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Post by malteser68 on Dec 2, 2014 8:55:45 GMT
Looking at the table, none of the teams currently above us will be relegation candidates. That means there are 9 teams, us included, all heaped within 5 points from 12th (us) to last (foxes). So the scene is set, in my view, for a closely-fought, nail-biting relegation battle. And we will be in the thick of it. From a relatively easy first third of fixtures we are at least 5/6 points short of what we should have achieved. 0 points from 3 home matches against Burnley, Leicester and villa are bound to bite us in the balls when the closing balance is drawn. And I don't consider this to be a knicker-wetting exercise but simply a realistic analysis of the obtaining situation
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Post by sheikhmomo on Dec 2, 2014 9:02:37 GMT
Looking at the table, none of the teams currently above us will be relegation candidates. That means there are 9 teams, us included, all heaped within 5 points from 12th (us) to last (foxes). So the scene is set, in my view, for a closely-fought, nail-biting relegation battle. And we will be in the thick of it. From a relatively easy first third of fixtures we are at least 5/6 points short of what we should have achieved. 0 points from 3 home matches against Burnley, Leicester and villa are bound to bite us in the balls when the closing balance is drawn. And I don't consider this to be a knicker-wetting exercise but simply a realistic analysis of the obtaining situation It's now extremely unlikely we will reach the 'magic' 20 point Christmas mark. Superb (perhaps under regarded) efforts at Spurs and Man City have helped disguise a distinctly average season so far. Just need to hope that Hughes is backed in the window and his annoying but seemingly accurate mantra that his teams are better in the second half of the season bears fruit once more. |
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Post by prem4stoke on Dec 2, 2014 9:03:27 GMT
Looking at the table, none of the teams currently above us will be relegation candidates. That means there are 9 teams, us included, all heaped within 5 points from 12th (us) to last (foxes). So the scene is set, in my view, for a closely-fought, nail-biting relegation battle. And we will be in the thick of it. From a relatively easy first third of fixtures we are at least 5/6 points short of what we should have achieved. 0 points from 3 home matches against Burnley, Leicester and villa are bound to bite us in the balls when the closing balance is drawn. And I don't consider this to be a knicker-wetting exercise but simply a realistic analysis of the obtaining situation Had we of beaten Leicester, Burnley and Villa they would be on 7,8 and 10 points while we would be in 4th on 24 points so those games were massive as to where we are right now. |
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Post by malteser68 on Dec 2, 2014 9:06:20 GMT
Sheikh, the spurs and man city games apart, I believe we have been less than average this season. That's the problem. If we had been performing properly we should have picked up more than a point away to an abysmal qpr and 10-men hull. The home losses vs liec, villa and Burnley were disastrous and we certainly did not cover ourselves in glory in our away loss to Sunderland. So my judgement is we've been well below average
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Post by sheikhmomo on Dec 2, 2014 9:16:44 GMT
Sheikh, the spurs and man city games apart, I believe we have been less than average this season. That's the problem. If we had been performing properly we should have picked up more than a point away to an abysmal qpr and 10-men hull. The home losses vs liec, villa and Burnley were disastrous and we certainly did not cover ourselves in glory in our away loss to Sunderland. So my judgement is we've been well below average I don't disagree too much malt but we've been careless and shout ourselves in the foot rather than below average in a lot of those games. Away from home we've only been full on wank against Sunderland in my view. Pretty shit against Southampton but stayed in the game well. I don't think there's much argument that we've fallen well below par at home though. |
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Post by chiefdelilah on Dec 2, 2014 9:42:52 GMT
Maybe it's Stoke-tinted glasses but I honestly don't think we'll be anywhere near the mix come squeaky bum time.
