Points Progress 17/18

Wow - I was hoping for a point today, clearly not a penalty - but Arsenal were poor over the 90 minutes - only one team wanted it in last half an hour. 4th place, and look at that comparable fixture graph below!

The current position is:

• 4 points better than this time last year (15 vs 11). This is the same as after the last game
• 11 points better than the comparable fixtures last year (15 vs 4). This is 3 better than after the last game.
• 7 points better than the '40 point' line (15 vs 8). This is the same as after the last game

 

This is getting scary

 

Quite simply wonderful to see this momentum from our club

 

We are in a pattern of alternating wins and "non-wins" - DWDWLWDW. It's quite possible that this will continue over the next two games as well......

 

Well spotted but still dreaming of a point at Chelski. Also dreaming that at some point if we continue in the same vein we will score 3 or more goals against one of the 'lesser' sides. Luving this team of workers not shirkers.

 

No problem - a draw is a "non-win"

 

http://www.skysports.com/football/n...crash-the-premier-leagues-top-six-this-season

23k votes and 39% think we are most likely!

 

At first I thought it's just recency bias, we've played well, just beaten arsenal, currently in fourth, but in a couple of months some other team will be in form and be flavour of the month. But then I actually looked through all the other teams on the list and think we are actually the 'most likely' over a season compared to that lot. Everton? Maybe if they sack Koeman and get a striker. Newcastle? Fat chance. Leicester? Only others I think have a realistic chance if they turn their form around, but that's a pretty big if right now.

Still think the top six will be the 'big six', but there is definitely an opportunity there this year...

 

Agreed. However as always our first aim is to get to 40 points, which with our current points rate we could get there after 22 matches, which would be phenomenal. Once we've achieved that I think the next milestone will be to get a top 10 finish, which 50 points will almost certainly do but some seasons over the recent years 47ish has been enough.

 

I know, but I'm not tempting fate yet!

 

I'm like you otter, safety first. But I must admit it's getting very exciting and difficult not to dream! I guess the big question is how quickly we can get out of any slumps in form that will inevitably happen.

 

I reckon if we hit 40 points on or before game 26 then a top 6 finish could be on. But anything better than 11th by the end of the season would be fantastic.

 

Not the bloody 40 points thing again! I hope Silva isn't repeating the same mistake as QSF and Walter, by constantly announcing we're after 40 points so when we actually hit it everyone thinks 'job done' and relaxes. I'd hope we're targetting more this season.

 

Imagine if we get to 40 points and stop playing again!!!

The dispair!!!!

 

This is a good point and obviously something our previous PL managers did and many of our players too (Capoue is a good example)

I can’t see Silva doing it or allowing it, he’s got ambitions way beyond us, and allowing the players to switch off at 40 points isn’t going to get him anywhere considering that’s what our last two managers managed and they got the sack.

Not that it should be needed and I’ve no idea if this is actually a thing with some clubs already anyway, but with each place in the PL worth a few million, an easy way to keep the team motivated would be to offer the manager a percentage of the prize money above a minimum place. So they get say 5% of any prize money above 10th place for example. So finishing 6th would earn them something like £250k extra.

 

I am also with you boys, first thing 40 points and safety. Then I can relax and dream big. We have a had a great start and should we carry on like this then by xmas I should be relaxed..its been great so far and we have all fallen back in love with our club. Thank you Marco, Gino and everyone else.

 

40 points by New Years Day, then we can all go on holiday for 8 months until the next season starts

 

40 points by New Years day (an away win please) and we can concentrate on winning the FA Cup

 

40 points first of course but this seems to be our best chance to do something very special. Such a shame we lost to Bristol City when ahead. We can't take our eye off the ball but the 6 points we've gained in injury time have been so crucial to our position and early points put you in a strong position.

We've already gained 38% of last seasons total points

 

I think personal ambition and reputation/pride alone will stop Marco from making any of those mistakes we're worrying about, although I would also argue that there were other factors that had far more impact than a lazy expectation of 'job done' at 40 points created by previous managers. Under Quique, we really stopped playing long before we got to 40 points, but our overall form was never quite so bad that we were unable to get over that line, and we did of course end up finishing 13th. Under Walter, we certainly stopped playing around the 40 point mark, although I do believe it was because the players believed they had achieved something and done their jobs; I believe it was because Wally had utterly lost the dressing room and created a toxic atmosphere around the club, which the players responded to, partly as a consequence of said atmosphere and partly as a tactic to show the Pozzi that they wanted him gone.

