Rival Watch

srigooner wrote:
MAN UTD 4th 50pts 20GD
Home (5) : Burnley, Sunderland, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal
Away (6)  : Swansea, Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, Crystal Palace, Hull City

okay, I guess you guys are craving for a Man u lad's perspective on this. So let me.

Pool away, Chelsea away thats 0 points from those 2 lol.
Spurs, Arsenal home. Hopefully 4 points.
City home 1 point.
5 points from the 5 matches. Fair enough all things taken into consideration.

Everton, Newcastle, Palace away. Thats the 3 fixtures which will decide our fate. Need to win all 3 of them. minimum 7 points. its a Herculean task considering Our wretched away away form, I know, too much to ask, but have no choice sadly. We simply cant win a game on road these days. So its already over more or less, unless and until we see some change in fortune starting with the midweek trip to Newcastle. And the worse thing is even if manage to get 9 from those 3 somehow, pool and ars have such an easy fixture that it might not turn out to be enough eventually. Could still fall much short of you guys.

Or maybe you win them all.

Its too close to decide and every game week will bring us closer to reality. Soton could end up finishing 2nd and Spurs 3rd ffs

Lumiere_Blanche wrote:

srigooner wrote:
MAN UTD 4th 50pts 20GD
Home (5) : Burnley, Sunderland, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal
Away (6)  : Swansea, Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, Crystal Palace, Hull City

okay, I guess you guys are craving for a Man u lad's perspective on this. So let me.

Pool away, Chelsea away thats 0 points from those 2 lol.
Spurs, Arsenal home. Hopefully 4 points.
City home 1 point.
5 points from the 5 matches. Fair enough all things taken into consideration.

Everton, Newcastle, Palace away. Thats the 3 fixtures which will decide our fate. Need to win all 3 of them. minimum 7 points.  its a Herculean task considering Our wretched away away form, I know, too much to ask, but have no choice sadly. We simply cant win a game on road these days. So its already over more or less, unless and until we see some change in fortune starting with the midweek trip to Newcastle. And the worse thing is even if manage to get 9 from those 3 somehow, pool and ars have such an easy fixture that it might not turn out to be enough eventually. Could still fall much short of you guys.

You guys do have it rough, but take it for granted that you will smack us twice. And we will go on a 2-4 week spree of dropping points while wallowing in self-pity at never ever being able to win away to United

Nishy wrote:Or maybe you win them all.

Its too close to decide and every game week will bring us closer to reality. Soton could end up finishing 2nd and Spurs 3rd ffs

I am not the only one seeing that possibility

srigooner wrote:

Lumiere_Blanche wrote:

srigooner wrote:
MAN UTD 4th 50pts 20GD
Home (5) : Burnley, Sunderland, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal
Away (6)  : Swansea, Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, Crystal Palace, Hull City

okay, I guess you guys are craving for a Man u lad's perspective on this. So let me.

Pool away, Chelsea away thats 0 points from those 2 lol.
Spurs, Arsenal home. Hopefully 4 points.
City home 1 point.
5 points from the 5 matches. Fair enough all things taken into consideration.

Everton, Newcastle, Palace away. Thats the 3 fixtures which will decide our fate. Need to win all 3 of them. minimum 7 points.  its a Herculean task considering Our wretched away away form, I know, too much to ask, but have no choice sadly. We simply cant win a game on road these days. So its already over more or less, unless and until we see some change in fortune starting with the midweek trip to Newcastle. And the worse thing is even if manage to get 9 from those 3 somehow, pool and ars have such an easy fixture that it might not turn out to be enough eventually. Could still fall much short of you guys.

You guys do have it rough, but take it for granted that you will smack us twice. And we will go on a 2-4 week spree of dropping points while wallowing in self-pity at never ever being able to win away to United

Even so, there arent any teams that can cause an upstage. Arsenal has booked a top 4 place already imo (not trying to jinx, its what any reasonable person will tell looking at things as it currently stand). Sadly its between a cruising liverpool and an unconvincing united for the other spot.

What i am praying for though is an Aguero injury. And if that can happen, then city will drop a lot of points for sure. They are shite without him. Silva wouldnt be able to do it alone. May be all of us can go through at the expense of man city. How about that for a 'different' idea.

Nishy wrote:

Its too close to decide and every game week will bring us closer to reality. Soton could end up finishing 2nd and Spurs 3rd ffs

Wish so, but cant see that happening. Their attack has all of a sudden gone blunt. Cant score a goal these days, poor saints.

