Match Reaction vs Soton (away)

[Syn]

The two billionaire boy clubs finished on 75 (Chelsea) and 78 (Man City) points. Man Utd walked it on 89 points. A mid 80s score is usually what it takes to win the league and it’s been like that since United won the treble and walked the league on 91 points. We’ve had to push for a mid 80s score ever since and that was before the oil money. We’ve only hit a mid 80s score once since Vieria left and we won the FA Cup and we struggle to break past the 70+ mark in most seasons. It’s a tougher league but we’ve also dropped off quality wise. We need to raise the bar and start hitting the 80 mark again or high 70s at least.

What points tally would you consider respectable for this season? You've said you fancied us for the title (or at least thought the title was for the taking this year). Well Man City are looking like they'll hit 90. Several tough games left but I'd be disappointed if we got less than 80.

[Power n Glory]

This team is being built to contain.

Something you never thought you'd see from a Wenger side.

Now it's a serious struggle to win games after going behind, they're not used to it and it throws the initial game plan out the window.

Thankfully, we’ve ditched the suicidal high backline. Was reading Arseblog today or one of the columns and didn’t we manage to beat Southampton during the home tie because we pressed them when high up the pitch? Goalkeeper mistakes? I thought our defensive tactic was to press within the first few seconds of losing the ball then back off and contain if unsuccessful. We’ve stopped pressing as hard and it’s not the first time we’ve seen this. I remember when we first started playing a 4-3-3 we were pressing hard and as a unit but that stopped as the season went on. We’d also see a high pressing game in odd games like that one game against Chelsea and then we’d abandon that tactic. We’ll see what we do over the next few games.

[Syn]

Also png I don't really understand your logic. You say mid 80s has been enough because that's what the clubs that did win the league needed to achieve in recent years. But the fact that they've got more surely means the bar has gone up a lot from, say, our 98 title win. We would've needed 95 points to retain the title in 2005, and 90 last year.

[Power n Glory]

What points tally would you consider respectable for this season? You've said you fancied us for the title (or at least thought the title was for the taking this year). Well Man City are looking like they'll hit 90. Several tough games left but I'd be disappointed if we got less than 80.

I'd be disappointed if we didn't hit the 80 mark either. But saying that, I'd have no problems if we won the league with 79 points but bitterly disappointed if we ended up on 90 but lost our last game to Norwich which hands City the title.

[AKBapologist]

Also bear in mind things like this:

Soccer players don't run at the same pace for a game's entire 90 minutes. Running speeds vary from jogging to moderate running and sprinting. Quite often, a player will even walk during a game. Research data shows, however, that the degree of moderate running and sprinting activities has dramatically increased in the past several years in professional soccer. The number of so called "high-intensity" bursts performed by teams per game nearly doubled in a three-year span, to the Washington Post story. What's more, players increased the amount of ground they covered during sprints by 40 percent, a sign the game is becoming more intense and that players are raising the bar for physical condition standards.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/40...a-soccer-game/

I don't think I've seen a EPL side play with that level of pressing and intensity for so long. Probably a sign of things to come and Southampton aren't the only team capable of playing that way.

[Power n Glory]

Also png I don't really understand your logic. You say mid 80s has been enough because that's what the clubs that did win the league needed to achieve in recent years. But the fact that they've got more surely means the bar has gone up a lot from, say, our 98 title win. We would've needed 95 points to retain the title in 2005, and 90 last year.

The standards have gone up for sure but it's not every season a team gets 90+ points. United once won the league with 80 points 2010/11. When you're in the title race, it gets to a point where the runners are pushing each other on and it's down to who blinks first. We've been out of the title race for so and so early that we're just about scraping the 70 point mark. We've been doing what we needed to stay top 4 pushing ourselves for results when that place looks in jeopardy. If we'd have consistently ended the season in the 75-85 point range, I'd have no problem saying these oil rich clubs have truly gazumped us. Fact is, we haven't even won the FA Cup or League Cup in years. Their a factor but we haven't had our own house in order.

[Xhaka Can’t]

The two billionaire boy clubs finished on 75 (Chelsea) and 78 (Man City) points. Man Utd walked it on 89 points. A mid 80s score is usually what it takes to win the league and it’s been like that since United won the treble and walked the league on 91 points. We’ve had to push for a mid 80s score ever since and that was before the oil money. We’ve only hit a mid 80s score once since Vieria left and we won the FA Cup and we struggle to break past the 70+ mark in most seasons. It’s a tougher league but we’ve also dropped off quality wise. We need to raise the bar and start hitting the 80 mark again or high 70s at least.

We are on course for 86 points at the current rate. I doubt it will be enough.

[Niall_Quinn]

We are on course for 86 points at the current rate. I doubt it will be enough.

It will be if it represents a genuine starting point to a push next season and the season after and so on. But if we're swapping and always 4th attitude for an always third or always second alternative then it's all a bit pointless.

[Power n Glory]

Also png I don't really understand your logic. You say mid 80s has been enough because that's what the clubs that did win the league needed to achieve in recent years. But the fact that they've got more surely means the bar has gone up a lot from, say, our 98 title win. We would've needed 95 points to retain the title in 2005, and 90 last year.

Just been looking at the pattern for our 4th place spots and it says a lot. Ending the season on 65+ points used to be enough to qualify for 4th but the threshold has been pushed in recent years. In the seasons where Spurs have been hot on our tails, we’ve found that extra gear to get 70+ points to finish 4th. It goes back on what I’m saying about teams pushing each other when it comes to the title race.

2009/10 – Spurs 70/Arsenal 75 Points
2011/12 – Spurs 69/Arsenal 70 Points
2012/13 – Spurs 72/Arsenal 73 Points

Spurs have been close to edging us out for 4th spot and statistically, points wise, they should have done enough on those three occasions but we’ve found a way to raise the bar. The points tally at the end doesn’t really matter to be honest. It’s just about being in the race and staying within reach. If for some crazy reason it took 80 points to qualify for the Champs League spot and it became the norm, I’m sure we’d do what’s necessary to get that spot. We certainly had our sights set on 4th for the past 8 years.

[Marc Overmars]

I remember Gary Neville saying he never projected anything about points, it was just about overhauling whoever was competing with them regardless.