05 Oct 2017 10:13:23
Watford away
Everton away
Swansea home
How many points are needed from these 3 league games in October to continue the reputation rebuilding that the team has already made began doing since the Liverpool defeat?
Does it have to be 9 points even though none of these fixtures have been a walk in the park for us in recent years
Would 7 be a very good return from 2 away and 1 home game?
Would 5 be acceptable?
Obviously less than 5 would involve a defeat somewhere in these 3 difficult but far from unwinnable games and any defeat would burst a bubble of optimism that is only just began to surface.
I think 9 points is a big ask but if the team were to achieve it a, lot of people who have written them off totally might start to at least question if our 4th place credentials aren't worthy of another look.
05 Oct 2017 10:44:15
7 would be good. But as things stand I feel that our top 4 competition takes all 9 so that's what we should be happy with no less is 9 points.
05 Oct 2017 12:01:19
9 wouldn't take away the feeling the inevitable Arsenal meltdown won't come at some point during the season but it would be reason for renewed hope it might not.
The only thing that will irradiate what 13 consecutive seasons of falling apart has drummed into everyone but the most stubbornly optimistic fans is actually a true sustained run through out the season that sees every defeat that come met with renewed determination in the games that follow a defeat rather than a surrender that so often has lead to our season falling apart in very short space of time.
It's not impossible for us to go the rest of the season unbeaten but it is unrealistic to expect or even ask it but if suddenly we started responding to set backs with positive responses that saw us go 7 or 8 in-between league defeats it would certainly make everyone including myself have to reconsider my opinion of the teams mentality which has always been more of a problem that the players ability, our team is no where as far as many of us have lead ourselfs to think, it's the teams mentality that has caused us most problems.
9 points from these games would be excellent and even if it was followed by defeat at City in the next game as long as we responded really well against Spurs Burnley and Huddersfield with another 7 points + I'd be extremely happy and even, dare I say it impressed by the teams mentality. That would be nice a real cause for optimism.
05 Oct 2017 15:58:05
Obviously 9 points would be ideal but i think accepting that 7 is good as well. If we have any sort of ambition anything less is not good.
05 Oct 2017 16:26:12
Clearly with Man United and Man City dropping very few points we need to win all three matches as we are already 6 points behind the pair with only 7 matches played. In reality I can see us beating Swansea, but both Watford and Everton will be tricky matches and our away form in the league this season has been poor, with only 1 point out of 9 so far.
However, Everton are lacking confidence after a slow start to the season and Watford's home form hasn't been great with a 6-0 thumping by Man City and no home wins in the league to date.