We've 18 games to play = 54 points. In that context dropping 14 points isn't completely impossible - we dropped 9 in just three games last season.Originally Posted by Letters
That said, I realise it's only 14 points if spuds won all their remaining games, which i admit is extremely unlikely, but still, having seen the collapse last season I'm just not ready to say we're comfortably in top four yet, when it gets to 10 games to go, then sure.
I personally think we will finish at worst 3rd place. If we forget about the title for one minute, our home form alone this season should see us through to a 3rd place finish minimum, we have been excellent at home this season and apart from City, I don't see any team capable of winning at the Emirates for our remaining fixtures. I think our home form is key to any outcome for the remainder of the season. Away from home we are obviously very strong this season but we may well see further slip ups like yesterday.
In the chasing pack below us, aside from City, I don't really see any other side strong enough to catch us up, United is a possibility as they are decent side now and are picking up plenty of wins. Newcastle and the rest I believe we will finish above.
Top 4 is not a concern, it would be a disaster beyond repair if we missed out from this position now. Football isn’t played on paper and we will possibly drop more points unexpectedly but also win games that we perhaps didn’t expect to either.
I know it’s been a very long time since we had a go at the title but dealing with this angst is something we just have accept as part of the territory. Not a time to overreact after our first real stinker of a result this season.
Last edited by Marc Overmars; 05-02-2023 at 12:52 PM.
First? Fourth id say
Jesus the amount of people trying to couch their disappointment in “well these defeats can happen in a season”
They happen because you accept them happening. For me we had time to prepare, we had mostly everyone fit and we knew what to expect from a Sean Dyche team. Yet the players acted like it was a sudden shock that their opponents would be physical, close down the space…affect a deep block.
Going 1-0 down and knowing you’ve next to no change of salvaging anything is reprehensible yet all of us on here knew that was going to happen when they went in front.
So yeah still not in anyway philosophical about this. Even if Spurs do us a favour today all we’ve done is spurn an opportunity to make the gap even bigger.
Even if we have only had four stinkers this season then we are clearly doing very well. To be honest, I think yesterday was our second stinker of the league campaign, our first one at Leeds we got away with it, but we should have lost up their too. United defeat wasn't a stinker, we actually played well but got suckered on the counter. Southampton draw we struggled in periods but should have put the game to bed in the first half.
On the whole, our performances so far have ranged between very good and good, we have tended to dominate most games home and away.
The reason I am not panicking yet is because this team does appear to have a fair bit about them. I am expecting us to turn it around next Saturday at home to Brentford. I mean turning it around by playing very well and picking up 3 points, if we keep churning out performances like yesterday then we can forget about any title.
Last edited by selassie; 05-02-2023 at 01:53 PM.
Football is of course an entertainment first and foremost but when you’re going for the title it’s a results and not a performance business. Plus really if you’ve conceded three goals can you really say you’ve performed well? And not actually just ruined all your hard work with naivety.
Leeds didn’t bother me, we were in poor form and showed dogged determination to grind out a result? Did we get a bit of luck along the way as well? Yes but not a stinker for me.
Newcastle at home was a stinker because we couldn’t adapt our play to a team that would go all out to effect a shut out and it’s the exact kind of performance like yesterday where if we were playing away from home we’d have lost.
That’s why I’m so pissed, we don’t learn…adapt our performance to deal with teams that will be a bit cynical…that’s why we often came unstuck under Wenger and had lazy commentators opining that Arsenal don’t like it up em or have a soft underbelly.
Maybe we didn't perform well, or at least didn't defend well but we carved out plenty of chances and had United on the ropes for long periods of that game, from the highlights I saw yesterday, we never at any point had control of the game.
Leeds battered us, I have not seen a team dominate us as much as that all season, we absolutely got out of jail in the game.
The Newcastle game was more frustrating, we did carve out some clear cut chances but we were not clinical on the day.
I understand your concerns, but up until now we have been playing very well, the disappointment yesterday comes mainly from the fact we are not use to getting beaten and certainly not in that manner and by a team at the bottom of the table. It is what it is. All we can do is put it right next game and go back on a winning run. What we can't afford to do is produce performances like yesterday on a regular basis, otherwise we will drop many points between now and the end of the season.
Rubbish.
They happen because that’s sport for you.
EDIT: The key thing about a successful team or sportsperson is not to never have setbacks, that just isn’t possible. It’s about how you react.
So you can’t look at what happened yesterday and see it as depressingly predictable?
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