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Top 4 Champions League Race

Top 4

  • On

    Votes: 199 61.8%
  • Off

    Votes: 59 18.3%
  • Cheese On Toast

    Votes: 64 19.9%

  • Total voters
    322
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Alright so here are our issues:

Depth: We depend a lot on a few guys. The drop off in quality is significant if they get injured.

Keeper: We have a guy bound to cost us points at some point or various times.


But I ask again, taking City and Liverpool aside, our competitors have many issues too.

Man United: Unbalanced team, poor defending, bad keeper, no depth.

Chelsea: Bad defense, terrible keeper, no depth.

Tottenham: Inconsistent. Extremely dependent on Kane and Son. Poor midfield

Villa and Leicester: Have no depth as well.

Most of these teams.also have European competitions to tend to as well.


I know it's easy to find our flaws, because we have them. But I'm sure if you go to forums for all of these teams, they would say the same about their team.

We are not a sure bet for anything, but neither are the rest. I say we have as good a chance as anyone not named Liverpool and City.
 
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Agree 100%. Too soon to tell. The "champagne XI" lacks depth so a major injury could be devastating. Just think for a second on a potential James' injury, it would be a deadly disaster. If you add Digne, DCL, Allan, Decou or any other key player to the equation it would be the end of the season. I remember very well Real Madrid during the 14/15 season when James was playing under Ancelotti, James was on fire and they were leading "La Liga" with a significant advantage over the second team but unfortunately James suffered a metatarsal fracture that cost them the league. In this type of competition it's not how you start, it's how you finish so I would take any high expectation with a grain of salt.
 

Alright so here are our issues:

Depth: We depend a lot on a few guys. The drop off in quality is significant if they get injured.

Keeper: We have a guy bound to cost us points at some point or various times.


But I ask again, taking City and Liverpool aside, our competitors have many issues too.

Man United: Unbalanced team, poor defending, bad keeper, no depth.

Chelsea: Bad defense, terrible keeper, no depth.

Tottenham: Inconsistent. Extremely dependent on Kane and Son. Poor midfield

Villa and Leicester: Have no depth as well.

Most of these teams.also have European competitions to tend to as well.


I know it's easy to find our flaws, because we have them. But I'm sure if you go to forums for all of these teams, they would say the same about their team.

We are not a sure bet for anything, but neither are the rest. I say we have as good a chance as anyone not named Liverpool and City.
Spurs have a poor defence, otherwise they are strong with depth
 
Agreed. The one irreplaceable for me is James though. Even against Liverpool he crafted both goals. His through ball to DCL was from nothing and we got the corner from it which he assisted Keane’s goal. Then he put Digne through with the perfect ball to cross in for DCL. He also put it on a plate for Richarlison at the back post. We could never replace him. If he stays fit though he can rescue wins and draws from any situation, that’s how good he is, even against a team like Liverpool he almost beat them singlehandedly.

This comment ^^^^^^^^^^^ I'm going to frame it.
 
Agree 100%. Too soon to tell. The "champagne XI" lacks depth so a major injury could be devastating. Just think for a second on a potential James' injury, it would be a deadly disaster. If you add Digne, DCL, Allan, Decou or any other key player to the equation it would be the end of the season. I remember very well Real Madrid during the 14/15 season when James was playing under Ancelotti, James was on fire and they were leading "La Liga" with a significant advantage over the second team but unfortunately James suffered a metatarsal fracture that cost them the league. In this type of competition it's not how you start, it's how you finish so I would take any high expectation with a grain of salt.


That Madrid team was on fire. They didn't win anything but they were the best out of all the Madrid teams this past decade. They were scoring 5 to 9 goals a game. But Modric got hurt and they coped for a little while but then James got hurt too and the season went too [Poor language removed] because they had no midfield.
 
With all the focus at the moment being on unsavoury hatred from that lot about Pickford’s clumsy challenge I thought we needed a different topic so who else believes we can make the top 4 this season?

Five games into the season and we’re top of the league, won four and drawn one.
Long way to go and not enough time passed to judge it but here’s why I think with a bit of luck and without big injuries.

