This Weekend's Fixtures & Two Others (01/02/03/12 Feb).

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Saturday, 1st February 2025
Nottingham Forest v Brighton & Hove Albion, 12:30 https://i.imgur.com/tM2pRxb.png
Bournemouth v Liverpool, 15:00
Everton v Leicester City, 15:00
Ipswich Town v Southampton, 15:00
Newcastle United v Fulham, 15:00
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aston Villa, 17:30 https://i.imgur.com/htwHZ0c.jpg

Sunday, 2nd February 2025
Brentford v Tottenham Hotspur, 14:00 https://i.imgur.com/htwHZ0c.jpg
Manchester United v Crystal Palace, 14:00
Arsenal v Manchester City, 16:30 https://i.imgur.com/htwHZ0c.jpg

Monday, 3rd February 2025
Chelsea v West Ham United, 20:00 https://i.imgur.com/htwHZ0c.jpg

Wednesday, 12th February 2025
Everton v Liverpool, 19:30 https://i.imgur.com/tM2pRxb.png

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Nottingham Forest: Sels Milenkovic, Murillo, Morato, Aina, Anderson, Danilo, Williams, Gibbs-White, Wood, Elanga
Subs: Miguel, Sangare, Awoniyi, Dominguez, Moreno, Jota Silva, Yates, Sosa, Boly

Brighton: Verbruggen, Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Lamptey, Minteh, Hinshelwood, Rutter, Mitoma, Joao Pedro, Welbeck
Subs: Rushworth, Webster, Gruda, Adingra, Gomez, Ferguson, O’Riley, McConville, Knight

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Forest 1-0 Brighton, Dunk OG!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Forest 2-0 Brighton, Gibbs-White!

Good header.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Forest 3-0 Brighton, Wood. :wacko:

[Mac76]

really hope Brentford do Spuds good and proper tomorrow :good:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

VAR wasting everyone's time reviewing that goal.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

So unlucky Welbeck, snacks the bar and bounces only partly over the line!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Forest 4-0 Brighton, Wood again!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Pelanty for Forest. :haha:

Wow.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Forest 5-0 Brighton, Wood hat-trick.

That is crazy.

[Marc Overmars]

How are Forest so good this season? :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Forest 6-0 Brighton, Williams. :wacko:

[Mac76]

wow what a massacre

Hürzeler :pal:

[Mac76]

7-0 :haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Forest 7-0 Brighton.

:haha:

[Niall_Quinn]

And Forest lost 5-0 last week?

If this was stock trading there would be an investigation.

[HCZ_Reborn]

How are Forest so good this season? :lol:

Everything in perspective, they lost 5-0 last Saturday. And Brighton lost at home to Everton

Makes Bournemouth vs Liverpool a hell of a game. Because It’s arguably Bournemouth who are the form team currently

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I am not disappointed or upset with seeing that little shit Hurzeler get a hammering.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Nottingham Forest 7-0 Brighton & Hove Albion, FT.

:haha:

This league is mental.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

I am not disappointed or upset with seeing that little shit Hurzeler get a hammering.

Pretty sure I "hate" him more than any manager left in the EPL. Hopefully this has him questioning his career path and gets the smug idiot going back to Esports.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Pretty sure I "hate" him more than any manager left in the EPL. Hopefully this has him questioning his career path and gets the smug idiot going back to Esports.

Nah I think he’s just a dickhead

Plus if I was coaching a team like Brighton I’d probably pretend that I got two draws against Arsenal on merit rather than the referee’s generosity

Guardiola I can’t stand for much the same reason I don’t like Arteta. Not amazingly fond of Maresca either, I think he was strutting around a lot until he was humbled by Chelsea’s recent results

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Hopefully he goes back to Football Manager.

Results like this should be an automatic sacking tbh.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Hopefully he goes back to Football Manager.

Results like this should be an automatic sacking tbh.

You’d think with some of the players Brighton have that they’d score more than they do. But they’ve always to me felt like they massively underperform their XG and they’ve always been prone to a result like this. They got trashed 6-1 by Villa last season

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Everton 1-0 Leicester, Doucoure.

Spuds 16th. :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Everton 2-0 Leicester, Beto.

