[jenno86]

Originally Posted by barone

no it didnt, get over yourself

Sorry that wasn't directly aimed at you.

However, that picture isn't funny.

[daithijjj]

Originally Posted by opr

I am going to be negative in this post only because Agger getting injured yesterday left a real sour taste in my mouth. This league cup has come at enormous expense in my eyes!

It looks like we are going to be without Agger for a significant portion of the league campaign having already lost Lucas in an earlier round for the majority of the season. These injuries will have major ramifications in terms of the league point gathered this season. The other issue is that while the league cup usually would have been offered as a rest for key players it also gave the chance to squad players to keep up fitness and gain match practice such as Spearing, Coates etc which hasn't happened meaning they have been cold or will be cold when called upon. It also meant we have afforded no game time with the first team squad to any of the reserve team players.

Getting back to winning things is hugely important and hopefully this will act as a step in the right direction. Given the awful couple of years we have had it's a huge relief to finally be garnering some positive coverage and hopefully the win will galvanise the squad on the run in for the rest of the season. As you say the intangibles from winning the competition cannot be measured.

I do however worry that winning this battle will have ultimately hindered greatly the war we're suppose to be waging.

Opr

Obviously i wasnt talking about on the pitch directly. I think everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet regarding 4th. All i would say is that if we dont get 4th it wont really be the games coming up that stopped us rather than the ones we drew so many of at home during the season so far.

Does anyone know the severity of Agger's injury yet?, from what i saw after the game he didnt look to be so bad.

[Chucky the tree]

Originally Posted by daithijjj

Obviously i wasnt talking about on the pitch directly. I think everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet regarding 4th. All i would say is that if we dont get 4th it wont really be the games coming up that stopped us rather than the ones we drew so many of at home during the season so far.

Does anyone know the severity of Agger's injury yet?, from what i saw after the game he didnt look to be so bad.

How will it not be the games coming up? Games at the beginning of the season don't earn you more points then the ones now. If we lose out on 4th by a few points then the points lost in March, April and May are just as important as the ones we dropped earlier. Agger either broke or cracked a rib.

[Kess73]

The problem with 4th is that it is not in our hands. We are relying on three teams dropping more points that we do.

We have a game in hand (against Everton) over Newcastle, Chelsea and Arsenal. Even if we win that game in hand we are still going to be 4 points behind Arsenal and Chelsea and still a point behind Newcastle.

We also have to play all three of those teams and will most likely have to beat all three to have a chance of fourth. Even if we beat Arsenal and Chelsea, we will still be relying on them picking up less points per game than us as they will still be ahead of us on points if we beat them and win our game in hand.

It is a hell of an ask to get 4th place. We should of couse go all out in order to try and get it, but needing three clubs to make mistakes whilst ourselves somehow finding very consistent winning form over our last 13 games is a lot of luck to ask for. I could see one team in front of us hitting a bad patch, maybe two if it is a really flukey kind of year, but all three? I just don't see it. It will only take one of the three to get three points less than us between now and the end of the season and they will pip us.

[noodler]

Originally Posted by Big Knox

After the plague that was Gillette and Hicks this simple pictures means so much. We finally have an owner that gets it and we now have our first trophy under FSG. Delighted for John Henry and Co. and long may they continue to lead us to trophies...

I wouldn't read so much into a badge if you are specifically talking about the disaster.

Generally though, they have kept quiet and thats certainly better than saying anything negative.

Originally Posted by Kess73

The problem with 4th is that it is not in our hands. We are relying on three teams dropping more points that we do.

We have a game in hand (against Everton) over Newcastle, Chelsea and Arsenal. Even if we win that game in hand we are still going to be 4 points behind Arsenal and Chelsea and still a point behind Newcastle.

We also have to play all three of those teams and will most likely have to beat all three to have a chance of fourth. Even if we beat Arsenal and Chelsea, we will still be relying on them picking up less points per game than us as they will still be ahead of us on points if we beat them and win our game in hand.

It is a hell of an ask to get 4th place. We should of couse go all out in order to try and get it, but needing three clubs to make mistakes whilst ourselves somehow finding very consistent winning form over our last 13 games is a lot of luck to ask for. I could see one team in front of us hitting a bad patch, maybe two if it is a really flukey kind of year, but all three? I just don't see it. It will only take one of the three to get three points less than us between now and the end of the season and they will pip us.

Chelsea and Arsenal will drop plenmty of points between now and the end of the season and we still won't get it IMO.

[daithijjj]

Originally Posted by Chucky the tree

How will it not be the games coming up? Games at the beginning of the season don't earn you more points then the ones now. If we lose out on 4th by a few points then the points lost in March, April and May are just as important as the ones we dropped earlier. Agger either broke or cracked a rib.

I believe the old adage goes, you dont win anything at the start of the season but you can lose it. It = 4th in this case and dropping 16 points at home so far? will go a very long way to answer why we havent got 4th, if thats where we are at the end of the season. Drawing with Arsenal on Saturday wont sink us, drawing with Sunderland/Norwich/Swansea/Wigan/Blackburn etc before 2012 already put us in a bad place.