We’ve got a team who can beat anyone
Carlo Ancelotti is world class and has done it all
James Rodríguez is world class and has done it all
Digne, Allan, Richarlison, Doucoure, Keane are all top players in their position
DCL is a goal scoring machine
We have competition for places with even under-performers from last season looking ok (Sigurdsson/Iwobi)
We have some good looking youth to learn and challenge the first team (Gordon/Nkounkou/Godfrey)

Our challengers look ropey:
Spurs just threw away a 3 goal lead against West Ham and created very little against us
Liverpool got smashed by Villa and don’t have VVD now
Man U are still completely inconsistent and got beat by Palace who we beat
Chelsea drew with WBA who we beat (and they nearly lost) and then threw away a lead against Southampton today
Arsenal look better this season and there’s no shame in losing to City and Liverpool but we got a point against Liverpool
City will probably win the league but got smashed by Leicester
Leicester lost to West Ham 3-0 who we beat in the cup (not like for like granted but 3-0 to West Ham is never good!

So, point is, so far we’re the most consistent performers whilst everyone else has been erratic. What do you think?
We are
With all the focus at the moment being on unsavoury hatred from that lot about Pickford’s clumsy challenge I thought we needed a different topic so who else believes we can make the top 4 this season?

Five games into the season and we’re top of the league, won four and drawn one.
Long way to go and not enough time passed to judge it but here’s why I think with a bit of luck and without big injuries.

We’ve got a team who can beat anyone
Carlo Ancelotti is world class and has done it all
James Rodríguez is world class and has done it all
Digne, Allan, Richarlison, Doucoure, Keane are all top players in their position
DCL is a goal scoring machine
We have competition for places with even under-performers from last season looking ok (Sigurdsson/Iwobi)
We have some good looking youth to learn and challenge the first team (Gordon/Nkounkou/Godfrey)

Our challengers look ropey:
Spurs just threw away a 3 goal lead against West Ham and created very little against us
Liverpool got smashed by Villa and don’t have VVD now
Man U are still completely inconsistent and got beat by Palace who we beat
Chelsea drew with WBA who we beat (and they nearly lost) and then threw away a lead against Southampton today
Arsenal look better this season and there’s no shame in losing to City and Liverpool but we got a point against Liverpool
City will probably win the league but got smashed by Leicester
Leicester lost to West Ham 3-0 who we beat in the cup (not like for like granted but 3-0 to West Ham is never good!

So, point is, so far we’re the most consistent performers whilst everyone else has been erratic. What do you think?
We will finish anywhere from 4th to 9th. Very little separation us,Spurs,Chelsea,Arsenal,wolves or Leicester. Villa and Leeds battle for 10th.
 

That Madrid team was on fire. They didn't win anything but they were the best out of all the Madrid teams this past decade. They were scoring 5 to 9 goals a game. But Modric got hurt and they coped for a little while but then James got hurt too and the season went too [Poor language removed] because they had no midfield.

Modric's injury was not as devastating for Madrid as the one from James. I have to do some research but I remember when Modric returned, Madrid were still on top of the table but it was James' injury the one that cost them to drop and lose the league. It was a sensational team and James was in superlative form.
 
Last season after game 20 - which was the last PL fixture of 2019. 35 points would have seen us in the top 4.

We were 10 points off that after having our current total of 13 points after 10 games.

If we can average close to 2 points per game between now and the year end, it’s very much on.
 
Yep I think we have a great chance to get Top 4.

As someone has already said - our rivals are all playing european games and they're going to drop points with having too many games at once.

I think its very difficult to defend the title, and Liverpool have been on a two year run already. They're still favourites, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't win. Man City are the other contenders but I don't see them winning either, if they start losing a few early on, Guardiola will start chasing Champions League again instead. Chelsea still a work in progress. Man U I don't even think will make Top 6. Arsenal are looking good, but they always have a bad run in them. Spurs look like they haven't progressed since that champions league final.

Our secret sauce - amazing dead ball takers and great headers of the ball means when all else fails, try and win a corner which means we have a Plan B. Allan and Doucoure are probably the two Everton cannot afford to miss over a long period of time because that means Delph, Davies, Gomes. Even if James is out we have Siggy, Bernard.

I think to win the title, the champions will only need 80 points this year, last year 66 points was needed for Top 4. I think it will be around that again.

Anyways my prediction -

1. Liverpool
2. Man City
3. Everton (~70 points)
4. Chelsea
5. Arsenal
6. Spurs
7. Leicester
8. Leeds
9. Man U
10. Wolves
 

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