Positive thread from me for a change - Looking up - europe?

When we’re good, we are very good.

When we‘re bad we are awful, especially away from home.

Inconsistent, but I’m not unhappy at all, just relieved that we are not going to be in a relegation battle.

Great to see players step up to the plate, Neto, Hwang, Lemina, Gomes, RAN etc. I don’t think we would have been any higher with Ruben, Mouts, Raul and the others, so full credit to our head coach, his backroom staff and the squad.

We have had to rebuild our midfield and strike force and it is working. Creating miles more chances and scoring more goals. Gomes and Lemina will run all day and Cunha, Neto (when fit) and Channy will score goals against anybody with their direct running, speed and understanding. We still concede too many stupid goals though, so there is still a bit of work to sort at the back out for GO and his backroom team.

Very happy to be mid table atm and happy if that’s where we finish. Build on it next season, hopefully, with FFP out of the way for a while.
 
300/1 for a top 6 finish . 6/1 top 10 finish . So top 8 would be around 80/1 ?
 
SingYourHeartsOut said:
I have few rules in life, but I'm sticking with 'never take an opinion on football seriously from a man who drinks gin'.

I was slightly worried about relegation after Saturday, grateful as I was for the points, I'm not planning a European tour based on a slightly fortunate win against a team that's struggling itself.
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Rum is okay though, right?
 
Scallywolf said:
When we’re good, we are very good.

When we‘re bad we are awful, especially away from home.

Inconsistent, but I’m not unhappy at all, just relieved that we are not going to be in a relegation battle.

Great to see players step up to the plate, Neto, Hwang, Lemina, Gomes, RAN etc. I don’t think we would have been any higher with Ruben, Mouts, Raul and the others, so full credit to our head coach, his backroom staff and the squad.

We have had to rebuild our midfield and strike force and it is working. Creating miles more chances and scoring more goals. Gomes and Lemina will run all day and Cunha, Neto (when fit) and Channy will score goals against anybody with their direct running, speed and understanding. We still concede too many stupid goals though, so there is still a bit of work to sort at the back out for GO and his backroom team.

Very happy to be mid table atm and happy if that’s where we finish. Build on it next season, hopefully, with FFP out of the way for a while.
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Our defence is our Achilles heal. We let in stupid goals which leaves us more work to do. All three of our central defenders have lapses or concentration during a game. We play it around too often at the back inviting teams to press us but we don’t have the skills to break out when they do. And the lack of speed in Dawson and Kilman and I guess also Santi means that we will never push the line too far forward- again inviting teams to play in our half.
With Mosquera back, maybe we will have more speed options in there IF we play him. I thought Sanderson, who is fast could have been developed too but it wasn’t to be.
If we could have more clean sheets we would be in a much better place.
 
As proven year after the year, the most accurate determiner of the season is @marrs-guitar 's comparative results thread, as it averages out blips of form. The latest predictive table has us finishing 15th, nowhere near Europe, and I'd say that's about right - even a significant uptick in overall form and quality might only be enough to see us in and around 11th at best come May.

For perspective, the points spread for 7th place over the last few seasons has been between 54 and 62, with the average at around 58/59, and the points needed tend to be higher in those years where the top couple of clubs aren't running away with it (this is one of those years). With 20 games to go, we'd likely need around 36 points minimum from those 20 for 7th, which is 1.8ppg over half a season. We're currently at 1.2ppg. 1.8 is Man City/Liverpool/Arsenal levels (and Villa and Spurs, but they're playing out of their skins at a level that is highly unlikely to be sustainable - we'll see).

It's not impossible, but like others, I'd bite your hand off for 11th after 38 games right now.
 
We played really poorly for weeks then chelsea let us off the hook with awful shooting.

We generally battle well and can score more goals than before.

Adds up to a very inconsistent mid/lower table team for now, pending transfers/fitness/injuries.
 
Eastern Wolf said:
Our defence is our Achilles heal. We let in stupid goals which leaves us more work to do. All three of our central defenders have lapses or concentration during a game. We play it around too often at the back inviting teams to press us but we don’t have the skills to break out when they do. And the lack of speed in Dawson and Kilman and I guess also Santi means that we will never push the line too far forward- again inviting teams to play in our half.
With Mosquera back, maybe we will have more speed options in there IF we play him. I thought Sanderson, who is fast could have been developed too but it wasn’t to be.
If we could have more clean sheets we would be in a much better place.
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I'd forgotten about Mosquera. Is he back for the rest of the season or likely to go out on loan in January?
 
SA Wolf said:
Not a cat in hell's chance are we making Europe, for all the reasons already stated, not even the twopenny-halfpenny comps that are now included. As for 'the VAR points', they aren't points, just possible points if VAR hadn't treated us so shabbily. There is no guarantee that we'd have scored the pen at OT and without the pens against us in the other games, they may have panned-out differently or the opposition may have done something else. We'll never know, but to start counting points that we didn't win! In any case, all clubs in the Prem can say similar!
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Thank you for helping to nullify the enthusiasm some of the other contributors were showing. I could sense such positivity was out of place.
 
