Football 2011-2012

[Dirk Gently]

12. Fulham - A little below where I expected, 12th...
20. Swansea - Not many goals scored, but conceding few as well. Doing very well at this juncture. 12th

Well it would appear that you are spot on with Fulham, are these joint 12th?

[Paul Clement]

Sorry, that should be Fulham 14th

[Larry]

With just over half the season gone, I thought I'd look at how my predictions were shaping up, so:

1. Man Utd - Well, they are very much in the title race, currently in 2nd
2. Man City - Again in the title race, and in 1st
3. Chelsea - Still pushing for Champions League football but outside the titel race 4th
4. Liverpool - Another team pushing for CL spots but currently 6th
5. Arsenal - A poor start hampered them but building up strongly. 5th (spot on)
6. Tottenham - The have achieved far more than I could have wished for. 3 points behind the leaders and level with Man Utd, 3rd
7. Sunderland - Struggled under Bruce, but improving under O'Neill. 10th
8. Everton - A real odd old season for Moyes' team. 11th
9. Aston Villa - Not enough goals have been the problem. 13th
10. Stoke - Doing better than I anticipated after a early season wobble, 8th
11. Bolton - Boy, I got this one wrong so far. Relegation candidates 18th
12. Fulham - A little below where I expected, 12th.
13. Newcastle - The surprise of the season and still in the fight for CL football. 7th
14. Wolves - Just above the drop zone, a little worse than I expected. 16th
15. Blackburn - Despite some surprise wins against Man Utd, they're bottom of the pile. 18th
16. West Brom - An unsurprising 15th at this midway stage.
17. Norwich - Exceeding my expectations hugely, and very hard to beat. 9th
18. Wigan - As anticipated, they're in the drop zone. 19th
19. QPR - They've bought players but their form has lost Warnock his job. 17th
20. Swansea - Not many goals scored, but conceding few as well. Doing very well at this juncture. 12th

League Cup - Sunderland - Man City, Liverpool, Cardiff and Crystal Palace in are the clubs in the semi's
FA Cup - Man City - There chances of retaining their trophy went after their defeat to Man Utd in the third round.

been very surprised at how well Spurs have done so far and I think it's great to see some one outside of the big 4 (now 5 if you include Man City)) making a serious title challange. Of the two Manchester clubs I think it will probably be Ferggie, who will be privately keeping a worried look over his shoulder at Spurs. One things for sure if Spurs keep on the way they are going and with Manchester City almost guaranteed a Champions League spot Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are going to be very worried as this seasoncould see 2 of the traditional big 4 failing to quallify for next seasons champions league.

Of the promoted teams Norwich have looked by far the best they are playing some nice football and from the few games I've seen of them they don't look like a team who are going to struggle.

QPR, have been simply awful you only have to look at their game against Chelsea where they hardly had a shot on goal despite Chelsea being down to 9 men for most ofd the 2nd half to see how poor they are. OK Mark Hughes, might boost things up a bit and buy new players but unless they start winning at home the are going down.

Swansea, I thought would really struggle their lack of goals is certainly a concern and you just fear for them if they start to go on a loosing run as I have my doubts if they are mentaly tough enough for a relegation scrap.

Of teams fighting relegation I think Bolton, will pull out of it . Wigan, look dead in the water and Blackburn will only stay up if they gewt rid of Steve Keane. Wolves as usual are just keeping their heads above water and will be involved right untill the end and I think they will again sneek it,

so my 3 to down are any 3 from Wigan,Blackburn,Wolves,Swansea and QPR.

[duncan]

9pts clear now and some great results in the bag over the last two weeks.

[Larry]

9pts clear now and some great results in the bag over the last two weeks.

and including G.D you're 11 clear of Sheff Utd in 3rd and 22pts clear of 7th place it dose look right now you're going to run away with the title.

[Dirk Gently]

Well done Man U.

[duncan]

and including G.D you're 11 clear of Sheff Utd in 3rd and 22pts clear of 7th place it dose look right now you're going to run away with the title.

Shhhhh.

I'm a Charlton fan. We never think of things like that as it all normally starts to unravel for us around March!

[duncan]

Back to winning ways today with a good 2-0 over Stevenage. Sheff Utd play Sheff Wed on Sunday and a draw there will be good for us.

[Larry]

Back to winning ways today .

and typicaly after a fantastic 4-1 win at Blackpool in midweek West Ham follow it up with a very poor and boring performance with a 0-0 draw at home against Crystal Palace. It's getting really frustrating because with both Reading and Southampton all on good winning runs we're seemingly incapable of putting together any kind of winning run that we so despratly need at this point in the season.

[duncan]

Been there and experienced that with Charlton many times Larry!