Lumiere_Blanche wrote:
Even so, there arent any teams that can cause an upstage. Arsenal has booked a top 4 place already imo (not trying to jinx, its what any reasonable person will tell looking at things as it currently stand). Sadly its between a cruising liverpool and an unconvincing united for the other spot.

What i am praying for though is an Aguero injury. And if that can happen, then city will drop a lot of points for sure. They are shite without him. Silva wouldnt be able to do it alone. May be all of us can go through at the expense of man city. How about that for a 'different' idea.

We are far from convincing tbh. I don't share the enthusiasm and optimism that other clubs' fans seem to have about our top 4 chances. As I was saying in the Liverpool section: we scraped past Leicester, almost threw it away at Palace, lost convincingly to Spuds/Monaco and our win yesterday is more a testament to how horrible Everton are right now.

That said, I also share your view that City will/can be expected to drop more points, even if not to a suicidal extent to end up outside the top 4.

whatever you say but I had said 5-6 matchdays back that WestHam and Southampton have hit some wall and they would drop points and rightly so they are not able to play what they played in the first part of the season. I dont understand the point of new signings made by Soton which are actually causing problems instead of solving existing ones imo.

@Lumiere, all your hopes should be on LVG because he has a habit of winning games all his career irrespective of how the team plays. But on the other side, all my hopes are also on LVG because of his stubborn nature. He thinks he is too smart and you guys can be ready for some strange decisions in the last 11 games If you guys dont slip up from top 4 by the end of March, it is going to get very tight in the end. But if you guys slip up from top 4 and we get into the top 4, there is no way after that Liverpool will drop stupid points and for you guys it will be difficult to overtake us after that.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:

@Lumiere, all your hopes should be on LVG because he has a habit of winning games all his career irrespective of how the team plays. But on the other side, all my hopes are also on LVG because of his stubborn nature. He thinks he is too smart and you guys can be ready for some strange decisions in the last 11 games If you guys dont slip up from top 4 by the end of March, it is going to get very tight in the end. But if you guys slip up from top 4 and we get into the top 4, there is no way after that Liverpool will drop stupid points and for you guys it will be difficult to overtake us after that.

Yea exactly, LvG is going to be like a double edged sword for us for the remaining 11 fixtures. If his stubbornness starts to get the better of him, its going to be doom. But having said that, he is a big game gaffer, thats a little hope there.

When it comes to the squad, theres small positives, like the rvp injury for instance, a blessing in disguise, hope he will do a sturridge until season end and remain sidelined. Herrera starting twice and doing well, rooney scoring twice when played as a striker. Hope lvg's wrong perceptions about players would be alleviated thanks to these. And after rigorous testing and trying it seems we finally do have a working formation. 4-3-3 with wingers.
lol but see all of these getting dashed come wednesday, when lvg bring back his most cherished utter shite 3-5-2 and putting rooney in the midfield and herrera on the bench.

Looks like LVG just reinvented the wheel bah gawd

Lumiere_Blanche wrote:May be all of us can go through at the expense of man city. How about that for a 'different' idea.  

Hell no.

or may be I was simply trying to be a gentleman.

okay if that wasnt the answer you were looking for well, i will come up with something for the sake of it.
The thing is as you guys can easily expect, its same for us whether its man city or pool. And i dont have any problem with ars, where as when it comes to chelsea even if i do have, lol, they are too good a team to be affected by witchcraft and wizardry this term.

El Gunner wrote:
Feeling dat heat

lol, okay if thats how you want to put it, sure.

Nishy wrote:

Lumiere_Blanche wrote:May be all of us can go through at the expense of man city. How about that for a 'different' idea.  

Hell no.

the thing is mate, unlike you guys who consider us as born enemies, because of the reason that once upon a time in ancient history pool used to challenge for trophies, we have multiple rivals who are legit. Even chelsea fans consider us rivals thanks to the recent past. So its the same for us whether its you, or whether its city. Heck city are our biggest rivals anyway.
Saints and spurs cant be relied upon for obvious reasons.

Southampton with a late but nonetheless vital win against Crystal Palace this evening. The table going into tomorrow's games:

1. Chelsea - 26 | 60
2. Man City - 27 | 55
3. Arsenal - 27 | 51
4. Man Utd - 27 | 50
5. Southampton - 28 | 49
6. Liverpool - 27 | 48
7. Spurs - 26 | 44

QPR vs Arsenal
Man City vs Leicester
Newcastle vs Man Utd
Spurs vs Swansea
Liverpool vs Burnley

Top 8 all win.

most competitive league in the world

Everton closer to relegation

Welcome to another edition of Sri's PL Rival Watch.

