Scrap on for 4th

[nottsblue]

By no means are we guaranteed a place in Champs league next season. Finish fifth is unthinkable. Fourth would be terrible as we'd have to qualify.

Arsenal, rags and dippers are all winning games at the right time even though they aren't necessarily playing well. Hate to say it, but unless we pull our fingers out we are going to be in a scrap to get third place and automatic Champs league place.

I hope Pellers and the squad realise this and are up for it, starting against Leicester midweek.

[Hutch's Shoulder]

We will finish ahead of rags and arse

[nottsblue]

We will finish ahead of rags and arse

You wouldn't put your house on it though. Six weeks ago you would have done

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

We will finish ahead of rags and arse

You wouldn't put your house on it though. Six weeks ago you would have done

We'll know better after the next four games (Leicester, Burnley, WBA, C Palace) which are all winnable. If we fuck up this little run of games we'll be in trouble.

[nottsblue]

We will finish ahead of rags and arse

You wouldn't put your house on it though. Six weeks ago you would have done

We'll know better after the next four games (Leicester, Burnley, WBA, C Palace) which are all winnable. If we fuck up this little run of games we'll be in trouble.

It is these type of games that worry me. We haven't exactly dominated these teams in the reverse fixtures. As you say, they are all winnable, but if our attitude is not correct we will end up with a big fuckin mess on our hands

[carolina-blue]

After that second half performance I wouldnt bank on winning. Any of those games Pullis has Wba fighting Pardew ( the cunt ) the same . We are going to need to fight in those games I didnt see any today

[Blue2]

The way we are playing at the moment 2nd place is in daager, but cant see is dropping to 5th - surely not?

[Green & Blue]

I hate to say it but if we continue to perform as we have since the start of the year we will be very lucky to make top four.Not sure what to expect, hope the return of Yaya and the signing of Bony can liven things up a bit over the next few fixtures.We really need to string a few wins together to steady the ship.

[Feed The Goat]

We will finish 2nd or 1st

[failsworthblue]

We will finish in the top four but not to sure if 2nd , 3rd or 4th.

[carolina-blue]

After that second half performance I wouldnt bank on winning. Any of those games Pullis has Wba fighting Pardew ( the cunt ) the same . We are going to need to fight in those games I didnt see any today

[Hazy2]

A point today, we cannot even scrape that against team who had no legs, what a fucking shit day, as Chelsea tale one of our trophies. Oh the momentum we now have. Wankers.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

By no means are we guaranteed a place in Champs league next season. Finish fifth is unthinkable. Fourth would be terrible as we'd have to qualify.

Arsenal, rags and dippers are all winning games at the right time even though they aren't necessarily playing well. Hate to say it, but unless we pull our fingers out we are going to be in a scrap to get third place and automatic Champs league place.

I hope Pellers and the squad realise this and are up for it, starting against Leicester midweek.

You're absolutely right NB.

Moreover, it could be even worse. I'm really fearful that we're now on the brink of a downward slide and, in the worst possible scenario, it could see us being caught by the three teams below us and we end up finishing only in fifth spot.

I hope I'm completely wrong but, until we start putting some performances together, as well as results, this prospect is starting to haunt me.

[Wooders]

How arrogant are we when we get beat 2-1 at home by a rampant barca and get the same score away to one of the best teams in the league that we're suddenly looking at a battle for a top 6 finish? Credit to the teams involved, they had us - we'll be fine though, 2nd easy

[Mikhail Chigorin]

How arrogant are we when we get beat 2-1 at home by a rampant barca and get the same score away to one of the best teams in the league that we're suddenly looking at a battle for a top 6 finish? Credit to the teams involved, they had us - we'll be fine though, 2nd easy

I hardly think that being concerned and worried about the way we are playing, is being arrogant.

I'd say it's actually about showing respect to the teams below us, the way they are playing and their abilities to catch and overhaul us.

If you don't want to confront such realities, you might be happier putting your head back into the sand.

[Goaters 103]

The next 7 games in the league are

Leicester H
Burnley A
WBA H
Palace A
Utd A
West Ham H
Villa H

6 Wins and a draw, so 19 points, is the very minimum requirement from these games given our squad and our situation. That will see us move clear from 4th spot and any potential trouble in CL qualification. Make a bollox of any of those winnable games and we will be in trouble.

Chelsea would have to collapse now for them to factor into our season again - they wont. Whilst we might score twice in Barcelona, we will concede 4 0r 5 in doing so given that tactically our manager is currently as much use as Nigel Clough in a pub fight.

Some handy suggestions for Mr Pellegrini, who I firmly believe is now a lame duck manager bar a miracle in Barcelona or a Chelsea collapse; -

- Play Kompany and Mangala together in every game till the end of the season to help them build a partnership
- Pick Sagna at Right Back for the next run of games and tell Zabaleta to go on hols for 2 weeks and have a break
- Give Lampard and Bony a game on Wednesday FFS. All that fuss over their signings and they've been a total non-factor over the past 2 months

Against Leicester/WBA/Villa/Burnley et al, then 4-4-2 can work. Away at Liverpool and at home to Barcelona it fookin wont with our personnel.

[Scatman]

You can kind of see why Bony hasn't been involved much since he signed though, surely.

[Goaters 103]

You can kind of see why Bony hasn't been involved much since he signed though, surely.

Given that he was away at the ACON for 5-6 weeks, I am kind of wondering why we bothered signing him at all tbh.

[Wooders]

How arrogant are we when we get beat 2-1 at home by a rampant barca and get the same score away to one of the best teams in the league that we're suddenly looking at a battle for a top 6 finish? Credit to the teams involved, they had us - we'll be fine though, 2nd easy

I hardly think that being concerned and worried about the way we are playing, is being arrogant.

I'd say it's actually about showing respect to the teams below us, the way they are playing and their abilities to catch and overhaul us.

If you don't want to confront such realities, you might be happier putting your head back into the sand.

And we beat Newcastle 5-0 just before it and stoke city 1-4 away from home before that
I'm not naive enough to think there aren't problems that need fixing but I don't see this tumbling down the league scenario being played out over a couple of dodgy results

[freshie]

How arrogant are we when we get beat 2-1 at home by a rampant barca and get the same score away to one of the best teams in the league that we're suddenly looking at a battle for a top 6 finish? Credit to the teams involved, they had us - we'll be fine though, 2nd easy

I'd say that it's the opposite of being arrogant. Concerns about a top 4 finish are well founded. If we can get beaten at home by teams like Stoke and Middlesbrough and outfought by a side like Arsenal and scrape draws at home to sides like Hull and Burnley then I'd say that a lot of teams have figured out how to take points off us. Apart from a good run in December when we had no strikers we haven't looked convincing this season and it shows how poor the league is that we are still even 2nd. The players need to step it up massively from here on in otherwise we will be lucky to make top 4. I just hope that they are capable of it as this season seems to bear all the hallmarks of Mancini's final season.

Any opposing manager's tactics vs us should now be to pack the midfield, press us all over the pitch, especially high up against our defence, and run at the defence with pace and watch us shit ourselves