:haha:

Spuds have to beat Brentford away to go back above them. :popcorn:

[Letters]

Forest 7-0 Brighton.

:haha:

Brighton :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Semenyo hit the post.

Ipswich 0-1 Southampton, Aribo!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bournemouth 0-1 Liverpool, Salah pelanty.

[Marc Overmars]

0-1 Salah pen :rose:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Ipswich 1-1 Southampton, Delap.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bournemouth 1-1 Liverpool!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Might be disallowed.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Newcastle 1-0 Fulham, Murphy.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

And it remains 0-1 Liverpool.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Bournemouth 1-1 Liverpool!

Interestingly Sky sports saying that the goal wasn’t given to begin with and VAR confirmed on field decision

[HCZ_Reborn]

Everton now 3-0 up Beto again

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Everton 3-0 Leicester, Beto with his second.

[Mac76]

Everton 3-0 Leicester, Beto with his second.

Van Nistelhorse :pal:

[Niall_Quinn]

Another Liverpool penalty? They really are spoiling them. I assume it was one of their notorious cheaty, diving gits up top who took a tumble?

[Niall_Quinn]

Yep, Gakpo the cheating cunt. That's embarrassing.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Newcastle 1-1 Fulham, Jimenez.

[Niall_Quinn]

Ref's a scouser. Every single decision their way.

[Niall_Quinn]

Oh fuck, of course, it's Darren England. All makes perfect sense now.

[Niall_Quinn]

This is outrageous. It's so blatant the players have started ignoring England and going to the assistant ref.

[Niall_Quinn]

Gakpo off, his dirty deeds done. Nunez on, he's just as good in the box to be fair.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Kluivert missed a sitter it sounds like.

[Niall_Quinn]

Bloody hard to get a reliable stream for this one.

[Marc Overmars]

0-2 Salah again

God this season is so shit.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bournemouth 0-2 Liverpool, Salah with his second.

[Niall_Quinn]

0-2 though didn't see it.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Newcastle 1-2 Fulham, Muniz. :lol:

[Niall_Quinn]

Wait until you see the Gakpo dive. It's beyond belief, could even be a worse decision than MLS red. And VAR played along again.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Ipswich 1-2 Southampton, Onuachu or someone.

Derby's record in danger. :rose:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Everton 4-0 Leicester, Ndiaye.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Newcastle 1-2 Fulham. FT. :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bournemouth 0-2 Liverpool, FT.

Iraola. :doh:

How could you.

[Niall_Quinn]

BMouth 0 - 2 Pool and their ref FT

[HCZ_Reborn]

Wait until you see the Gakpo dive. It's beyond belief, could even be a worse decision than MLS red. And VAR played along again.

Given your tendency towards exaggeration, I didn’t take your word for this.

But having seen it, it reminds me of the Red card David Luiz got in the game vs Wolves four years ago. Fairy fucking godmother pushes Gakpo over

[Niall_Quinn]

Given your tendency towards exaggeration, I didn’t take your word for this.

But having seen it, it reminds me of the Red card David Luiz got in the game vs Wolves four years ago. Fairy fucking godmother pushes Gakpo over

They're using the excuse the defender brushed past him as the contact that the already notorious Gakpo used to trip himself. Absolute arse covering of one of the very worst officials in the game, again. Just like Oliver. I'm not saying Liverpool should give the penalty back, of course they are going to accept it. But there's not a mention of the disgusting Gakpo who does this all the time and will continue to do it and benefit from it until somebody of note comes out and calls him out.

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

https://v.redd.it/8ki22aq4sjge1

He catches his left leg :shrug:

[Niall_Quinn]

And I only got to watch about 20 mins of the game due to shitty streams, but during that time Darren England might as well have put on a Liverpool shirt. If he really is that incompetent then how the hell can he be allowed to ref a big game like that? Nah, he's reffing it for a reason because he's there to cheat. Again, not Liverpool's fault, not saying they are paying him. I don't know for sure why the likes of Oliver and England cheat like this, I just know for sure they are doing it.

