Mind the gap
Monday, January 7, 2008 at 9:11AM How things stand:
50 Goons
49
48 M Utd
47
46
45
44 Russians
43
42
41
40
39 City
38 Scousers
37
36 Toffees / Villa
35
34 Pompey
33 Rovers
32
31
30
29 Spammers
28
27
26 Barcodes
25
24 Spurs
23
22 Royals
21
20 Trotters / Boro
19 Brum
18
17 Latics / Black Cats
16
15 Cottagers
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
15 points adrift of respectability. It's one thing hoping that our form will balance out resulting in less goals conceded and more points collected, but another thing altogether waiting for the clubs above us to hit 'bad patches'. Its all a bit desperate. West Ham and Newcastle are catchable, especially the Toon who are free-falling. Rovers and Pompey will probably drop a few points. So 8th will be good enough without actually being good enough. 5th, 5th, 8th doesn't look sexy but considering how shit we are I'll take that and a Cup final. Don't ask for much, do I?
Looking at the teams below us, they are probably thinking the same thing. That 15 points adrift of respectability probably has more to do with being safe than it does chasing a UEFA Cup spot.
Reader Comments (2)
Makes sorry reading. With Chelsea away next Prem game, its going to get more tricky than easy.
Have to see major chanes in the transfer market this month. And how many times have we had to endure this scenario? Always 4 or so players away from getting it right.
Get in 2 more defenders and a central midfielder who can tackle and play and then I wont have a problem with aiming for 8th. If we don't then 10th is the best we can do.
The gulf in class is simplistic. Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool will all finish in the top 4 positions with Liverpool the only team that could get caught if Rafa continues to rotate. Everyone else will swap places from one season to the next. We had two 5th places and the media and the fans and the players all looked at that as a dead cert for another 5th place and possibly a push for 4th. It went the other way. Now, you got City doing the exact opposite of last year and are exceeding expectations. They look good, but we all know it wont last. Unless they nick 4th spot. Then we can worry. If Liverpool take 4th, then next year everyone below the top 4 are once more in with the chance. You can't say Everton will do this well again next year. Villa too. That's how impossible it is to break that elite. You just have to hope one of them cracks. But its a massive ask.