The Race for Champions League Places

[Arn]

Yeah ,where the fock are Juventus finding the money from now? Juve were my other team , possibly still are.

Big TV deal and a new stadium.

[Chris]

I agree with Chris his options are very Limited.

Man Utd - Not Happening
Man City - They need Hart as a quota for Home Grown
Arsenal - A Maybe
Chelsea - Not unless they get rid of Cech and do not buy the GK from Genk

Madrid - No Chance
Barca - No Chance. Valdes signed a new contract a while back. Stupid to spend 10M+ on Renia

B. Munich - No Chance
Inter - Can't see it happening
AC Milan - Maybe. They so need a new GK

He may end up going to a Champions League Club. But Not a Top, Top Champions League Club

Exactly, theres hardly anything out there for him, the best teams dont need him and the lesser one are either not worth it and wont get anywhere close to the fee we'd demand or his wages.

[RichC]

there is also such a thing called loyalty, Pepe so far has been nothing but that.

[Mattshark]

there is also such a thing called loyalty, Pepe so far has been nothing but that.

There is, but you would also have to feel that he will lose patience if he sees the club is not progressing. Anything but CL football is not progression.

[BobTheCharmer]

interesting to see how the rest of the season pans out for reina. he's been a little slack, unfocused and not on his game so far. has he stagnated? perhaps he needs a change. he's been our best keeper in years and a great character, but we'll survive if and when he does depart. replacement would be hard mind.

[Craig_H]

On current form we wont get 4th, but we also arent a million miles off.

The clubs going for it are all up and down. 3 straight wins and we'll be back in pole position again, draw 2 and we're out of the race.

It's insanity.

[Craig_H]

I'd also add that if (and maybe it's a fairly big if), but if Fulham win at home to Spurs today, we'll only be a maximim of 3 points off 4th place.

I will counter that by saying we definitely need two big results from Chelsea away and City at home. But then, if we go and beat Chelsea (which we did last year), it'll give us huge momentum to go and beat City at Anfield. We know we can beat anyone at anfield.

Just not Norwich or Swansea

[Exiled_red]

On current form we wont get 4th, but we also arent a million miles off.

The clubs going for it are all up and down. 3 straight wins and we'll be back in pole position again, draw 2 and we're out of the race.

It's insanity.

I don't think that things are as bad as people are making out, the team are still gelling.

The problem being while at the moment we may only be 3 points from 4th place we have a couple of difficult games coming up and we'll probably need to get some big results to keep that gap at just 3 points. If we don't get some big results and other results go against us we could easily find ourselves in 7th or 8 place with a gap of ~10pts to 4th, and judging by the current reaction the forum won't be a nice place to be during that time

[Craig_H]

The biggest problem is that 2 wins from 6 home games would equate to 6 or 7 home wins all season, and 21 home points will be nowhere near enough. Or if you want to do it the points way, rather than the wins way - 10 home points from a possible 18 equates to around 30-33 home points across the whole season. Still not enough.

We have another 13 home league games and IMO, we'll need to win about 10 of those.

[IN_RAFA_WE_TRUST]

Don't worry guys, Our captain is on his way back

[Gibbo]

On current form I think the table will end up like this.

Citeh
Scum
Chelsea
Spurs
Arse
Us
Newcastle.

We need Champions League football next season.

[BigChief]

We choked last season when we could have pipped spurs and city last season. They're better now while we are stagnant with mediocre team selections. We will be much better after Xmas. But we'll sadly be out of the race well before then.

[PTP]

we won't finish top 4 - we're not good enough.

top three, not sure of order, will be city/united/chelsea - spurs will finish 4th, and Arsenal will be 5th - and it'll be us or newcastle 6th depending on whether they collapse or not.

Unless something major happens at the club to try and turn it round before it's too late....two or three top signings in january and say gerrard coming back to fitness and finding top form

[Craig_H]

We're on a downer now, but if Kenny manages to replicate the 2nd half of last season, we'll be right in the mix. I'm not writing it off this early. Kenny certainly needs to rethink a couple of things, but it's way to early to write anything off. We only need to win our next game and we're level with Chelsea, who are apparently nailed on for top 3, whilst we're meant to be nowhere near good enough for 4th.

[Arn]

We're on a downer now, but if Kenny manages to replicate the 2nd half of last season, we'll be right in the mix. I'm not writing it off this early. Kenny certainly needs to rethink a couple of things, but it's way to early to write anything off. We only need to win our next game and we're level with Chelsea, who are apparently nailed on for top 3, whilst we're meant to be nowhere near good enough for 4th.

and if we lose our next two games and Chelsea win then we could be nine points behind them. I would say that is a big possibility.

We could also be the same number of points behind Spurs and even more points behind Man U.

It is a must that we win at least one of the games against City or Chelsea or it is bye bye fourth.

Our two most important games this season is coming up. Not even an FA Cup final would be as important.

We simply must get at least one win against City and Chelsea.