All This 'Making Up the Points Gap to Chelsea' B*llocks

[Leo No.8]

I think I've just about had it with hearing people talk about points gaps, how many players we still need to 'make up the points gap from last season etc. McManaman being the latest one to make that stupid f*cking point. He then said 'Chelsea will be the team to beat this season' confidently, to which the reporter said 'why is that then when United won the league comfortably last season?', which made a complete c*nt of him because he couldn't answer it.

 

What people need to realise is that this wonderful, at times baffling game of ours doesn't just work like that, football doesn't follow rules like maths. 'Chelsea were 20 points ahead so Liverpool + Torres - Bellamy + Babel - Garcia = only 7 points behind, so if only we bought a Quaresma we'd be level'. It's not as simple as that - summer signings aren't the only reason a team improves season on season, even if they can obviously be a major influence.

 

The season before last United were miles behind Chelsea, bought one player for the first team and were easily the best team in the league the following season. Like Pako said in his recent interview, they were building their team in the years before that, which I feel we have been too. But there are so many different factors which can swing things one way or another. Chelsea suffered more injuries than United for example.

 

Now we've signed a few players this summer upon all of whom we've all got an opinion; but let's say the rest don't do much and just Torres settles. He becomes that Thierry Henry like forward who flies down the channels, beats defenders and takes defences apart. Even just that one player settling and giving us the something special up front might be enough to change everything and make us a title team, enough to balance out all the many qualities we have elsewhere in the side and make it all click.

 

I get the impression a lot of people still aren't happy with our summer dealings, but what everyone needs to understand is it won't just be the new players that dictate whether we challenge next season.

 

It could be the form of our key players who have been rested from international tournaments, the improvement in the likes of Pennant, the imperious influence from day one of the season of Mascherano, or the versatitity of Arbeloa. It could be in Kuyt playing further forward and becoming prolific as he was in Holland, Pepe cutting out his early season mistakes or in Rafa's learning process in understanding that over-rotation in the early games can kill your whole season. It could be in something as fortunate as the fixture list which was so unkind last season, and the confidence we gain if we can get a flyer.

 

What I'm trying to say is that I just don't think we were that far away last season. You can't just look at a points gap and say that's how much we have to make up; by Christmas we had other priorities and the league was gone. That was last season, this season we all start on 0 points again with no gap to make up and what both new and established players do will dictate if we can challenge.

 

We absolutely have the players to challenge for the title this tiem around and I feel more confident than I have at the start of any season in recent times that this time we will at least take it into the latter stages of the season.

Edited July 31, 2007 by Leo No.8

[Knox_Harrington]

We absolutely have the players to challenge for the title this tiem around and I feel more confident than I have at the start of any season in recent times that this time we will at least take it into the latter stages of the season.

Until we see the first few games and see if the manager's prepared to change it then I don't feel as confident as I did before last season kicked off.

[Rimbeux]

Quite right. One of my big sore points is this points gap nonsense, made out to be such that you'd believe they begin every season with a head start or the chajsing sides with a deficit.

 

Forget the 'gap'. More relevent perhaps to look at who can get over 85 points, because they will be the ones who contest. Yes talk of the probability of a side getting enough points to perhaps win it, but gaps are nonsense, the latest cliche

[Guz]

I dont know if we're going to challenge for the league or not but I am sure we will be alot closer and agree with your general point.

 

After our treble in 2001 we signed Dudek, Kirkland and Riise so 2 players that went straight into the first team. United who had just won the league signed van Nistelrooy, Veron, Forlan, Blanc and Roy Carrol yet we finished above them. Now, I'm not saying the same is going to happen again whatsoever but making a point about how hard it is to predict how a season will pan out.

[Maldini]

Get a good start and see what happens after that. We finished 1 point behind United 2 years ago and 21 last season, every season is different.

[dorgie]

Get a good start ........

 

A good start + better results in the games against ManU & Chelsea are key. We must beat each of them at least once.

