Re: Rival thread

[Nishankly]

I do agree that the defense is cause for some concern, though. Reina's radar has been off for two years or so now and we desperately need someone, ANYONE to make a CB spot his own. That's something to look at and possibly address in January.

Agger?
All of us would agree that he is the best CB we've got .. Im pretty sure he would have got to that norwich cross or wouldn't have slipped in the manu game..

[RedOranje]

His injuries mean that he can never really be trusted to hold down a CB spot though. We need someone who can consistently play and do so at a high level.

[McAgger]

Coates.......the guy is amazing....he just needs to settle....I hope Kenny gives him a run of games, no matter how bad he does, we should keep playing him for 10-15 straight games....Once he settles, we will have found ourselves the perfect replacement for Hyypia

[Art Morte]

Well, after 11 games we are 3 points off Chelsea and Tottenham, who marched on to another victory, defeating Fulham 1 - 3.

Gap to 4th spot could be 6 points, as Spurs have got their home game against Everton in hand.

[Guest]

the table could look ugly if we don't step up against Chavs and Citeh.

[Nishankly]

The next three fixtures will decide if our squad is up for it or not.

The next three fixtures will decide if we make or break.

The next three fixtures will help the morale reach new heights or all time lows.

The next three fixtures will decide the season .

Pretty good, Eh?
Don't you dare facepalm me, Red.

[Art Morte]

jk jk, good stuff
Some BIG BIG games!

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

6 points clear

[Guest]

If we do well in our next 2 games, the whole team will get a lift and this mini-crisis will be over.

If we don't do well though, then the table wouldn't look good.



Let's hope we can repeat last year's results Step up Maxi and Spearing

[McAgger]

In Kenny we trust....

for the last f*cking time

[Art Morte]

Chelsea 1 - 1 Fulham

That's good stuff, right there.

[McAgger]

1. Man City - 45......+38......18 games
2. Man Utd - 45.......+33......18 games
3. Tottenham - 35...+13......16 games
4. Chelsea - 34.......+15......18 games
5. Arsenal - 32.........+8.......17 games
6. Liverpool - 31......+7........18 games
7. Newcastle - 30....+3........18 games

Arsenal got Wolves next, and Tottenham got Norwich
I dont see either of them dropping points, and Spurs' game in hand is against Everton at home.

Our next game is against Newcastle, which is must win for them to be out the picture.

[Red Alert]

Win at Newcastle is a MUST.

And why is it, we can't take advantage of other teams dropping points? We could of been equal points to the top four... but we couldn't beat Blackburn... last week was the same with Wigan.... frustrating.

[poolsupporter]

These are the games where top teams achieve their season long goals. (Top 4, etc.) It is frustrating.

[Red Alert]

Arsenal 1 - 1 Wolves

We're lucky they've dropped points too.

3 Points behind the four. Blackburn draw still feels like a defeat, though.

[Art Morte]

Been a while since we've been talking about our rivals, it seems.

Let's take a look at how they look compared to last season.

Manc United - Kagawa in. Vidic is back. Have not lost players (Berbatov probably on his way out and well, Owen, but you know what I mean).

Manc City - No changes there.

Chelsea - Hazard (x2), Marin, Oscar in. Talk about Moses (why we're not after him? ) and Azpilicueta joining. Drogba and Bosingwa out.

Arsenal - Podolski, Giroud and Cazorla in. Van Persie probably out. Well, Bendtner is there again, but he will probably find another club to play for.

Newcastle - No meaningful reinforcements yet, but Pardew "hopeful" over new signings.

Tottenham - Sigurdsson and Verthongen in. King out, Modric possibly, too. Adebayor situation open. Probably looking to sign somebody still. Villas-Boas the new manager.

Everton - Naismith in. Drenthe out.

...

Liverpool - Borini in. Kuyt and Aurelio out.


We finished below those clubs last season. How do you think we will do this time around?

Top-4 looks further away to me than last season. But, of course, the window is still open and we'll see what happens there in August.

[Nishankly]

As of 08 August - Dont see us finishing any higher than 6th.

[stevieg8]

Been a while since we've been talking about our rivals, it seems.

Let's take a look at how they look compared to last season.

Manc United - Kagawa in. Vidic is back. Have not lost players (Berbatov probably on his way out and well, Owen, but you know what I mean).

Manc City - No changes there.

Chelsea - Hazard (x2), Marin, Oscar in. Talk about Moses (why we're not after him? ) and Azpilicueta joining. Drogba and Bosingwa out.

Arsenal - Podolski, Giroud and Cazorla in. Van Persie probably out. Well, Bendtner is there again, but he will probably find another club to play for.

Newcastle - No meaningful reinforcements yet, but Pardew "hopeful" over new signings.

