[antdevil78]

If at the start of the season, you were offered 21 pts from 10 games including chelsea and liverpool away and being 5pts behind with a game against fulham in hand, would you have taken it???? How should we be reflecting on the first 10 games of the season???

 

[Jazz 16]

Id have taken that I think (although its easier to say that with hindsight)
We are in a strong position now and we have players coming back from injury
and/or getting fit. The goals seem to be flowing again and the forward players
are starting to link up/play well. Its going to be a long hard season but we will
be there and there abouts when they are handing out the trophies come May.

I still think Chelsea are our biggest threat. Pool and Arse will fight it out for 3rd
with Villa a close 5th I think. This week is important. If we can avoid loss at Celtic
we will be more or less through to the next round of the CL and then Arse on
saturday. If we can win that, then we have played all the tough away games.

Im happy enough. Its going to be an exciting season.

 

[piazza]

First off, where the hell does the time go?

But in all honesty, I would have begrudgingly took the position were in now. Given the amounts of injuries we've had, coupled together with some of the comebacks by Liverpool and Chelsea's dominance over everyone except us and the Scousers, 5 points back with a game in hand against Fulhamerica isn't necessarily a bad place to be. Chelsea is starting to scare me, just look how many players they have missing and they're still sodomizing teams. Granted, the teams on the receiving end are weaker teams, but at the same time we all must realize that they lost fewer games then we did last year, but what handed us the title was the habit of drawing weaker teams, i.e. Bolton, Fulham and Wigan. It appears as if they've (at least so far) conquered that particular habit.

I think we find ourselves in a challenging position to say the least, but immortal runs of form don't last forever, just ask Liverpool.

 

[antdevil78]

interesting stats

Previous Premier League winning seasons after 10 games

92/93 - 18pts FINAL TOTAL 84
93/94 - 20pts FINAL TOTAL 92
95/96 - 23pts FINAL TOTAL 82
96/97 - 22pts FINAL TOTAL 75
98/99 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL 79
99/00 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL 91
00/01 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL 80
02/03 - 18pts FINAL TOTAL 83
06/07 - 25pts FINAL TOTAL 89
07/08 - 23pts FINAL TOTAL 87
08/09 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL ??

This means in an average season we get 25% of our points from first 10 games. so going on that basis we will finish on 83pts this season, good enough to win 5 of the 10 titles we have won.

 

[Fergaiste]

I think it has been a moderate start and I don't believe we are anywhere near our best yet. The arsenal game next will be a crucial barometer of how ready we are to challenge for another title.

Going by the stats we are on course for 83-84 points which will not be good enough to overhaul chelsea. The renties like piazza above really a worry for me as they seem formidable especially away from home. Hopefully more teams like liverpool can show no fear of them as it seems a lot of teams are beaten befoe the first whistle when playing them like Sunderland yesterday.

 

[sweet fa]

well to be in the hunt for the premiership you must average at least 2 pts a game which we have but we could and should be about 5 pts better .on the plus side we have got some difficult away games out of the way and should close the gap on the leaders but we must perform for the full 90 minutes to do so .berbatov has started to perform better and is creating a lot of opportunities for team mates , rooney has been on fire and ronaldo is finding his form but the midfield and defence need to tighten up considerable for us to hold onto our title . BUT WE WILL IMPROVE.

 

[Keano!]

Had I been told that...yes, I would have taken it. Although the performances as a
whole have been just short of disgracefuk at times in all honesty. We have to
realise that the game is 90 minutes long, not 45.

Its annoying though, because a point at Liverpool...3 at Everton, 3 at Chelsea ALL
slipped away from us when they were all seemingly wrapped up at one stage!

Lets be honest...we're lucky that Liverpool and Chelsea slipped u p recently
otherwise we could be trailing by a good amount. Thankfully though we're still right there.


I've been harping on at this now for ages, but this stupid ******* WCC "Money-
making" event better not ruin our season!

interesting stats

Previous Premier League winning seasons after 10 games

92/93 - 18pts FINAL TOTAL 84
93/94 - 20pts FINAL TOTAL 92
95/96 - 23pts FINAL TOTAL 82
96/97 - 22pts FINAL TOTAL 75
98/99 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL 79
99/00 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL 91
00/01 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL 80
02/03 - 18pts FINAL TOTAL 83
06/07 - 25pts FINAL TOTAL 89
07/08 - 23pts FINAL TOTAL 87
08/09 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL ??

This means in an average season we get 25% of our points from first 10 games. so going on that basis we will finish on 83pts this season, good enough to win 5 of the 10 titles we have won.

Surethe Scousers and Chelsea have MORE then 21 points...so its not as if we're in a better position...

 

[RedForceRising]

Hmm....

To answer the question from the first post, I don't think I would have been too happy to accept this scenario at the start of the season.

Even with the injuries, suspension of Nani late arrival of Anderson and signing of berba.

