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Beefymcfc wrote:think we can win it but I'm not sure that we will.

If Pellers gets his tactics right and the players knuckle down away from home then it's a given for me. What we seen this weekend was a real boost with the team defending as one and even though Spurs were relatively toothless it's a decent sign that we are now taking the league more serious.

I'm going to get splinters for a while until we prove ourselves in the next few away games.

His tactics have not cost us anything this season..it has given us the best entertainment we have ever seen , its been individual player fuckups that have stopped us topping the prem.

Players Beefy , not manager ))

With our defence? I don't think so.

Blue Since 76 wrote:I think (hope) that Sunderland was a wake up call and the team, and especially Pellegrini, realise that you can't just go away to poor sides and beat them without trying. We also don't have the CL distracting Pellegrini and causing him to pick strange sides in the league for another few months (assuming we play a second string tonight and Bayern win making that game a non-event).

Our next couple of away games are potential banana skins, but play properly and they're winnable. Two easy wins at home as well and we could be almost top and on a run and if that happens I don't think we'll be caught. These away games are therefore crucial in proving if we're the real deal or not up to it

Having seen the amount of effort we put in tonight against a poor side, I want to change my vote. We're fecked

Blue Since 76 wrote:I think (hope) that Sunderland was a wake up call and the team, and especially Pellegrini, realise that you can't just go away to poor sides and beat them without trying. We also don't have the CL distracting Pellegrini and causing him to pick strange sides in the league for another few months (assuming we play a second string tonight and Bayern win making that game a non-event).

Our next couple of away games are potential banana skins, but play properly and they're winnable. Two easy wins at home as well and we could be almost top and on a run and if that happens I don't think we'll be caught. These away games are therefore crucial in proving if we're the real deal or not up to it

I think Sunderland would have had a decent chance of winning that game last night, which is evidence of the substantial drop in quality on the periphery of the squad

Blue Since 76 wrote:

Blue Since 76 wrote:I think (hope) that Sunderland was a wake up call and the team, and especially Pellegrini, realise that you can't just go away to poor sides and beat them without trying. We also don't have the CL distracting Pellegrini and causing him to pick strange sides in the league for another few months (assuming we play a second string tonight and Bayern win making that game a non-event).

Our next couple of away games are potential banana skins, but play properly and they're winnable. Two easy wins at home as well and we could be almost top and on a run and if that happens I don't think we'll be caught. These away games are therefore crucial in proving if we're the real deal or not up to it

Having seen the amount of effort we put in tonight against a poor side, I want to change my vote. We're fecked

I didn't see the game but had read something else like this already.

Apparently we just don't seem to get ourselves up for the "easy" games, so we just throw away points instead. That we apparently did the same here, even having just lost to fking Sunderland again only recently, gives me quite a lot of concern.

I think if we are in the mix after christmas, then we will sort the away form out and start hammering sides both home & away. We have had Vinne out, with him coming back he will sort the defence out. Merlin has spent a bit of time on the sidelines also, him coming back in will also be a massive boost.

As it stands, we're too inconsistent to win the league. As fantastic as we are at home, our away form is nothing short of abysmal.

Both Pellegrini and the players have to take the blame for this. Too often our players fail to turn up for the games against the 'smaller' teams, and we've seen far too many individual errors.

Our defence has been a shambles since pre-season and Pellegrini has still done absolutely nothing to rectify it. Playing Garcia and Nastasic at centre-back for too often has cost us, and just playing Garcia anywhere when he's so shite is not acceptable. Demichelis has been ok, but if he was THAT good Pellegrini would have taken him from Malaga for free at the beginning of the summer. Instead, he was an after-thought when we had injury problems.

Every time an opposing team attacks us they look like they're going to score. League champions don't have that issue. Losing Kompany for many games has been a massive blow, but the defensive frailties were clear in the summer and Pellegrini and Txiki failed to act on this.