 

Silva has consistently said the goal is to remain in the EPL and I'm sure his financial reward is mainly based on this.
He is reluctant to talk about anything better, but I also believe he will not rest at survival and demand more from the players once we are safe from the big R.

However, I'm sure (well, guessing) that Gino is redialling the goals and will be in discussions with Silva and his agent behind the scenes to renegotiate some real financial sparkly rewards based on final position and maybe FA cup run.
Probably they are in place already but Silva is sensible enough not to blag about higher goals to keep us humble.

And maybe Gino is already discussing a revised contract to keep him here, as media attention has already got Silva leaving and at a bigger club than Watford.

 

If we are within touching distance of CL after Spurs Gino (with Silva's approval) will already have his finger on the trigger for at least a couple to improve the squad, which won't be easy and the January window is never cheap (start looking at top internationals that are still playing in South America) ... Don't even worry about Silva for this season, if we're still up here he'll want to stay and if we're not no club big enough will want him, including in Europe.

 

Whilst I’d absolutely love that to be true, I’m not so sure. If we end up anywhere near 4th then he’d have done an absolutely phenomenal job and will have the pick of many top clubs. Arsenal for one would be crazy at that point not to come in for him, if Klopp continues as is, I can’t see Liverpool remaining patient for too much longer and god knows what other top clubs in Europe will be after a manager. Of course if we do finish 4th (which let’s face it despite how well we’ve started the season, its still a massively unlikely outcome) there is a chance, a small chance he might want a crack at the CL with us. But if we finish say 5th-7th I really cannot see any reason he’d stay with us if a bigger club came knocking.

 

I'm afraid you're right. But just once in a while an ambitious manager comes along who falls in love with his club and with his operating environment and just stays. I can think of three over the last 40 years or so - GT, Arsene and Dario Gradi. A long shot, then

 

Two of those named were, pretty much, given carte blanche and virtually re-built their respective clubs and effectively micromanaged every aspect of their players - their management methods could be described as revolutionary. The other stayed at "his" club for some extremely distasteful reasons and his name shouldn't ever be mentioned in the same breath as the other two.

 

There's no point in second guessing what Marco would do if he does well but I don't disagree in worrying about who could come in for him.

 

Which Arsenal is this the South American one? There's no chance Wenger will get the sack while there's still a chance of Europe and if he fails that they still won't sack him till the summer. And Liverpool fans love Klopp too much, there would be murder if they swapped him for Silva.

 

7 out of 8 of our results have been very encouraging, (its a shame Britos left the field so early H Brighton) as seeing how the results and performances have gone we would probably have another two points if that didn't happen!

However in our next 8 games 5 or against the " lesser " teams if we gain points (hopefully wins) against the likes of Stoke, Everton, West Ham Newcastle and Burnley, then we can really get excited about our chances of a top " whatever " finish!

 

You're right about two of them. Nobody is going to be given carte blanche these days, especially at Watford, but there's a slight chance of a brilliant long-term on-field/off-field partnership though I wouldn't put money on it.

As for the third, I'm not privy to his motivations and I doubt if you are either - which isn't to say that you're wrong.

 

That's more like it .... Let's just say that as an in-demand brickwork contractor I usually turned down the more lucrative contracts for ones that kept me in with the good firms to do business with; the good business had much to do with a guaranteed supply of materials and no hassle agreeing daywork when for whatever reason my lads came to a standstill .... In return they got a good job and I never took the piss when it came to billing.

For a head coach to have Gino as boss must be a dream that few clubs can match

 

I like a good graph but this is Excel pornography.

 

Nice thought but surely unlikely.

Gino buys players as assets.

Rule #1 is buy cheap.

That’s seldom possible in Jan.

The one, somewhat remote, thought is Steptoe. Isn’t he what Gray was hoped to be?

 

While we are spunking over stats...

Points per game remaining to get to 40: 0.8333
Previous game 0.9032

 

We got 3 points in our last game m8