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Post by Staffsoatcake on Dec 2, 2014 9:43:46 GMT
At the beginning of the season, if asked how many points would we get against Villa, Leicester, Man C, Spurs and Burnley, most would have said 9pts, we ended up with 6pts, so we are only 3 pts worse off than expected off those 5 games.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Dec 2, 2014 9:51:19 GMT
Maybe it's Stoke-tinted glasses but I honestly don't think we'll be anywhere near the mix come squeaky bum time. I think there are too many sides below us who we are better than, for it to become a distinct possibility. The margins are pretty fine though, an inactive January window, more bad luck with injuries and continued poor game management and who knows? |
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Post by fca47 on Dec 2, 2014 9:52:50 GMT
It's all been down to sloppy team play against the "lesser" teams. To me that is down to team attitude, we haven't conceded that many goals to the better teams, because we know we have to defend properly, whereas against the bottom of the table teams the defending as a team has been desperate, we seem to think we are a better team and we can play how we like. The players need to realise we have to treat them all seriously.
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Post by OldStokie on Dec 2, 2014 10:54:06 GMT
Our style has changed. Under Pulis we played as the 'lesser' away sides play at our place, and we are now a better team when we have opponents who play a more attacking game. Injuries are certainly not helping, but once we get everybody fit then I reckon the style Hughes is trying to adopt will pay better dividends. In the meantime we have to battle and scrap for points, which is certainly not helped when we have a couple of our forwards not competing as a unit. Everybody has to do their bit, whether it's attacking or defending set pieces. Moses dozing off cost us 2 points, and Arnie probably cost us one on Saturday.
I reckon we will reach the 20 mark before the turn of the year, then, hopefully, if we can get some players back to full fitness and maybe bring in another centre-half, we can push on to safety or a comfortable mid-table position.
OS.
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Post by chiefdelilah on Dec 2, 2014 11:00:18 GMT
Maybe it's Stoke-tinted glasses but I honestly don't think we'll be anywhere near the mix come squeaky bum time. I think there are too many sides below us who we are better than, for it to become a distinct possibility. The margins are pretty fine though, an inactive January window, more bad luck with injuries and continued poor game management and who knows? Yeah, that's just it - there are so many teams worse than us overall(even if they've got a result against us) that barring a disaster I just can't see us getting sucked in. And there's no way we won't strengthen in Jan to at least some degree. |
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Post by dutchstokie on Dec 2, 2014 11:02:14 GMT
Looking at the table, none of the teams currently above us will be relegation candidates. That means there are 9 teams, us included, all heaped within 5 points from 12th (us) to last (foxes). So the scene is set, in my view, for a closely-fought, nail-biting relegation battle. And we will be in the thick of it. From a relatively easy first third of fixtures we are at least 5/6 points short of what we should have achieved. 0 points from 3 home matches against Burnley, Leicester and villa are bound to bite us in the balls when the closing balance is drawn. And I don't consider this to be a knicker-wetting exercise but simply a realistic analysis of the obtaining situation It's now extremely unlikely we will reach the 'magic' 20 point Christmas mark. Superb (perhaps under regarded) efforts at Spurs and Man City have helped disguise a distinctly average season so far. Just need to hope that Hughes is backed in the window and his annoying but seemingly accurate mantra that his teams are better in the second half of the season bears fruit once more. This "my sides are generally better the second half of the season" is starting to wear a bit thin now isnt it...... surely they should be bang on it from minute one of the first game of the season..????? Or am I being a bit of a thicky here? I genuinely think hes a good coach and is doing his best with ` 'shit hand' so to speak at the moment. I just cant get my head around his policy of ramping it up as we go thru the season. Just seems wrong to me |
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Post by sufolkstokie on Dec 2, 2014 11:04:00 GMT
Sheikh, the spurs and man city games apart, I believe we have been less than average this season. That's the problem. If we had been performing properly we should have picked up more than a point away to an abysmal qpr and 10-men hull. The home losses vs liec, villa and Burnley were disastrous and we certainly did not cover ourselves in glory in our away loss to Sunderland. So my judgement is we've been well below average I don't disagree too much malt but we've been careless and shout ourselves in the foot rather than below average in a lot of those games. Away from home we've only been full on wank against Sunderland in my view. Pretty shit against Southampton but stayed in the game well. I don't think there's much argument that we've fallen well below par at home though. We were fairly crap at Hull - lucky to get a point Complacent at QPR - their second should not have mattered we should have been out of sight but too many thought it was already won |
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Post by 2004 on Dec 2, 2014 11:38:02 GMT
We have messed up in too many games this season
