United play pretty much all of the tough games away to teams in the first half.
e.g. so far this season (position last year in brackets)
Portsmouth (8th)
Liverpool (4th)
Chelsea (2nd)
Everton (5th)
Blackburn (7th)
and before the end of the year:
Arsenal (3rd)
Man City (9th - and a derby)
Villa (6th)
Spurs(11th - seemed harder at the start of the season and may be tricky by the time it comes around)
That is every team in the Top 10 last season except West Ham played away from home by December 13th.
My point is that Liverpool have to play all those teams at some stage as well, whether at the end of the seasonn or beginning. When they play them doesnât matter.
If you have a seriously easier second half then that means that you have a seriously tough first half. United could well be out of it by then making their perceived easier second half redundant.
I donât think itâs unreasonable to conclude that certain games are likely to be tougher than others. It doesnât necessarily mean that youâre taking some teams too lightly, rather recognising that tough away games are probably going to prove more difficult than home games against relegation fodder. I definitely think game sequence can be important as a result.
[quote=âfarmerinthecityâ]What if they lose all of them?
My point is that Liverpool have to play all those teams at some stage as well, whether at the end of the seasonn or beginning. When they play them doesnât matter.
If you have a seriously easier second half then that means that you have a seriously tough first half. United could well be out of it by then making their perceived easier second half redundant.
As Giles says take each game on its merits.[/quote]
Marge: According to this book, the monorail goes over 150 miles an hour! What if something goes wrong?
Homer: ``What if.ââ What if I stepped in the shower and slipped on a bar of soap? ⌠Oh, my God! Iâd be killed!
Man Unitedâs record at home is undoubtedly better than their record away from home. This is true of most if not all teams.
Yes Man Unitedâs first half of the season is tough. But they are doing ok out of it.
Being at home to Chelsea or even Portsmouth is a very different proposition than being away to them.
Man Unitedâs season is imbalanced and in my opinion United would be quietly content to be within 6-9 points of the leaders come New Years Day. If they are inside 3 points of the leaders Iâd fully expect them to retain the Premier League based on their schedule in the second half.
While beating United at Anfield is somewhat impressive itâs not nearly as impressive as beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge? Why? Because they hadnât lost there since February 2004. If Chelsea had a matching away record the Premier League would be as lobsided as the Leinster Hurling Championship 1998-2008.
So being home or away makes a difference.
Also a title race with Liverpool leading from the front might prove a very interesting test for them. Arsenal looked mighty impressive at this stage last year but could not take the pace. In the end Chelsea who seemed to be stumbling along in the background for a long time nearly snuck it.
But my point is that United must play the same games during the season as Liverpool.
To point to the fact that United have an easier run in as a reason why they will win the league doesnât make sense at this stage. They could well be gone out of it by Christmas thus making the last half of the season irrelevant.
Iâm not putting it forward as a reason why theyâll win the league but I think itâs valid to suggest that theyâll be in good shape if theyâre only a handful of points behind at Christmas given their fixture programme.
I think the point farmer is making is that Utd must be within a couple of points of the lead for the âeasierâ run in to take effect. What use is an easy second half of the season when you have dropped 15 points behind in the harder first half. As said, an easy run in does make a difference, but only if the team is within touching distance of the leaders. If this point was being made on Jan 1st after Utd have won most of their games and were within 5 points of the top, then itâd be valid. But what if Utd lose 3 of their next few âhardâ away games and are then 15 points behind. You cant say an easy run in for them is a reason to win the league without seeing how they do in their hard games first (which isnt going that well for them in fairness)
I didnât realise thatâs how the fixtures had fallen and it does suggest that United will be able to mount a serious run of form in the second half of the season. Bit like Celtic catching the huns last year - some of that was due to fixture congestion but the majority was due to the fact that the huns won feck all points away to other teams in the Top 6 - just happened that many of those away games took place near the end of the season.
Yeah thats it. If United are within 3 points at Christmas then its a factor. But to say AT THIS STAGE that Uniteds easier run in is a factor is completely wrong because they still have to play more or less the same teams as Liverpool.
This is what I took cluaindiuic to be getting at in his original post along with rubbish about the goal conceded against Wigan being a bad sign for the season. As I said I would point more to the fact that they came back against Wigan and won their two big four games as more of an indicator for the season ahead.
[quote=âfarmerinthecityâ]Yeah thats it. If United are within 3 points at Christmas then its a factor. But to say AT THIS STAGE that Uniteds easier run in is a factor is completely wrong because they still have to play more or less the same teams as Liverpool.
This is what I took cluaindiuic to be getting at in his original post along with rubbish about the goal conceded against Wigan being a bad sign for the season. As I said I would point more to the fact that they came back against Wigan and won their two big four games as more of an indicator for the season ahead.[/quote]
The two goals against Wigan were as a result of very poor defending especially from Agger which can be expected after his long layoff. Heâll soon sort that out and return to his 2006 form.
âThe Champions League? I won it with Liverpool and now I want to win it with Juventus.â Momo Sissoko experiences a memory lapse, having joined Liverpool two months after their 2005 triumph.
[quote=âmyboyblueâ]âThe Champions League? I won it with Liverpool and now I want to win it with Juventus.â Momo Sissoko experiences a memory lapse, having joined Liverpool two months after their 2005 triumph. [/quote]
Iâd expect and hope that it was a bad translation.
Something along the lines of playing with the Champions League winners as opposed to winning the Champions League.
Cos if he did say thatâŚJaysus
what a tool