4th Place - Achievable, but will we?

I believe 4th place, possibly even 3rd is achievable if we win the majority of our remaining games and other teams continue to drop points.  My main concern is do we deserve it and more importantly can we sustain it, never mind build on it.

Please bear with me on this as it's been bugging me since last summer and I haven't seen or heard anything during this season that has eased my mind.  I appreciate that most of what I'm about to say has been said on this forums boards many times already but I need to offload my thoughts.

We had a nightmare pre season - the team/squad looked disjointed, disinterested and sometimes even confused.  Results didn't go our way only adding to the concerns being aired on this forum.  We were all crying out for investment to push on from last season but it didn't materialise.

Now I agree that our fully fit, 1st 11 are more than capable of beating anyone in the EPL but we all know that it takes more than those 11 to sustain and maintain that challenge over 9 months.  The cracks visible during pre season showed how vulnerable we were when we lost 2 out of the first 3 fixtures and although we somehow filled in and papered over those cracks during September we were then hit with major injuries to lots of key players.

The damage done to our season during October, November and December has resulted in a different mindset in 2010 and although it's not been pretty we have again managed to stop the rot.  Hopefully with the return of Torres, Benni and eventually Johnson we can secure a top 4 finish come May but then what?

We have been "promised" a big summer in the transfer market by our illustrious Mr Hicks, though curiously he didn't actually say it would be a "buying" market.  For the cynical members we can only assume that this actually means "sell big, buy little".  Of course we still have the dangled carrot of "we will have new investment, the debt will be reduced, the new stadium will be started but from our point of view we need the quality of the squad seriously improving over the summer as without this we will again have a miserable 2010/2011.

My point being we are seeing the implications caused by the lack of real investment over the last 4 transfer windows and our decline will continue if this happens again in the summer window.  On paper, and I believe this has been documented in a different thread, our lack of investment puts us around 14th in the EPL.  In theory we should not expect to finish any higher than 7th/8th and this could have been worse if we hadn't sorted out the defense and stopped leaking goals.

Like I said at the start I still believe we can get a top 4 finish but I do fear that our days of being considered/referred to as a top 4 Club are very quickly disappearing.

Sorry if I've rambled on a bit I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to say but not sure if I've got that across.

Every team around us continue to have self destruct games. Then...so do we.

We do have players coming back from injury but as much as I want to have blind faith it is becoming a lottery.


The RBS will have a few weeks over to sort things after the season end.

CL Money or no CL Money.
Simples.
Bet H and G are crawling at Rafa's feet now to make it all happen for fourth.

3rd is still achievable .....  but would 5th be so bad, it would defiantly be the end of H&G as they would have to lower there asking price with no CL next season

I think we will finish 5th.

On the back of our last 5 performances, not a chance.

Yes we will as long as the tactics change like they did last year.For me our defense has definately improved to a level where we no longer need to use 2 defensive midfielders,and with the return to fitness of Torres and Benny,our first choice attacking formation is available.Lets get at teams and batter them as we did last year,we might even finish third.

4th , absolutley.  I think we have the easiest run in of all the teams battling for 4th , except maybe for Villa, but we're better than Villa.
 With Torres and Benny healin up now, our attack will improve.  Back 4 has been solid latley.

4th place, YES WE WILL!

On the back of our last 5 performances, not a chance.

3 wins (a derby win, a Europa cup win and a win against Bolton), a draw (against unbeaten home side City) and a narrow loss against Arsenal.

On paper, we'll win 90% of our remaining matches considering the opposition.

On paper, we'll win 90% of our remaining matches considering the opposition.

Football is a funny thing isn't it.

On paper we look like we'll be able to win 90% of the games, 9 in 11 games are winnable probably. But when he comes to the field it's an entirely different story. Still, I hope quality shines through and we finish the season strongly to secure 4th.

We have to win the dirty way. For now, it's the three points that matters.

Would be an ideal end of a season for me if we finish 3rd/4th and beat Man United again, .

And there's no better time for Benayoun and Torres to return and also Johnson coming back soon. With everyone back, hopefully we can see some real improvement in the team play and start achieving the results we really need.

I don't mean to be a killjoy or anything but as much as i would hate to see it i think Liverpool will miss out on 4th and have a hard fight for 5th.

I think a team that could cause a shock/upset is Birmingham. They have been going well this season. I know they are in tenth at the moment but they are far from out of the race. I think 5th could be a possibility for them.

I hope I'm proved wrong.

So you think Birmingham may finish above, Everton, Liverpool, Villa, Spurs, then ?  Welcome to the forum mr brummie.

So you think Birmingham may finish above, Everton, Liverpool, Villa, Spurs, then ?  Welcome to the forum mr brummie.

i'm hardly a Brummie.

But thanks for the welcome

Do i want them to finish above Liverpool? No. Do i think they have a chance? Yes.

not in a million years mate. They will finish about 12th-13th.

Teams i think that will finish above them are:

Chelsea, Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, City, Spurs, Villa, Everton, Fulham, Sunderland, West Ham.

But anyways back on topic , Liverpool will finish 4th.

Yes we will

In the words of barack obama "yes we can"!

not in a million years mate. They will finish about 12th-13th.

Teams i think that will finish above them are:

Chelsea, Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, City, Spurs, Villa, Everton, Fulham, Sunderland, West Ham.

But anyways back on topic , Liverpool will finish 4th.

Have you read the news mate?

Hopefully Chelsea can do us a favor against City.

I think its very much on for fourth ,players coming back to the squad and we havnt really hit any "form" so to speak as recent matches have shown weve been grinding results out .So yep its there for the taking as other teams around us drop points and creak a bit as city have been doing .come on you red men

Eleven to go and apart from Manure and Chavs we have a relatively easy run in, Blackburn at home this weekend followed by Wigan A 6th, Pompey H 13th, Scum A 20th, Makems H 27th March, B'ham A 3rd, Fulham H 11th, Hammers H 17th Burnley A 24th April, Chavs H 1st, Hull A 9th, With Nando & Benny Imminent and GJ on the periphery We should have a full complment to choose from, We are still waiing to have our best run of the season and there has been signs of some consistency lately, Also with sides around us playing each other there will be points dropped all round, I know its not what we would want this time of the season but i reclon with us without CL football or FA cup we should be fresher than most, Out of the 33pts available we should pick up at least 75% if not more, Keep believing boys & girls, I reckon 4th is a sinch.

    YNWA    IRWT   

I still believe in third but will be happy with fourth, Y.N.W.A  and  I.R.I.T.

Its Get Real Time.

4 points behind City.   

11 to go.

Mancini and team on mega money to take our place in the top four.


IRWT

Mancini and team on mega money to take our place in the top four.

Knee.Jerk.Reaction.