Next 5 Games - Our Acid Test?

[ealingfox]

Ok, so we've got the unbelievable start out the way, performances have been good, results could have been better but still a decent return considering the fixtures. There's a lot to be cautiously optimistic about.

 

With the international break arriving we can draw a line under the first 3 games, and sort of say our season starts here. The next 5 games see us take on the reality of being Premier League, 5 games against sides ranging from fairly good to bang average to fairly poor.

 

One thing that I think needs to happen in this spell is our first win, the sooner the better.

 

What do we all think would be a good return from:

 

Stoke (A)

Man Utd (H)

Crystal Palace (A)

Burnley (H)

Newcastle (A)

 

My predictions:

 

Stoke (A) - D

Man Utd (H) - L

Crystal Palace (A) - W

Burnley (H) - W

Newcastle (A) - D

 

[Babylon]

At the start of the season the first 5 games were all viewed as very difficult and I don't see why that has changed. The measure of what we are will really start after those games.

 

Stoke away is difficult enough for the best teams in the league and despite United's slow start, their team still contains some of the best in the world.

[Guest seanfox778]

Ok, so we've got the unbelievable start out the way, performances have been good, results could have been better but still a decent return considering the fixtures. There's a lot to be cautiously optimistic about.

With the international break arriving we can draw a line under the first 3 games, and sort of say our season starts here. The next 5 games see us take on the reality of being Premier League, 5 games against sides ranging from fairly good to bang average to fairly poor.

One thing that I think needs to happen in this spell is our first win, the sooner the better.

What do we all think would be a good return from:

Stoke (A)

Man Utd (H)

Crystal Palace (A)

Burnley (H)

Newcastle (A)

My predictions:

Stoke (A) - D

Man Utd (H) - L

Crystal Palace (A) - W

Burnley (H) - W

Newcastle (A) - D

I'd be happy with those predictions. I think we'll have a frustrating draw at Palace though. Have you seen Villa's next 5 games? They have Liverpool (A) Arsenal (H) Chelsea (A) Man City (H) Everton (A)

[suffolk fox]

Stark reality is unless Everton sort out their defence no way will they be in the top six this season ten goals conceded already and only after three games.

I agree with Babylon Stoke away is horrible and Manure will have all their international players available when we play them at home. They have just got clearance for Rojo to play so they will have him in defence against us.

[Captain...]

At the start of the season the first 5 games were all viewed as very difficult and I don't see why that has changed. The measure of what we are will really start after those games.

 

Stoke away is difficult enough for the best teams in the league and despite United's slow start, their team still contains some of the best in the world.

 

Was thinking the same thing, but it is the international break and people are bored, and it is a good time to reassess now we know our 25 man squad and have seen us play.

 

I predicted 2 points from our first 5,with draws against Everton and away at Stoke.

 

I still think we will draw at Stoke, god knows what will happen at United, sod's law says they will click against us and destroy us at home. If they are still finding their feet then we could pick up another point or even a win if they persist on playing 352 with no defenders. Fortunately all their players are away on international duty so won't be getting much time together.

 

Palace A - first winnable game of the season, but not an easy one, they will also be targeting this game for a win it will be a scrappy game they have a midweek game against Newcastle too - Draw

 

Burnley H we have to win, this is the game that will really kick on our season. - Win

 

Newcastle A I think we will win this too, Newcastle aren't a great side, but they also aren't a scrappy side like Palace or West Ham, they will expect to beat us and won't be up for the fight. - Win

 

Stoke - D

United - L

Palace - D

Burnley - W

Toon - W

[Stevosevic]

Need some wins

[Tuna]

Fook these up and we are in the shite. Can see the Burnley game as 2 winless teams facing off against each other.

[Fox92]

I've been to all three league games so far, and I'm pleased with our performances. Even at Chelsea, a game in which we lost, we were impressive for 60-70minutes and deserved a goal. But my worry is, and I've said this before, I don't want the players to be up for the big games. I know Nige won't let this happen but we've played three good/big teams so far and when the likes of Burnley turn up (no disrespect as always) I don't want performances to drop.

 

Looking at those fixtures, I think we should be aiming for 6 or 7 points. Stoke will be tough, although teams do go there and win (see Villa), as will the Manchester United match regardless of their current form. I'm more optimistic of getting something at Palace now Pulis isn't manager while we should be beating Burnley. Could easily get something from Newcastle as well.

[Guest kristianity77]

Looking at those fixtures, you have to think we should be picking up a minimum of 5 or 6 points I would imagine to remain on "par" for staying up. This is what I predict:

 

Stoke - D

Man Utd - L

Palace - D

Burnley - W

Newcastle - D

 

Would give us 8 points from first 8 games which is a decent start.

