The Race for the Title, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or even 6th Thread.

[Tucker]

Give your head a wobble, these are the sort of games where we are effective, we have every chance. It's the Sheffield United, West Brom and Brighton matches we should be wary of, seems crazy to even say that.

I think I’d take 9 points against Sheff United WBA and Brighton over beating Liverpool.

If we can’t pick up points against the dregs of the league, beating Liverpool is meaningless.

 

[WiganSpur]

I’m
I couldn’t care about ghat result that could be a freak result which probably was ! 1 win in 6 and the performances are pathetic! Even games we have won West Brom Brighton etc we were very lucky ! This season can go pear shaped very quickly if we don’t up it soon

I'm not talking about us, i'm talking about Utd. An example of how things change, no?

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

I do think it's become pretty clear that we lack that joker in the pack who is capable of pulling something out of nothing. We've always had one in our best periods: Van Der Vaart, Dele, *shudders* Eriksen.

There's just nothing like that in this squad now. I thought Lo Celso would be that guy but he needs to be cryogenically frozen after every game to avoid serious injury. Likewise Bale and Dele has just completely fallen off a cliff.

I'm not sure what the answer is, tbh. I feel they're the difference between us mounting a challenge for the title and not. You've seen what bringing in that rat faced **** has done for United.

If anyone suggests bringing Eriksen back, I'm putting you on ignore.

 

[Dirtysanchez6]

I'm not talking about us, i'm talking about Utd. An example of how things change, no?

United actually try to win games and have improved we are declining

 

[EssexSH27]

I don't rate our chances now City have overtaken. Still having to go to Leicester and Everton after home defeats is gonna be a challenge too. Seems eerily similar to Jose's Man U season when they finished 6th. Just hope we can match their record and win Europa.

 

[phillipjpalmer]

It's amazing were only 6 points off top spot. I actually think if this team was top of the league they wouldn't handle the pressure anyway, so may be better to just keep within distance and hope for a decent run at the end of the season.

 

[mil1lion]

We're in our worst run of form at the moment so obviously we're going to feel negative. It's really a question of how long before we get out of it and whether we can go on a decent run. If we don't turn it soon enough though we wont be able to catch up because the likes of Liverpool and City will also go on a run. Still too close to call at the moment but our inconsistency is a great concern. We can't ignore the fact that it's like that with everyone this season though. It's not really worth thinking about top spot or even top 4 right now. We need to wait until the final run in and see where we are.

 

[Johnny J]

I do think it's become pretty clear that we lack that joker in the pack who is capable of pulling something out of nothing. We've always had one in our best periods: Van Der Vaart, Dele, *shudders* Eriksen.

There's just nothing like that in this squad now.

I see what you mean but I respectfully disagree. Ndombele, Kane and Son are all absolutely capable of pulling something out of nothing.

The problem, I think, is rather that we rely far too heavily on one of those three players - and only two of them when it comes to goals - to pull something magical off. Similar to when we used to rely on Bale to... bail us out with 30-yard screamers.

We can sometimes break quickly and effectively. But we look absolutely hopeless when trying to build an attack in possession. The movement is usually diabolical and we have no sense of urgency. If I didn't know better, I'd suspect that Mourinho was coaching them to be as cautious and safe as possible in possession.

Fucking Fulham had better movement than us today throughout the game. Yes, we had a few good moves, but mostly people on the ball had no options.

There was one point tonight where Hojbjerg had the ball under pressure in midfield and wanted to get it forward and absolutely no one showed for the ball, even after he held his hands out pleading for an option. In the end he ran it out of play for a throw in to Fulham.

Another instance I noticed was Winks receiving the ball well on the half turn and then looking up to see, again, zero movement or options, leading to him passing it back to Dier, who hoofed it long and we turned over possession.

 

[Johnspur]

A chance to go only 4 points off top and a point behind second...yeah, you know what we're gonna do.