[Kess73]

Originally Posted by noodler

Chelsea and Arsenal will drop plenmty of points between now and the end of the season and we still won't get it IMO.

Must admit I feel the same way. I just don't see the three clubs directly ahead of us all dropping more points than we will between now and the end of the season.

Whilst not impossible I feel that we cannot afford to lose anymore games between now and the end of the season, maybe one at the most if we start picking up wins rather than draws in the other games.

People will no doubt argue that IF we win our game in hand then we are four points behind Chelsea and Arsenal (and still quite a bit behind in terms of GD) and only a point behind Newcsatle. And IF we win our games against all three of those clubs we will only be a point behind both Arsenal and Chelsea, but the thing is even with that small section of games totally going our way, and it would be a bit of a long shot for us to defo get those four wins, we would still be relying on both Arsenal and Chelsea to drop more points than us, and given that our form has been even worse than that of those teams so far this season I really don't see it happening.

Hope I am wrong but I think we may have another 6th or 7th place finish this season.

Hell if some are writing off the points difference between us and Chelsea/Arsenal/Chelsea as being very catchable, then maybe we should start worrying about Norwich who are only 4 points behind us in 8th place, along with Sunderland and Everton who are six points behind us, and the game against Everton becomes very important as a result for them against us puts them only three points behind us.

[opr]

Originally Posted by Kess73

I could see one team in front of us hitting a bad patch, maybe two if it is a really flukey kind of year, but all three? I just don't see it. It will only take one of the three to get three points less than us between now and the end of the season and they will pip us.

I agree it's a very tough ask but I can see all three of them dropping loads of points but whether we ourselves will be able to capitalize on the mistakes is the real question.

Newcastle are the real dark horses in my eyes for that fourth place. They have all the guys back now and made some shrewd acquisitions in January. Was plenty pleased to see them only pick up a point at the weekend after being 2 up as I fancy they could really put a run of results together.

Opr

[K-9]

Originally Posted by Kess73

The problem with 4th is that it is not in our hands. We are relying on three teams dropping more points that we do.

We have a game in hand (against Everton) over Newcastle, Chelsea and Arsenal. Even if we win that game in hand we are still going to be 4 points behind Arsenal and Chelsea and still a point behind Newcastle.

We also have to play all three of those teams and will most likely have to beat all three to have a chance of fourth. Even if we beat Arsenal and Chelsea, we will still be relying on them picking up less points per game than us as they will still be ahead of us on points if we beat them and win our game in hand.

It is a hell of an ask to get 4th place. We should of couse go all out in order to try and get it, but needing three clubs to make mistakes whilst ourselves somehow finding very consistent winning form over our last 13 games is a lot of luck to ask for. I could see one team in front of us hitting a bad patch, maybe two if it is a really flukey kind of year, but all three? I just don't see it. It will only take one of the three to get three points less than us between now and the end of the season and they will pip us.

Looking at the run ins ours is probably the best, with all the traditional big Away games all played, Newcastle the outlier this season. Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton at home.

Normally we'd all be licking our lips at that run in but..........................

[Grayditch]

Our finishing is still not up to standard to get us into 4th place. Everything else has been impressive, though.

We had about 14 corners yesterday, like. Jaaaaaaysus.

[ush]

The cup runs, bad handling of Suarez mess and lack of smart signings in january will cost us fourth. Chelsea and Arsenal have dropped enough points already for us to be there. I don't want to be looking back on the season with just all this Wembley nostalgia.

Arsenal's performance yesterday could be the nail in the coffin. I'd love it if we beat them!

[Grayditch]

I'm so glad we won at Wembley yesterday. It was a great day.

[Kess73]

Originally Posted by ush

The cup runs, bad handling of Suarez mess and lack of smart signings in january will cost us fourth. Chelsea and Arsenal have dropped enough points already for us to be there. I don't want to be looking back on the season with just all this Wembley nostalgia.

Well if we finished the season in 7th place and won both cups, I know that two from Arsenal, Newcastle and Chelsea will have had a worse overall season than us, as it will mean that two of them missed out on the CL along with us and got no silverware of any sort to show for their season.

Granted the league is the bread and butter in terms of importance, but I value the cups highly as well, and if we are not going to do well in one comp, then I sure as hell want to see the club do well in whatever is left.

[opr]

Does anyone have a handy list of the run in for all four teams chasing fourth ? I thought I remembered someone posting one here a few days back but can't find it.

Edit - Found it http://www.thisisanfield.com/2012/02...ce-for-fourth/

Opr

[rarnes1]

We need to win 4 or 5 on the bounce I feel if we want to finish top 4. That sort of run is needed.

Arsenal is a must win tbh.

Their defence is terrible, we have a decent shot of beating them but their confidence will be up after yesterday. Ours should be too however