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Serious relegation fears

Sacrilege question........................

If we beat Emirates Marketing Project then Arsenal at the beginning of March should we 'reconfigure' our aims. ie really put it all into a push for the title and lessen (even forfeit) our EL journey (being that at least CL next year is a certainty)???

Im not sure myself but i do think a pile-up of games is coming our way for the first time this season.
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
Sacrilege question........................

If we beat Emirates Marketing Project then Arsenal at the beginning of March should we 'reconfigure' our aims. ie really put it all into a push for the title and lessen (even forfeit) our EL journey (being that at least CL next year is a certainty)???

Im not sure myself but i do think a pile-up of games is coming our way for the first time this season.
Click to expand...

It's not the first time we face a potential fixture pile-up. Though I suppose some of the EL group stage games were "easier" and with it being a group stage we could perhaps more comfortably play a weakened side.

March-ish is where I think proper priorities like you talk about can potentially be made and I don't think doing so would be sacrilege. Been saying all along that anyone wanting this back in the first half of the season were way premature. If we're still in with a shout for the league title I would be ok with playing a somewhat weaker line-up in cup games (both EL and FA-cup). But I would also be happy to see a strong line-up if that's what Poch thinks is the best.
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
Sacrilege question........................

If we beat Emirates Marketing Project then Arsenal at the beginning of March should we 'reconfigure' our aims. ie really put it all into a push for the title and lessen (even forfeit) our EL journey (being that at least CL next year is a certainty)???

Im not sure myself but i do think a pile-up of games is coming our way for the first time this season.
Click to expand...

Boring answer but whatever we do it'll still be a game by game approach, with our squad we shouldn't have to drop out of competitions intentionally.
 
I still think we should go with the team we have been using all along in the Europa, we have a big enough squad to cope this round at least.
Same with the cup, we have two full teams basically so no reason why they shouldn't be sharp for the league. Players would prefer matches i'm sure, its all about
momentum rather than tiredness.
 
spurspinter1 said:
Boring answer but whatever we do it'll still be a game by game approach, with our squad we shouldn't have to drop out of competitions intentionally.
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I don't think anyone is talking about dropping out of competitions intentionally. But playing Mason/Bentaleb instead of Dembele, rotating the full backs and making 1, 2 or 3 changes in the front 4 with very good players coming in...

I don't think a game by game approach will do. We have to plan ahead a bit particularly for big games in the league. And part of a smart rotation strategy (imo) is rotating in a way that lets you pick players that suit the game and opponent expected in each game. That requires a bit of planning.

Spurmac1974 said:
I still think we should go with the team we have been using all along in the Europa, we have a big enough squad to cope this round at least.
Same with the cup, we have two full teams basically so no reason why they shouldn't be sharp for the league. Players would prefer matches i'm sure, its all about
momentum rather than tiredness.
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I'm not sure we've had a "team we have been using all along in the Europa"... Loris, Trippier, Alderweireld and Dier all have 6 starts. Lamela has 5. But 20 players have EL starts for us this season with only 3 of those (Dembele, Chadli and Onomah) having just the one start. Bentaleb only has a sub appearance, at least partly because of injury problems.
 
Yeah - I don't think we have weak players anymore. Vorm and Carroll are the two I have doubts over, but even they have been better of late.

I'd fancy any 11 we put out from our 23 against just about anyone out there (the big 3 - Barca, Real and Bayern - aside)
 
7percent said:
City next, could be absolutely massive if we beat them. We'd be 4 points ahead of them and could give us belief.

Arsenal v Leicester on Sunday too, think I want a draw, would give us the opportunity to gain 2 points on both of them

I think what I'm trying to say is one game at a time lads.
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I would rather Le Scum beat Leicester. That'll narrow the gap to the top and we have them at home in March, so we can leapfrog them then.
 
braineclipse said:
It's not the first time we face a potential fixture pile-up. Though I suppose some of the EL group stage games were "easier" and with it being a group stage we could perhaps more comfortably play a weakened side.

