Author Topic: The Run Home and CL Qualification  (Read 207414 times)

Offline Bend It Like Aurelio

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #40 on: January 15, 2018, 03:08:16 pm »
For a moment there I was thinking that Harry Kane was injured again...

Offline PoetryInMotion

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #41 on: January 15, 2018, 03:12:01 pm »
Left field shout, and I'm not convinced myself, but how about (a fit) Lallana?

Has the intelligence, awareness and touch, the eye for a pass as well. His strength and ability to threaten in behind that worries me (along with whether it's just a terrible, terrible shout!)

Just think if it was a must win game, CL semi or something, and Firmino/Sturridge weren't available, that Klopp probably doesn't start Ings or Solanke, rather, looks to use his best players differently.

I think, he'd rather shuffle the system a bit and use Salah as the striker with Mane, Ox, Lallana and Wijnaldum behind him.

Offline RedKenWah

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #42 on: January 15, 2018, 03:20:39 pm »
Honestly think Van Dijk gives us a huge chance to make these games easier. Excellent dead ball delivery from Ox, and a huge aerial threat now.

I think that's true if we were a side who took loads of pot shots, got deflections that went out for a corner. However i think, from what i have seen of us play when up against sides who do park the bus, we're not a side who tend to take pot shots very quickly. We try first off to start off at such a pace that we catch the opposition out, but when time goes on, we dominate the ball and then we're looking for that clever killer pass to put either Firmino/Mane/Salah or other player through to have a shot.

When we have that set piece situation though and with VVD on the pitch, yes i agree we'll be a lot more dangerous and if we are able to convert more chances in such situations then ultimately it helps us and makes the opposition abandon their park the bus tactic

Offline mc_red22

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #43 on: January 15, 2018, 03:31:07 pm »
I can say what I like. Tottenham are unlikely to finish above us anyway, if Kane is out for any length of time there is zero chance of it. Sorry, just my opinion.

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Offline Jay797

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #44 on: January 15, 2018, 03:35:51 pm »
Rather than act the tit when I basically showed the evidence of Spurs performance without Kane, why don't you articulate the reasons you think Spurs would be 'fucked' without Kane.

Personally I think there's very little between us, Spurs, Chelsea and United. each have their own strengths and weaknesses. In essence there are 4 very, very good team in the league coupled with City who are a level above that. This season the loss of a key player between now and May could be difference between finishing 2nd and 5th. That key play could be Kane. It could be Hazard. It could be Pogba. It could be Roberto Firmino.

None of those teams would be 'fucked' losing a key player. But if it stays as tight as it has so far then 1 key injury, and how you deal with it, could be the difference that decides if you come Top4 or not.
We've lost a key player and as of yet it's not fucked us up! I do also think Spurs are a Kane injury away from a real dip in form though.

Offline PoetryInMotion

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #45 on: January 15, 2018, 03:37:53 pm »
our real tests aren't so much up against the top 4/6/8 as per say, but against the sides that will sit two banks of four and have zero ambition of attacking us and how we deal with them.

They're the sides that 9 times out of 10 we struggle to break down, and this will be tested further with the loss of Coutinho.

I'd actually be more up for playing against the likes of Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea etc... than say WBA, West Ham, Everton etc... For me, that's where our true challenge lies and will dictate whether we make it into the top 4 or not... We don't come across many teams that will try and outplay us or be so open, Man City were to my mind the first team to have come to Anfield and try and have a real go at us, press us and make life difficult for us, and in some ways it worked for periods of the game.

This has become a cliche, hasn't it?

You can refer to the Results Comparison thread for stats, but this season we've done way better against the bottom 10. We have won 8 and drawn 2 in 10 games against the bottom 10.

Everton isn't in the bottom 10 and West Brom, both of these we should've won barring disastrous refereeing decisions. Also, we won against Leicester and Burnley who were elite bus parkers.