[Niall_Quinn]

https://v.redd.it/8ki22aq4sjge1

He catches his left leg :shrug:

Get out of it. Good win for your boys and all, but everyone should be loudly condemning VAR and particularly Gakpo for that one. Yu could even say, okay, Darren England made a mistake in the heat of the moment (if he hadn't cheated for a solid 20 minutes that I saw), but there's no excuse for VAR or that horrible bastard who habitually disgraces football and your shirt.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Wolves 1-0 Villa Bellegarde

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Villa after Champions League games. :lol:

[Mac76]

Wolves should be 3 or 4 up, they were all oover them but didn't make the most of their chances

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Don't get why Villa had that goal disallowed.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Wolves 2-0 Villa, Cunha, Lovely finish.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Wolves 2-0 Villa, FT.

Emery. :lol:

[Mac76]

Villa :lol:

Emery :pal:

We beat Wolves with 10 men :bow:

[Mac76]

Wolves 2-0 Villa, Cunha, Lovely finish.

Indeed it was

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Sign him up, Arsene.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Oh he signed a new contract. :lol:

Brentford: Valdimarsson, Lewis-Potter, Van den Berg, Collins, Ajer, Janelt, Norgaard, Schade, Damsgaard, Mbeumo, Wissa.
Subs: Eyestone, Mee, Pinnock, Kayode, Jensen, Carvalho, Konak, Yarmoliuk, Maghoma.

Spuds: Kinsky, Gray, Davies, Spence, Porro, Bissouma, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Son, Richarlison, Moore.
Subs: Austin, Reguilon, Bergvall, Cassanova, Ajayi, Olusesi, Hardy, Sarr, Scarlett.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Man Utd: Onana, Mazraoui, Maguire, Martinez, Fernandes, Yoro, Amad, Garnacho, Dalot, Ugarte, Mainoo
Subs: Bayindir, Harrison, Lindelof, De Ligt, Hojlund, Zirkzee, Eriksen, Casemiro, Collyer

Crystal Palace: Henderson, Mitchell, Lacroix, Guehi, Sarr, Lerma, Munoz, Mateta, Kamada, Hughes, Richards
Subs: Turner, Nketiah, Eze, Schlupp, Clyne, Wharton, Esse, Devenny, Kporha

[HCZ_Reborn]

Oh he signed a new contract. :lol:

Brentford: Valdimarsson, Lewis-Potter, Van den Berg, Collins, Ajer, Janelt, Norgaard, Schade, Damsgaard, Mbeumo, Wissa.
Subs: Eyestone, Mee, Pinnock, Kayode, Jensen, Carvalho, Konak, Yarmoliuk, Maghoma.

Spuds: Kinsky, Gray, Davies, Spence, Porro, Bissouma, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Son, Richarlison, Moore.
Subs: Austin, Reguilon, Bergvall, Cassanova, Ajayi, Olusesi, Hardy, Sarr, Scarlett.

Spurs have Cassanova on the bench?

They hoping he seduces the opposition?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Kinsky. :lol:

[HCZ_Reborn]

OG strikes again. This time for Spurs

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Brentford 0-1 Tottenham, Janelt OG.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Very good from Kulusevski but nobody following it in far post

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Kulusevski side netting.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Man Utd 0-1 Palace, Mateta. :lol:

[Marc Overmars]

United are so bad it’s not even that funny anymore.

[HCZ_Reborn]

United are so bad it’s not even that funny anymore.

I feel that, sometimes when teams you don’t like lose, it’s like eating your favourite food

If you do it too often it loses its appeal

[McNamara That Ghost...]

United are so bad it’s not even that funny anymore.

On the other hand.

:haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Sounds like an ACL for Martinez from what they're saying on Redcafe.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Sounds like an ACL for Martinez from what they're saying on Redcafe.

That is poetic justice if ever I saw it

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Brentford 0-2 Spuds, Sarr.

Brentford spamming crosses all game. :doh:

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

2-0 Mateta. :haha:

I agree, it'll never not be funny.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Man Utd 0-2 Palace, Mateta with his second. :haha:

[HCZ_Reborn]

Spurs get the second Sarr

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Brentford 0-2 Spuds, FT.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Manchester United 0-2 Crystal Palace, FT!