March-ish is where I think proper priorities like you talk about can potentially be made and I don't think doing so would be sacrilege. Been saying all along that anyone wanting this back in the first half of the season were way premature. If we're still in with a shout for the league title I would be ok with playing a somewhat weaker line-up in cup games (both EL and FA-cup). But I would also be happy to see a strong line-up if that's what Poch thinks is the best.
Click to expand...

I think i mentioned in another thread that we've had the 'benefit' of no league cup run, 1 easy draw in the fa cup and 1 game almost a dead rubber in the EL. Thats pretty relaxed compared to other years.

Obviously injuries and suspensions are an uknown factor at this stage but one plus is the squad are getting more interchangeable by the week. Everyone is up to speed with the system and the forward batch of players are all looking very capable of contributing.

The other factor in our favour is our style of play. We are consistently running at 65%/35% possession, all looking comfortable on the ball and largely playig in one half of the pitch. We are very controlled and very rarely get ourselves involved in thrillers or end to end shootouts. I would say the game on Saturday was complete dominance. Playing in this way is psychologically and physically much less draining, so keeping us fresher.

Possible downside is as the amount and importance of the games increase maybe a bit of gunk may start to clog our well oiled machine.
 
parklane1 said:
Ferguson has always said that the game that matters most is the next one, planning ahead is not just down to talking about upcoming games is it.
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This the same Ferguson that had his team actually drop out of the FA-cup because of fixture congestion when they were in the World Club Cup?

From my memory Ferguson would often change his team around during periods of fixture congestion. Not wholesale changes of course, but sensible rotation.
 
Fwiw...

Looking ahead to the end of March: both ManU and ourselves could be playing 11 matches (if we progress in the Europa League) whilst Arsenal plus City have 9 and Leicester have 6.

The PL fixtures on the second weekend of March will have to be rescheduled for whomever gets through to the sixth round of the FA Cup but I assume they will be played after the international break.

 
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I don't think it's a bad thing that ManU are on a similar set of fixtures as Spurs. They probably don't want the EL games - their fans surely don't - but fate has handed them Midgetland and they could win that with Kai Rooney in the 10 shirt. And they'll easily tame Shrewsbury, so they will have a very busy sked through most of March, which will test their roster depth, which is looking pretty shallow these days.
 
At least we won't be travelling far the week we play Arsenal.

If we beat Palace the Villa game will be postponed.
 
greatwhitenorf said:
I don't think it's a bad thing that ManU are on a similar set of fixtures as Spurs. They probably don't want the EL games - their fans surely don't - but fate has handed them Midgetland and they could win that with Kai Rooney in the 10 shirt. And they'll easily tame Shrewsbury, so they will have a very busy sked through most of March, which will test their roster depth, which is looking pretty shallow these days.
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How Shakespearian of you :)
 
Spurmac1974 said:
I still think we should go with the team we have been using all along in the Europa.
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We should play Ryan Fredericks and Zeki Fryers in a three with Antony Gardner, Jonathan Blondel left wing, Jamie O'Hara and Johnnie Jackson as a double pivot, Bunje in the hole and a Raziak / Booth duo up top... But who to play on the right? Maybe Phil Ifil can do a job for us
 
Bullet said:
We should play Ryan Fredericks and Zeki Fryers in a three with Antony Gardner, Jonathan Blondel left wing, Jamie O'Hara and Johnnie Jackson as a double pivot, Bunje in the hole and a Raziak / Booth duo up top... But who to play on the right? Maybe Phil Ifil can do a job for us
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Did either of Adam Smith or Charlie Daniels ever get a run out? Both playing in the PL for Bournemouth now.
 
Bullet said:
We should play Ryan Fredericks and Zeki Fryers in a three with Antony Gardner, Jonathan Blondel left wing, Jamie O'Hara and Johnnie Jackson as a double pivot, Bunje in the hole and a Raziak / Booth duo up top... But who to play on the right? Maybe Phil Ifil can do a job for us
Click to expand...
Pretty certain Poch would be able to get that lot firing too after a good preseason!
 
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