Just checked the table and we've beaten 3 teams in the top 15 in the league

[The Erectile Banana]

Seems we're ok against Arsenal but pretty rubbish against the other two. Don't really know why that is tbh, but hopefully it'll change.

Cheers for the info fellas.

I don't think it's any coincidence that we've done poorly against United and Chavs who have finished above us in the last two seasons and better against the Arse who we've finished above for the last two years.

[bigfooty]

I did say earlier in the season when people were using the "unbeaten" card to herald Rafa's ability to get a 0-0 with Birmingham at home that our runs in the last couple of years, where we went 10 or more games unbeaten in the league, usually were against pretty poor opposition. The fact is that, rather than playing those sorts of teams in the middle of the season whilst having some tough away games at the start, the fixtures broke very kindly for us and ultimately we've failed to take advantage of that.

In the modern era home draws kill your title chances. I think I'm right in saying that, in the last 5 seasons, no team has dropped more than 10 points at home and won the title. We've dropped 11 and it's not even Christmas.

The fact we hadn't lost until the Reading debacle papered over the cracks somewhat, as Aston Villa's succession of draws last season did for them in a team that finished 10th or 11th despite being unbeaten into late October.

We are going to have to considerably raise our game over the next few months to secure a Top 4 finish because we have some very difficult matches to come. I hope Rafa and the lads are up to it because if we fail to qualify for the Champions League the financial consequences would be severe, nevermind the personnel changes it would lead to.

[tomasjj]

I did say earlier in the season when people were using the "unbeaten" card to herald Rafa's ability to get a 0-0 with Birmingham at home that our runs in the last couple of years, where we went 10 or more games unbeaten in the league, usually were against pretty poor opposition. The fact is that, rather than playing those sorts of teams in the middle of the season whilst having some tough away games at the start, the fixtures broke very kindly for us and ultimately we've failed to take advantage of that.

In the modern era home draws kill your title chances. I think I'm right in saying that, in the last 5 seasons, no team has dropped more than 10 points at home and won the title. We've dropped 11 and it's not even Christmas.

The fact we hadn't lost until the Reading debacle papered over the cracks somewhat, as Aston Villa's succession of draws last season did for them in a team that finished 10th or 11th despite being unbeaten into late October.

We are going to have to considerably raise our game over the next few months to secure a Top 4 finish because we have some very difficult matches to come. I hope Rafa and the lads are up to it because if we fail to qualify for the Champions League the financial consequences would be severe, nevermind the personnel changes it would lead to.

Not disagreeing with your point on draws at home, but it seems a suitable theory to bring forward at this time to slate us with, especially since this is exactly what we have done now.

We have played Arse, Chav and Scum. That's 7 of those 11 points.
Add Spurs, Brum draws and you are there. Those two games are my main grievances. We needed those 2 wins. Not good enough. Agreed.

Looking behind those results, I think we deserved 3 points against the Chavs. Other than that, we got a little lucky against Arse to snatch the draw, but could have had a draw against Scum imo.