Totally agree with hornetboy1 on this. Think Wolves will be really up for this game, and no way will they make the tactical errors that they made at Wembley - substitutions and sitting back when 2-0 up. We have had a great season to get this far, and many players are starting to look look like they need a break - it's been a physically and emotionally demanding few weeks. Times like this we really need Deeney. I'd like to see Javi do something a bit unexpected against Wolves to disrupt their plans - although i have no idea what he can do...
I can only think that Gracia needs to field our new youth wonderkid, Trent Dooley, who may look a hell of a lot like Troy, but is absolutely, definitely, not him.
I disagree with your first comment hb1. Part of competing is to lose from a winning position or make errors at critical moments. Sport is littered with them,most recently Molinari at The Masters but Novotna (God rest her soul) Coria are others to have 'choked'. One of the reasons Murray choose Lendl as his coach was the fact it had taken Ivan six or seven big finals to win a major event. He was considered a 'choker',though very few said it to his face! "Pressure is a privilege" as BJK said and sportsmen and women have to embrace the nerves and anxiety and accept that on some occasions they will mess up. Every match is an opportunity to win and players know if they can maintain their own level/performance they give themselves a good chance of winning. I feel confident not of the result but that most,if not all of our players will maintain their level.Will it be enough,who knows but there isn't an athlete past or present that hasn't 'choked' at some time or other. Let's change the label! In conclusion if we are to achieve 7th we need the whole crowd to be more supportive than they were on Tuesday,there were some very grumpy people,thankfully not many,but we need to be as good as we were at Wembley.
Exactly. Over the last couple of seasons Deeney has slapped a big sign saying Target on it for all refs to see.
Fair enough you disagree with the first comment of "We are a side that does tend to fold under the pressure of the occasion.....historically that is." but I think there's good evidence for it. Who can forget the way we crumbled in the last minute to Sheff Wed to hand the title to Bournemouth, or the way we didn't turn up for important matches against Leeds, Palace semi final, and Palace play off final. We were very nervous in the semi final this year, found ourselves 2-0 and it was only when all was lost did we start to play. You can see the nerves in our recent performances. Fulham we were poor, Arsenal we self harmed, Huddersfield were generally uninspired and Southampton hit the self destruct again after only 7.69 seconds. We are bouncing back from adversity though, but we are having to put ourselves in peril in order to perform. That needs to stop, as you cannot keep bouncing back time after time. Eventually it catches up with you. We have to be strong and control the situation, rather than let it overwhelm us.
No you are mistaken. Trent, a 17 year old from Costa Rica. It's often been said he looks a dozen years older than his age.
7th is still achievable, though I wished I shared some of the optimism shown by other posters. I cant help but think that the last two home games have cost us. What a difference the 4-5 dropped points would have made.
We are the only team who can guarantee 7th place for themselves. Win the three remaining and we are there. In fact even if we lose to Chelsea we are probably there as Wolves would have to get a result at Liverpool or Everton at Spurs plus winning their other games. So win on Saturday and we are very very close.
Shame Troy is still missing. He is very important as a focal point in home games. Feel much less confident about this one without him leading the line and Wolves set up to play on the break, buoyed by the win over the arse.
We have self-destructed, that's true, but it's still all there for us to play for. Win on Saturday and I would say we have to be considered the favourites. I believe we would need 56 points to do it and have said that all along. The dynamic changes with a win, loss or draw on Saturday. The only result that works for us is a win. It's worth reiterating the final run-in for clubs involved. Watford Fixtures 53 + Wolves result Wolves (H) Chelsea (A) 0 West Ham (H) 3 Everton Fixtures 55 Palace (A) 3 Burnley (H) 3 Spurs (A) 0 Wolves Fixtures 54 + Watford result Watford (A) Fulham (H) 3 Liverpool (A) 0 Leicester 52 points Arsenal (H) 3 City (A) 0 Chelsea (H) 1 So you can see from the likely results, if we draw we'd most likely end up with 54 points and 9th place. A loss would probably mean 53 points but still 9th place. But a win would give us 56 points and 7th place. Of course there may be an unforeseen surprise, but we all have at least one very tough away match against a top 6 opponent, and in Leicester's case, they are playing top 6 clubs in all three of their games. If we win all our matches we're 7th, but Wolves can also make the same claim. Everton and Leicester have to rely on either us or Wolves failing in order to get 7th.
Impossible to predict the outcome of those last games. It may be that any of liverpool, spurs or chelsea have nothing to play for. I also don't believe we can assume we will beat WHU. What is clear is we absolutely must beat Wolves on saturday and that will be made tougher by Wolves mental state being turned around by thumping arsenal, and the absence of TD.
Is it too much to expect the referee to award a decision based on the actual offence, rather than reputation and perception though? I agree Deeney should learn to be cleverer with what he says to the media, but the ref is the villain here.
Likely scenario is that if Watford or Wolves win on Saturday they should be able to go on and claim 7th spot. A draw could be enough for Wolves but it gives Everton a chance to sneak up on the inside.
With Wolves record this season I wouldn't put it past them to lose to Fulham but get something at Anfield. After last night we can definitely not afford to lose, a draw wouldn't be completely disastrous but would mean we would probably need something at Chelsea
I fancy Wolves to take something from Anfield too. The scousers will be crapping themsleves on the final day if they need a win to stay in contention.
That's a bit melodramatic...drawing at home to Soton is probably a better result than drawing at home to Brighton, judged on recent comparative form. Yes the results vs the Ar5e in the last couple of weeks has handed the benefit to Wolves, but we have not "self-destructed"!
I was referring to the events in the Arsenal match. If whacking the ball against an opponent to see it fly into the net, then having your captain sent off a minute later for a silly bit of "roughing them up to see if they're up for it" is not self-destructive, then I don't know what is.
"We have self-destructed" implies more an ongoing process over a period of time than a crazy individual game, which is why I made my comment. I accept that the 2 incidents you refer to in the Arsenal game seem to have cost us at least 1 point & those incidents were avoidable, but I'm not convinced they equate to "self-destruction" when they occurred in 1 of 38 matches. If the same were to happen in a major knockout cup match of course, then in the context of a "one chance only" game, it could be described as a "self-destruct".
I've explained what I meant. If that's not good enough for you, then so be it. I'm not really into splitting hairs over a phrase.
If we win I think we will get 7th, but we HAVE to win, and I'm not sure that's a pressure we will cope well with.
How is the Sheffield Wednesday game 4 years ago relevant now though? If we don't make it, it won't really be a case of bottling it, more of key players being unavailable at key moments and others being out on their feet as the fixtures pile up
"We are a side that does tend to fold under the pressure of the occasion.....historically that is" The bit in bold is the clue.
We're probably not ready for the European challenge... but I feel Leicester, Wolves and God forbid Everton will only improve next season in a way that we can't (i.e. throwing money at the situation). Huge game on Saturday now, better that it is a must win than a must-not-lose. Basically another cup semi-final but on our turf.
