Top Four Race 2018/19

FootballHQ

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Chelsea a bit overrated for me this season, they don't score a huge amount v the better teams in this league and also the back 4 is more exposed in those games. Also yet to play Man. City this season which given how good they are is also decisive.
 

Mick321

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We've no hope unless we change the manager. Make a change, get the boost from that then we can do it but as it stands nope.
 

peridigm

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No team with a negative GD has finished above 7th in the past decade. Burnley achieved it last season with a -3 GD. Every other season a negative GD would get you 8th or most often 9th.

Disclaimer: I stopped looking past the 08/09 season. Could be more than a decade.
 

klsv

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No team with a negative GD has finished above 7th in the past decade. Burnley achieved it last season with a -3 GD. Every other season a negative GD would get you 8th or most often 9th.

Disclaimer: I stopped looking past the 08/09 season. Could be more than a decade.
Think we might just get it to +1 by May.
 

charlenefan

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No team with a negative GD has finished above 7th in the past decade. Burnley achieved it last season with a -3 GD. Every other season a negative GD would get you 8th or most often 9th.

Disclaimer: I stopped looking past the 08/09 season. Could be more than a decade.
this whole GD moan is incredibly stupid but then we are in an age where everyone wants to add a sensationalist spin on what they say. Concentrate on things that matter like number of points
 

FootballHQ

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Would normally agree but a week ago from December and Man. United not even having a positive GD is incredible and yes news worthy.
 

Minimalist

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this whole GD moan is incredibly stupid but then we are in an age where everyone wants to add a sensationalist spin on what they say. Concentrate on things that matter like number of points
Aye GD has no indicative value whatsoever. :lol:
 

charlenefan

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Would normally agree but a week ago from December and Man. United not even having a positive GD is incredible and yes news worthy.
Again only for those who want to put an even more sensationalist spin on it. The GD is just the effect of the lack of points we've amassed and that's the issue
 

reddaz71

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The club is polluted from top to bottom, terrible money first owners,an out of his depth CEO,the wrong manager in place and on and on,this set up does not even come close to getting top 4, and until all the above are addressed one by one then its going to get alot worse if the best they can do is reward most of the squad with new contracts as is being reported,beggars belief!
 

FootballHQ

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Again only for those who want to put an even more sensationalist spin on it. The GD is just the effect of the lack of points we've amassed and that's the issue
You can still have some big wins with lack of points. Towards the end of Moyes season you were beating likes of us and Newcastle by 4 goals. LVG early reign had a 4-0 win over QPR.
 

charlenefan

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You can still have some big wins with lack of points. Towards the end of Moyes season you were beating likes of us and Newcastle by 4 goals. LVG early reign had a 4-0 win over QPR.
More the reason why bringing up GD is just an excuse to throw more gas on the fire, where would an improved GD find us if the actual results were the same? We'd still be 7 points off the top 4 and 13 or whatever it is off 1st
 

FootballHQ

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More the reason why bringing up GD is just an excuse to throw more gas on the fire, where would an improved GD find us if the actual results were the same? We'd still be 7 points off the top 4 and 13 or whatever it is off 1st
It acutally hurts the Mourinho narrative more. Him wanting CBs all the time yet attackers fail to live up to their potential. Better GD would mean Man. United hitting 3 and 4s a few times and the games they didn't win would be more on lack of focus at the back. Instead lack of goals compared to Man. City and Liverpool once again this season.
 

jeff gurr

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Goal difference is a good indicator of how well a team is playing. Being in minus numbers tells a story !!
 

charlenefan

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It acutally hurts the Mourinho narrative more. Him wanting CBs all the time yet attackers fail to live up to their potential. Better GD would mean Man. United hitting 3 and 4s a few times and the games they didn't win would be more on lack of focus at the back. Instead lack of goals compared to Man. City and Liverpool once again this season.
You could if you wanted to spin it this way blame the defence for the wins we had not being 2-0 instead of 2-1. You're absolutely right though we've obviously got a massive issue up front as well as in defence... oh and midfield as well and again that's the issue we're just fecked all over the place

Goal difference is a good indicator of how well a team is playing. Being in minus numbers tells a story !!
So does actual points
 

Red00012

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Even though it’s only late November l, I think we won’t make top 4, simply because we’re not consistent enough to go through 10-12 games without a draw never mind a defeat, I can’t see Jose been sacked until the end of the season at least which is pointless, if they are planning on sacking him just sack him and give the new manager time to be ready for next season.
It’s so bad at the moment we won’t have to worry about European games next season.
 