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CHELSEA 1st 63pts 35GD
Home (6) : Everton, Burnley, Southampton, Stoke City, Manchester United, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Sunderland
Away (5)  : Leicester City*, West Ham United, Hull City, Queens Park Rangers, Arsenal, West Bromwich Albion

*- Postponed

=> Jog along. Nothing new.
_____________________________________________________________________
MAN CITY 2nd 58 pts 32GD
Home (5)  : Newcastle, Leicester, West Bromwich, West Ham, Aston Villa, Queens Park Rangers, Southampton
Away (5) : Stoke City, Liverpool, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Swansea City

=> Need them to drop a few more points
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MAN UTD 4th 53pts 21GD
Home (5) : Burnley, Sunderland, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal
Away (5)  : Swansea, Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, Crystal Palace, Hull City

=> Last home game against Arsenal would be a 6 pointer in all likelihood. Lost to Swans, won against Sunderland. Two huge away games left. Playing shitty football and LVG looks Moyesesque, but still we are almost definitely losing twice at OT - FA Cup and League. Also, Tim Krul showing his Dutch connection to LVG with that 89' Ashley Young goal
_____________________________________________________________________
LIVERPOOL 5th 51pts 12GD
Home (4) : Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Burnley, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Crystal Palace
Away (6)  : Southampton, Swansea City, Arsenal, Hull, West Bromwich Albion, Chelsea, Stoke City

=> What form they are in - and a well managed death run. Continue an upward climb and a fair shout to finish as high as third, if not second, if they keep it going. Still have a few big games though, but no non-league distractions any more. Only 4 games left at Anfield.
United must be shitting their pants before the trip to Anfield. GD biggest (only?) worry for Liverpool, although United's fixture list should help in terms of points.
_____________________________________________________________________
SOTON 6th 49pts 19GD
Home (4) : West Ham, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Burnley, Hull, Tottenham, Aston Villa
Away (6)  : West Bromwich Albion, Chelsea, Everton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Leicester,  Manchester City

=> Two huge away games could change things up the table - so still a crucial role in the overall scheme of things. Mane with a late goal for a win against Crystal Pardieux.  Also have 4 home games left.
_____________________________________________________________________
SCUM 7th 47pts 6GD
Home (4) : West Ham, Swansea, Leicester, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Hull City
Away (7)  : Liverpool, Queens Park Rangers,  Manchester United, Burnley, Newcastle United, Southampton, Stoke City, Everton

=> Still waiting for the DVD of being above us for 3 days.Drew to WHU; lost league cup.  Have a game in hand. Managed to win against Swans, but just look at that GD Also 4 home and 7 away games
I'll probably not bother updating this part in the near future. Here's to hope.
_____________________________________________________________________

Burnley 1-0 City.

1 point ahead of us now.

Chelsea dropping points as well.

10 tackles, 9 interceptions & 21 ball recoveries



UNREAL!

Chumlum wrote:Chelsea dropping points as well.

Well unless they lose some games, it is not going to make a difference..

Will update the Rival Watch table once Liverpool finish tomorrow.

srigooner wrote:

Chumlum wrote:Chelsea dropping points as well.

Well unless they lose some games, it is not going to make a difference..

Will update the Rival Watch table once Liverpool finish tomorrow.

I wasn't even necessarily thinking of a back-from-the-dead title challenge ... more just a matter of finishing as close to the top as possible. If we somehow pip 2nd place in the PL within 6 or so points of Chelsea ... that would be significant progress in the league. And a great platform going into next season.

Screw it, we're gonna win the league. 14 game winning streak incoming.

Seriously, though, I can't see Chelsea screwing away enough points for us to get into the title picture at the last minute. Even if they did, we would have win all of our remaining games, in all likelihood, which isn't likely to happen.

At this point, we should focus on distancing ourselves from the chasing pack as much as possible and seeing if we can overtake City. Last season we finished 4th but only seven points off the title winners. If we finish 2nd and seven points off Chelsea, and win the FA Cup, that would be an improvement on last season.

Van Gaal has come out and said that top 4 is basically a trophy for Man Utd. Priceless.

Wenger, without having spent eleventy billion dollars on players, has been attacked and mocked for years for suggesting the same thing for Arsenal.

You lads make me

Meanwhile, I just saw Fellaini's celebration and

We should be aiming at Chelsea.

It's not likely that they'll drop enough points to make it possible but it's better to set the bar higher than merely trying to get away from United, Liverpool etc.