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Wednesday 20 April - Other Games


SaintTex
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We weren't good enough away from home over the season to capitalise.

 

Watford, WBA, Palace, Norwich, Bournemouth, Arsenal, Leicester.

 

All away league games we failed to score in.

 

Got to be winning a few of those really if you want a European place.

 

Er... We did.

 

Man Utd, Chelsea, Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea. If we beat Villa that's 6 away wins in a season, which isn't too shabby.

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Er... We did.

 

Man Utd, Chelsea, Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea. If we beat Villa that's 6 away wins in a season, which isn't too shabby.

We are 13th in the away league table so obviously not good enough for a European place unless our home form was utterly brilliant. Below Bournemouth incidentally.

 

5th lowest away scorers and 3 of those teams are in the bottom 3. WBA the 4 lowest.

 

By contrast, 6th in the home table.

 

Away form is what cost a European place and not scoring against the likes of Watford, WBA, Norwich, Bournemouth, Palace etc who are in the bottom third of the home table is quite disappointing IMO.

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We are 13th in the away league table so obviously not good enough for a European place unless our home form was utterly brilliant. Below Bournemouth incidentally.

 

5th lowest away scorers and 3 of those teams are in the bottom 3. WBA the 4 lowest.

 

By contrast, 6th in the home table.

 

Away form is what cost a European place and not scoring against the likes of Watford, WBA, Norwich, Bournemouth, Palace etc who are in the bottom third of the home table is quite disappointing IMO.

 

It's not been great but 5 or 6 wins is reasonable enough. I think we've been weak at home against the better teams personally.

 

Take Saints out of the table and we've lost at home to 5 of the top 10 and only won twice. We've still got City to come but if we lost that then its W2 D2 L6. Need to be better at home when the big teams come to St Mary's.

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Wenger won't be sacked. He said today he will aee out his contract. Incidentally that coincides with Ronald seeing out his if they are actually are keen.

 

You're probably right. It's all "ifs" and "maybes" anyway.

Having said that, Arsenal haven't missed top four since the late nineties, have failed to capitalise on the likes of Chelsea, Man City and Man U being in transition and have the unedifying spectacle of Spurs sitting above them, with the possibility of them winning the league to add extra salt to wound. I think Wenger's position would be seriously questioned (whether he intends to see out his contract or not).

 

I think RK would be seriously tempted if approached. "If" :)

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So 8th it is then. No EL - which is probably just as well

 

Why is it "just as well"? So we have a better league campaign next season, so we can finish in a European spot next season? Well that is daft logic. I struggle to see why a Saints fan wouldn't want Saints to be in Europe.

 

I was also right about Man Utd and them being too far for us to catch :)

 

Where is MLG, by the way...

 

You appear to think I've said something I didn't.

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It's not been great but 5 or 6 wins is reasonable enough. I think we've been weak at home against the better teams personally.

 

Take Saints out of the table and we've lost at home to 5 of the top 10 and only won twice. We've still got City to come but if we lost that then its W2 D2 L6. Need to be better at home when the big teams come to St Mary's.

5 or 6 away wins being "reasonable enough" is dependent upon what you want to achieve. Bournemouth have 6 away wins and if you want to just stay up you are delighted with that. We have 5 and yet wanted a European place.

 

We have the 6th best home record.

 

If we also had the 6th best away record it would have got us a European place.

 

Our one biggest flaw is we don't score enough away from home when we dominate and the stats show that clearly with only relegation candidates and WBA scoring fewer away goals.

 

Games like West Ham and Everton spring to mind in addition to those we failed to score in against poor sides.

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5 or 6 away wins being "reasonable enough" is dependent upon what you want to achieve. Bournemouth have 6 away wins and if you want to just stay up you are delighted with that. We have 5 and yet wanted a European place.

 

We have the 6th best home record.

 

If we also had the 6th best away record it would have got us a European place.

 

Our one biggest flaw is we don't score enough away from home when we dominate and the stats show that clearly with only relegation candidates and WBA scoring fewer away goals.