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Post by thepremierbanksy on Dec 2, 2014 11:42:55 GMT
It's all been down to sloppy team play against the "lesser" teams. To me that is down to team attitude, we haven't conceded that many goals to the better teams, because we know we have to defend properly, whereas against the bottom of the table teams the defending as a team has been desperate, we seem to think we are a better team and we can play how we like. The players need to realise we have to treat them all seriously. Isn't our main problem against those teams who put loads of men behind the ball though? I'd say it's more a case of not being very good at breaking sides down when they go compact and being vulnerable to the counter ourselves due to overcommitting, rather than an issue of player attitude? |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2014 11:59:09 GMT
It's now extremely unlikely we will reach the 'magic' 20 point Christmas mark. Superb (perhaps under regarded) efforts at Spurs and Man City have helped disguise a distinctly average season so far. Just need to hope that Hughes is backed in the window and his annoying but seemingly accurate mantra that his teams are better in the second half of the season bears fruit once more. This "my sides are generally better the second half of the season" is starting to wear a bit thin now isnt it...... surely they should be bang on it from minute one of the first game of the season..????? Or am I being a bit of a thicky here? I genuinely think hes a good coach and is doing his best with ` 'shit hand' so to speak at the moment. I just cant get my head around his policy of ramping it up as we go thru the season. Just seems wrong to me I think it's more a case that no team can play at full intensity for a whole season. They all dip at some point. Hughes comments suggest that his teams reach their maximum potential later in the season, and I think there's evidence that proves this happens with his teams. Man Utd were similar under Fergie in that their second half of the season results were usually better than the first. It's also a useful tool if you're asking the board or your supporters to be patient if the first half of the season doesn't go to plan.  |
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Post by retired1 on Dec 2, 2014 12:15:45 GMT
We will be in the bottom four by tomorrow night.
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Post by salopstick on Dec 2, 2014 12:27:29 GMT
this is our first prem season where we have had lots of injuries to first teamers
er have not been able to play a settled back 4 all season and it shows with the leaky defence conceding sloppy goals, that along with beo's uncertain future has not helped
glen whelan showing the sort of form he has threatened to for years then gone injured
new players settling in
the signs are there we have not really played bad most of the season we have just been sloppy and not lethal up front
there are at least 4 teams in a worse position than us team wise and the table addresses this
we will be fine
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2014 12:29:54 GMT
We will be in the bottom four by tomorrow night. Only if they change the points system. |
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Post by Davef on Dec 2, 2014 12:33:41 GMT
Looking at the table, none of the teams currently above us will be relegation candidates. That means there are 9 teams, us included, all heaped within 5 points from 12th (us) to last (foxes). So the scene is set, in my view, for a closely-fought, nail-biting relegation battle. And we will be in the thick of it. From a relatively easy first third of fixtures we are at least 5/6 points short of what we should have achieved. 0 points from 3 home matches against Burnley, Leicester and villa are bound to bite us in the balls when the closing balance is drawn. And I don't consider this to be a knicker-wetting exercise but simply a realistic analysis of the obtaining situation Had we of beaten Leicester, Burnley and Villa they would be on 7,8 and 10 points while we would be in 4th on 24 points so those games were massive as to where we are right now. Even draws in those games would've seen our position looking much healthier and would've robbed those three of two points each. We obviously weren't good enough to win those games, but losing them was just careless. Add on the four points we should've got from winning positions against West Ham and QPR and we'd be in position to more or less get the cigars out. Very frustrating. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2014 12:34:31 GMT
I can't hide my disappointment of how things have gone up to now. I think in the main, we've shot ourselves in the foot, far too many times. We need to buck up, no doubt at all!
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Post by crowey on Dec 2, 2014 12:41:17 GMT
...Really only one thing to consider - goal difference. We are OK at present
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Post by pedro23 on Dec 2, 2014 12:45:11 GMT
For me its way too early to call. Teams are taking points of each other,there are fine margins between winning/losing. I think we have a stronger squad than last year, if we can get everybody fit, then we have a strong shout for a top ten finish. We could just as easily be battling it out with 10 or more teams come the business end of the season. A Geordie friend of mine was saying after winning 6 on the bounce they could just as easily lose their next 6 games. I think he is right. Just look what two back to back wins can make to league placings. As some predicted, it will be a roller coaster ride this season, no sure fire wins or losses, making predictions pointless.
