General Mirth wrote:
Tony Montana wrote:
As I said in the other general football thread 10 games is about the right amount of games to assess properly where we might finish because by then we'll have faced every type of team and played a few away games and a few home games.
It wouldn't have been enough last season and it wouldn't have been enough in 2007-2008 when we only lost one game till around December and still finished 3rd. Man United last year looked like they would be out of the race early on last year given that they lost 6-1 at home while City were breaking goal scoring records by the dozen.
Last season only Bolton, City and United led the league table. Given Bolton's eventual relegation they must have only led at the beginning of the campaign. United and City led throughout the rest of the season so it would have been fair enough after 10 games to suggest either City or United would win it. In the end, City won it by goal difference.
This is what I'm talking about. Spurs were doing really well reaching the heights of 3rd place and even then they only finished 4th, one point behind us in 3rd. It was a bit much to claim Spurs would win the league but not to suggest that they could finish in CL places.
I'm not saying you can predict exact places. After 10 games it is enough to properly analyse where we might finish. So if we're first after 10 games it's not exactly stupid to suggest that's where we'll end up come May. We could well finish as low as 4th as well but it won't be with a 20 odd points difference like last season. Whoever is in the top 3 after 10 games in October/November will be likely the winner of the league as opposed to some team languishing in the bottom half before raising their game to finish top. Everton can do that but only reach 8th - 6th place.
In 2007-08 we led the league at points in October and November. In the end we finished 3rd but only 4 points behind the leaders, United, who also were very near the top throughout the campaign bar the first 3 games or so.