Gazzasrightboot
Pascal Chimbonda
You're right of course with that example. I was getting at the business end of the season where making wholesale changes wouldn't work imho.
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The draws
- Thread starter Robbo
- Start date
You're right of course with that example. I was getting at the business end of the season where making wholesale changes wouldn't work imho.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
This for me as well the games is about glory and winning things and we should never pass on trying to do just that. Unfortunately ( thanks to Sky) their are fans who consider finishing among the runners up ( top four) should get priority.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
SpurMeUp
Les Howe
Absolutely nothing
I know you like the EL. I do too. Glad we are in it, and we can win it. But do you think we would have turned maybe one or two of those post EL games in the Prem into wins had we not played on a Thursday?
parklane1
Tony Galvin
How long is a piece of string in other words who knows? what I do know though if we want to become a big club ( to rival the trophy winners) we have to get used to playing that many games. There are too many who blame the extra games for us not being able to become a top team but its just excuses without any real evidence ( imo).
SpurMeUp
Les Howe
Well the evidence is a simple correlation. You can't infer causation from a correlation. You can't say the midweek game caused the weekend draw, but there is a relationship. Agreed we need to be able to compete in 3 games a week. The interesting question is why are we stretched? Its not just us, of course it affects CL teams too.
I think we need to grow as a club. Maybe more coaches working on and preparing for the games. Walker, Rose, Dembele didn't play midweek but were not any better than their team mates, Walker and Rose arguably a tad worse than others. If you get back on a Friday, it leaves so little time to mentally prepare the team and individuals for the weekend.
The other area we probably need to develop is the squad. We have had a number of injuries, but fringe players such as Njie will come on and be able to contribute more; and we'd benifit from a few more players back from injury/ signed.
Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
Stoke was the most painful draw.
Our biggest problem last season was keeping clean sheets, we've got that covered so far. I still believe Kane needs some help, we (some of us) say the same thing every January i.e. we need another striker but it never happens so I have no reason to think we will sign on in Jan. Very risky but that's how the club wants to operate.
Ultimately, we need to be more clinical. United finished 4th last season because they put their chances away, they didn't particularly batter teams.
Our biggest problem last season was keeping clean sheets, we've got that covered so far. I still believe Kane needs some help, we (some of us) say the same thing every January i.e. we need another striker but it never happens so I have no reason to think we will sign on in Jan. Very risky but that's how the club wants to operate.
Ultimately, we need to be more clinical. United finished 4th last season because they put their chances away, they didn't particularly batter teams.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
I can't dance with that which is why I said earlier ( just excuses without any real evidence), the simple facts are is that we have to get used to playing three games a week and stop using it as a excuse for any poor results that may occur. The way we do that is by conditioning the players to be able to do that both physically and ( as you say) mentally, it can be done and other clubs have done so.
The media and some fans are always banging on about travel time and rest time and it will effect players who are not conditioned to ignoring it for what it is ( rubbish) and its down to the manager and coaches to make sure that message is taken on board by the players. As you say the squad is still developing and once some of the younger players become more experienced in playing these number of games and the injurys clear up it will become second nature. I doubt it will stop some fans from looking for excuses but that is nothing new as its what some fans are good at.
alekaras
The ITK of IDK
I don't think that playing 3 games a week is an "experience" issue. No matter how much experience you have, the human body can only go so far. However, it is a matter of prioritization and focus. For example, if the team was more focused in the Anderlecht away game (Poch was furious about this), then Caravan wouldn't have been as important a fixture as it ended up being and could have been deprioritized with the B team traveling to Baku. Perhaps this is where the experience comes in, in that it makes players understand that no game and no lead should be taken for granted.
As for travel time and changing time zones, that will affect all players no matter what the media or fans have to say. It can be managed, but it will have an impact on performance. You can't ignore it and everything will be fine. As I said earlier, the human body has its limitations and there's no circumventing that or training it out of players, I'm afraid.
On a separate, but related note, I'd really like to see a Russian team from Vladivostok qualify for the CL/EL group stage and see if anyone in their group send a full team away.
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
Why do Marussia and Sauber bother developing their F1 cars, when it's always the same procession? Money dominates sport
SpurMeUp
Les Howe
It is interesting as there is a relationship - statistically playing a mid week European game means your PPG drops for the following game. It is not just fatigue though. I think a lot is to do with management and preparation. See Rose and Walker. As Parklane says, as the team become more experienced they should learn how to grind out these games. In general we're not good at that yet. We'll be the better team but draw. In time, maybe with an extra signing or two, I think we will develop a ruthlessness to close out the win even when not 100% prepared or rested.