:haha:

[Niall_Quinn]

No wonder our youngsters are jumping ship and racing there. Guaranteed starters, as would I be except I don't want to live in Manchester.

[Letters]

Brentford 0-2 Spuds, FT.

Staying up,
Staying up;
Staying up!

[Letters]

Manchester United 0-2 Crystal Palace, FT!

:haha:

Honestly ridiculous we lost to this lot.
Only on pels, but still
:doh:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Chelsea v West Ham is on currently.

Come on Potter. :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Big miss from Madueke.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Chelsea 0-1 West Ham, Bowen!

Colwill plays him in. :lol:

[HCZ_Reborn]

Bowen scores

Chelsea 0-1 West Ham

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Brilliant save from Arreola off Palmer's freekick.

[HCZ_Reborn]

1-1 Neto

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Chelsea 1-1 West Ham, Pedro Neto.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Kudus heads on to the post, what a miss!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

2-1 Palmer if not an OG.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Wan-Bissaka OG.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Chelsea 2-1 West Ham, FT.

Potter. :doh:

[HCZ_Reborn]

Would have been nice to see Chelsea lose again, to see that miserable shit stain of a football club back where it belongs

But oh well. In a way shame Newcastle didn’t win at the weekend, would have knocked Chelsea and City out of the top four

But at same time, fuck Newcastle. Just because they can’t go berserk in the transfer window, doesn’t change the fact that they are a play thing for the Al Sauds’ sycophants

That and their fan base are getting a bit above themselves, almost as if they’ve forgotten they’ve haven’t won a fucking thing going back before decimalisation

[Niall_Quinn]

Would have been nice to see Chelsea lose again, to see that miserable shit stain of a football club back where it belongs

But oh well. In a way shame Newcastle didn’t win at the weekend, would have knocked Chelsea and City out of the top four

But at same time, fuck Newcastle. Just because they can’t go berserk in the transfer window, doesn’t change the fact that they are a play thing for the Al Sauds’ sycophants

That and their fan base are getting a bit above themselves, almost as if they’ve forgotten they’ve haven’t won a fucking thing going back before decimalisation

I can barely understand you when I'm sober.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I can barely understand you when I'm sober.

Probably doesn’t help if you’re using a handheld device what with the alcoholic shakes

[Niall_Quinn]

Probably doesn’t help if you’re using a handheld device what with the alcoholic shakes

On the contrary, it adds much needed vigour to your writing.

[Letters]

I can barely understand you when I'm sober.

When’s that?

[HCZ_Reborn]

On the contrary, it adds much needed vigour to your writing.

I’m not sure what would improve your writing. A sense of perspective probably

Well that and being confined to being no more than a single paragraph

[Niall_Quinn]

When’s that?

Seriously? Big boys playing, shallow end is over there.

[Niall_Quinn]

I’m not sure what would improve your writing. A sense of perspective probably

Well that and being confined to being no more than a single paragraph

I would say a good Scotch. A Fleet Street lunch.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I would say a good Scotch. A Fleet Street lunch.

There are times (not often mind) where I do feel you speak my language.

Richard Littlejohn (bloated cunt that he is) is the ultimate connoisseur of the Fleet Street Lunch

[Letters]

Seriously? Big boys playing, shallow end is over there.

:lol:
So thin-skinned. I can see why you like Trump. He's the same.

[Niall_Quinn]

:lol:
So thin-skinned. I can see why you like Trump. He's the same.

At least use arm bands, you're making me nervous.

[Letters]

Bless.

Did I hurt your fee fees?

:console:

:lol:

[Niall_Quinn]

Bless.

Did I hurt your fee fees?

:console:

:lol:

Okay, everyone to the shallow end.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Everton: Pickford, O'Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gana, Garner, Doucoure, Lindstrom, Ndiaye, Beto.
Subs: Virginia, Begovic, Keane, Harrison, Young, Alcaraz, Iroegbunam, Sherif, Heath

Liverpool: Alisson, Bradley, Van Dijk, Konate, Robertson, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Salah, Gakpo, Diaz.
Subs: Kelleher, Endo, Nunez, Jones, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Alexander-Arnold, Quansah

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

Eurgh :sick:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

A lot of bluster out there.

