Our style of play

[Slinky Skills]

We need Chris back to knock some heads together

Please don't.

[Pablo]

I don’t think all is lost just yet, we are in a rut, if we can put a run of 3 or 4 wins together, get some of that confidence back, we will be up there challenging come the end of the season.

Agree we're in a rut. It's now critical we get out of it as quick as possible before too much damage is done.

I was arguing only a week ago I'd still have us as favourites. I wouldn't say that any more. City are strong favourites.

I still don't think it's a forgone conclusion but unless we get out of this run of form ASAP then they'll be well clear by March I'm afraid

I still think this is going to be an unpredictable season though so you never know.

[Exiled_red]

We don't have much time to get things sorted out we have some fairly big fixtures coming up, next 6 are:

Burnley (H)
Tottenham (A)
West Ham (A)
Brighton (H)
Man City (H)
Leicester (A)

Three of those teams are in and around us and I don't think we can afford to lose to any of those, and we need maximum points from the other 3. If we don't get a really good points haul from these games then any hope of the title is gone and we're probably playing catch up for the top 4

[BobTheCharmer]

Play like we have been doing and we win none of them. Hopefully we can start scraping for some one nils.

[frank the tank]

Burnley is a massive game.

I think Tottenham could turn us over. If they were allowed fans in then it wouldn't be so bad because at home you'd think they have to have a go. But with no fans, Mourinho will be able to play his dog**** brand of footy without anyone on his back.

If we drop points before the City match, then I think City could turn us over at Anfield. That could be the title gone then for another year.

[McDermotX]

Aye...certainly 12 from 12 is what's required before City, if we want to consider ourselves in the mix for the second half of the season.

[Exiled_red]

I said from before the start of the season I think something around 85 points gets you the title, with the way things are looking at the moment I don't think that will be far off, you might even be able to win that with a few less. By the half way point (1 game for most, 2 more for City) you would imagine that the leading teams will have ~40 points and typically in competitive races sides seem to get slightly more points in the 2nd half of the season than the first, so I think ~85 is probably realistic.

We are currently on 34pts with 20 to play meaning we can get a maximum of 94pts, if we assume 85 points is the target we can't afford to drop more than 9 points between now and the end of the season which means winning 16 of the remaining 20 games which is possible but doesn't seem very likely especially given our current form. Every if you think 85pts is a bit high I don't think there is a route to the title that doesn't require us to win something in the teens of the remaining 20 games, which looks a difficult ask with our injuries and current form.

[Tribute]

I said from before the start of the season I think something around 85 points gets you the title, with the way things are looking at the moment I don't think that will be far off, you might even be able to win that with a few less. By the half way point (1 game for most, 2 more for City) you would imagine that the leading teams will have ~40 points and typically in competitive races sides seem to get slightly more points in the 2nd half of the season than the first, so I think ~85 is probably realistic.

We are currently on 34pts with 20 to play meaning we can get a maximum of 94pts, if we assume 85 points is the target we can't afford to drop more than 9 points between now and the end of the season which means winning 16 of the remaining 20 games which is possible but doesn't seem very likely especially given our current form. Every if you think 85pts is a bit high I don't think there is a route to the title that doesn't require us to win something in the teens of the remaining 20 games, which looks a difficult ask with our injuries and current form.

...of the 18 games so far, we've won 50% (9) and drawn 39% (7) - not the form to pick up 16 from 20 wins... we'll fall well short of that in the second half of the season. We're most likely end up somewhere between 75-80 points and hopefully that's enough for top four.

[Fredo]

We'll be back to our best soon. Bar scoring, we aren't doing too many things wrong. Relax people.

[Exiled_red]

...of the 18 games so far, we've won 50% (9) and drawn 39% (7) - not the form to pick up 16 from 20 wins... we'll fall well short of that in the second half of the season. We're most likely end up somewhere between 75-80 points and hopefully that's enough for top four.

Even if we were to replicate our form of the first 14 games of the season (so exclude the last 4) in the remaining 20 we would only finish with ~80 points. Realistically, if we can turn around our form fairly quickly I think something around 75 points is achievable, which I would hope would be enough for top 4, if we are closer to 70 I think that could be borderline for top 4.

[Buzzo]

We'll be back to our best soon. Bar scoring, we aren't doing too many things wrong. Relax people.

Not a popular view but an accurate one.

[Paul12]

We'll be back to our best soon. Bar scoring, we aren't doing too many things wrong. Relax people.

I agree. I think we are going to need to take a few more risks; the Villa thrashing and the injuries have in our view made us a bit too risk averse. I think the pace of the play needs to be upped too, even if that means we need to make substitutions at 60 minutes because of worn out players.

[Fredo]

Our style of play

Got the best defence in the league since that thrashing at Villa. Bar us and City, not other team has a better defence. So the base is well and sound despite suffering from losing our central defenders.

Also, I don’t think we are suffering that much without Fabinho and Hendo in midfield. It would be better with them of course, but we’ve been totally dominant without them there. It’s the front 3 who are slightly off and not playing well together which is the issue I think.

[Scratch]

The front three need a rest...they may be physically ok, but mentally playing multiple games weekly, and being goal shy, it will affect them. Could see that with Bobby, everything either came to the wrong foot or was scuffed, but he was in the right places.

[Exiled_red]

The front three need a rest...they may be physically ok, but mentally playing multiple games weekly, and being goal shy, it will affect them. Could see that with Bobby, everything either came to the wrong foot or was scuffed, but he was in the right places.

To be fair, the Burnley game will only be our 4th in January, which means we have had on average a week between every game, things are about to get alot worse. We had the opportunity to rest everyone in the FA cup but didn't take it. I would happily have sacked off the FA cup before the Villa game, but that's not going to happen now, given the team we played in the last round and the fact we've drawn Man Utd.

Edit: I'm not saying that burn out (physical or mental) is not an issue, but we have wasted our chance to give people an extended break if they needed it - sacking the FA cup tie at Villa off would have given a 12 day break between PL games.