4th Place - Achievable, but will we?

We have a really good chance, even though we've fallen to 6th and could be 7th if Spurs won.

We just really need to get our act together and beat thems below us. We drew at Man City. It's the past, let's move on and go for that 4th vital spot.

Games left for Man City, Spurs, Villa and ourselves :

Villa - Chelsea, Man City and Everton
Spurs - Man City, Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal
Man city - Villa, Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham
Us - Chelsea and Man United

All of us are bound to drop points but others have more points to drop than we do. Not only that, the teams below us are also capable of taking points off anyone. That's why it's important for us to get together (again) and finish off the teams below us and get 4th.

Let's keep the Red flag flying!  

We have to start trying to win games rather than just stopping the other team this was a carbon copy of the Arsenal match without us conceding.

Villa have a cup final also and that will be a major factor in my opinion for how their season pans out......

It seems that nobody wants 4th - just like nobody seems to want to win the league.

It's been a really strange season.  Who would have thought a title chasing side would have lost nearly a quarter of their games for instance? Unheard of.

As for City, Liverpool, Spurs and Villa.  All blowing hot and cold each week.  And if it's this close now then it's likely to be close all the way to the wire.

Well, thats cheered me up a bit

I still think by the end of the season we'll be closer to 3rd place then we will be close to 5th. Keep the faith lads! Our main attacking threats are returning and we've only lost one of the last eight (I think?) The golden road at the end of this storm isn't far away now.

YNWA.

I've said it many times and will again, Spurs and Villa are going to drop a shed load of points yet because they always do, also City are going to drop a lot more because they rely too heavily on Tevez and when he doesn't score, most the time they don't win.

I am confident we will get it, we have easier games and we have just gotten Yossi and Nando back and Johnson will return soon.

Spurs have Defoe, Villa have Agbonlahor and City have Tevez. If they are having a quiet game then they don't pop up with a goal where as Nando does, as he has proven against Villa a month or so ago.

Thing is, the other 3 have been with a full squad for the whole season pretty much. Given the current injuries to do not reoccur, give it to the middle of March and watch us sprint away from the pack.

I've not doubted us making the top 4 simply because what we're seeing now is all our competition have to offer, and it's only enough to be 1 point better than us.

Abit of a stint, some luck, and a squad at 90% and we'll get it.

I reckon we need to worry more about our own team rather than how many points the others will drop.  Because going by our lack of attacking threat and cutting edge, we'll drop just as many points.  Having Torres and Yossi back should be a boost though and hopefully will help us show more attacking intent.

Very disappointed with that draw today, and the manner of it doesn't really boost the confidence.  Some thing has to go our way though, 6 bookings today was a bloody joke from that ref, considering what City got away with.  That was just typical of our season so far!

Not a bad result today. It was more of a Must Not Lose Game than Must Win! Still 11 games to go. Plenty of points to win and lose for all teams challenging. Should I say, that we now have a decent run of games until the United game on 21st March... We should win these games, and hopefully we should be sitting on 4th place by the United game.

Looking at Spurs and City's games until that ficture of ours, points will be droped by them. Aston Villa are a worry as they have quite easy run in until they face Chelsea I think on March 17th..

Glad Torres is back..

Abit of a stint, some luck, and a squad at 90% and we'll get it.

well said mate & my thoughts exactly,

once we get the majority of our injured players back (& I include Nando in this) we will p*ss all over the mancs again, and I have a feeling we will do Chelscum again.............and we will win the UEFA Cup/Europa league/whatever name they have gave it

& one last thing.....Peter Fulton was a f**king sh*tbag today, booking Torres for a shoulder charge...maybe he needs to be demoted to sunday league reffing for a week

I'm sure we will get there, but we aren't half making things harder for ourselves, and yes it was nice to see Torres back. So  on to the next one.

The team hasn't been invested in for a while. So probably not.

We also have an alarming knack of being reluctant to get the ball in the box early or to test the keeper. I'm hearing the last time we scored more than two goals in the league was all the way back in September. The last time that happened was 40 years ago. If we don't intend to improve on the attacking front collectively as a team, then we're going to find it very hard to finish fourth. And if we start accepting that draws are good results regardless of who we play, I can't see our attacking front improving.

To play football you only need to know how to pass a ball and shoot. The rest of it's in their heads.

Time's certainly running out. We need to start winning now.

I'm hearing the last time we scored more than two goals in the league was all the way back in September.
The last time that happened was 40 years ago.

!

F.F.S.

ive got a feeling we need to go to Rafa with shanks & paisleys quotes to give us an attacking kick up the ar*e...


....or include Pachaeco in the squad, he was instrumental in making our goal on thursday night

I agree with what was said above:   We will be closer to 3rd than 5th come may....

We need to be positive people!   

With our team coming back to full strength  (which it hasent been in a while!) we will be fine-  Just look at our squad and bench- we are not a 7th place team!!!

Great to see Torres back- i missed him!!  We have done ok without him with Kuyt stepping up- things can only get better with Nando in the team!!

Come on lads!!!!  Do what we know you are capable of!

We also have an alarming knack of being reluctant to get the ball in the box early or to test the keeper. I'm hearing the last time we scored more than two goals in the league was all the way back in September.

Ha, thats a worrying stat! And as far as I can see its in all competitions, not just the league. Might have to start putting under 2.5 goals on every week now.

i worry that neither of our competitors for 4th have Europe to distract them - but I think the three of them are as inconsistent as the other - so long as we rise above our own inconsistency (far from gaurenteed) we'll get 4th, although no doubt we'll clear own hurdle and another will appear - namely no money over the summer

So what is happening with Portsmouth?    Are they still losing their points?

So what is happening with Portsmouth?    Are they still losing their points?

Looks like it. Unless they find new owners... which is unlilkley... They go back to court on 1st March

So what is happening with Portsmouth?    Are they still losing their points?

Not just the points the other teams will lose but the goals scored as well.  That's if the courts don't save them.

Got to remain positive and I still think we'll do it.

Just have to 'BELIEVE'

Still beleive in 3rd.
I aint giving up no chance!
Some battles are won some are lost but the war still rages on.

The season still has one third to run, it will all depend on how our form is in the remaining games. We have to pick up maximum points, keep our core players fit and treat every game like a final. Approach it with confidence and approach it with a winning mentality.

Villa have the easiest of run-ins as compared to us so I reckon it would be a dogfight between us and Villa. City and Spurs have a couple more tough games to be contend with so they could fall behind a little bit.

Now that a run of 2 tough games is over (Arsenal and City) and we are still within touching distance of the 4th spot, it is time to grab the opportunity in both hands and surge forward.