Not as much as when this was supposed to be played, granted.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Michael Oliver is refereeing?

:haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Everton 1-0 Liverpool, BETO!!!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-1. :lol:

[Marc Overmars]

After todays news my interest in this game plummeted.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Ndiaye gone off injured, quite distraught he was.

[HCZ_Reborn]

After todays news my interest in this game plummeted.

Still want Liverpool to lose though

I’m sick of the media creaming their pants over them

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Definitely a red card coming in this one.

[Marc Overmars]

Still want Liverpool to lose though

I’m sick of the media creaming their pants over them

That will still happen anyway because there’s no credible threat. They can sleep walk to this title.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-1 HT.

Everton pretty lucky at the end there.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bit of a mess out there.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-2 Salah

[HCZ_Reborn]

Once again it’s all Salah

[Marc Overmars]

He deserves a Ballon d'Or.

[HCZ_Reborn]

He deserves a Ballon d'Or.

Yep single handedly made this extremely unspectacular Liverpool team into champions

[Marc Overmars]

2-2 :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

2-2 Tarkowski!!! What a fucking strike.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Is there a reason Everton is trying this hard??

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Goal given holy shit. :lol:

[HCZ_Reborn]

Is there a reason Everton is trying this hard??

Is that a genuine question?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Everton 2-2 Liverpool, FT!

:haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fight fight fight!

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Ah VAR squad defeated and we can still pretend there's some sort of title race going on....well done to the blues though.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Jones sent off.

Doucoure sent off.

Points deduction all round IMO

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Slot sent off. :haha:

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Fight fight fight!

I thought you were joking when you posted this :lol:

...seems I missed a helluva game!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

A Michael Oliver special.

[Niall_Quinn]

They done gone fuckedup!

We on they ass now!

[Letters]

Literally no idea why you twats lot keep presupposing Liverpool will win their games in hand.
They haven’t won either and they’re going to drop more points here and there.


Whether we will be able to get the results to put pressure on, given half our players are dead, remains to be seen (spoiler: probably not, but I live in hope)

[Letters]

Is there a reason Everton is trying this hard??

In a Merseyside derby?
It’s a real headscratcher isn’t it?

[Niall_Quinn]

This lot know you can't handle a PL run-in and the latter stages of the CL with a squad that can't stand substitutions. It's just the harsh nature of reality.

[Letters]

This lot know you can't handle a PL run-in and the latter stages of the CL with a squad that can't stand substitutions. It's just the harsh nature of reality.

Agreed, but that’s a completely separate point from whether Liverpool would win their games in hand. If the positions were reversed and we had drawn both games in hand then people on here, and the gleeful media, would have been talking about us bottling it and :blah:

The point is I’m not that worried about Liverpool. They’ll drop enough points to let us back in. I’m worried about us being able to take advantage

[HCZ_Reborn]

Agreed, but that’s a completely separate point from whether Liverpool would win their games in hand. If the positions were reversed and we had drawn both games in hand then people on here, and the gleeful media, would have been talking about us bottling it and :blah:

The point is I’m not that worried about Liverpool. They’ll drop enough points to let us back in. I’m worried about us being able to take advantage

You’re sounding a lot like me a couple of months ago

Admittedly Liverpool have dropped fewer points than I thought they would, given I think their defence is average and they are in many senses a one man team. But that one man has bailed them out a lot.

[Letters]

You’re sounding a lot like me a couple of months ago.
That wasn't my intention :(

Weren't you one of the people saying they were effectively 12 points ahead with the games in hand?
They've got a few tough games coming up. They'll drop points. If they don't then fair play, they'll end up champions, but I don't think they're coming out of the next 3 games with 9 points. The question is will we, given that half our squad is dead?

[Letters]

I am generally not a fan of the old “oh, they’re over celebrating” thing.
Of course there’s emotion in a last minute goal and what’s the point in football if you can’t enjoy moments like that?

But. Just seen the Everton equaliser - note the word equaliser, it wasn’t a winner. There was a mini pitch invasion, flares going off! :lol:
Calm down, lads!

