2020/21 - The Run In and Top 4 chances - an Ongoing Analysis

[Mythyaar]

Draw at Old Trafford, lose to Chelsea (but beat them in the final of course 😉). Then we're probably left with a similar scenario as last season. Win our final game and we will secure Champions League football. Lose, or draw,  and we won't.

 

And despite last night's aberration, it's all still in our hands!

[mozartfox]

3 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Frankly, I think we've blown it. 

Frankly, I think you are correct.    We need some snookers now and 3 mammoth performances which, on the evidence of last night's car crash, seem a pipe dream.

 

2 years running will be quite astonishing.

[Corky]

I know we said it last year and it happened again but we won't get this opportunity once more.

 

Chelsea have been forced to play catch-up after a poor first half of the season and are now looking the part under a top manager, Liverpool will recover and strengthen, Tottenham should improve, Everton will be well backed in the market again, West Ham I'm not sure about with the demands of European football, will Wolves get back to around 7th again with or without Nuno?

 

To have two opportunities with other clubs in disarray, to have two comfortable leads and not take advantage twice (assuming we don't which looks likely) is an enormous wasted chance.

 

But who knows, maybe we'd be better as a chaser rather than holding our position?

[Ricey]

3 minutes ago, Mythyaar said:

Draw at Old Trafford, lose to Chelsea (but beat them in the final of course 😉). Then we're probably left with a similar scenario as last season. Win our final game and we will secure Champions League football. Lose, or draw,  and we won't.

 

And despite last night's aberration, it's all still in our hands!

If we only pick up 1 point in the next two there is no way we are going to be in the top come the final day.

[oxtonfox]

The injury to Evans and the rank form of Ricardo, Maddison and Vardy, probably due to injuries this year, could not have hit us at a worse time. 

 

Given, we all know that the team has a bottom six fragility and lack of leadership and calmness in crisis,  our prospects are not good. 

 

I haven't been so stunned as I was last night since the draw at Stoke in 2007 that sent us down to the third tier. 

[Ricey]

We have to beat Man Utd. If we do and some results go our way this weekend then we have a small chance, but I just can’t see it.

[Tielemans63]

5 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Frankly, I think we've blown it. 

Sadly, I agree. I genuinely believed we'd do it until last night. That was just a total disaster. I don't think we'll recover from that. 

[UniFox21]

3 minutes ago, mozartfox said:

Frankly, I think you are correct.    We need some snookers now and 3 mammoth performances which, on the evidence of last night's car crash, seem a pipe dream.

 

2 years running will be quite astonishing.

Once again we fall against teams we should be getting points against. Even a draw wouldn't have been awful. We won't get this chance again, and it's a huge dent to our development, again. 

[alanf0x]

We have to beat Southampton. We have to beat Newcastle. We have to beat United....worryingly the players look like they aren’t fussed either way

[oxtonfox]

Why oh why is the FA cup final right in the middle of the run in to this most condensed and open top 4 season season? 

We now have no choice to play our best team for every game now. 

[Stevosevic]

Jokes about Spurs being bottlers can stop.

 

What we've done the last two seasons is worse. 

 

Golden opportunities thrown away. Can't see us getting them again 

[TJB-fox]

Last night was last seasons Bournemouth. ****ing crap 

[UniFox21]

This then screws up our recruitment, ability to retain players and club growth. Pathetic again from the lads. I know we have injuries and tired legs, but ffs the passes they gave away for the goals were awful. 

[Corky]

It wasn't like Bournemouth- we were in control for 45 minutes there and looked very comfortable.

 

We had no control over anything last night.

[lcfcell]

4 minutes ago, Stevosevic said:

Jokes about Spurs being bottlers can stop.

 

What we've done the last two seasons is worse. 

 

Golden opportunities thrown away. Can't see us getting them again 

I’ve never understood why everyone called Spurs bottlers anyway. 

[foxes_rule1978]

8 minutes ago, Stevosevic said:

Jokes about Spurs being bottlers can stop.

 

What we've done the last two seasons is worse. 

