Race for 4th (or higher) 4.0

[Lo Amo Speroni]

Didn't see much of Drogba at 19 so I'll concede the point.

woos

 

[Misfit]

woos

Hardly. BC saw exactly the same amount as I did of him at 19 and he knows it.

If Drogba was this good at 19, he'd not have had to wait until his 20's for his first pro contract or only really become a threatening striker in his mid 20's. His trajectory after that was pretty immense mind and he's been one of the very best for most of the last 10 yrs. Still, even his first couple of yrs in the prem, goals and all, his biggest learning curve was how to stay on his feet. He was worse than Emile Heskey at that.

Bang, flat on his face. Out of nowhere.

Still, Lukaku might not become quite as good as Drogba did in his late 20's/early 30's. He's got a fucking good chance though.

 

[Spursidol]

So where are we now, is this a fair summary after Liverpool's defeat tonight and the weekend's results :

1st - Can't see Man U slipping up now, big lead
2nd - Hope Man City implode after their Southampton result
3rd - Tantalisingly close
4th - Need to continue playing as we have done for last 2-3 months, and beat Arsenal at WHL (and preferably Liverpool away for fun) and it should be ours (or even higher).
5th - Leave it for Arsenal and Chelsea to fight over ?
6th - Everton will probably wilt slightly in the run up due to a smaller squad, but hold on
7th - 9th etc Do we care that much ?

But we cannot be complacent, we need to carry on getting results

 

[StartingPrice]

Still no. They'd still have that day out. In an ideal world, Gooners would be deprived of all happiness.

I'd take that. As well as seeing Chelsea, and particularly Roman, JT and Cole, destroyed (and the latter three in a nasty way), what joy the Goons felt would be magnified 1000 fold in misery when the CL was stripped from them, it would turn to dust in their mouths, and for all of time, and the Whinger would have to spend the rest of his unnatural life in a Thai prison, a thin wall away from the Lady Boy's enclosure, having the soles of his feet beaten with bamboo canes.

It's not like the scummy b'stards would actually get to keep the trophy...and would could throw in extra punishments for their match fixing as well.

 

[CJMurray]

I'd take that. As well as seeing Chelsea, and particularly Roman, JT and Cole, destroyed (and the latter three in a nasty way), what joy the Goons felt would be magnified 1000 fold in misery when the CL was stripped from them, it would turn to dust in their mouths, and for all of time, and the Whinger would have to spend the rest of his unnatural life in a Thai prison, a thin wall away from the Lady Boy's enclosure, having the soles of his feet beaten with bamboo canes.

It's not like the scummy b'stards would actually get to keep the trophy...and would could throw in extra punishments for their match fixing as well.

That sounds lovely and all, but i'd still have that memory of Jack Wilshere running around with that trophy with his stupid tongue out (why won't he put it back in his mouth for fuck sake?).

 

[StartingPrice]

That sounds lovely and all, but i'd still have that memory of Jack Wilshere running around with that trophy with his stupid tongue out (why won't he put it back in his mouth for fuck sake?).

A horrible thought, to be sure.
But just imagine, the vile creature's misery spending the rest of his life knowing that he held greatness within his grasp, only to have it snatched away, and that he was only ever a counterfeit champion and would never add up to nuthin' but a snufflin' little Quasimodo ****

 

[LeSoupeKitchen]

Man U stretching a lead at the top makes me a bit worried about them throwing points away to Arsenal. Arsenal don't have too many tough games ahead so its crucial we do them at ours.

 

[vegassd]

12 points behind 4th now with 12 games to go.

Yep. They needed to ride their Anfield form all the way through March to have a decent chance. I think Rodgers might have out-thought himself a bit playing Shelvey rather than Sterling, and they missed Sturridge, but definitely looks like they are out of it now. Crazy that it might have all swung on that penalty miss!

It seemed like quite a Spurs game actually. 57% possession, 23 shots, 14 on target, but struggling to score. WBA had 3 shots on target and scored 2. Crazy game sometimes.

