2nd part of the season - how are we going to manage this?

[Molby]

this is being discussed in various threads but I thought we should have one specifically about our approach to the second half of the season

 

everyone is delighted overall, and would have taken our points total and position at the start, yada yada

ok that's accepted. But we are where we are. We have an opportunity that looked unexpected, so may as well go for it no?

 

 

but I don't expect our form to continue over the next 5 games, compared to how we were 5 games ago

 

Mane out

Firmino dip in form

still stuck with Mig

Coutinho out

Matip out

Hendo out

Can under par

Origi scoring but otherwise not preforming too well - certainly not a straight swap for Mane in spite of having pace, and we still have not adjusted our system to get him the ball early, as he prefers

Sturridge out again and even when fit, is now completely at odds with our system

 

would have been good to buy some players in summer or Jan but I'm discounting that

 

it worries me that we could be out of the race by end of Jan unless we find some answers

 

what do we think the manager will do?

[Hightown Phil]

Mane isn't gone forever and hopefully misses only two league games and comes back for Chelsea, Firmino will be fine once Coutinho comes back and he goes back to his best position, Mignolet has been fine recently, Coutinho is nearly back, Henderson is nearly back, Can is probably 4th choice now, Origi and Sturridge are options off the bench of when we've got injuries which is fine. 

 

Cheer up brother. 

 

United is going to be a very tough game though as they are really good now. 

[Metro]

Mane isn't gone forever and hopefully misses only two league games and comes back for Chelsea, Firmino will be fine once Coutinho comes back and he goes back to his best position, Mignolet has been fine recently, Coutinho is nearly back, Henderson is nearly back, Can is probably 4th choice now, Origi and Sturridge are options off the bench of when we've got injuries which is fine. 

 

Cheer up brother. 

 

United is going to be a very tough game though

I read that Mane could be missing until mid-Feb

[Hightown Phil]

He could be.

 

He could also be missing until late January.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

win every game

 

easy this

[Molby]

Phil by the time all this happens I think we may be out of it

 

And thats assuming no more injuries and that Mig continues to just cost us the odd goal rather than going back to his worst form

 

If we had 3 easy home games coming up then maybe

As for Man U it's not just that they've improved but that tactically, Mourinho is likely to think about how to nullify us first and foremost - but they can still score against us by exploiting our defensive weaknesses

 

if we just 'turn up' for that game I think we're f***ed

[Barnesy_10]

Phil by the time all this happens I think we may be out of it

 

And thats assuming no more injuries and that Mig continues to just cost us the odd goal rather than going back to his worst form

 

If we had 3 easy home games coming up then maybe

As for Man U it's not just that they've improved but that tactically, Mourinho is likely to think about how to nullify us first and foremost - but they can still score against us by exploiting our defensive weaknesses

 

if we just 'turn up' for that game I think we're f***ed

yeah I am not positive about that game, but the one thing that I am thinking is the fact that we are going to have to make so many changes might go in our favour in that Mourinho won't find us as predictable and might surprise him. 

I hope..... 

[Nate.]

We won't win the league. Never thought we would. Not yet.

 

I'd probably take 3rd right now.

[Cisse]

Id be over the moon if we could go from 8th to 4th. The key for us will be injuries. We're the best team in the league but don't have the squad of the other top 6. Add to that so far we've been very unlucky injury wise. It's actually a small miracle being 2nd.

Another full summer,hopefully with another of his own 3-5 players in and I think we are in a tier of our own next season together with City and Chavs.

[D.Boon]

Like the cut of Cisses jib here

[RP]

I read that Mane could be missing until mid-Feb

In the Daily Mail.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

We won't win the league. Never thought we would. Not yet.

 

I'd probably take 3rd right now.

 

Jesus Christ no.

[downunder]

If we lose to Man utd, we will probably drop a few places (could be down to 4th). max 8 points off top with almost half a season to go. We are not out of it by any means. 

 

on paper we have a favourable second half of the season, if we continue to drop points v lower teams then we don't deserve to be challenging.  

[Nerik]

Coutinho, Hendo and Matip will probably all be available for the Utd game. Never an easy game, but we've got nothing to fear. Ten days to focus for it. Two cup games in which we can manage our squad better in the mean time. 

[Nebraska Red]

Holy crap. We drop 2 points at Sunderland, lose one player for a month or so, and we are resigning ourselves to 3rd or 4th.

We have enough time before the United game to get Matip, Henderson and Coutinho back. We can go there and win.

We are a very good team and we are still very much in the hunt.

[cocknose]

 

 

United is going to be a very tough game though as they are really good now. 

Really good ???

[Ed the Wool]

We're still very much involved. Another quality attacker or midfielder though would give us a bit more off the bench. I do think we are more likely to suffer from knocks / tiredness than some of the others. 

 

Can you imagine what other teams would think if we dropped 75 m on Suarez? I'd like to think that we are looking at something mad like that if there's any possibility. But I don't think we are. 

[Conrad]

Holy crap. We drop 2 points at Sunderland, lose one player for a month or so, and we are resigning ourselves to 3rd or 4th.

We have enough time before the United game to get Matip, Henderson and Coutinho back. We can go there and win.

We are a very good team and we are still very much in the hunt.

No. One person seems to think 3rd is realistic

 

I think we can finish anywhere between 1st and 6th

 

If we want to finish 1st we need to bring in at least 1 player good enough to make a difference Our squad is the weakest of the Top 6.

[Tosh]

One game at a time

[Hassony]

One game at a time

Absolutely, just enjoy the ride, we have a very good team with a fantastic manager, let's just enjoy them and see what happens

 

Taking 3rd or even second at this stage is ridiculous

[mofus77]

How about we grow a fecking set and quit running round waving our hands in the air at the smallest sign of difficulty?

 

We're losing Mane for a while but will be getting Phil back, Matip will hopefully be back. There's no negative dip here, we had an excellent christmas period tarnished by a draw in a game we had won. 

 

We're closer to the top than we were.

[Jarg Armani]

Had it not been for Anthony Taylor we'd be even closer, but it's still a question worth asking as we look ragged and there are a lot of games in January.

[mofus77]

We've got a 6 day break now and then we are playing League 2 Plymouth, that should offer a chance to rest those who need a rest and bring in Phil / Matip / Joe Gomez to get some minutes. 

 

We should be in good shape for the cup games and Utd. 

[Jarg Armani]

We've got a 6 day break now and then we are playing League 2 Plymouth, that should offer a chance to rest those who need a rest and bring in Phil / Matip / Joe Gomez to get some minutes. 

 

We should be in good shape for the cup games and Utd. 

 

Talk specifics though. For example would you be up for playing the 2nd string for the 2 games v southampton, and likely getting knocked out?

[smithdown]

I'd play stewards against Plymouth and the kid against Southampton first legger