Don't spend any money this January ( I know mad) keep all players unless we are selling (Strikers) and if e do replace like for like.

Save the money for Summer and have a mini clear out.
 
Bradstonian said:
Thank you for helping to nullify the enthusiasm some of the other contributors were showing. I could sense such positivity was out of place.
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:tearsofjoy: You really don't get the concept of expressing an opinion, do you?
 
If Europe is the conference league we ain't that far off really. Personally want us to finish top half. Think we've performed well enough over the so far this season to be top half.
 
If O'Neill got us into Europe with the current squad, bearing in mind the lack of pre season preparation time he had, he would surely be a candidate for manager of the season, and probably off to Manchester United.
 
Top half would represent a decent season. A nice cup run as well would be a bonus.
 
Everyone says not a chance for Europe, but remember The FA Cup gives us that extra avenue.

Next 4 League games in Brentford (A), Everton (H), Brighton (A) and Man Utd (H) are all winnable too.

Would be happy somewhere between 11th-14th and Top 10 would be a great return.
 
Monk said:
Full of Xmas spirit (Bombay Sapphire) only 7 points off a European place - but for VAR we'd be in contention - can we do it.

Happy Christmas one and all
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Keep on drinking the gin I say. ;)
Far too inconsistent at the moment but stranger things have happened I guess.

Festive good wishes to you too.
 
Dan G WWFC said:
I don’t think we’ve played well
Enough to be in contention.

I think we look like a distinctly average premier side that’s wildly inconsistent.

A good winter window and anything can happen
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There will be an average PL team in Europe next season, just as there is every season.

The difference being the moderate consistency they'd managed to achieve, that's all.
 
Monk said:
Full of Xmas spirit (Bombay Sapphire) only 7 points off a European place - but for VAR we'd be in contention - can we do it.

Happy Christmas one and all
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But Merry Christmas to you too
 
Away form is nowhere near good enough, even if we maintain our home form, best we can probably hope for this season is 11th.

We're lacking in quality in some areas unfortunately and our squad depth is zero in some positions. I've been critical of GON at times but he's probably achieving about right in terms of league position with the players at his disposal.
 
BBC Sport: “If they continue in this vein, it would not be unreasonable for O’Neil and his team to target a European spot.”

Nice words to see at the end of the Beeb’s match report.
 
Perton Wolf said:
Away form is nowhere near good enough, even if we maintain our home form, best we can probably hope for this season is 11th.

We're lacking in quality in some areas unfortunately and our squad depth is zero in some positions. I've been critical of GON at times but he's probably achieving about right in terms of league position with the players at his disposal.
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Not just 'about right' in my opinion, with this squad - we're overacheiving at the moment. We should arguably be 7th bar VAR balls ups, and definitely a place or two higher.
 
I got a bottle of bombay sapphire for Christmas but we ain't finishing any higher than 9th, and that will be a stretch.

Mind you I haven't opened it yet.
 
We lack the consistency, the depth and the defensive organisation to get enough results required to topple the likes of West Ham, Manchester United, Newcastle and Brighton. You have to be a pretty special team to finish in Europe at the best of times, let alone when you start the season poorly. A top half finish is the most realistic aspiration for where we are, and would be a very good achievement given where we were as a club this Summer.
 
Jefe said:
We lack the consistency, the depth and the defensive organisation to get enough results required to topple the likes of West Ham, Manchester United, Newcastle and Brighton. You have to be a pretty special team to finish in Europe at the best of times, let alone when you start the season poorly. A top half finish is the most realistic aspiration for where we are, and would be a very good achievement given where we were as a club this Summer.
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I totally agree. Even 10 or better will be a challenge.
 
Jefe said:
We lack the consistency, the depth and the defensive organisation to get enough results required to topple the likes of West Ham, Manchester United, Newcastle and Brighton. You have to be a pretty special team to finish in Europe at the best of times, let alone when you start the season poorly. A top half finish is the most realistic aspiration for where we are, and would be a very good achievement given where we were as a club this Summer.
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Fair. ‘Dreaming is for free’, but gotta say, pretty unlikely.
10th would be an excellent job by all concerned, all things considered.
 
Until we get a quality centre foward in we can forget about rising above 11th imv. We also need more depth in the squad generally. Another winger, a mature midfield player to cover for Lemina and another powerful CB would help get us up the table. We also have to keep Neto, Cunha and Ait-Nouri for this season and next.
 
With 9 points in 6 days, some marvellous free flowing football and 8 unbeaten at Molineux since September: whose to say Europe isn’t possible?

2024 could be something quite good.
 
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