fact.

[supertom]

3 times this season we've been two-nil up

Man U 3-2 Villa
Villa 3-3 Brentford
Villa 2-2 Chelsea

7 points lost from positions where proper, professional game management should have seen us over the line.

Wouldn't have changed our current league position, but 4th spot would be pretty well guaranteed and we'd be a point behind Pool.

I do think that the next step in the development of the team is for us to become tighter defensively. It's something that Unai should be working on for next season.

Obviously having a (relatively) injury free back 4 would go a long way towards achieving that goal.

Being better defensively will help in terms of the effort players need to make in order to see out games. Retaining posession, knocking the ball around whilst running diwn the clock must be better.

Improving our gamd control will have a positive knock on on terms of fitness, fatigue etc. and that might also help with injuries, bookings and suspensions.

Those three are literally the only games - all season - where we've lost points from a winning position.  Every other game - every single one - where we've taken the lead (23 times in total), we've ended up winning.

Not winning from 2-0 up feels like a proper kick in the balls, but we're actually VERY good at winning when we take the lead. The best in the league, in fact.

Yep, no team can be on it for 38 games a season (even Man City). We've been great way more often than not and we've also managed to pick up points when we've played badly.
You could say our disappointing games have probably been the difference between us pushing Liverpool closer (maybe even the top spot) but there's possibly an argument to say we've been better than expected. I wouldn't go as far as to say overachieved because there's a lot of quality in the squad, but also we've dealt with big injuries better than anyone I feel.

The thing with Unai is, we tend to respond after a disappointing performance.

Our record in London has been fantastic, particularly given an aversion under previous managers (almost for as long as I can remember).
We've also had big home wins against Arsenal and Man City.

We fully deserve to finish fourth and I think we likely will. The biggest difference has been that Spurs haven't had as many big results and they've also had more disappointing performances in bankers you'd have expected them to win. I suspect by the end of the season we'll still be well clear of them precisely because teams like Fulham haven't rocked up and twotted us at home, and we've had those big results. We've rescued the odd disaster too, like Brentford and Sheff United.

[AV84]

Is it a case that the couple of times we've dropped points from 2-0 up were "big" games for us in terms of seeing off Spurs, so they stand out like they happened more often than they actually did?

[Smithy]

Something else I realised this weekend, Man City and Arsenal have lost just 8 games all season between them. 3 of those losses were against us.

[AV84]

Something else I realised this weekend, Man City and Arsenal have lost just 8 games all season between them. 3 of those losses were against us.

I jokingly said around Christmas that Villa would decide who won the league and who didn't. If it comes down to Man City by 3 or less, maybe we did.

[Smithy]

Is it a case that the couple of times we've dropped points from 2-0 up were "big" games for us in terms of seeing off Spurs, so they stand out like they happened more often than they actually did?

Absolutely.  Those two have also both been fairly recent (this month), which makes them appear much bigger in the mind.  And because it was a while ago now, we've completely forgotten that we didn't lose a SINGLE point from winning positions until after Xmas.

[Demitri_C]

Just hope arsenal dont blow this. That extra point could be vital

[AV84]

Is it a case that the couple of times we've dropped points from 2-0 up were "big" games for us in terms of seeing off Spurs, so they stand out like they happened more often than they actually did?

Absolutely.  Those two have also both been fairly recent (this month), which makes them appear much bigger in the mind.  And because it was a while ago now, we've completely forgotten that we didn't lose a SINGLE point from winning positions until after Xmas.

Did we not lose to Man U after being 2-0 up?

Edit - just checked the date and it was Dec 26th.

[Richard E]

We are a point further ahead of Spurs than we were before this weekend, with another round of games done. Believe.

[aj2k77]

I thought it was wide open for the Magnificent Tottenham and Big Ange to walk in to the top four?