Can jinxes apply to matches already finished?
Poll Are you satisfied if we get 4th?
- Thread starter redhorizon2
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
Prefix for Poll Threads
- Status
Can jinxes apply to matches already finished?
Unfulfilled jinxes carry into the next game. Law of the multiverse, unfortunately.
Then I will maintain my position that we will lose to Boro as long as necessary.
Yes, we need to engineer a switch to the part of the multiverse where Hansern's imaginary daughter predicts a Boro win. Only then can we be certain.
Absolutely. The league is extremely competitive at the moment; there's more money than ever before and better managers than ever before. We finished above Arsenal and United and still only finished fourth. Not many would have made that bed 9 months ago.
If we improve the defense, find a reliable goal scorer, add some depth and keep Mane fit then we will have a chance at the title next season. Next years our year!
If we improve the defense, find a reliable goal scorer, add some depth and keep Mane fit then we will have a chance at the title next season. Next years our year!
Improve a defence that rounded of the season with 4 clean sheets and allowed 1 goal in last six? Maybe they did improve already? ;-)
I prefer to look at 38 games rather than 6.
If you look for improvement, the end of season games compared to the start of season games is a valid selection.
With that reasoning you can convince yourself of anything. September to November - best attack in the world! Sign nobody. Match to May - we're solid defensively. Sign nobody!. It's bollocks. We're fourth for the simple reason we concede too many goals.
Too black and white! Insig is right, to an extent.
The defence improved towards the end of the season, so we need to look at why. The most obvious answer is that we played with a DM - a DM who happens to be not top-level and isn't being kept on.
So it's not 'sign nobody!', it's sign a decent DM that can offer some defensive cover so we don't get turned over with every counter attack.
Shades of grey.
Depressingly, that is exactly what loads of fucking morons on here actually did say.
So strange that we came fourth and all the teams above us scored more and conceded less.
There's no evidence to suggest that part in bold, i.e. that Lucas is the obvious answer we improved in defence.
If we look at the last 12 games (from Arsenal to Boro), Lucas started at DM in 6 of them.
-- When Lucas didn't start at DM, we conceded 4 goals in 6 games (1 each to Arsenal, Burnley, City and Stoke; none against West Ham and Boro).
-- When Lucas started at DM, we conceded 5 goals in 6 games (2 each against Bournemouth and Palace, 1 against Everton, none against West Brom, Watford and Southampton).
For full disclosure - our CB pairings for those 12 games:
-- When Lucas didn't start at DM: Matip + Klavan (3 games - Arsenal, Burnley, City), Matip + Lovren (2 games - West Ham, Boro) Matip + Lovren + Klavan (1 game - Stoke)
-- When Lucas started at DM: Matip + Lovren (5 games - Everton, West Brom, Crystal Palace, Watford, Southampton), Klavan + Lovren (1 game - Bournemouth)
So, I don't think it's simply whether we played with a DM or not. In fact, it could be argued that having Matip + Lovren available for most games down that stretch was a bigger factor (see below).
Having Matip + Lovren available for 8 games of the final 12 helped (4 goals conceded in those 8 games). Mignolet's massive improvement in that stretch helped. Playing some teams which averaged barely more than a goal a game helped:
>> Burnley - 39 (conceded 1)
>> Stoke - 41 (conceded 1)
>> WBA - 43
>> Watford - 40
>> Southampton - 41
>> Boro - 27!!!
Having a bit of luck with a couple of tight decisions in the box (versus West Ham and Boro) and fucking hairy moments (Watford last-gasp smash against the crossbar) helped. And of course, the team growing some balls and managing to keep their head in the final stretch, digging in and not cracking under pressure helped too.
Last edited:
Alright smart arse! 😉
Your data shows that the difference isn't night and day, but you can't boil everything down to stats.
For instance, you point out low scoring opposition, yet these are exactly the kinds of teams we've struggled against this year. Given those struggles against lower opposition, you could also argue that Lucas played in the trickier run of fixtures from your list above. And we came away with three clean sheets with him in there, vs two without. He also created three goals in this period.
I wasn't trying to distill the improvement down to one position - and I do acknowledge that that's exactly what I did in my post ha - or one determining factor (or Lucas!), I was trying to suggest that improvement was no reason to say 'sign nobody'! Putting the stats to one side, I still think that just having someone in there more prepared to sit has made a big difference (just as dropping into a diamond against West Ham made a difference) - in my eyes at least. We've missed Henderson in my opinion, just as much as Mané, Lallana, Coutinho, Firmino etc. when they've been out. That's a key position for us to strengthen in, especially in light of Henderson's struggle for fitness in 2017. Without opening up another can of worms, consider the impact that Kanté has made at Chelsea (or Makelele before him, Masherano with us etc.) - he's one of a few a factors and changes for Chelsea sure, but he's also been pretty integral to their change in fortunes this year.
But you've clearly put far more thought and insight into your original post than I did, and your stats back up your points clearly. It's tough to argue with your post much, to be perfectly honest 👍
Jeez, that's one slow stream.
Out of interest, surely 75 points to get 5th is a good suggestion of the strength of the top teams in our league.
Given our paper thin squad, 76 points is a good total. Especially as we had to grind it out at the end. Yes we could have made it easier, but our reaction to being dragged into a battle was good.
But this is just a step on the journey. Should we expect a title next year? I don't think so. I'd like to see us up there and consolidating this seasons finish with another top 4 finish - hopefully a bit more comfortably than this one - and getting to the knockout stages of the CL in the process.
Doing that with a stronger first XI and squad is the next progression for me.
Given our paper thin squad, 76 points is a good total. Especially as we had to grind it out at the end. Yes we could have made it easier, but our reaction to being dragged into a battle was good.
But this is just a step on the journey. Should we expect a title next year? I don't think so. I'd like to see us up there and consolidating this seasons finish with another top 4 finish - hopefully a bit more comfortably than this one - and getting to the knockout stages of the CL in the process.
Doing that with a stronger first XI and squad is the next progression for me.
Nah. Your wrong and you know it.
First of all it is easier to defend than to attack. Period. Thats life. However, we were shit at defending by default. And we worked on it and improved it. It might have cost something attacking wise, but there is to much other inconsitence in Our attacking play to draw any conclussion on why we lost a bit of momentum between december and March.
But there is no doubt whatsoever that the fragile defence that gave everyone a heartattack has been absent for the last six games. One or two situations yes, but the constant lack of defensive fibres has not been there.
Very true, the team needs to be in the CL each season from now on to show it wasn't a one season wonder.
However, Klopp needs a trophy.
A trophy would be good but if an FA or League cup came at the expense of title challenges or consistent CL qualification and competing in CL, then I'd swerve it.
- Status
