The fight for 5th place

[GrandOldTeam]

Before the season, the Alan Hansens of the football world said that if anyone will challenge the top four, it will be Tottenham - who have heavily strengthened. (when have we heard that before?), a revived Newcastle under Kevin Keegan, a good looking Aston Villa or a resolute Portsmouth. Everton? No chance, over-achieved last season and havent strengthened.

The season gets underway; the Alan Hansens of the football world said that if anyone, only Aston Villa have the capability to challenge the top four. Outside chance that Tottenham (as always....) will come good, Newcastle under Kevin Keegan are going places... Everton? Nah, they never built on last seasons "success". Fellaini who? Best they can hope for is top ten. In fact, a few weeks into the season when we were near the bottm, MOTM pundits "I am sure Everton will be ok, they'll get the odd result soon and climb the table" - almost feeling the need to justify we wont be relegation fodder.

Now, make no mistake... we have been poor this season by our standards. But lets look at the league table.

4th Man Utd 11 games, 21 points
5th Aston Villa 12 games 20 points
6th Hull 13 games 20 points
7th Everton 12 games 18 points

4th is out of reach. End of story. Hull we soon slide down the table so at the moment, the battle for 5th is between us and Aston Villa (arguably Spurs...)

Aston Villas next few games;

Saturday, 15 November 2008
Barclays Premier League
Arsenal v Aston Villa, 15:00
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Barclays Premier League
Aston Villa v Man Utd, 17:30
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Barclays Premier League
Aston Villa v Fulham, 15:00
Thursday, 04 December 2008
UEFA Cup
Aston Villa v MSK Zilina, F, 19:45
Sunday, 07 December 2008
Barclays Premier League
Everton v Aston Villa, 16:00

Our next few games

Barclays Premier League
Everton v Middlesbrough, 13:30
Monday, 24 November 2008
Barclays Premier League
Wigan v Everton, 20:00
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Barclays Premier League
Tottenham v Everton, 15:00
Sunday, 07 December 2008
Barclays Premier League
Everton v Aston Villa, 16:00

Interestingly a refreshed Everton side will host Aston Villa who will return from MSK Zilina just days prior...

So, if we beat Middlesbrough at home and Villa lose to away to Arsenal next week... a poor Everton start will climb ahead of high flying, top 4 challengers Aston Villa.

Funny old game isn't it?

Imagine we have investment lined up in January? Or Kenwright finds a hidden stash of money under his seat in the main stand and we get Vagner Love or Moutinho or that midfield general we desperately need...

Imagine when we get our finger out and start playing as we can. We finished poor last season, this could be the season we finish strong.

I hope the media keep writing us off. As they did the season we finished 4th. Everton do it best when we are underdogs.

If you know your history....

Come on your Blue boys.

 

[Maverick]

I could have sworn reading something on this board about being lucky to be in the top 12.

This cannot be true at all.

 

[Dom1878]

5th will be difficult. Tottenham will be up there in a few weeks, Aston Villa have some bad games - but they will be up there. Portsmouth will drop off the pace, and dont write off man city, as they have the Transfer window coming up.

 

[Basil Fawlty]

Good points, deffo be an interesting few games and the Villa match will hopefully see us gain a bit of a cushion in 5th

 

[Welton Toffee]

Great post Dan

COYB we can do it.

 

[Brownie]

You can't presume fixtures with good teams though, Villa are actually quite good now, far too good to just roll over at Arsenal and at home to Utd. Guarantee there'll be a few nonsense results and it'll end up being pretty even between us and them.

 

[Dutch Toffee]

Come on you Blues! We can do it, lets prove all the doubters wrong.
It will be a long and hard battle, but we proved before, that we can make that fifth place.

 

[Gazdalf]

Great post again Danny lad. Goes to back my start of season prediction that we will finish 5th or above.


Keeping the dream alive.

 

[Nebbiolo]

Looking at the league today, I can only see Villa, Everton and Spurs challenging for fifth. You might say that it should end up with those three clubs sitting between fifth and seventh.

