You were spot on TBF.
Race for top 4 | Finito.
- Thread starter Andycoleno9
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We win our game in hand and we go 6 points above Spurs again, with 48 points to play for. If being in this situation in February means worrying about the cushion between us and the 5th place, then I tread what actually being in a title race would mean for you. Squeaky bums and heart palpitations, I guess.
Thought so myself
Really, everyone should have some hope and believe we can actually do this, I do, but won’t be crushed if we don’t.
Top four, easily, I reckon, but we can actually win it, and no, I am not deluded.
We are having a great season , and I am enjoying the type of football we are playing.
The progress of the club from a helter skelter approach to a systemic dynamic way of playing is great to see.
We finally have a direction, I hope we win some trophy at least.
Top four, easily, I reckon, but we can actually win it, and no, I am not deluded.
We are having a great season , and I am enjoying the type of football we are playing.
The progress of the club from a helter skelter approach to a systemic dynamic way of playing is great to see.
We finally have a direction, I hope we win some trophy at least.
Yeah, much better to consolidate the top 4 by being fourth you know.
The maths? We don't understand the maths? What are we, grade 1s?
I wish Spurs would go away. They're too close for comfort.
We need the biggest cushion possible for when the fixture congestion tanks our league form, which I think is inevitable and why we can't win the title.
We need the biggest cushion possible for when the fixture congestion tanks our league form, which I think is inevitable and why we can't win the title.
I think we'll finish 3rd comfortably, with Spurs eventually clinching that 4th spot. It's better for us if Newcastle and Spurs are scrapping there for the final spot and keeping the pressure on each other.
Finally we look to have a manager that can engineer a run of wins for us, and I think that consistently can only take us closer to Arsenal and City. It feels like we'll be 3rd, at the worst.
Finally we look to have a manager that can engineer a run of wins for us, and I think that consistently can only take us closer to Arsenal and City. It feels like we'll be 3rd, at the worst.
They won't. Newcastle are actually the more likely to go away.
It's not gonna be the worst thing ever when Barca knocks us out.
I don’t want Spurs to go away, I want Newcastle to go away. Spurs will always be Spurs but Newcastle with the lure of Champions League football will be a monster.
Anything can happen at this stage. The real title race this season is the top 4 battle.
The fixture congestion clears up after barca knocks us out of Europa. 2nd leg is Feb 23rd and then the League Cup is Feb 26th. After that it's just the league and the FA Cup. Which citeh & spurs are still in. Not to mention both still have CL
Agree. People are underestimating their staying power. They beat Fulham against whom we and Chelsea both struggled.
People might claim they're shit and they're a one-man team with Kane but what happens if one or even two of their attackers starts performing?
They won't be in the CL for long and so it's just the league and the FA cup for them. Newcastle have even less games to play.
It might catch up to us come April and May but I hope I am proven wrong
United were the only team in the the (current) Top 4 that won this weekend.
Can't ask for more than that!
Can't ask for more than that!
Not sure the best example of bigging up Spurs winning a difficult game is a game that we won ourselves
This…it’s been a good weekend.
Spurs will be there or there abouts for sure barring a Spursy like implosion.. Anyone writing off Conte even at Spurs is playing a dangerous game.
Brighton are very interesting
Brighton are very interesting
We want Spurs to finish above Newcastle. This was a good result for a lot of reasons. Embrace the chase and embrace the pressure. We’ve had seasons of pointlessness. This is actually making us feel something.
Milan are a fringe top 4/top 6 side in Italy this season so they're not a truly elite side, Spurs have a decent chance of qualifying for quarters even given Conte's poor record in CL. After that it's the luck of the draw.
I suppose you could say Spurs are more likely to qualify from their tie than we are against Barca. So in that sense maybe the fixture congestion issue will flip on it's head later in the season. But for now we have the worst schedule.
Why? To slow down Newcastle's progression?
In an ideal world if we had the choice then maybe yeah. Realistically though we want both Spurs and Newcastle to lose every game, I don't see the point in hoping one of them wins and one of them drops off. To guarantee our top 4 spot you want as little competition as possible.
The top 4 race where we missed out under LVG and Ole made us "feel something" but it certainly wasn't positive feelings. I'd much rather finish top 4 without the stress than have a nervous run in where we might miss out on top 4.
If you don’t feel confident of getting top four at this point I dunno what to say to you. Teams are going to challenge you, there is no such thing as a stress free end to the season unless you’ve got nothing to play for. Anyone with a brain should want Spurs to finish 4th over Newcastle.
I've never met a football fan who actively wants the team 3 points behind them to keep winning because the possibility of their team not finishing top 4 is "exciting" to them. It's a bit odd that you think you're the normal one here.
I suppose you really enjoyed the seasons under Moyes, Ole, LVG, Ralf where we missed out on CL qualification because it's really fun for teams to challenge us.
Anyone with a brain should realise we don't get to pick how the league table finishes based on whatever we want. If you find a genie willing to grant us a wish that Spurs finish 4th and Newcastle finish 5th, then give us a shout. Until then, sitting on your sofa praying Spurs win their games is just completely insane.