Offline Robotforaday

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #46 on: January 15, 2018, 03:42:44 pm »
Best way to ensure CL qualification is to win the Champions League. So let's get on with that. Finishing 2nd in the league would be a nice bonus and would send a signal about our intent next year.

Offline moloch

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #47 on: January 15, 2018, 03:45:28 pm »
Would be nice to get top 4 boxed early so we can fully focus on the 2 cups

Can't see that happening.. I think it's gonna go down to the wire myself.

Offline JP-65

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #48 on: January 15, 2018, 03:45:48 pm »
This has become a cliche, hasn't it?

You can refer to the Results Comparison thread for stats, but this season we've done way better against the bottom 10. We have won 8 and drawn 2 in 10 games against the bottom 10.

Everton isn't in the bottom 10 and West Brom, both of these we should've won barring disastrous refereeing decisions. Also, we won against Leicester and Burnley who were elite bus parkers.

Here

Offline Gods_Left_Boot

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #49 on: January 15, 2018, 03:46:43 pm »
We have a decent stretch of league matches coming up until mid March, before travelling to United:

Swansea A
Huddersfield A
Spurs H
Soton A
West Ham H
Newcastle H

If we manage not to drop points in those aways against lesser sides we could be in an excellent position, especially given our rivals for the top 4, excluding maybe Chelsea, have a tougher set of fixtures.

Same fixtures for Spurs are:
Soton A
United H
Us A
Arsenal H
Palace A
Huddersfield H

United:
Stoke H
Burnley A
Spurs A
Huddersfield H
Newcastle A
Chelsea H
Palace A

Chelsea:
Brighton A
Bournemouth H
Watford A
WBA H
United A
City A
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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #50 on: January 15, 2018, 04:07:15 pm »
...

If we manage not to drop points in those aways against lesser sides we could be in an excellent position, especially given our rivals for the top 4, excluding maybe Chelsea, have a tougher set of fixtures.


Chelsea:
Brighton A
Bournemouth H
Watford A
WBA H
United A
City A


?

Offline Claude Cat

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #51 on: January 15, 2018, 04:30:29 pm »
Well aren't you a ray of sunshine in this thread?! Cheer up mate.

Lol this is always the go to response when someone gets a mug made out of them isn’t it?

Offline PoetryInMotion

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #52 on: January 15, 2018, 04:33:07 pm »
Here

Thanks for this mate. I always look forward to it every week.

Offline redk84

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #53 on: January 15, 2018, 04:35:47 pm »
Hard not to be optimistic given we are 18 unbeaten and just beat the champions elect. The only side to have beaten them this season!

But there's gonna be dropped points and shit we don't see coming.....hopefully we make sure of our place in the top 4 and leave others to battle it out until the bitter end. Opening up a cup run for us.....

Will see. Long way to go yet
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Offline Gods_Left_Boot

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #54 on: January 15, 2018, 05:02:51 pm »
?

You're right, had to add that one afterwards cause I had misread their fixtures list at first.
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Offline Marcel

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #55 on: January 15, 2018, 05:34:56 pm »
Let's hope Kane gets a couple of small injuries, nothing serious, just enough to derail Tottenham's season. They'll be much weaker without him.

Offline S

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #56 on: January 15, 2018, 06:26:35 pm »
This recent form compared to the equivalent results for last season puts us in a great spot but there is still so, so long to go. As good as we are playing right now we will inevitably suffer setbacks in the shape of defeats, injuries, suspensions and whatever else at some point. We have the Champions League to navigate this time around too, the lack of which was an advantage last season.

United will spend another fortune this transfer window, and though they may play some dire stuff, I still think they'll make it. Chelsea too. I'm not saying either one can't be dragged down into the scrap, but for now I'm more focused on getting some breathing room below us.

Spurs are obviously the biggest threat. They have some tricky few fixtures coming up that could either dampen their spirit or completely revitalise them.