RedSky

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So does actual points
Points don't tell you how dominate a team is being in terms of goal margin though. You could win 5 games all 1-0 and be on maximum points and yet people would critise said club for being boring/defensive.

Personally I think Goal Difference gives a decent picture of how a club is doing in both attack and defense as well as whether they're winning.

If you look at the below for example we actually won a decent number of games between 25 and 50 yet our GD barely moved. We were winning/losing by 1 goal margins most of the time.

 

charlenefan

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Points don't tell you how dominate a team is being in terms of goal margin though. You could win 5 games all 1-0 and be on maximum points and yet people would critise said club for being boring/defensive.

Personally I think Goal Difference gives a decent picture of how a club is doing in both attack and defense as well as whether they're winning.

If you look at the below for example we actually won a decent number of games between 25 and 50 yet our GD barely moved. We were winning/losing by 1 goal margins most of the time.

Ok oh it this way, City are looking better than ever, scoring 4 and 5 every week yet next week if they loose and Liverpool win they drop to 2nd in the table and suddenly those big wins don't count for a lot do they. I'm sure City fans would substitute some of those big wins for more points/a bigger gap
 

RedSky

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Ok oh it this way, City are looking better than ever, scoring 4 and 5 every week yet next week if they loose and Liverpool win they drop to 2nd in the table and suddenly those big wins don't count for a lot do they. I'm sure City fans would substitute some of those big wins for more points/a bigger gap
But nobody is saying that Goal Difference impacts on points. People moaning about our negative Goal Difference are pointing out that we're struggling to score goals and conceding a bucket ton. We don't smash teams like City/Liverpool, it always seems to be by a 1 goal margin. Personally I use Goal Difference as a way of showing a clubs form. Gives a pretty decent picture of a club improving or declining.
 

charlenefan

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Negative difference is a serious sign that something is really wrong - much more than being 7 pts behind 4th.
You don't need to look at the GD to know something is seriously wrong though
 

PeteManic

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How can the Top 4 not be City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea? Inconceivable that it'll be any different.
 

montpelier

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I think GD in relation to position in table & relative to other teams is the way of considering the thing.

Ours is straightforwardedly 'fair' - it's exactly what you'd expect for 8th place in the context of what the rest are doing, I think is the point.

On both sides of For & Against too - we need to improve both, if you just read those columns going up & down.
 

FootballHQ

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How can the Top 4 not be City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea? Inconceivable that it'll be any different.
Arsenal only a point off Chelsea if they win tomorrow. Think Chelsea only top team yet to face Man. City this season so that's a game they're very likely to drop points in.
 

PeteManic

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Arsenal only a point off Chelsea if they win tomorrow. Think Chelsea only top team yet to face Man. City this season so that's a game they're very likely to drop points in.
Yep Arsenal should be in the mix as well that is true.
 

peridigm

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this whole GD moan is incredibly stupid but then we are in an age where everyone wants to add a sensationalist spin on what they say. Concentrate on things that matter like number of points
So GD doesn't matter? Okay. About those points that matter. Best we can hope for while hovering around a zero GD is somewhere in the range of 55. That should be enough right?
 

AlwaysRed66

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Of course goal difference matters. A good goal difference means you are usually playing some decent football, which we certainly are not getting under Mr Mourinho.
 

Adisa

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How many points behind now? Should be 10 or something like that.
Disgraceful.
 

DRM

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7. Still doable, if we act fast.
If we manage to win 3 games in a row I might think there's a chance of making top 4. As it stands, dropping points every other game, not a chance!
 

Adisa

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7. Still doable, if we act fast.
Surprised it's 7. Thought it was 7 before the latest round of games.
Just seen it. I forgot Arsenal and Chelsea have been dropping points. Haven't been looking at the table much, this season.
 

dwd

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Surprised it's 7. Thought it was 7 before the latest round of games.
Just seen it. I forgot Arsenal and Chelsea have been dropping points. Haven't been looking at the table much, this season.
Yeah Chelsea lost so we gained a point on them and Spurs moved into 3rd.

Makes the dropped points yesterday even more annoying.