 

Golden opportunities thrown away. Can't see us getting them again 

Have we bottled it, we are in a cup final and still top 4 at least wait before calling us bottlers 

[Sunbury Fox]

I think the players are totally gripped with nerves and fear. You could see it in their faces last night. We just lack mental strength and leaders. The team is just too nice and soft. We need some hard b&stards calling out and driving on team mates who aren't delivering.

 

It's true that we did win one high pressure game this season ie the FA Cup semi. But let's face it, that was a terrible game of football where we scored with our only shot on target after a lucky rebound against a team on an absolutely horrendous run of form. 

 

So I don't think we can read much into it showing that we are starting to address our mental weaknesses. On the whole, when it really matters and the pressure is truly on, we don't deliver. Southampton and Newcastle are two hugely favourable fixtures when you need 6 points to virtually guarantee top 4. And yet we've completely bombed in both games. In many ways last week was just as bad as last night - playing 80 minutes against a hideously out of form team down to ten and with little to play for, and we still couldn't win. 

Edited 8 May 2021 by Sunbury Fox

[Ricey]

1 minute ago, Sunbury Fox said:

I think the players are totally gripped with nerves and fear. You could see it in their faces last night. We just lack mental strength and leaders. The team is just too nice and soft. We need some hard b&stards calling out and driving on team mates who aren't delivering.

 

It's true that we did win one high pressure game this season ie the FA Cup semi. But let's face it, that was a terrible game of football where we scored with our only shot on target after a lucky rebound against a team on an absolutely horrendous run of form. 

 

So I don't think we can read much into it showing that we are starting to address our mental weaknesses. On the whole, when it really matters and the pressure is truly on, we don't deliver. Southampton and Newcastle are two hugely favourable fixtures when you need 6 points to virtually guarantee top 4. And yet we've completely bombed in both games. In many ways last week was just as bad as last night. 80 minutes against a 10 man, hideously out of form team with little to play for, and we still couldn't win. 

You look at West Ham and they have an arrogance and tenacity about them, which is maybe why they are dealing with the pressure better.

[Sunbury Fox]

1 minute ago, Ricey said:

You look at West Ham and they have an arrogance and tenacity about them, which is maybe why they are dealing with the pressure better.

Yep. I've said it a lot this season but they remind me so much of our 2015/16 team. They're having the season of their lives against all odds and going into games thinking about what they could achieve, not what they stand to lose. 

[Rigga]

When we are bad.. we are really bad.. usually when the pressure is on us..

 

we need 2 wins from the last 3...won’t happen... we finish 6th

 

EL next season.... a change in transfer targets , and probably a change in manager also..BR will be gone..

[ronnup]

25 minutes ago, Ricey said:

We have to beat Man Utd. If we do and some results go our way this weekend then we have a small chance, but I just can’t see it.

At old Trafford, for the first time since the 60s

[Ric Flair]

34 minutes ago, Ricey said:

We’ll look back at this season and we’ll look back at 8.10pm on 30th April.

 

7 points clear with 80 minutes to play against an injury hit, out of form Southampton team with 10 men. A chance to go 10 clear with 4 matches to go, the first being Newcastle at home.

 

If you aren’t going to take an opportunity like that then you don’t deserve it. 

Afraid so, very much like being 1 up at half time to Bournemouth in total control and then we inexplicably sub off Senior Man and fall apart.

 

We don't just fall short, we self implode and I'm not sure how we learn to not do that. The manner in which we do this, after 7 or 8 months of relentless hard work just makes it all the more of a monumental challenge to overcome. Like keep running ultra marathons and absolutely killing it and then when almost home and hosed just sit down in the road playing snake on your phone whilst the walking wounded stagger on past and somehow beat you.

[Ricey]

2 minutes ago, ronnup said:

At old Trafford, for the first time since the 60s

90’s, but yeah.

[FerrisBueller]

A mountain to climb and I can't see many Mountaineers in the squad.

[lcfcell]

After sleeping on it i can’t see us getting another point let alone winning again. Might just be me being OTT after a bad game but can’t see us recovering from that