Arsenal are still in it. They finally missed out last year but even then took it to the final day. I'm hoping they may try for the Europa route if they don't start making up some ground soon though. For what it's worth I think they have a good chance of winning that.

Offline AndyMuller

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #57 on: January 15, 2018, 06:32:38 pm »
I think City will implode after yesterday and we will catch up and win the league on the final day.

Then win the CL and FA cup aswell.

Offline wige

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #58 on: January 15, 2018, 06:38:20 pm »
I think City will implode after yesterday and we will catch up and win the league on the final day.

Then win the CL and FA cup aswell.

Dry January over?

Offline RedKenWah

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #59 on: January 15, 2018, 06:59:28 pm »
Thanks for this mate. I always look forward to it every week.

Fairs and yep been cliched out...


Offline Djozer

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #60 on: January 15, 2018, 07:04:50 pm »

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #61 on: January 15, 2018, 07:22:08 pm »
Although the games against the top 8 are important (being 6-pointers for CL places), we can't forget the games against the rest, because those are the bread-and-butter games, and if we lose a few of them, winning against the top 8 becomes pointless (almost literally).

Top four is probably going to be how it is now, all things being equal. Spurs might displace Chelsea and possibly us, but Arsenal are up Schitts Creek.
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Offline LiamG

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #62 on: January 16, 2018, 09:48:48 am »
I really want us to finish 2nd now to be honest, We've just beaten the best team in the league who are still going to walk the league, We should definitely be aiming for 2nd place

Offline stockdam

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #63 on: January 16, 2018, 10:25:01 am »
Our next 4 league games are 3 away and Spurs at home. That's going to be a tough run of 4 games and getting more than 8 points will be good; hopefully we get all 12 points.
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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #64 on: January 16, 2018, 12:07:14 pm »
Our next 4 league games are 3 away and Spurs at home. That's going to be a tough run of 4 games and getting more than 8 points will be good; hopefully we get all 12 points.

Conversely, we tend to struggle most when teams sit back against us with 11 men behind the ball. Playing a few away games should reduce the amount of times that happens.

Offline JCB

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #65 on: January 16, 2018, 09:49:52 pm »
Spurs have Soton away, before a cup tie away at Newport (our West brom game is a cup tie too). Following Newport though, they have, in 14 days: United at home, us away, Arsenal at home, and Juve away.

The gap is 4 now. If we win our two aways and then Spurs, and they lose to us and draw one of their two home games against the big 6, it'll be 9. If they drop points at Soton then their top four chase is looking very prekarius.

Is that in reference to our keeper?  ;)

Offline kennedy81

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #66 on: January 16, 2018, 09:59:04 pm »
I think we're favourites for second. We've got a lot of big aways out of the way already (City, Spurs, Arsenal), playing really well and look in good nick after the crimbo period. Also we've played City twice and come away with a decent 3 points which is at least as much as anyone else can get.
Arsenal and Utd will miss out on top 4. Utd may nick in ahead of Spurs, but I'm saying Utd anyway because they're dickheads.

Offline andy07

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #67 on: January 16, 2018, 10:53:31 pm »
We are 15 behind City.  For me the benchmark of our improvement will be to maintain or even slightly reduce the gap.  Do that and we will be fine.   Look up not down.
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Offline liverpoolsox

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #68 on: January 16, 2018, 11:48:54 pm »
Left field shout, and I'm not convinced myself, but how about (a fit) Lallana?

Has the intelligence, awareness and touch, the eye for a pass as well. His strength and ability to threaten in behind that worries me (along with whether it's just a terrible, terrible shout!)

Just think if it was a must win game, CL semi or something, and Firmino/Sturridge weren't available, that Klopp probably doesn't start Ings or Solanke, rather, looks to use his best players differently.