If Kompany can regain his fitness and have a regular run of games, then I still believe him and Lescott would be our best CB partnership. They've proven in the past they work extremely well together. Admittedly Lescott has looked rusty at times in his cameo appearances this season, but given a run of games he'll be able to regain his form. Besides he can't be any worse than the shite Nastasic and Garcia have offered up this season. With all that considered, we should still be on the hunt for a CB in January (although we'll probably be stung on the price for anyone we buy).

The league is wide open this season and we'll definitely be in the mix, but until we can string a few away wins together, I couldn't say with any confidence that we'll win it.

aaron bond wrote:Every time an opposing team attacks us they look like they're going to score. League champions don't have that issue.

Apart from the scum last season. Every time I saw them play they were wide open and even the poor sides looked like scoring, until they themselves fucked it up with a poor pass, shot, whatever. That's the same reason imo so many teams in the past seasons have had good results against them as long as they have guts to have a go at them.

And in champions league they come up with good players who are less prone to fuck up the attacks and what do we get..? Couple of poor runs in the tournament for them

So as long as we are ruthless in front of goal we can do it.
But for sure it would be easier if our defence wasn't wide open so hopefully it will be sorted, with or without Vinnie

carl_feedthegoat wrote:

Beefymcfc wrote:think we can win it but I'm not sure that we will.

If Pellers gets his tactics right and the players knuckle down away from home then it's a given for me. What we seen this weekend was a real boost with the team defending as one and even though Spurs were relatively toothless it's a decent sign that we are now taking the league more serious.

I'm going to get splinters for a while until we prove ourselves in the next few away games.

His tactics have not cost us anything this season..it has given us the best entertainment we have ever seen , its been individual player fuckups that have stopped us topping the prem.

Players Beefy , not manager ))

There have been fuckups, mostly Hart-shaped, I'll give you that.

But what we have needed at times is an extra body screening midfield and Pellers consistently ignored this and continues to play Fred and Yaya high up the pitch leaving any three man midfield the run of the middle.

His insistence on playing Garcia anywhere but the transfer market is also down to him.

For the benefit of Beefy. Last time I looked there were more that thought we'd win the league. Back to 57% I see. I thought there'd be more confidence.

dazby wrote:For the benefit of Beefy. Last time I looked there were more that thought we'd win the league. Back to 57% I see. I thought there'd be more confidence.

My position hasn't changed - until there is an improvement in the away form, I can't see us winning the league.

The defence looked more solid yesterday with Lescott there, so if Pellegrini keeps him in the side and partners him with Kompany when he's back available then we should see some improvements.

We still have big gaps in centre midfield though, which Swansea exploited last night (and a better side would have punished us for). Whilst I think both Yaya and Fernandinho are good players, I'm still unsure if between them they can cover all of the defensive and attacking duties that the midfield needs to carry out. Keeping Barry in the squad would have given us an option to rectify this, even if only using him occasionally. Pellegrini needs to find a way to stop the problem, but unfortunately he hasn't done so yet.

Our next 2 games are crucial - if we drop points in them and fall further behind Arsenal, it will be difficult to catch-up with them. But winning them both would mark a big turning point, and should give us an even bigger psychological edge when Arsenal come to our ground in a couple of weeks.

Thought I'd resurrect this now that we are top and see if anyone wishes to change their vote.

dazby wrote:Thought I'd resurrect this now that we are top and see if anyone wishes to change their vote.

I will wait till after Mondays game.

66% thought we would win the league last time we checked.

Change or add your vote accordingly. I still think that the dippers will choke.

Peter Doherty (AGAIG) wrote:I think we'll win it, and in fine style.

Plank.

Liverpool lose their next two to chelski and crystal palace and we could go into the last game not needing a win.

In other words, its not over yet. Lots of things can happen.

Wonderwall wrote:Liverpool lose their next two to chelski and crystal palace and we could go into the last game not needing a win.

In other words, its not over yet. Lots of things can happen.

Indeed and by the time the scouse2 Chelski game is over , we know what we are up against at the Pally.

A gritty win , any win, any how , is good enough.

I still harbour hopes of us winning it but as it's all down to 'If' and 'Maybe' then I'd be 75/25 in favour of Liverpool.

Peter Doherty (AGAIG) wrote: Plank.

Haha class :-)