League without the top 6

[Kenny]

My take on this, whilst we have had some shit results against the poorer teams all it shows me is we are not far away from pushing for the top 6. You chuck in results you would expect us to have this season and Chelsea and co are getting nervy.

Before this season, people were pointing out that Liverpool having crap results against the bottom teams cost them a title push under Klopp. They have sorted that out and now sit top

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I understand the premise of the thread, but I would have thought that those that complain we are poor against crap teams would rather see how we have done against the bottom six rather than the bottom 13, if that's possible.

The thing is that the bottom six isn't a fixed entity like the current top six is.

We've beaten teams who aren't in the bottom six now but were when we played them. Equally Brighton weren't bottom six when we lost to them.

 

[Dinowolf]

Don't get me wrong. I agree that this has been a wonderful season already, one to be proud of our overall achievements.

Some of our performances have been superb and a joy to watch but we are nowhere near being the 'finished article' just needing a tweak or two.

We need to be more dimensional in our play and planning and more flexible in our in-game performances, and that can only come over time. We will be in the Prem again next season and, as long as we still have Nuno, I look forward to the improvements.

 

[darlowolf64]

The thing is that the bottom six isn't a fixed entity like the current top six is.

We've beaten teams who aren't in the bottom six now but were when we played them.

OK... We have played 12 games vs teams who were, at that time, in the Premier League bottom 6.

Southampton (H); 6th Bottom, won 2-0
Burnley (H); Bottom, won 1-0
West Ham (A); Bottom, won 1-0
Crystal Palace (A); joint 6th Bottom, won 1-0
Cardiff (A); 2nd Bottom, lost 1-2 they went to 6th bottom
Huddersfield (H); Bottom, lost 1-2
Fulham (A); 2nd Bottom, drew 1-1
Newcastle (A); 6th Bottom, won 2-1
Huddersfield (A); Bottom, lost 0-1 and the win took them to 7th bottom!
Newcastle (H); 4th Bottom, drew 1-1
Cardiff (H); 3rd Bottom, won 2-0
Burnley (A); 4th Bottom, lost 0-2

Played 12; Won 6; Drew 2; Lost 4; Points 20

EDIT! 12 teams

 

[Deleted Cyber]

OK... We have played 11 games vs teams who were, at that time, in the Premier League bottom 6.

Southampton (H); 6th Bottom, won 2-0
Burnley (H); Bottom, won 1-0
West Ham (A); Bottom, won 1-0
Crystal Palace (A); joint 6th Bottom, won 1-0
Cardiff (A); 2nd Bottom, lost 1-2 they went to 6th bottom
Huddersfield (H); Bottom, lost 1-2
Fulham (A); 2nd Bottom, drew 1-1
Newcastle (A); 6th Bottom, won 2-1
Huddersfield (A); Bottom, lost 0-1 and the win took them to 7th bottom!
Newcastle (H); 4th Bottom, drew 1-1
Burnley (A); 4th Bottom, lost 0-2

Played 11; Won 5; Drew 2; Lost 4; Points 17

Consistently inconsistent!

 

[darlowolf64]

Consistently inconsistent!

See edit...

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

20 points from 12 games. Looks pretty fucking decent to me. Extrapolates to a season north of 60 points.

 

[darlowolf64]

20 points from 12 games. Looks pretty fucking decent to me. Extrapolates to a season north of 60 points.

Yep, we have only lost 4 games out of 12 vs "bottom 6 teams"

 

[Parkins left foot]

Really not sure what any of this is trying to prove

We know that if we want to break into the top 6 then we at the very least need to maintain our sucess against those sides this year & improve against the others. As long as Nuno stays then he will have learnt a lot this year

We have done OK against the sides below u without doing enough (yet) to move any further up.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

20 points from 12 games. Looks pretty fucking decent to me. Extrapolates to a season north of 60 points.

So its OK for a top 7 side to lose 33% of its games to bottom 6 sides? OK.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

So its OK for a top 7 side to lose 33% of its games to bottom 6 sides? OK.

