I’m more hopeful Brighton and Fulham can keep up their form. I felt Brighton were very unlucky yesterday. Did everything but score.
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The 2022-2023 Football Thread
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It was a good result. Caught up with your game this morning. I felt Villa were unlucky not to get something from the game.
Villa were excellent in the first half, and, had the games ended at half time, would have more than deserved a point, but, as the old cliché - which always drove me nuts - says.....
However, - and a timely reminder to those of us who are still venting and fuming (excessively, to my mind) about decisions made during our game against Brentford - while we played very well - and with ambition and hunger, in the second half (and Ramsdale was superlative), "Lady Luck" went our way.
That is not to say that it wasn't a legitimate goal (and I must say that it was both delicious and gorgeously, gloriously ironical to see Martínez, who had allowed his very evident crudely immature side ample and vivid expression during the second half, - a time when he had been booked for time-wasting - at fault, in differing ways, for both the third and fourth goals), but that things - not least the flow of the game, and decisions arising from that - went our way.
Great to see Saints get a result against Chelsea.
Shows what a difference it makes when the players play for the club, rather than the paycheck.
They've been out of form, out of sync and out of ideas, then up steps Mr Selles, with his desire, knowledge of the club and players, and a game plan that works. All it needed was the players to buy into the belief that they could win and the rest is (as they say) history.
If Saints can continue to play like they did this weekend, they may yet have a chance at staying up. And Selles might have a chance at being the full-time manager.
I was also a bit torn when it came to Forest's draw - it drew them away from the relegation scrap and further from the likes of Saints, but as a kiwi I love to see big Woodsy score goals. He's keen to make the transfer permanent and if that goal can help with that, then keep them coming.
Bottom of the table is still pretty tight with a few games yet to go this season...
Shows what a difference it makes when the players play for the club, rather than the paycheck.
They've been out of form, out of sync and out of ideas, then up steps Mr Selles, with his desire, knowledge of the club and players, and a game plan that works. All it needed was the players to buy into the belief that they could win and the rest is (as they say) history.
If Saints can continue to play like they did this weekend, they may yet have a chance at staying up. And Selles might have a chance at being the full-time manager.
I was also a bit torn when it came to Forest's draw - it drew them away from the relegation scrap and further from the likes of Saints, but as a kiwi I love to see big Woodsy score goals. He's keen to make the transfer permanent and if that goal can help with that, then keep them coming.
Bottom of the table is still pretty tight with a few games yet to go this season...
The relegation battle is wide open. This is a situation where any team down there that can find even modest improvements in form could climb quickly up the table.
Thing is normally at this stage of the season at least one team is cast adrift with no hope of catching the rest.
This season everyone can get safe with a couple of wins. Just hope it’s us!
There are only three points between the bottom five clubs, - and the next two clubs are separated from this cluster by two and three points respectively, so, yes, agreed, a decent run of two or three good results should see a club climb several places above the relegation zone.
Studying the table, what would concern me about West Ham are the number of defeats (13) that they have incurred since the start of the season.
That is the second worst statistic in the entire division, - only Southampton (with 15 defeats) exceed it, and only Leicester - currently perched in 14th place, but with seven victories to their name - currently equal it.
Personally, I'd be happier to see more draws (which is the position of Leeds, currently lying one place below West Ham), since it suggests that the team can be difficult to defeat, and could thus claw their way to safety if they won a few more games.
Up to a few years ago, 40 points was thought to have been the number that a team needed to have acquired over the course of the season in order to secure safety and avoid relegation.
However, in recent years, that number has decreased, for, last season (2021-2022), 38 points were sufficient to secure safety, whereas, by the end of the previous season (2020-2021), 39 points were adequate to avoid relegation.
The closest ive been to a Champions League trophy. It will happen for us Arsenal fans one day.
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Hmmm...A few seasons ago, Southampton were very hard to beat and had a LOT of draws. But they also couldn't beat many teams...one point per game does not equal safety. We were in a relegation scrap that season too. Pretty sure it was the first season after the Pocchetino and Koeman eras had ended, where we'd been consistently in the top 8, then plummeted to the depths of the table, with Puel and others leading the team to a dire run of turgid football.
Yes, but you weren't actually relegated at the time, close though it may have come.
Now, obviously, I agree completely that a team must be able to snatch victory or secure a win, on occasion; if that means seizing opportunities to score from set pieces rather than from open play, so be it.
But it also means being able to play to your strengths, - rather than attempt a form of football that is impossible to implement (however tactically fashionable) given a team's current resources (by that I mean, utilising existing players and their capabilities, getting the best from them, and not just the means to be able to afford to buy in - or, acquire on loan - possible solutions to problems) and to try to compensate for your weaknesses.
Nevertheless, teams that are difficult to defeat (which many draws signify) strike me as having a better chance to escape relegation, for they are in a place and psychological space where the team is still capable of fighting for survival.
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You're right, of course, but those wins need to happen every now and then - preferably against your relegation rivals.
Playing to the strengths of your existing squad and not trying to implement a form of wonderball that's beyond them is key...and that's what I think is Sean Dyche's strength. He knows what he's got and he plays to their strengths. It mostly pays off, but usually isn't pretty to watch.
Liverpool owner Henry not selling club
Liverpool owner John Henry says he is not selling the Premier League club, but does expect some investment.
www.bbc.com
Hmmmm....thoughts?
Starting to think Moyes might take West Ham down. He has arguably the best team in the bottom 12 but is so negative with no plan b. And they have some tough fixtures coming.
Then again who do they bring in...probably too late now
Then again who do they bring in...probably too late now
Holding out for 6-8 billion probably, after seeing the Utd numbers.Liverpool owner Henry not selling club
Liverpool owner John Henry says he is not selling the Premier League club, but does expect some investment.
Hmmmm....thoughts?
Sometimes, what is considered "pretty" may be a luxury (especially when you don't have the players who can comfortably master and play such a style, and play it safely, without costing the team their place in the division) that cannot be afforded when survival is at stake.
I wouldn't write off West Ham; the bottom placed seven or so teams are bunched very closely together, there isn't a noticeable "gap" yet at the bottom, where a team or two have become adrift - which means that a few decent results can transform their fortunes - while the threat of relegation can be a wonderful source of motivation to a team.
For, as the season draws to a close, motivation along with the fear of relegation means that the teams lying close to the foot of the table can offer a serious threat to anyone in the final weeks of the season.
I would say that the teams in most peril right now are those just outside the drop zone. The little bunch that are only a few points off the relegation scrap.
One bad run and they are drawn downwards. Complacency will kill one of those teams. They all need to play like their survival is at stake...because for 6-7 teams, it really is.
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