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Post by salopstick on Dec 2, 2014 12:49:50 GMT
the unpredictability of the league makes it the most exciting
just look at the top, man city are right back in it now and chelsea dont look like running away with it - even utd with their poor form look healthier than people make out
slightly off topic southamptons position may look a bit more natural after their run against the big teams, they had a deecent set of fixtures to start the season
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Post by ohbottom on Dec 2, 2014 13:12:57 GMT
We will be in the bottom four by tomorrow night. That's the spirit!  The lowest position we can possibly be by close of play tomorrow is 15th. |
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Post by Clayton Wood on Dec 2, 2014 13:26:43 GMT
Maybe it's Stoke-tinted glasses but I honestly don't think we'll be anywhere near the mix come squeaky bum time. I think there are too many sides below us who we are better than, for it to become a distinct possibility. The margins are pretty fine though, an inactive January window, more bad luck with injuries and continued poor game management and who knows?
"It's unlikely we'll spend a significant amount in the window." "We'd only go in if we got stretched," he said. "If, in January, we lose any to long-term injuries then, if the right player became available, I'm sure there'd be resources available. "If it continues, we're going to have to make sure we're not exposed and don't leave ourselves too open. We want it to resolve itself and, in the given time, we'll be able to welcome players back." Sounds like Hughes isn't overly concerned, should he be? |
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Post by chiefdelilah on Dec 2, 2014 13:33:18 GMT
I think there are too many sides below us who we are better than, for it to become a distinct possibility. The margins are pretty fine though, an inactive January window, more bad luck with injuries and continued poor game management and who knows?
"It's unlikely we'll spend a significant amount in the window." "We'd only go in if we got stretched," he said. "If, in January, we lose any to long-term injuries then, if the right player became available, I'm sure there'd be resources available. "If it continues, we're going to have to make sure we're not exposed and don't leave ourselves too open. We want it to resolve itself and, in the given time, we'll be able to welcome players back." Sounds like Hughes isn't overly concerned, should he be? I think he's just playing things down like a sensible manager should do pre-window. He can't really say "I want to spend a f**kton, pronto" can he? |
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Post by Clayton Wood on Dec 2, 2014 13:40:17 GMT
Stoke City: Mark Hughes says Potters can spend if needed
"It's unlikely we'll spend a significant amount in the window." "We'd only go in if we got stretched," he said. "If, in January, we lose any to long-term injuries then, if the right player became available, I'm sure there'd be resources available. "If it continues, we're going to have to make sure we're not exposed and don't leave ourselves too open. We want it to resolve itself and, in the given time, we'll be able to welcome players back." Sounds like Hughes isn't overly concerned, should he be? I think he's just playing things down like a sensible manager should do pre-window. He can't really say "I want to spend a f**kton, pronto" can he? True. But it makes me wonder if it's Hughes saying we can cope with the current level of injuries or PC saying you'll have to stick with what you've got unless it gets a lot worse with additional injuries in the next 2 months. |
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Post by chiefdelilah on Dec 2, 2014 13:51:23 GMT
I think he's just playing things down like a sensible manager should do pre-window. He can't really say "I want to spend a f**kton, pronto" can he? True. But it makes me wonder if it's Hughes saying we can cope with the current level of injuries or PC saying you'll have to stick with what you've got unless it gets a lot worse with additional injuries in the next 2 months. We'll see, but I'd be surprised if the manager wasn't given at least a little room for manoeuvre in the market. I don't think any statements about transfers around this time of year can be taken at face value. |
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Post by ukcstokie on Dec 2, 2014 13:53:15 GMT
We have been severely hampered by injuries, but even so we should have won against
West Ham
Burnley
Leicester
QPR
Plus a point against Liverpool.
That's 11 points more that we should have picked up. That would have put us in 4th behind Soton.
I put very little of it down to being sloppy. Players just don't miss chances because it's "only Burnley" and it's easy. Players do switch off (and always have, à la Arnie, Moses, etc.) - but we seem to get punished for many of the mistakes.
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