And to cap it all off, Wednesday beat Utd today so Charlton stay 10 pts in front of Utd and 12 in front of Wednesday with a game in hand.

[Paul Clement]

Gillingham got their first win in six games. They've really fallen off the pace recently and have little chance of even a play off place now.

[Dirk Gently]

Liverpool won yesterday. Silverware you know. Just thought I'd mention it.

[duncan]

I think it's more of a case of Cardiff handing you the trophy rather than Liverpool winning it.

[Dirk Gently]

Penalties was probably Cardiff's best shot at winning & Liverpool did their best to lose, Cardiff just didn't make the most of it.

[duncan]

Fair enough I suppose. It says something when a team wins on penalties but their keeper didn't save one of them.

[Dave Tudor]

It occurred to me today that Liverpool's last three trophies (League Cup yesterday, FA Cup in 2006, Champions' League in 2005) have all been won on penalties, each time having to come from behind. Whatever happened to the Liverpool who made beating teams and winning things look so easy...?

Bad luck, but well done to Cardiff, though - they matched Liverpool (and were frequently better) every step of the way, and to lose in that manner was so, so cruel.

[duncan]

13 points clear of 2nd place, 15 points clear of 3rd place. Can I start believing yet?

Oh, and thank you Stevenage.

[duncan]

I think, with Sheff Utd being beaten by Oldham after being 2-0 up and with Huddersfeild being held to a draw after being 3-0 up. it's time to really start believing!

That's a 17 point gap on third with 36 to play for.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Disappointing result for Spurs yesterday. My Gooner supporting brother was quite pleased though.

[Larry]

That's a 17 point gap on third with 36 to play for.

well' it's going to take a monumental collapse for you not to get one of the automatic promotion spots.

Disappointing result for Spurs yesterday. My Gooner supporting brother was quite pleased though.

I think what Sunday's defeat did show that with their current injuries Spurs just don't have the depth in their squad to mount a sustained title challange and after you do wonder if they are starting to run out of steam.

[duncan]

Just got home from The Valley and we were beaten by a team that had one shot on goal all night. It just wasn't to be tonight with several of our efforts being blocked well. Solly was just quality but often looked like he was on his own. And Hamer's dodgy kicking finally came back to bite him. That's our home record gone.

No real damage done though with Sheff Utd losing again. It's still onwards and upwards!

[duncan]

2 home defeats on the trot now and I think I have experienced the worst 45 mins of football I have ever seen which saw us 4-0 down at half time.

I hope this is just a wobble and we are not going to have that monumental collapse that Larry mentioned.

[Paul Clement]

Third defeat on the trot for Spurs and that Champions League spot that looked so secure recently is now looking in serious danger of not happening. Hopefully, things will get back to normal in our next match against Stoke.

[Larry]

2 home defeats on the trot now and I think I have experienced the worst 45 mins of football I have ever seen which saw us 4-0 down at half time.



I hope this is just a wobble and we are not going to have that monumental collapse that Larry mentioned.

at least the points lead you have at the top you can afford a couple of defeats West Ham, continued to remain inconsistant we won at Cardiff last week and followed it up with two successive home draws against Watford and Doncaster. Our poor home form and complete inability this season to put together any kind of winning run is killing us Reading can't stop winning and Southampton also continue to win. Right now I can't see either of them dropping to many points between now and the end of the season and they will take the automatic promotion spots.

Third defeat on the trot for Spurs and that Champions League spot that looked so secure recently is now looking in serious danger of not happening. Hopefully, things will get back to normal in our next match against Stoke.

as you say 3rd place looked a nailed on certainty a month or two back but Spurs have really sruggled recently they clearly don't have the strength and depth in the squad to sustain them through this period and look like they are starting to run out of steam. One things for certain the game with Chelsea in a couple of weeks could well be make or break for Spurs lose to Chelsea and I can see Spurs ending the season outside the top 4.

[Paul Clement]

as you say 3rd place looked a nailed on certainty a month or two back but Spurs have really sruggled recently they clearly don't have the strength and depth in the squad to sustain them through this period and look like they are starting to run out of steam. One things for certain the game with Chelsea in a couple of weeks could well be make or break for Spurs lose to Chelsea and I can see Spurs ending the season outside the top 4.

I don't think it's a case of strength in depth of squad, as I'd say our squad is stronger than any team in the Premiership outside of Man City. We outplayed Man Utd but still lost 3-1, we were all over Everton in the second half but didn't get the crucial goal. I think the problem is that the strikers we have often need a few chances to score. Adebayor looks a little jaded, Saha isn't prolific anymore and Defoe, although often described as a natural goalscorer, tends to score 1 for every 3 or 4 chances he has.