Was thinking the exact same thing! He's got a comparable work rate to Bobby and has touches of class in his general play. He's not as deadly in front of goal but we have got the Egyptian King on our wing.
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Offline Djozer

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #69 on: January 17, 2018, 12:17:52 am »
I think we're favourites for second. We've got a lot of big aways out of the way already (City, Spurs, Arsenal), playing really well and look in good nick after the crimbo period. Also we've played City twice and come away with a decent 3 points which is at least as much as anyone else can get.
Arsenal and Utd will miss out on top 4. Utd may nick in ahead of Spurs, but I'm saying Utd anyway because they're dickheads.
Possibly agree with the favourites for second thing (although this may just be because the last game went pretty well, in the end, and I'm operating under subsequent recency bias) IF our front three can stay fit. Big if, mind.

Everywhere else we've got solid cover, keepers apart (and I'm just trying to ignore them a bit) but the front lads are the main men. I don't necessarily think we've got the second best first team or squad, but there seems to be a really good team spirit, and Jurgen's got everyone working hard for each other in a system the players all seem happy with. So yeah, we should definitely be aiming for second but at the same time, I've got to be realistic and remember that there are four good teams fighting for three spots and anything could happen.

Offline WisconsinRed

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #70 on: January 23, 2018, 07:16:46 pm »
How many points do we think it'll take to get cl qualification?

How many points do we think we will get?

Offline Gegenpresser

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #71 on: January 23, 2018, 07:52:17 pm »
74-76 for 4th. I think we’ll need a minimum of 8 wins from the last 14.

Offline WisconsinRed

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #72 on: January 23, 2018, 08:06:49 pm »
I think 76 points will be needed again. It's a tough ask 8-9 wins and a few draws.

Offline Suareznumber7

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #73 on: January 23, 2018, 08:13:10 pm »
I think 76 points will be needed again. It's a tough ask 8-9 wins and a few draws.

How is it a tough ask?  We just came off an 18 game unbeaten streak and have only lost 3 games in the league all season. 

Offline WisconsinRed

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #74 on: January 23, 2018, 08:17:53 pm »
How is it a tough ask?  We just came off an 18 game unbeaten streak and have only lost 3 games in the league all season.

Are you saying it'll be easy?

Just because we went 18 games unbeaten it doesn't we will automatically do it again.

We sold our best player.

We have the fa cup and champions league to come. Whoever can navigate that best will probably get the 4th spot. I'm gonna say the top 3 will make it that leaves us, spurs and arsenal.

We can do it but it'll be tight and therefore tough.

Offline slimbo

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #75 on: January 31, 2018, 11:02:37 pm »
Updated with Current points.

Remaining games in EPL vs top 8 teams:

United 53 - Chelsea, Liverpool, City, Arsenal

Liverpool 50 - Spurs, United, Chelsea

Chelsea 50 - United, City, Burnley, Spurs, Liverpool

Spurs 48 - Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, City, Leicester

Arsenal 42 - Spurs, City, Leicester, United, Burnley

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #76 on: January 31, 2018, 11:08:30 pm »
Beat Spurs.

Nailed on.
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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #77 on: January 31, 2018, 11:34:48 pm »
Beat spurs and I reckon we’ll finish 2nd, we’re a much better team than people on here make out, and probably the team in the top ten, except City, that other teams don’t want to play.
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Offline Roady

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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #78 on: February 1, 2018, 12:18:29 pm »
I’d agree with the post above. Beat spurs this weekend and I’m massively confident of finishing top three never mind top four. massive game after their result last night. We’ve the least games to play against the top six too. We’re in a good position. Let’s cement it by beating spurs.
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Re: The Run Home and CL Qualification
« Reply #79 on: February 1, 2018, 12:19:49 pm »
Updated with Current points.

Remaining games in EPL vs top 8 teams:

United 53 - Chelsea, Liverpool, City, Arsenal

Liverpool 50 - Spurs, United, Chelsea

Chelsea 50 - United, City, Burnley, Spurs, Liverpool

Spurs 48 - Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, City, Leicester

Arsenal 42 - Spurs, City, Leicester, United, Burnley

You've missed Everton off.

Oh, sorry you said top eight.