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Re: Staying up
Posted: 18 Dec 2020, 14:36
by Phil147
rigger wrote:I wonder if the Newcastle victory will actually serve notice to the rest of the division that even if you sit back and try to hit us on the break, we can still hurt you.
This could play into our hands, especially given our record for defending corners and freekicks close to goal. Teams must push out to win any such dangerous set piece, which means there'll be space to exploit behind them as they do so. Even if they stretch their own shape, keeping defenders in a low block, it has to mean the midfield area will then be relatively vacant.
If our players have enough about them we could well turn this weakness into a positive.
Maybe not against the best sides - like Chelsea - but certainly often enough for us to get the foothold we need to stay up.
I think so too, there will be teams who sit back and just aren't that good at defending as well as going forward but the key here is to make sure we take our chances when they come. What was really impressive about the Newcastle performance was how we reacted to conceding, heads didn't drop and we continued to play good attacking football and got our just rewards. As you say against the best sides this might not work, although we came close against Liverpool and City.
In terms of set pieces though we do need to tighten up at the back because if we defend them properly we are so dangerous on the counter attack from them, I reckon we must score more goals from an opposition set piece than we do from our own...
Re: Staying up
Posted: 19 Dec 2020, 00:01
by The Squirrel
To get to 38 points we need 7 wins. We are more than capable of getting that from the remaining 25 games
Re: Staying up
Posted: 21 Dec 2020, 05:59
by Nic
The Squirrel wrote:To get to 38 points we need 7 wins. We are more than capable of getting that from the remaining 25 games
If/When we beat Burnley & West Brom we'll be on 23 with 22 games to go, and 1PPG puts us on 45 for the season.
If/When we string a few results together, all this relegation talk will go. It always emerges after a bad run of form. Last season when we lost a couple, it was all talk of fear of the play-offs and losing out again.
Re: Staying up
Posted: 21 Dec 2020, 07:16
by Daz5
Yes Nic and we are only 14pts behind Liverpool
Re: Staying up
Posted: 21 Dec 2020, 09:35
by Selby White
Daz5 wrote:Yes Nic and we are only 14pts behind Liverpool
That's really relevant for those that thought we would be competing for top spot in the league this season.
Personally I think 4th bottom is the initial target for a newly promoted team and we are very much on schedule to finish higher than that based on what we've seen so far.
Cant see any of Sheff Utd, West Brom, Burnley, Fulham or Brighton overtaking us at any stage.
The likes of Newcastle, Arsenal (a surprise thought I'd be putting West Ham here), Palace, Villa should be what we are comparing with. Let's see how many of these we can finish above.
Re: Staying up
Posted: 21 Dec 2020, 12:37
by Daz5
Totally true Selby White
Re: Staying up
Posted: 21 Dec 2020, 18:47
by Metro1962
At the end of the season I believe we will end up in the top ten*
*Most likely with a remix of Marching on Together.
Seriously though I do think we will be within the top 10.
Re: Staying up
Posted: 23 Dec 2020, 10:41
by Aqua-
After almost half a season i am confident we will stay up.
We can still get into trouble if we do bad in the next 4 games, especially against the likes of burnley, west brom & brighton, but in reality there are at least 5-6 teams worse than us. Even with serious injuries at the back we are able to fight (pascal for cooper vs liverpool) and even win (cooper + ayling at CB vs villa & newcastle).
Over PL history the club who finish 17th collect 38 points on average and 10th spot collect 48 on average, i think we will finish somewhere in between, slightly closer to 48 points. But really imo the next 4 games are crucial. If we take 7 out of the next 12 points we will never struggle this season.
Re: Staying up
Posted: 23 Dec 2020, 16:45
by johnh
Nah! Father Christmas doesn't come if you 'stay up'. I shall go to bed early like a good lad.
Re: Staying up
Posted: 23 Dec 2020, 19:29
by Davycc
johnh wrote:Nah! Father Christmas doesn't come if you 'stay up'. I shall go to bed early like a good lad.
Very droll John, very droll