Before the start of the season, Fergie was mentioning how important it was to start the season well, because Chelsea had upped the game ..... and then we draw Newcastle at home, playing a poor game.

So No i wouldn't have taken that scenario, but there are still a lot of games to go and we're not in a bad position.

In fact being slightly behind the leaders means we're doing the hunting and the leaders have to keep on winning. That's more pressure and if you look at last season we weren't topping the table for most parts of the season.

I'm envious that Chelsea can brush Boro aside 5-0 with a depleated squad and we drew Everton with an almost full strength squad.

 

[manc in oz]

I think we have made a good start. Especially when you take into account we nearly always have a very good second half to the season.

 

[SriLawi Red Devil]

interesting stats

Previous Premier League winning seasons after 10 games

92/93 - 18pts FINAL TOTAL 84
93/94 - 20pts FINAL TOTAL 92
95/96 - 23pts FINAL TOTAL 82
96/97 - 22pts FINAL TOTAL 75
98/99 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL 79
99/00 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL 91
00/01 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL 80
02/03 - 18pts FINAL TOTAL 83
06/07 - 25pts FINAL TOTAL 89
07/08 - 23pts FINAL TOTAL 87
08/09 - 21pts FINAL TOTAL ??

This means in an average season we get 25% of our points from first 10 games. so going on that basis we will finish on 83pts this season, good enough to win 5 of the 10 titles we have won.

excellent stats!

 

[SriLawi Red Devil]

when you put it like that antdevil, then I might say I'd be happy with our start...but losing to Liverpool (despite their great start) was a terrible game on our part, and we've dropped points where we shouldn't have!

Basically, pleased with where we are right now, but we could be doing so much better!

 

[reddevils18]

I am pretty much satisfied with our result till now ...could have done better bt not more than 3 points here and there..maybe the everton game...

bt as records show...we r on course to another glory season..

our team has strength to do tht....

 

[reddwarf]

I think we've had a decent start to the season. We've got some really tough games out of the way and still found ourselves in the top 4. It must be a worrying sight, particularly for the Scousers, to see us breathing down their neck.

It's vital that we beat Arsenal next week though because the past couple of seasons have shown how important it can be to get results against the other teams in the big 4. Having only picked up 1 point out of a possible 6 so far we can't really afford to keep dropping points against them.

 

[stretty]

Its not been a great start but the momentum is building week by week .
Some our performances have been really poor namely liverpool and everton in the second half and that was disappointing .
Other than that i suppose we have to be satisfied we have had our injury crisis and come through it reasonably well , things should start getting better

 

[United_OG]

I said it in the everton threat near the beggining that i think the everton match would be important if we win because it would have given us less pressure to cope with come the arsenal game.

Anyway i think we're in a good position but things will be abit more clear after the arsenal game which is crucial now imo.

IF we win that game, i think we continue the season with immense confidence but its such an important game for arsenal too, it could be a very tense and tough encounter.

Am i pleased with the start? I think it could be described as satisfactory/good because we're right in the hunt but with such emphasis already on the arsenal game, things could improve alot of our situation could dampen so early in the season.

I still think we're the best team in england, but being something and doing something are totally different things.

pz!

 

[Fiat Cunto]

i think its been a good enough start but just annoys me that we havent pushed on to kill games off when in control and havent been ruthless like chelsea have this season! examples hull,everton,liverpool and chelsea all in good postions and were caught in all expet the hull game wherei think if it had been another 10 minuteds to play they coulda sneaked a draw butif we sort it outthen i think we have a good chance of wining both the league and at least another trophey!

 

[Red Devil]

Slow, frustrating start, not out of character but annoying nevertheless. I keep reminding myself of the crap start we had last season and the subsequent finish, and praying it happens again.

 

[RedForceRising]

I said it in the everton threat near the beggining that i think the everton match would be important if we win because it would have given us less pressure to cope with come the arsenal game.

Anyway i think we're in a good position but things will be abit more clear after the arsenal game which is crucial now imo.

IF we win that game, i think we continue the season with immense confidence but its such an important game for arsenal too, it could be a very tense and tough encounter.


I still think we're the best team in england, but being something and doing something are totally different things.

pz!

The Arsenal game is very important, but I just want to stress that if we don't get a win there, it won't be the end of the season.

We are the ebst team in England and I was just saying in the office today that when Man Utd are on form we can beat any team in Europe and I mean that. When Berba, Rooney and Ronaldo hit fifth gear and the teams stops leaking goals,I do not see Chelsea, Licerpool, Barca or Inte beating us, BUT I feel Chelsea has the strongest squad in England and Europe - meaning over the course of a season they might edge it out in the league, but in a tournament competition I fancy our best 11 to beat their best 11.

 

[stretty]

If we beat celtic and arsenal away our season will well and truly be back on the rails, its a big ask but i think it is more than possible.
the unfortunate thing is the gooners have been taking some stick so i expect them to be well fired up