Our game at Anfield will be sandwiched by the last 16 games of the Europa league so I hope they make it through and have half an eye on those games rather than putting out a strong team against us.

 

[lennon4england]

He always had more about him than Lukaku has.

Benteke has more about him than Lukaku does.

If one of the big clubs had paid £20mil for Benteke and he was doing what he is at Villa on loan from say Chelsea, you'd all be fantasising over him as the new Didier.

 

[sunnydelight786]

All we can do is keep winning our own games and let the rest worry about us.....

 

[Cavehillspur]

I think 2nd will be thrown wide open next week. If Utd do what you would expect and beat QPR they will open up a 15point lead with City playing Chelsea the following day.

I think City's heads will go, in fact I think they may already be gone, they're a bit of a shambles right now. Chelsea under Rafa arent much better, very inconsistent. I think any result suits us here. Just cant decide if I want Chelsea to beat City and then hope we can win at the Hammmers that would put us 2 off 2nd with City still to come to the Lane, the pressure on them will be immense.

Going to be very tight, if we can stay injury free and get Kaboul back for the run in, we could really challenge. I predictied us to finish 5th the other day but have had a rethink, esp after Liverpools result, I think we can rule them out of the race for 4th

 

[Spursidol]

I think 2nd will be thrown wide open next week. If Utd do what you would expect and beat QPR they will open up a 15point lead with City playing Chelsea the following day.

I think City's heads will go, in fact I think they may already be gone, they're a bit of a shambles right now. Chelsea under Rafa arent much better, very inconsistent. I think any result suits us here. Just cant decide if I want Chelsea to beat City and then hope we can win at the Hammmers that would put us 2 off 2nd with City still to come to the Lane, the pressure on them will be immense.

Going to be very tight, if we can stay injury free and get Kaboul back for the run in, we could really challenge. I predictied us to finish 5th the other day but have had a rethink, esp after Liverpools result, I think we can rule them out of the race for 4th

I'm not as confident as you re Man City losing their heads, but think it will be a tense match. IMO the City players main concern will be not to lose - and with that mentality the Man City v Chelsea game might well be a draw.

I think it suits us if Chelsdea drop 2 points and if Man City continue to be fragile, it leaves 2nd place tantalisingly close as well as 3rd place - but we need to be collecting all the points we can, so we need to continue to beat the other teams we play, first of all West Ham but then especially Arsenal at home, otherwise we cannnot take advantage of other teams slip ups.

 

[Cavehillspur]

I'm not as confident as you re Man City losing their heads, but think it will be a tense match. IMO the City players main concern will be not to lose - and with that mentality the Man City v Chelsea game might well be a draw.

I think it suits us if Chelsdea drop 2 points and if Man City continue to be fragile, it leaves 2nd place tantalisingly close as well as 3rd place - but we need to be collecting all the points we can, so we need to continue to beat the other teams we play, first of all West Ham but then especially Arsenal at home, otherwise we cannnot take advantage of other teams slip ups.

Agreed, next 3 games for us are absolutely huge, if we win all 3 (massive ask) I can see us getting 4th at the very least.

 

[StartingPrice]

I'm not as confident as you re Man City losing their heads, but think it will be a tense match. IMO the City players main concern will be not to lose - and with that mentality the Man City v Chelsea game might well be a draw.

I think it suits us if Chelsdea drop 2 points and if Man City continue to be fragile, it leaves 2nd place tantalisingly close as well as 3rd place - but we need to be collecting all the points we can, so we need to continue to beat the other teams we play, first of all West Ham but then especially Arsenal at home, otherwise we cannnot take advantage of other teams slip ups.

This.
We do have a hard run-in. But, when looked at from the other side, Citeh and the Goons both have to visit the lane. They will not be looking forward to that. The Goons, in particular, everyone is focussing on their attacking play, but missing the fact that we have a very tight defence these days and that their defence is somewhat more fragile.