I was scrolling through Twitter and I've seen plenty of people going on about how bad our defence is. Am I wrong in saying that I don't think it's that bad?

We don't let in tons of goals, but if you sit back for 70-75 minutes a game and just let the opposition pile pressure on, more often than not they will eventually break through. Issues for me are:

- A complete lack of ambition to seek a 2nd/3rd goal and kill a game. Surely they're not being instructed to do this?
- We also have a midfield that really seem to struggle to string a few passes together and hold the ball.
- A lack of a number 10/creative midfielder

Oh Tottenham, why do you hate us so much?

 

[hellava_tough]

Junk result yesterday, but it's a funny old season; we're actually only 3pts behind Liverpool and Chelsea are 4pts behind us!!

I think the main concern is the game plan, because the same results, caused by the same issues, keep coming up.

Personally, I think we have the players to win the league this season if we were a bit more adventurous. You look at the other teams and they're not miles ahead of us in the league, even if some of their squads are better.

Need to change things up Jose.

 

[Teddy Klinsmann]

Won’t be very long before you know who are going to catch up despite having their worst start in 50 years.

 

[Teddy Klinsmann]

A chance to go only 4 points off top and a point behind second...yeah, you know what we're gonna do.

I was scrolling through Twitter and I've seen plenty of people going on about how bad our defence is. Am I wrong in saying that I don't think it's that bad?

We don't let in tons of goals, but if you sit back for 70-75 minutes a game and just let the opposition pile pressure on, more often than not they will eventually break through. Issues for me are:

- A complete lack of ambition to seek a 2nd/3rd goal and kill a game. Surely they're not being instructed to do this?
- We also have a midfield that really seem to struggle to string a few passes together and hold the ball.
- A lack of a number 10/creative midfielder

Oh Tottenham, why do you hate us so much?

Agree. Defensively our record is as good as any in the league. But you don’t win games by defending. Win games and titles by blowing teams away like City/Liverpool have done in recent years.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

I think I'll stay out of this thread until after the Brighton game. I've said before I thought we'd be firmly top 4 by the end of January. I still think that's the most likely scenario, hence it's better to wait it out a bit. However I'd be lying if I said doubt isn't sneaking in. This might be one of those seasons we win something small like the league cup and are forced to think it was a great season despite failing at other goals. But there are other ways into CL than top 4, so it's the hope that kills you this season. That and the last 15 minutes of each game.

 

[Saoirse]

Agree. Defensively our record is as good as any in the league. But you don’t win games by defending. Win games and titles by blowing teams away like City/Liverpool have done in recent years.

In the absence of having a squad like Liverpool or City's though, defending is your next best shot. Especially in a season where it doesn't look like either of those two is going to hit a truly ridiculous points total - United are top of the league with a style much more similar to ours. The difference between where we are and being top of the league right now is set plays - not one-off games like yesterday where we made a number of good chances, didn't take them, and conceded a very rare goal from open play.

 

[jonnyrotten]

Won’t be very long before you know who are going to catch up despite having their worst start in 50 years.

Oh definitely, Arsenal are playing way better than us at present

 

[13VanDerBale13]

What does amaze me is how we are still somehow 6 points ahead of Chelsea after all the money they spent, so imagine how their fans must be feeling.

 

[Kingellesar]

What does amaze me is how we are still somehow 6 points ahead of Chelsea after all the money they spent, so imagine how their fans must be feeling.

Erm, hate to break it to you but you might want to go back and watch the second half from last night.

 

[dontcallme]

What does amaze me is how we are still somehow 6 points ahead of Chelsea after all the money they spent, so imagine how their fans must be feeling.

4 points.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

Erm, hate to break it to you but you might want to go back and watch the second half from last night.

If you have seen my posts i have been very critical of Jose, the point i was trying to make is that despite us being shit & not being able to win a game, atleast we aren't chelsea essentially lol

4 points.

Yeah my bad, still mad when you think about how shit we've been

 

[Kingellesar]

I meant we are only 4 points ahead and not 6