Again this is just silly. I think when we lost to Cardiff we were 14th in the table.

The season is transient, it doesn't operate in a vacuum where "we are good, you are shit, we should beat you".

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

It does if cyber wants to prove a PARTICULARLY nebulous point

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Again this is just silly. I think when we lost to Cardiff we were 14th in the table.

The season is transient, it doesn't operate in a vacuum where "we are good, you are shit, we should beat you".

God give me strength! You lot choose ignore the obvious

Fosuns ambition is pretty fucking clear. They want to turn us into a top 7 side year in year out. This year we have beaten Liverpool man utd , Chelsea spurs in all competitions, drawn with man city, arsenal , man utd and Chelsea in all competitions yet lost twice to Huddersfield, once to ,Cardiff, once to Burnley. We are unbeaten away from home v 5 of the top 6 so far yet have 1 point from 4 away games v the bottom 4 and people on here seem to think that's " OK we are learning" or " not really any issue". Sorry. That's myopic rose tinted glasses to the nth degree.

I would happily lose every game to the top 6 in return for winning against those shit teams in the bottom 6. Its thebhopoe that kills you. Always has!

Norwich 5 2 and 3 3 they get relegated, we win the championship
Sunderland no goals and one point when they finish bottom and we win the league
Huddersfield. 66% of their wins are v us.

I respect many of you on here but sometimes you really argue black is white just to disprove me don't you!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

This was our form going into Cardiff:

LLLDL

And we had scored a whole one goal from open play in those games. We had won four out of 13 league games. So I wasn't exactly going into that fixture thinking "we'll walk all over these, we are a top 7 team".

 

[StuardoWulf]

We need more quality to unpick the bus parkers, look at the forwards in the top 6. But that is evolution and won't come over 2 years maybe won't come at all who knows. What I can say for fact is we have done better than I could reasonably hope so I will take that. For the people who see our ambitions and expect incremental improvements on an upward trajectory will in all probability be dissappointed.

It doesn't follow that we will achieve our goals just because we have them, we have to work in the skewed FFP limits which negates the massive worth of our owners. If we remain smart in our business we shouldn't have to worry about PL status for a while and that is about as good as it gets.

Yes I dream we could win the league in my lifetime but doing that will be a massive mountain to climb. Just try to enjoy what we have now and be proud of the lads. Going to the games now I feel we have a chance against anyone I haven't felt that (in the top league) since 1980

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I would happily lose every game to the top 6 in return for winning against those shit teams in the bottom 6. Its thebhopoe that kills you. Always has!

Norwich 5 2 and 3 3 they get relegated, we win the championship
Sunderland no goals and one point when they finish bottom and we win the league
Huddersfield. 66% of their wins are v us.

I respect many of you on here but sometimes you really argue black is white just to disprove me don't you!

Sorry mate but this makes no sense!

I'm going to remember us beating Chelsea, Spurs, United/Liverpool in the cup and hopefully Arsenal this season. Magnificent times. Taking on the best and duffing them up, winning deservedly. Beating Cardiff and Burnley away, Huddersfield at home...I've seen all that before. It means bugger all. They're shite. The points earned are exactly the same. Why would you prioritise the crap games over the big ones in a binary choice (as you've made it there).

 

[Tredman]

[emoji3595][emoji3595][emoji3595][emoji3595]
This.

 

[Kenny]

Norwich 5 2 and 3 3 they get relegated, we win the championship
Sunderland no goals and one point when they finish bottom and we win the league
!

So shit results meant nothing to our season. Those results are just how football goes and why we all watch it.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

It would be a very dull season if all we ever did was beat who we were supposed to, and lost to teams who are objectively better than us. It's basically West Ham under Curbishley when they never moved from between 8th and 12th for an entire season.

 

[Johnny75]

I can't understand why anybody would want us to lose to Chelsea but beat Huddersfield. That's backwards thinking.

If you never beat the top boys how can you expect to live with them?

That win over Chelsea was exceptional stuff, worth the price of the season ticket alone.