[HCZ_Reborn]

That wasn't my intention :(

Weren't you one of the people saying they were effectively 12 points ahead with the games in hand?
They've got a few tough games coming up. They'll drop points. If they don't then fair play, they'll end up champions, but I don't think they're coming out of the next 3 games with 9 points. The question is will we, given that half our squad is dead?

I said they were nine points ahead effectively. I know a team has to win its games in hand but the chasing team has to assume that they will.

The title is over. Even talking about the possibility is absurd. Half of the goals we’ve scored this season have come from players now on the treatment table, two of who there is no chance of them appearing again this season. We can’t remedy this in the transfer market.

The objective now is somehow to get over the line in top 4. And in reality we are reliant on the results of city, forest, chelsea and Newcastle.

I think it’s looking unlikely that we can stay in the top 4, but I thought it was unlikely Liverpool could maintain a title challenge so there we are. What appears to make sense and be likely outcomes this season haven’t tended to be the case.

The likely outcome is that we get a maximum of 7 points from next 5 games (and I think that’s generous). I think we will be city in reverse, where as they couldn’t avoid shipping goals…we just won’t be able to score them. However who knows for certain..

[HCZ_Reborn]

I am generally not a fan of the old “oh, they’re over celebrating” thing.
Of course there’s emotion in a last minute goal and what’s the point in football if you can’t enjoy moments like that?

But. Just seen the Everton equaliser - note the word equaliser, it wasn’t a winner. There was a mini pitch invasion, flares going off! :lol:
Calm down, lads!

They hate Liverpool, plus they’ve had a shit time of it for years….i think as an Everton fan you grab onto anything remotely positive that you can

[Letters]

I think it’s looking unlikely that we can stay in the top 4, but I thought it was unlikely Liverpool could maintain a title challenge so there we are. What appears to make sense and be likely outcomes this season haven’t tended to be the case.
This is why I refuse to throw in the towel. You never know in football. We have somehow found a way this season to hang in there. Livepool will almost certainly have more wobbles.
Right now I'm not confident, but I don't understand people completely giving up.
Let's see where we are after Liverpool's next few games. If they get through Villa away and City away unscathed then fair play to them. I know City are wobbling a lot but on their day they could get something. Villa too. Obviously if we fall flat on our stupid faces against Leicester then this is all moot.

[HCZ_Reborn]

This is why I refuse to throw in the towel. You never know in football. We have somehow found a way this season to hang in there. Livepool will almost certainly have more wobbles.
Right now I'm not confident, but I don't understand people completely giving up.
Let's see where we are after Liverpool's next few games. If they get through Villa away and City away unscathed then fair play to them. I know City are wobbling a lot but on their day they could get something. Villa too. Obviously if we fall flat on our stupid faces against Leicester then this is all moot.

I throw in the towel because it’s no longer a case of saying if we play well enough we can get this result. No we can’t. Doesn’t matter how well we play you simply can’t rely on a front three that’s scored seven goals between them in the league this season. It’s unfair on them and it’s absurd to believe that other players behind them are going to be able to chip in with more than the token goal.

Not only that but we have to rely on our backline giving away nothing…and the problem with that is the fewer attacking options we have, the more risks we will have to take in order to score goals. We’ve seen this season already that we are prone to conceding goals to teams who in games against us anyway have a low XG (it’s not bad luck, it’s that we are overcommitted and they are catching us on the break).

When you consider these factors, you have to conclude that we would be defying football gravity to finish in the top four.


Notionally, the likelihood is high that we lose most of our remaining away games. This is not to say we definitely will, it’s a difference between what an AI algorithm would predict if you gave it the proper variables and what happens in reality….which are not always the same.

[HCZ_Reborn]

However I accept that these same variables in play at the beginning of last season should have led to us losing four or five of our first ten or twelve games in the league. We managed to stodge our way through that time and it’s entirely possible we will again. Not to win the league of course, that option as I say is entirely off the table

[Letters]

Your confidence in your ability to predict things given your past record continues to baffle me.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Your confidence in your ability to predict things given your past record continues to baffle me.