Why can’t someone be excited about catching the two teams above them? I’ve never seen a club close in on a title challenge be worried about the fifth placed team helping get them there.
Thank you Spurs
You don’t really have a winning mentality clearly, it’s ok. Don’t be concerned with what’s below you.
The conversation wasn't about overturning an 8 point gap over Arsenal having played a game more than them. If people believe we'll overtake them then fair play, it's a good result from that perspective.
The conversation was about hoping the teams behind us win their games to make the season more exciting by providing more competition for our top 4 place. It would be like Arsenal hoping City won today because it makes the title race more exciting. It's just weird.
Everyone is concerned with what's below them. Unless you get 112 points, you're reliant on your rivals dropping points to win a title. If you get 75 points hoping for top 4 you're reliant on every team below you failing to surpass your points tally. Should Arsenal fans should have wanted City to win today because they'd have a "losers mentality" for wanting them to lose?
Top four isn’t going to be easy for us because we have a crazy schedule and a squad that isn’t equipped to deal with it. Just hope we can cling on.
You never know…
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That actually wasn’t the point at all btw. The point was everyone should want Spurs to finish above Newcastle. Which is obvious.
And in doing so, hoping they win their games despite only being 3 points behind us.
We're already hoping Newcastle lose every game. I've not seen anyone here hoping Newcastle win their games. It's perfectly possible to hope Spurs and Newcastle drop a lot of points. When they're both out of reach of us then we hope Spurs have dropped slightly less points and squeak 4th. I'm not going to be sat watching Spurs play Leicester next weekend hoping Spurs win, that would be absurd.
When did I say I wanted that? I said we should want Spurs to finish above Newcastle. Spurs winning today is good for that outcome and it’s also good for our ambition of overtaking City. It’s really not that complicated.
Im thinking only about top 4. There is a long way to go and as we have seen with Eriksons injury anything can happen.
as long as Varane Martinez Rashford Casamiro and Bruno all stay clear of any major injury, we are in with a strong shot at 3rd or 4th. Loosing one or two of those we will struggle as the back up players are not of sufficient quality imo.
as long as Varane Martinez Rashford Casamiro and Bruno all stay clear of any major injury, we are in with a strong shot at 3rd or 4th. Loosing one or two of those we will struggle as the back up players are not of sufficient quality imo.
Newcastle are having a good season but they draw 50% of their matches.
I could be wrong but (statically) that doesn’t sound like a team that will finish in the Top 4.
I could be wrong but (statically) that doesn’t sound like a team that will finish in the Top 4.
They've only lost once in the PL, that shows they are a very hard team to beat, only Spurs are likely to pip them for a CL place and Spurs pare, well Spursy, as inconsistent as they get, the Geordie's are a good bet for a CLplace and they've got there without the Saudi's going bananas like Chelsea
They're on pace for low to mid 70's so that's pretty fair for top 4 level. XG differential per 90 is a good barometer too, and they are at 0.72 which is comfortably a top 4 side (we are at 0.32 there which is usually Europa League level, though ours has obvious exceptions I'd say where we have had 3 hammerings - city, Brentford, Arsenal - and been roughly Newcastle level of xG outside of that).
Anyway ultimately a draw is better than a loss, and they're just very hard to beat. Instead of going the Pep route to compete with Arsenal, city, United and Liverpool, they seem to be going the Atletico Madrid route which honestly I don't mind seeing.
Only if you think we are beating Barcelona. 2nd leg is Feb 23rd. League cup final is Feb 26th. If we go out of Europa and with the League Cup over with it would just be the league and the FA Cup which isn't a crazy schedule.
Also citeh and Spurs both are still in the FA Cup and CL
Casemiro will be fresh for Barca games so guess we’ll be taking Europa seriously. Think it’ll take lot of energy from players if we go far in the competition so wouldn’t be ideal.
To me, winning next 3 league games, losing to Barca and beating West Ham in Fa Cup would be fine outcome. We’d be in good position league wise (51 points with 14 games to go) in last 8 of domestic cup and wouldn’t be playing games all the time like now. One game a week would be nice for a change.
As a United fan, until it is mathematically impossible to win the title, my expectations are that we are going for it.
We lost 3 points over the last two gamesmanship that we should have had. Wr are a tough team to play against. Rashford is creating fear for defenders. Our defense is stellar.
Arsenal hasn’t gotten a bad patch yet.
B E L I E V E! ! ! !
We lost 3 points over the last two gamesmanship that we should have had. Wr are a tough team to play against. Rashford is creating fear for defenders. Our defense is stellar.
Arsenal hasn’t gotten a bad patch yet.
B E L I E V E! ! ! !
And what is all this crap that would be good to be out of Europe. Wtf lads. We play to win the cup and we will win it.
Incredibly, we’re in the PL title hunt now. Long odds, of course, but it’s within reach. Need a lot of draws from both Arsenal and Citeh, though, as I don’t see either being punked very often from here on out as they were this weekend.