[RedNik]

Te gap argument also assumes entirely that the other teams will maintain their level from the previous season - not necessarily a given at all.

[_00_deathscar]

Or altneratively, it could just be Gerrard having the season of his life, which propels us to the title.

 

*For Gerrard, read Ronaldo - for us, read Man Utd.

[Gomez]

My issue with points gap is that we threw away 8 of the last 9 points because we were in the CL final and had other priorities.

20 points sounds like we are years behind, 12 points is not such a big deal.

[Bo Benn]

Consistency will do it for me. Last time we played virtually the same game-style every match was in 01-02 when we weren't too far from pulling it off. Then we relied a lot on our strong defense. Now hopefully we can shift the play further up field and blast all teams with our attacking play. At one point last season when we got out of our bad start I thought we played glimmering football. A sort of turbo version of the old pass n' move. We had the opposition chasing us further and further back with our defenders suddenly joining in and completely overloading their defensive set-up. Loved to see that. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

[Gomez]

Or altneratively, it could just be Gerrard having the season of his life, which propels us to the title.

 

*For Gerrard, read Ronaldo - for us, read Man Utd.

 

Weren't you paying attention? It was Carrick wot won it bcoz ferguson is a gr8t managa init?

[Cobs]

89, 91, 95 & 90 are the last 4 totals of the Premier League Champions

 

our last 4 corresponding totals have been 68, 82, 58 & 60

 

 

dress it up anyway you like but we have some serious improving to do if we want to be Champions.

[Maldini]

not really, we threw away a hell of a lot of points last season, even in the 82 points season we threw away a s***load of points. As Pako said the other day, the biggest thing stopping us from winning the league is our mindset.

[Guest Kaizer]

We will need to score more goals its that easy.

 

If we can score around 70 goals, we will probably need around 75 to win the league, then we will put in a real challenge and anything more than that cant be asked for.

 

We have so far scored 52, 57 and 57 league goals under Rafa, so the question is really simple, have we got the players in that can close this gap?

 

Forget the points gap, if we can close this gap we will be up there challenging.

 

I know I have put this up before, but it gives a good indication on things.

 

Goals scored from the Champions, second place and us since the PL started:

2006/07: 1- 83 goals, 2- 64 goals, Liverpool- 57 goals.

2005/06: 1- 72 goals, 2- 72 goals, Liverpool- 57 goals.

2004/05: 1- 72 goals, 2- 87 goals, Liverpool- 52 goals.

2003/04: 1- 73 goals, 2- 67 goals, Liverpool- 55 goals.

2002/03: 1- 74 goals, 2- 85 goals , Liverpool- 61 goals.

2001/02: 1- 79 goals, 2- 67 goals.

2000/01: 1- 79 goals, 2- 63 goals, Liverpool- 71 goals.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

1999/00: 1- 97 goals, 2- 73 goals, Liverpool- 51 goals

1998/99: 1- 80 goals, 2- 59 goals, Liverpool- 68 goals

1997/98: 1- 68 goals, 2- 73 goals, Liverpool- 68 goals

1996/97: 1- 76 goals, 2- 73 goals, Liverpool- 62 goals

1995/96: 1- 73 goals, 2- 66 goals, Liverpool- 70 goals

1994/95: 1- 80 goals, 2- 77 goals, Liverpool- 65 goals

1993/94: 1- 80 goals, 2- 63 goals, Liverpool- 59 goals

1992/93: 1- 67 goals, 2- 57 goals, Liverpool- 62 goals.

 

As we see, only twice in the last 15 seasons has the Champions scored less than 70 goals and then they scored 67 and 68 goals.

 

To reach the 70 goals scored mark is what we need to aim for.

Edited July 31, 2007 by Kaizer

[psl]

89, 91, 95 & 90 are the last 4 totals of the Premier League Champions

 

our last 4 corresponding totals have been 68, 82, 58 & 60

dress it up anyway you like but we have some serious improving to do if we want to be Champions.

 

And the award for most depressing post of the year goes to...

