3 points of daylight from the chasers, is the champs league a poss?=

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Answers

I'll tell you after Jan 2nd.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Ask again end of January swifty.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

no...definitely not....don't ask stupid questions....wanna go double or quits on the bellamy bet with a chumps league placing one? ;)))

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

ok, us to finish bottom half?

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

I can't see it and, despite the financial rewards, I don't know that it would be a good thing: we don't have anywhere near the squad to compete in the CL. A UEFA place would do me.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

I tend to agree Dougal, but we would still get to play in the UEFA if we didn't progress in the Champions League. The whole premiership table is misleading at the moment, although there are early signs of teams breaking away at the top and bottom, and we are clinging on to the top group for dear life, in between there's only 5 points covering 12 teams...in fact just 3 points covering 9 teams.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

we are there because away from home we have done the business. if only we could have won the winable games, who knows?

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Don't agree with the importance of the Christmas period for us - we play Arse, Leeds, & Leeds again team that will probably finish above us, I don't think it's so important if we loose to them!!! The really important games are Midllesbrough & Chelsea! We have to win those two and perhaps the game against the Scum.

As I see it we have 7 league games between now and 13 Jan, we have to win 3 or 4 of these, we might move down the league a couple of places but we shouls pick them up again latter in the season as we play the teams in the bottom half of the league. Thake a look at the last 9 games of the season, the only really hard game is Villa away!!

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

..thinking back to the last couple of seasons when we've had 'really easy' runs at the end of the season. Where did we finish? Exactly.

Ask me on May 1. ;-))

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

12 pts from the next 18 will be brilliant. However, I reckon 9 or 10 is more realistic.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Yes exactly, I think we need to get 9 pts from the next 21, anything more would be a bonus.

With regard to the run in, for the last 4 seasons we have been a middle of the table team and performed like that, if we expect to be in the top 6 (top 4?) then we have to perform like that, ie beat the teams below us in the league!

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Arsene Wenger is quoted in today's RG, as saying that Chelsea and Newcastle could come into the Championship race. I much prefer it when we are underdogs. When we are overdogs, we always get beaten ;O)

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Well, we've already beaten ManU, Ken, so maybe things are looking up. ;-)

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Some cheery soul has just posted on the official site that by Christmas last season, we had 27 points. Now, I know there are a few games before Christmas but, bearing in mind that we can't expect points from Leeds and Arsenal, we really need to beat Blackburn to have actually improved on last year!

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2001

Wasn't Christmas a lot later last year???

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2001

We also got put out at the first attempt last year in the Worthington Cup, so we are doing better there as well.

Aside from that the fixture list is different, we played teams at times of form, bad form etc, comparing this stage last season with the present is not entirely useful.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2001

I'm knocking on wood as I type this (very old keyboard) but I don't think a CL place is an impossibility. There's lots of ifs, ands and buts, but IF we sign a decent central midfielder (De la Pena?), IF Robert gets over whatever injury is holding him back at the moment, and IF Dyer recovers properly over the next few weeks and IF Man United don't suddenly string together 10 straight wins then why not? We've currently got a 3 point cushion even if we lose the game in hand, which as far as I'm concerned leaves us right on target. I'm not convinced that the sides below us (Man United aside) are any better than us. Chelsea might at a push have a better squad, but Villa? Spurs? And there's no doubt that we'd be better off going into the CL rather than the Uefa cup, that's where the money is - tv, sponsorship plus if we get to the group stage 3 big home gates at least. Looking at 3- 4million just in gate money. I agree we might not currently have the squad to cope with the PL and CL, but if we qualify we could strengthen the squad next summer, plus a couple of our youngsters might be ready to step up by then. Then again, Bellamy & Robert might get injured, Dyer might never get fit, Speed & Lee might play the entire season for us and we might finish 12th again......

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2001

There are two big differences from last season IMHO. We have a settled defense. Okay, so there are still slip ups - but its not as silly as it was last year. We have a balanced attack. Okay, so sometimes Robert goes to sleep - but his presence does worry other teams and Bellamy is always a threat. That should give us an edge in some important games.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2001

We are definitely better than last season. The squad is stronger through the addition of O'Brien, Bellamy and Robert, plus the emergence of Ameobi and Bernard. In addition, we now have a fully fit Shearer and Dabizas.

In the run up to Xmas last season Dyer kept us going when all around him were retiring to the treatment room. If we can now get him fit, he will provide a significant boost as suspensions begin to bite, and key players get to the point where they need to be rested.

The addition on one class central m/f player could still make the difference between success and failure over the balance of the season - for instance, for tonight's game Robert, Bassedas and Acuna and possibly Dyer are unavailable due to injury. That leaves us with NO senior cover in midfield!

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2001

who'll bob buy then?

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2001

Haven't got a clue, swift, but if Gary Speed continues playing how he has been recently it won't seem as urgent anymore.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2001