 

Games like West Ham and Everton spring to mind in addition to those we failed to score in against poor sides.

 

So do Man Utd, they got 6 last year too and qualified for the CL. City only have 7.

 

Last season we got 23 points away from home and got into Europe. Right now we have 21 and will eclipse last year with a win at Villa.

 

3rd best away defence too.

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So do Man Utd, they got 6 last year too and qualified for the CL. City only have 7.

 

Last season we got 23 points away from home and got into Europe. Right now we have 21 and will eclipse last year with a win at Villa.

 

3rd best away defence too.

 

 

Our defence away is good but if we scored even the PL average number of goals away then we would be top 6 easily.

 

We have only scored more than one goal in TWO away league games (Stoke and Chelsea) FFS.

 

A team with the 3rd best away defensive record shouldn't have the 13th best overall away record!

 

Leicester have conceded the same no of away goals as us but have 11 wins away to our 5.

Edited by Saint Charlie
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Well, 8th is a good finish. We could have done better so the school report would say 'does not believe in his own abilities, needs more confidence and self belief'

 

So then, target for the summer is to avoid losing too many key players, keep Koeman, build on what we have.

Next season I'd love to see a cup run - past time we went for one seriously.

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We have conceded the same number of goals away from home as Leicester.

 

They have 11 away wins. We have 5.

 

They have scored 31 away goals, we have scored 14.

 

Our defence away is good but if we scored even the PL average number of goals away then we would be top 6 easily.

 

We have only scored more than one goal in TWO away league games (Stoke and Chelsea) FFS.

 

Why are you comparing us to Leicester? Yeah if you want to be 5 points clear at the top of the league you have to do better but we're competitive enough away from home.

 

If we set up to score a load more goals we wouldn't have the 3rd best defence.

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Well, 8th is a good finish. We could have done better so the school report would say 'does not believe in his own abilities, needs more confidence and self belief'

 

So then, target for the summer is to avoid losing too many key players, keep Koeman, build on what we have.

Next season I'd love to see a cup run - past time we went for one seriously.

 

We went for the cups seriously this year and last. Just bottled the big games against Sheff Utd and Liverpool.

 

You can't really go more seriously than he has team selection wise.

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Why are you comparing us to Leicester? Yeah if you want to be 5 points clear at the top of the league you have to do better but we're competitive enough away from home.

 

If we set up to score a load more goals we wouldn't have the 3rd best defence.

 

Comparing to Leicester because they have showed the value of being able to score away from home whilst still being solid and without superstars.

 

They gained 6 more wins than us despite conceding the same no of goals.

 

When you have the 3rd best away defence over a whole season you shouldn't have a negative away GD or end up in the bottom half of away points gathered.

 

That IMO is where we have lost a European finish and is the one key area to improve next year.

 

Pretty sure Pelle has only ever scored about 5 away league goals for us. Long possibly a couple more but both much more reliable at home.

 

Edit- Pelle has scored in 3 of our away league games so far this season. Long the same.

Edited by Saint Charlie
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Enlighten us then with your holier than thou attitude. Please, please, please, we are all waiting for your words of wisdom.

 

Are you asking him to repeat what he said on Page 1? Where he said that if Man U lost and Saints beat Villa there would only be 2 pts between us, and so the Man U v Palace result carries some significance to us?

 

Why not go back and read it for yourself? It's still there.

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Are you asking him to repeat what he said on Page 1? Where he said that if Man U lost and Saints beat Villa there would only be 2 pts between us, and so the Man U v Palace result carries some significance to us?

 

Why not go back and read it for yourself? It's still there.

 

He never gives an opinion, he only criticises other opinions. My opinion, before the games, was that Man Utd was too far ahead for us to catch.

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Well your opinion back then was wrong, because they weren't. But now, they are.

 

I never disputed the fact that, mathematically, they were catchable, I simply believed that, even before yesterday, we wouldn't be able to do it. Don't tell me my opinion was wrong because it wasn't.

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