The point is I’m not predicting anything

That’s like me reading a poll saying one candidate is 20 points ahead in the polls and saying it’s likely that candidate might win is a prediction. No I’m simply making an observation based on the available evidence


And I’ve already caveated that by saying that things have a habit of not following these expectations


But I don’t think anyone looking at why I’ve reasoned as to why we are in massive peril can say oh that’s purely speculative.

[Letters]

But I don’t think anyone looking at why I’ve reasoned as to why we are in massive peril can say oh that’s purely speculative.
It definitely isn't speculative, although I think you're somewhat overstating the peril.
I don't believe Top 4 is under any serious threat, for example. And while I feel the title is beyond us, I'm clinging on to hope in a way which lots of people aren't. I'm an eternal optimist.

[IBK]

I agree with HCZ here. We can wish all we want but the brutal reality is that even if Liverpool slip up, we are 99% certain not to achieve the consistency required to take advantage of this, given the state of our squad. It's a pretty straightforward analysis, really.

[Letters]

I agree with HCZ here.
I'm not particularly disagreeing with him.

[HCZ_Reborn]

It definitely isn't speculative, although I think you're somewhat overstating the peril.
I don't believe Top 4 is under any serious threat, for example. And while I feel the title is beyond us, I'm clinging on to hope in a way which lots of people aren't. I'm an eternal optimist.

Ok, so I’ll bite. What are in your mind the protective factors (sorry that’s very counselling language :lol:) that inform your belief that top four is not imperilled?

Or in layman’s terms. Why do you think I’m wrong?

[Letters]

What are in your mind the protective factors that inform your belief that top four is not imperilled?
The 9 points, mostly. And a belief that while I think the title is almost certainly beyond us we have a decent run in and I believe we'll muddle through well enough to quite easily stay in the Top 4. Prove me wrong, boys, prove me wrong!

[IBK]

The 9 points, mostly. And a belief that while I think the title is almost certainly beyond us we have a decent run in and I believe we'll muddle through well enough to quite easily stay in the Top 4. Prove me wrong, boys, prove me wrong!

Also the strength of the opposition, none of whom have shown that they have the ability to go on a run that sees us slip below 4th - notwithstanding our injury crisis. We may have to pivot to being a defensive first team that tries to nick a winning goal from set pieces or from MF, but we are good enough IMO to sustain a top 4 place.

[Letters]

Yeah, good point about the opposition. There's no-one below us who particularly worries me.

[HCZ_Reborn]

The 9 points, mostly. And a belief that while I think the title is almost certainly beyond us we have a decent run in and I believe we'll muddle through well enough to quite easily stay in the Top 4. Prove me wrong, boys, prove me wrong!

So the 9 point protection being a secure cushion is predicated on the belief that neither Manchester City or Newcastle will be able to get from the 42 points available 10 points more than we are able to get.

And I don’t think that can be considered a safe assumption. But assume if you will that Jesus, Havertz, Saka and Martinelli had been unavailable to us for the whole season….if we discount the possibility that no one would have stepped up and scored more goals than they have….we would at this point have fewer goals than Everton. When you are essentially taking away for a period of conservatively a month and a minimum of 4 games…around 50% of our goal output….dropping points goes from a possibility to a probability.

Yes of course the other teams can drop points as well, but we then have to concede that where we end up is no longer entirely in our own hands.

Because we are left with a dilemma, do we go for a draw in games in the belief that we can shut teams out, or do we go for wins and risk that probably about half the time we will end up losing because a) our vulnerability to the counter and b) the trouble we have breaking down teams defending a lead even when we have everyone fit and available.

To put it plainly there is simply no game that I would feel confident in saying we will win this game. In fact there are more games that I feel confident in saying I think we will lose this (Nottingham Forest away would be in my mind strongly for this).

[HCZ_Reborn]

Our next five games are

Leicester (Away) and West Ham (Home) If we score first I’d probably say our chances of winning are about 75%. But the chances of us getting the first goal have decreased by about 35%

Forest (Away) - Ultimately I think the best we can get is a draw, not because Forest even with our attacking options depleted are a better side or even close to us, but because they are masters at the counter attack and they are very good at defending leads.