Modric THFC
Jimmy McCormick
Since this has turned into a thread about nothing in particular I think playing a different tempo, style and intensity effects how we play in the league games after them.
As for the money issue Rodgers took a team that had finished 7th the season before, that was paid the 5th highest wage bill in the league, to a Gerrard slip of winning the league. Why cant Poch do better than that considering how terrible every other contender in the league is.
As for the money issue Rodgers took a team that had finished 7th the season before, that was paid the 5th highest wage bill in the league, to a Gerrard slip of winning the league. Why cant Poch do better than that considering how terrible every other contender in the league is.
Gazzasrightboot
Pascal Chimbonda
Because we don't have that world class player in our team (Suarez) or the experience of big games (Gerrard). We are a young team lacking in experience, that Liverpool team were not. They had the best strikeforce in the league by a countrymile. We do not.
Cochise
Steve Carr
Stoke 2-2 (H) - Poor result, we should've finished with a win. Annoyed by this one as we gave the win away.
Leicester 1-1 (A) - A very tactical match with both Poch and Ranieri tweaking things. We lost our concentration after scoring. Also annoyed here for the same reason.
Everton 0-0 (H) - Howard made some good saves and we should've won. At the end of the day it was one of those where we should've done better but Kane was really poor.
Swansea 2-2 (A) - Fortunate imo. Eriksen with two great free kicks, but Swansea for me were the better team for more of the game.
Liverpool 0-0 (H) - A lot of pressing and not much going on. Fair result.
Arsenal 1-1 (A) - We had to make the subs which let Arsenal back in it. A point away to the goons though is a good point.
Chel53a 0-0 (H) - Tired after Europe. No problem with this being a draw.
I only feel like we were robbed (by ourselves) against Leicester and Stoke. Swansea was for me a good result for us as we didn't look like scoring from open play against them. The rest are all fair imo.
Leicester 1-1 (A) - A very tactical match with both Poch and Ranieri tweaking things. We lost our concentration after scoring. Also annoyed here for the same reason.
Everton 0-0 (H) - Howard made some good saves and we should've won. At the end of the day it was one of those where we should've done better but Kane was really poor.
Swansea 2-2 (A) - Fortunate imo. Eriksen with two great free kicks, but Swansea for me were the better team for more of the game.
Liverpool 0-0 (H) - A lot of pressing and not much going on. Fair result.
Arsenal 1-1 (A) - We had to make the subs which let Arsenal back in it. A point away to the goons though is a good point.
Chel53a 0-0 (H) - Tired after Europe. No problem with this being a draw.
I only feel like we were robbed (by ourselves) against Leicester and Stoke. Swansea was for me a good result for us as we didn't look like scoring from open play against them. The rest are all fair imo.
The_Midlands_Yid
Andy Gray
Yes, had we stolen a few wins in these matches we would be at the top of table, but having said that, i agree with a lot of people in saying that the draws we got with Pool, Gooners, Chelsea etc are matches we would have crumbled and lost in previous years. So for me, i think that these draws are a good thing. I really do. It shows we are fighting for something each time we are out on the pitch, as we should be. .......Except Stoke. Dammit that was a huge slip up.
thfcsteff
George Hunt
Agreed, the only one which really aggravated me.
braineclipse
Steve Sedgley
You're flat out wrong that the market rates a player that is paid twice as much as twice as good. This seems obvious enough that I won't go into a long winded explanation at this point.
The correlation between wages/money and league positions might be strong enough for outliers to be mostly sorted out over 40 games. Though I expect you don't quite understand what a statistical outlier is if you think all of them will disappear after 40 games.
Us finishing 2-3 places above where we would expect to finish based on finances would not be an outlier though. And the correlation and variance in no way indicates that this isn't possible.
braineclipse
Steve Sedgley
It's a question of probabilities though. Just because something happened once doesn't mean it's likely to happen to us this season. As we've seen from Rodgers after that it wasn't just some monumental managerial ability that trumped everyone else in the league that season. He's nowhere near that good a manager.
What would you say the probability is that Pochettino can better what Rodgers did and outperform our financial restrictions by that much?
Robspur12
Nick Barmby
Not really sure what any of that means but if you are saying we can finish top 4 despite our financial resources being less than the other 4 or 5 teams in the fight then I agree. Finish ing anywhere in the top 4 would be a major achievement when you compare our squad with any of our rivals. Btw another thing that impresses me with Poch is how he manages our playing resources to minimise muscle injuries. Compare it to Arsenal for example where the only player not to be injured in 2015 is Joel Campbell. City have had big Injuries too as have Liverpool. So Poch manages his playing resources well.
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