Tottenham - Sigurdsson and Verthongen in. King out, Modric possibly, too. Adebayor situation open. Probably looking to sign somebody still. Villas-Boas the new manager.

Everton - Naismith in. Drenthe out.

...

Liverpool - Borini in. Kuyt and Aurelio out.


We finished below those clubs last season. How do you think we will do this time around?

Top-4 looks further away to me than last season. But, of course, the window is still open and we'll see what happens there in August.

Arsenal looks much stronger than last year, and Chelsea will have a settling in period due to their revolution of younger players but look stronger too. ManU doesn't seem to have improved much (unless they bring in a CM), but obviously still look stronger than us. Same goes for Man City.

Newcastle I'm reserving judgement on until they finished upgrading... on paper, at the moment, I'd slate us ahead of them, but just barely, and that has more to do with our depth than anything else. I assume they'll be strengthening before this window slams shut though, so who knows.

Tottenham, especially if they lose Modric, really does not look that threatening to me. They'll still be a strong side, and yeah, they'll probably smash us both legs because that's what they always do, but they look substantially weaker to me, and have major question marks. A lot of their strength in the past also seemed to come from hitting above their level at times, and I'm curious if they'll be able to do that with AVB. Obviously I could be off the mark on this one; we'll see when the year comes around.

Frankly, top 4 is a pipe dream this year. It's not happening. Yes, anything can happen in football, but there are 4 sides who we match up weakly against and another two that seem at least on our level, if not better, and could strengthen more. I honestly don't see how our current squad is going to improve much on last year's position. I would love to see us play the lower sides the way we should this year, rack up some wins in Anfield and show clear signs we're moving forward; expecting more than that is a bit of a lost cause. Make some nice runs in the cups, shoot for an EL spot, and see where we can go from there.

[Guest]

Ridiculous for us to discuss likes of Arsenal, City, United and Chlesea here.


More like Spurs, Newcastle, Everton, Sunderland, Fulham.

Fulham have Rodallega and Petric, and seem skint. holding out desparately for Dempsey.

Everton blew their budget to buy the player they sold less than 2 years ago.

Sunderland seem to have bagged Fletcher. 12M

Newcastle are trying to be smart and get their signing in very end when players are desparate. Will be a busy deadline day for them imo.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

Ridiculous for us to discuss likes of Arsenal, City, United and Chlesea here.


More like Spurs, Newcastle, Everton, Sunderland, Fulham.

Fulham have Rodallega and Petric, and seem skint. holding out desparately for Dempsey.

Everton blew their budget to buy the player they sold less than 2 years ago.

Sunderland seem to have bagged Fletcher. 12M

Newcastle are trying to be smart and get their signing in very end when players are desparate. Will be a busy deadline day for them imo.

Do you still feel this way? in any case we have agreed a fee for Vurnon Anita.

As for Fletcher, did anyone hear that Wolves want 20m for him

[Nishankly]

Arsenal lose RVP.
Spurs about to lose Modric.

Looks better now, 16 days to go for the window to close.

[McAgger]

Song could possibly be leaving Arsenal as well....and rumors still going on around about us for Theo Although I don't want him, since we got Sterling, who is exactly the same way only with more potential.

[iftikhar]

Arsenal lose RVP.
Spurs about to lose Modric.

Looks better now, 16 days to go for the window to close.

Where did RVP go!!!

[McAgger]

Arsenal lose RVP.
Spurs about to lose Modric.

Looks better now, 16 days to go for the window to close.

Where did RVP go!!!

Manchester United....go to general section, everyone is talking about it. I know, it's sounds crazy when you hear it for the first time, but he did move to UTd.

[McAgger]

CL Rivals:

1. Chelsea - 9 points, 3 played
5. Man City - 4 points, 2 played
7. Man Utd - 3 points, 2 played
9. Newcastle - 3 pts, 2 played
12. Arsenal - 2 points, 2 played
14. Tottenham - 1 pt, 2 played

Outside shot:
2. Swansea - 6 points, 2 played
3. Everton - 6 points, 2 played

Well one thing we can be happy about is that no one has started particularly well, except Chelsea. We might have to worry about Swansea and Everton for CL places as well if they continue these forms.

[Nishankly]

Okay easy run of fixtures over. Got 7 out of 9. Great

Time to get serious.
Next 6 games

Anzhi (H),
Everton (A),
Swansea (H)
Newcastle (H),
Anzhi (2nd leg) (A)
Chelsea (A)

If we can get results from these games, It'll put us in a very strong position by Jan.
Chelsea at the bridge is the only game im a bit nervous about, If we lose any other than that, It'll be depressing.

Should defeat Swansea so that we can continue our defense of the League cup.

Two fixtures against Anzhi, 4 points from these 2 would be an amazing compared to run of fixtures we have here.

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