[Number 6]

Still not a particularly easy 5. The Burnley game is going to be huge, but 3 points is 3 points, wherever it comes from. My predictions:

 

Stoke (A) - D

Man Utd (H) - L

Crystal Palace (A) - D

Burnley (H) - W

Newcastle (A) - L

 

Which would give us 3 points from the first 5 games (decent) and 7 from the first 8. Given the first 5 fixtures we had there was always a chance we'd be playing catch up but we've manage to keep our heads above water. You look at the teams the likes of WBA have played and to be above them is a great achievement. Think the games against Palace and Burnley present bigger tests though, because we have completely different expectations at kick off compared to what has gone before.

[cc_star]

Our difficult start out the way?

What???

Stoke (away!) & mega-spending Utd were always part of the impossibly tough start.

Most people hoped for or predicted 2 points from 1st five games. With the Pt against Arsenal we're 1pt ahead of those hopes/predictions

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

I can't wait until we batter Stoke and people stop giving them so much credit

[lgfualol]

After our start and character shown by the players, I'm not so scared of these teams anymore.

Stoke (A) - L

Man Utd (H) - D

Crystal Palace (A) - W

Burnley (H) - W

Newcastle (A) - D

[lcfc278]

Stoke (A) - W

Man Utd (H) - L

Crystal Palace (A) - D

Burnley (H) - W

Newcastle (A) - D

[benpicko]

Win all of them tbh

[zak_lcfc]

Said to friends that the next 5 games will tell us a lot more about the team than the first 3,

 

Stoke - D

Utd - D

Palace - W

Burnley - W

Newcastle - D

 

Was going to put stoke as a win but they have a really good home record for the past few seasons, a tough place to go

[Vicki Vixen]

I'd be happy with 6 points from these games.

 

I think the biggest test for us will be Burnley at home, because it will be the first game this season we are expected to win (i'm ignoring the Shrewsbury debacle).  

 

We've showed in August that we can defend in an organised and effective way against some of the best players/teams in the world.

We've showed that we can be a huge threat on the counter attack.

We've showed that we can get a result despite only having 30% of the possession.

 

None of these things will matter when we are playing Burnley at home.  We'll be the ones expected to dominate possession, and they'll be the ones defending in numbers and counter attacking.  We need to change our game for this one and go back to playing like we did last season.  Expectations will be high and an early goal will be important to take the pressure off.

[C-man]

2 wins against Burnley and Palace please. If we pick up a draw away at Toon or Stoke too then that's 9 from 8 which would be a fantastic return given the fixtures involved.

[foxfanazer]

Stoke- D

Man u- D

Palace- W

Burnley- W

Newcastle- L

[Richard]

5 points. Win against Burnley and draw against Stoke and Palace

[5waller5]

I can't stop being optimistic!!!!!

 

Stoke- W
Man u- D
Palace- W
Burnley- W
Newcastle- W

[Charl91]

I think Palace, Burnley and Newcastle are all possible to get a win from. Stoke and Man U are going to be tough though. I feel like we really need a win against Stoke - I don't see us getting one against United (as crap as they have been at the moment), and 5 games without a win is worrying, even if they are tough fixtures.

[Steven]

Stoke (A) - D

Man Utd (H) - W

Crystal Palace (A) - W

Burnley (H) - W

Newcastle (A) - D

[Haydos]

Said to friends that the next 5 games will tell us a lot more about the team than the first 3,

 

Stoke - D

Utd - D

Palace - W

Burnley - W

Newcastle - D

 

Was going to put stoke as a win but they have a really good home record for the past few seasons, a tough place to go

 

I echo this to a certain extent. These are the games over the course of the season we will need to perform in but there can be a lot taken from our first 3 matches as well. We came up against 2 of the best teams in the league and 1 pretender to the big 4/5. We did well to avoid a hiding out of those 3, let alone put up strong performances and unlucky not to come away with at least 3 points from one of them.

 

It's no good being nearly-men though. We need to register a couple of wins in the next 5 or 6 games otherwise pickings could be looking pretty slim.

[Captain...]

I echo this to a certain extent. These are the games over the course of the season we will need to perform in but there can be a lot taken from our first 3 matches as well. We came up against 2 of the best teams in the league and 1 pretender to the big 4/5. We did well to avoid a hiding out of those 3, let alone put up strong performances and unlucky not to come away with at least 3 points from one of them.

 

It's no good being nearly-men though. We need to register a couple of wins in the next 5 or 6 games otherwise pickings could be looking pretty slim.

 

Exactly we need to convert performances into points, in the end those 2 points we got against Everton and Arsenal will be count for very little if we fail to pick up points against Burnley, Palace etc. Winning those games is more important than picking up points against the top 7, as we are taking points off our rivals at the same time.