I don't think we will finish lower than 5th, so bringing Citeh back into things would create a 4 way fight for 3 places. And in that fight, while we do have a difficult run-in, in other ways we are better placed than our rivals. Citeh's morale looks like ours did after the Goons Newcastle/Goons game last year; Chelsea are playing for a manager no-one wants there and are inconsistent; the Goons are obsessed with us - a funny thing, seen as they spent previous seasons laughing at us for being obsessed with them, so much so that they seem to be missing the point that they are only one point further behind Chelsea than they are behind us, and we should remind them and their fans of this ridiculous turn-around at every turn.

A draw between Citeh and Chelsea would be perfect for us. A win at the Spammers would take us two points closer to Citeh, who have to visit us, and above Chelsea. Even a draw or a loss at the Stadium of Dildos wouldn't see either of them pulling too far ahead of us.

 

[Mr Pink]

Agree SP. I'm really looking forward to the Pikey game, it won't be easy by any stretch but I just think we are well equipped to nullify their main threat, scraps off Carroll etc, and will have far too much for them going forward.

People argued that Dawson didn't win many headers against Carroll at the Lane, but what he did do was reduce the effectiveness of them.

I'm confident.

 

[vegassd]

The Goons, in particular, everyone is focussing on their attacking play, but missing the fact that we have a very tight defence these days and that their defence is somewhat more fragile.

I hope that BAE will be fully back to his usual self by then. The thought of Walcott vs. Naughton and Cazorla vs. Walker scares the shite out of me!

But I think that City and Chelsea have too many experienced players for a single defeat to really rock them, so a draw would be the best result because they both lose 2 points. Well, that and everybody getting malaria or leg breaks would be the best result!

The weekend of the derby sees the other top 4 teams with fairly easy games, so getting all 3 points against West Ham will be crucial to keeping our momentum going.

 

[sloth]

I think that's stretching it a bit. He's powerful and a real handful in the final third but world class players have more than this. If Shane Long is keeping you out the team, world class possibly isn't where you're heading. I think he'll do well enough, but I think he lacks that bit of finesse or craft that makes a player world class.

I'd still love him at Spurs though!

 

[jimmy-jojo]

We just need to concentrate on ourselves and take one game at a time. The only time we should concern ourselves with Scum, Chelscum, Liverpool and City is when we play them.

 

[brasil_spur]

I hope that BAE will be fully back to his usual self by then. The thought of Walcott vs. Naughton and Cazorla vs. Walker scares the shite out of me!

But I think that City and Chelsea have too many experienced players for a single defeat to really rock them, so a draw would be the best result because they both lose 2 points. Well, that and everybody getting malaria or leg breaks would be the best result!

The weekend of the derby sees the other top 4 teams with fairly easy games, so getting all 3 points against West Ham will be crucial to keeping our momentum going.

Less worried about Cazorla vs Walker if Lennon, Parker and Dembele are in the team and Ekotto is dealing with Walcott on the other flank.

What we really need though is for Ade to get into some goal scoring or at least assisting form.

 

[StartingPrice]

I hope that BAE will be fully back to his usual self by then. The thought of Walcott vs. Naughton and Cazorla vs. Walker scares the shite out of me!

But I think that City and Chelsea have too many experienced players for a single defeat to really rock them, so a draw would be the best result because they both lose 2 points. Well, that and everybody getting malaria or leg breaks would be the best result!

The weekend of the derby sees the other top 4 teams with fairly easy games, so getting all 3 points against West Ham will be crucial to keeping our momentum going.

Oh, I agree, we could do with BAE...and at his best. I certainly wouldn't try to minimize it. BUT, we are at home, their defence is fragile, and I think they should be more worried about us. Our defence is solid - theirs isn't. And we both habve potent attacks - but we have home advantage.

I'm not sure that a single defeat would really rock Citeh and Chelsea. I do think, as said, that Citeh's morale looks shot and Cheslea are inconsistent and stuck in a loveless marriage. Just so long as Holtby continues to progress and Adebayor actually does what he is paid for and we know he can do, we should be looking forward to this.