Time to reassess: 71 points won't get us CL

[evilwebby]

21 games down, 17 to go.

I think in the back of Roberto's mind he may already be raising his goals, because imo 71 points isn't going to be enough to get us in the CL this season.

Liverpool, 42pts:
avg 2.0 pts/game
Need to average 1.705pts going forward, also likely to have a superior GD if it comes down to that.
Will finish on 76pts at current rate


Everton, 41pts
avg 1.95 pts/game
need to average 1.76pts going forward to reach 71.
will finish on 74pts at current rate


Spurs, 40pts:
avg 1.905pts/game
need to average 1.82pts going forward to reach 71.
will finish on 72pts at current rate


ManU 37pts:
avg 1.76pts/games
need to average 2.0pts going forward to reach 71.
will finish on 70pts at current rate

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It's not impossible that 71 points would only be good enough for 7th. At any rate, I just can't see how it would be good enough to get 4th, given the points already accumulated by Liverpool and Spurs.

This is the mother of all fights we have been in, during all our time in the PL era. I'm saying 78 points needs to be our aim. That's another 37 points from the remaining 17 games. We're going to need some big wins and some big performances to pull it off.

 

[zirc]

That's mad. 78 points would have won the league some years.

 

[ToffeeMark]

We're drawing too many games, great we're not losing but need to get more wins. We're on par for a 5-6 finish at the moment, need to get a decent striker in January, beat the RS away to overtake them and maintain momentum when we play the top sides in the latter half of the season.

 

[Pabbers]

Plenty of points to be dropped yet.

IMO, all form continuing till the Derby. That game will be a good tell for us.

Win it, and 4th is on !!

 

[larrygobfiend]

2 losses on the bounce and your no better than Newcastle or Southampton. The league is mental this year.

 

[Fensta]

Can't imagine the RS will lose many and that goal difference is worth an extra point. Think we're battling Spurs for 5th unless we win at anfield.

 

[Ashtonian]

What we need is players coming in. That would be the diference between us going that extra mile and achieving it.

To be honest i thought a couple months back now, if we can win the next 9 homes games (i think it is 6 now) it would only leave x amount of points to break the top 4. We just need to win more away games and make sure we don't slip up at home. Even after our run of 9 easy home games comes to an end we welcome City, Arsenal United all to Goodison and they are all there for the taking. I mean look at the gunner's fixtures when they play us, if we can't beat them then we never will.

But to do this we need MORE PLAYERS!

 

[allen]

It's crazy how high the standards are this season.

If you fail to win just one game, you're punished. There's just no margin for error.

Mind you, I'd rather be playing with the big boys and have those insanely high standards to live up to.

 

[paulbefc]

We'll probably feel the effects of doing our business late in the summer come May. 6 points dropped early doors had us playing catch-up when had we got 7/9 points there, we could have been setting the pace.

Also, I have a strong feeling that anomalous Sland game could be crucial.

FFS, Ossie.

 

[zirc]

It's not like this is unanticipated mind. The other teams have been using the new TV money to strengthen their squads, it was always going to be a tougher league this year.

 

[mightymoyes]

the games coming up against the vermin and spuds are vital. win at least one and we'll be up there come the end. lose both and i think its 7th for us.

 

[Ashtonian]

It is easy to look at games we have not got points in though. To be honest i only see a couple of games that we can genuinely call out. Cardiff with the penalty decision not going our way and Sunderland at home should (and would) have been a victory for us otherwise.

But for all the City, Cardiff, Sunderland, Derby etc if we win at least 10-14 of our remaining games then the others won't matter. The question is, can we win another 14 games?

 

[Maxwell]

March will be a massive month for us. 5 very winnable games.

 

[evilwebby]

Chin up lads, its still very doable.

We finished the first half of the season on 37 point. Repeat that and we would have a total of 74. But remember we drew our first 3 games, so from that point of view we are already 2 points ahead of our 1st half performance.

I can't see us drawing as many games going forward as we have been doing up to now. In the 2nd half of the season teams at both ends of the table are really forced to go for it.

But yeah, those two games - Spurs & RS - are absolutely MASSIVE.

 

[Christiffa25]

Very high standards this season. Will be a massive achievement to get 4th. We could potentially end up 7th whilst playing brilliant with the odd slip up. Think both utd and spurs will have stronger 2nd halfs to the season and Liverpool will keep picking up results even if at only the same rate as us.

Whoever has the luck with transfers, injuries and player form will make it to 4th IMO.