Man United (Away) - Again if we score first, it’s likely we will win given how bad United have been at Old Trafford. But the fa cup game showed that they seem to be more resilient to defending our set pieces and catching us on the break


Chelsea (home) - If I’m honest I can’t see how we plausibly get anything from this game unless both Saka and Martinelli are back

[Mac76]

so let's say one of Leicester (who now have players coming back from injury just as we lose more) or W Ham is a draw, that's 4 points

Forest I'll say a draw though they could easily win - 1 point

Moan U - I'll say a draw - 1 point

Chelsea - as it's home I'll say a point

so 7 points from a possible 15

but we could beat both W Ham and Leics so that would be 9 from 15

[Niall_Quinn]

Agreed, but that’s a completely separate point from whether Liverpool would win their games in hand. If the positions were reversed and we had drawn both games in hand then people on here, and the gleeful media, would have been talking about us bottling it and :blah:

The point is I’m not that worried about Liverpool. They’ll drop enough points to let us back in. I’m worried about us being able to take advantage

Which is what I just said.

[Marc Overmars]

There is no title race let be honest. Liverpool will probably drop points here and there but there isn’t a chance in hell that we put together a winning streak with such a depleted forward line. It’s just fanciful thinking at this point. I would actually be pleasantly surprised if we’re still 7 points behind by April 1st.

[HCZ_Reborn]

so let's say one of Leicester (who now have players coming back from injury just as we lose more) or W Ham is a draw, that's 4 points

Forest I'll say a draw though they could easily win - 1 point

Moan U - I'll say a draw - 1 point

Chelsea - as it's home I'll say a point

so 7 points from a possible 15

but we could beat both W Ham and Leics so that would be 9 from 15

The problem as I see it is this

Over the past 100 games we have conceded the first goal on 27 occasions (that’s actually quite impressive) and from the 81 points available from those 27 games we have recovered to get 35. 10 wins 5 draws and 12 defeats (we’ve only lost once when scoring first in the last 100 games)

So if we are to take that 27 as a rough average, this gives us an average likelihood of conceding the first goal three times from the next 14 games. Our powers of recovery are shall we say mixed even when we have a full compliment of attackers to call on….without that it becomes closer to zero.

I think unfortunately the likelihood of conceding the first goal probably increases because the lack of attacking options means that if chasing a goal, our more deep lying players will have to come forward leaving even more space to exploit at the back.

So the possibility arises that we lose four or more of the next 14 games as a result of being more vulnerable to the counter

The other is that because our average goalscoring likelihood per game drops about 50% it puts far more strain and drains more energy from our available defensive players meaning that risk of the same soft tissue injuries that beset our attacking trio happening to our defenders.

And this is without factoring in the possibility of Nwaneri or Trossard suffering injury and Martinelli or Saka suffering a setback in their recovery.

[Mac76]

There is no title race let be honest. Liverpool will probably drop points here and there but there isn’t a chance in hell that we put together a winning streak with such a depleted forward line. It’s just fanciful thinking at this point. I would actually be pleasantly surprised if we’re still 7 points behind by April 1st.

agree entirey, the media will want to pretend there is to try and increase interest, but Hazertz' injury was the final nail in the coffin

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

I think it will still be "up for grabs now" come our game in May.

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[HCZ_Reborn]

I think it will still be "up for grabs now" come our game in May.

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Listen I get you’re all pessimistic as a result of conceding that 98th minute equaliser. But you really need to accept “the other candidate is dead” for an answer.

I mean you could blow a ten point lead to Forest or you could really be adventurous and blow a 14 point lead over Chelsea.

But as amusing as that might be, a) 26th May 1989 happened because Liverpool chased Arsenal down for the title not the other way round b) As I pointed out above, we are dead. Animated cadavers are the work of fiction….dead people can’t give pursuit

[Marc Overmars]

If it’s still up for grabs come the 36th game of the season, then we would have done exceptionally well. Even better than last year.

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

I meant us and City :ninja:

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[HCZ_Reborn]

I meant us and City :ninja:

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Well sure, if they can score an average of four goals a game to counteract the three on average they are conceding :lol:

[Mac76]

If it’s still up for grabs come the 36th game of the season, then we would have done exceptionally well. Even better than last year.

knowing us, Liverpol will have won the league already so we'll relax and win 5-0