[Knox_Harrington]

As Pako said the other day, the biggest thing stopping us from winning the league is our mindset.

So we have some significant improving to be doing in terms of mindset. And it starts from Rafa and Pako.

[Mike]

My issue with points gap is that we threw away 8 of the last 9 points because we were in the CL final and had other priorities.

20 points sounds like we are years behind, 12 points is not such a big deal.

 

100% correct

[Bootle Buck]

I believe the way Rafa has the team play this year is far more important than the new signings we have. We have proven on any given day we can beat anyone under Rafa's leadership. However, there are two things that need to happen in order for us to challenge:

 

1. We have to be able to kill off lesser teams, regradless of wether they try to play 10 men behind the ball. We have to have more cutting edge and clinical finishing in front of goal.

 

2. We have to be able to go to Old Toilet, Stamford Bridge and Highbury and get a result. Every season we seem to come away from their places with nothing. That's leaving 9 points on the table without a real fight every season.

 

If Rafa can get us playing with confidence and creativity we will be up there. He has proven over the years he can build a team that is hard to beat and very stingy defensively. Hopefully the likes of Kewell, Pennant, Babbel and Benayoun can add some width and creativity while Torres, Kuyt, Crouch and Voronin can stick the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis.

Edited July 31, 2007 by Bootle Buck

[kop205]

not really, we threw away a hell of a lot of points last season, even in the 82 points season we threw away a s***load of points. As Pako said the other day, the biggest thing stopping us from winning the league is our mindset.

 

Which is quite a big thing though, isn't it? It remains to be seen if we've developed the correct mindset.

 

Of course we've thrown points away because it is precisely NOT doing that and grinding out wins when you don't deserve them that goes a long way to making Champions (Utd at Anfield last season for instance). Arsenal, Chelsea, even the likes of Spurs would say the same about last year.

 

I do kind of agree with the initial post, but history has shown that gaps as large as that are rarely bridged in one season (at least I can't recall it happening too often). Even Pako said this - that the project at Valencia was over a number of years, first closing the gap and then opening one up yourselves.

 

Of course, the fact that Utd went from only 1 point ahead of us in 2006 to 20 points ahead of us last year shows that big fluctuations can happen and I'm sure that privately this is being pointed out to the players (at last I hope it is). I for one don't mind a more cautious tone when people are speaking publicly, provided that there is a quiet confidence behind it.

[Cobs]

not really, we threw away a hell of a lot of points last season, even in the 82 points season we threw away a s***load of points. As Pako said the other day, the biggest thing stopping us from winning the league is our mindset.

 

 

Excellent

 

 

just stop throwing the points away boys and the Title is all ours

 

 

the mindset comes from the manager, his cautious, tactical approach is perfect for Europe, not the the Premier League - he needs to change it.

[Gilps]

My issue with points gap is that we threw away 8 of the last 9 points because we were in the CL final and had other priorities.

20 points sounds like we are years behind, 12 points is not such a big deal.

 

Is a fair point, but our away form thoughout the season suggested that even if we hadn't been saving ourselves for Athens, victories at Portsmouth and Fulham wouldn't exactly have been guaranteed.

[Cobs]

And the award for most depressing post of the year goes to...

 

IT'S ON !!!!!!!!

 

 

 

how's that?

[Cobs]

So we have some significant improving to be doing in terms of mindset. And it starts from Rafa and Pako.

totally

[psl]

IT'S ON !!!!!!!!

how's that?

 

Wasn't having a go, just was acutely depressing to see it spelled out quite so bluntly!

[Guest Kaizer]

the mindset comes from the manager, his cautious, tactical approach is perfect for Europe, not the the Premier League - he needs to change it.

 

Agree completely, when Pako said it was our mindset that was our biggest hindrance to be challenging, the first thing that hit me was that, the mindset`s thats really wrong is among our staff.

Its the manger that sends out a team consisting of only two or three players likely to score, maybe they should take a look at that first.