Outsiders are Portsmouth and City. It could begin to go well for either or both of these. But I personally think they'll be occupying positions below the above three.

 

[Cal]

Before the season, the Alan Hansens of the football world said that if anyone will challenge the top four, it will be Tottenham - who have heavily strengthened. (when have we heard that before?), a revived Newcastle under Kevin Keegan, a good looking Aston Villa or a resolute Portsmouth. Everton? No chance, over-achieved last season and havent strengthened.

The season gets underway; the Alan Hansens of the football world said that if anyone, only Aston Villa have the capability to challenge the top four. Outside chance that Tottenham (as always....) will come good, Newcastle under Kevin Keegan are going places... Everton? Nah, they never built on last seasons "success". Fellaini who? Best they can hope for is top ten. In fact, a few weeks into the season when we were near the bottm, MOTM pundits "I am sure Everton will be ok, they'll get the odd result soon and climb the table" - almost feeling the need to justify we wont be relegation fodder.

Now, make no mistake... we have been poor this season by our standards. But lets look at the league table.

4th Man Utd 11 games, 21 points
5th Aston Villa 12 games 20 points
6th Hull 13 games 20 points
7th Everton 12 games 18 points

4th is out of reach. End of story. Hull we soon slide down the table so at the moment, the battle for 5th is between us and Aston Villa (arguably Spurs...)

Aston Villas next few games;

Saturday, 15 November 2008
Barclays Premier League
Arsenal v Aston Villa, 15:00
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Barclays Premier League
Aston Villa v Man Utd, 17:30
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Barclays Premier League
Aston Villa v Fulham, 15:00
Thursday, 04 December 2008
UEFA Cup
Aston Villa v MSK Zilina, F, 19:45
Sunday, 07 December 2008
Barclays Premier League
Everton v Aston Villa, 16:00

Our next few games

Barclays Premier League
Everton v Middlesbrough, 13:30
Monday, 24 November 2008
Barclays Premier League
Wigan v Everton, 20:00
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Barclays Premier League
Tottenham v Everton, 15:00
Sunday, 07 December 2008
Barclays Premier League
Everton v Aston Villa, 16:00

Interestingly a refreshed Everton side will host Aston Villa who will return from MSK Zilina just days prior...

So, if we beat Middlesbrough at home and Villa lose to away to Arsenal next week... a poor Everton start will climb ahead of high flying, top 4 challengers Aston Villa.

Funny old game isn't it?

Imagine we have investment lined up in January? Or Kenwright finds a hidden stash of money under his seat in the main stand and we get Vagner Love or Moutinho or that midfield general we desperately need...

Imagine when we get our finger out and start playing as we can. We finished poor last season, this could be the season we finish strong.

I hope the media keep writing us off. As they did the season we finished 4th. Everton do it best when we are underdogs.

If you know your history....

Come on your Blue boys.

You were probably turning a few heads until that point.

We have no money, thats why we spent no money until the last day of the transfer window.

We're not for sale either.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

Only time will tell Cal

On the positive side, if we have the outlook of "we are skint, we wont sign no one...", we can only be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Cal]

Only time will tell Cal

On the positive side, if we have the outlook of "we are skint, we wont sign no one...", we can only be pleasantly surprised.

Hopefully.

 

[Nebbiolo]

You were probably turning a few heads until that point.

We have no money, thats why we spent no money until the last day of the transfer window.

We're not for sale either.

I think you'll be surprised, Cal. I reckon Moyes will have at least £10m to spend. My evidence is flimsy, though, and based on the facts that (1) Moyes signed his contract probably on the understanding that he would receive more backing; and (2) we actually didn't spend any money in the summer (considering our sales).

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I wouldn't say 4th is completely out of reach. One thing that has been clear this season is that each of the top 4 are taking points off of each other. So I can't see the champion having as many points as in previous seasons. A lot can happen yet. A few choice injuries or suspensions could change an awful lot, both for ourselves and others. That we're in this position despite playing below par is a great source of comfort.

 

[harry]

Cal, we are deffo for sale, we have even tried to move in on a cosortium looking at newcastle. this is a fact