Gap to European qualification spots.

[dicko1969]

Sid the only way this will happen is if all the injuries stop.
I bet jota will last a couple of games.
Diaz knee too.
Darwin & firmino seem more robust.

Vvd probably longer too.

Every club seems to have injuries of course.
However, Liverpool never seem to cope without VVD and to some extent Henderson.

Surprised Salah has not ever got injured.
Seems the only one always fit.

[CCTV]

Newcastle have played an extra game.

Beat Chelsea and we're 7 points off 4th after 19 games.

[Insidious]

Sid the only way this will happen is if all the injuries stop.

Oh 100%. Not to mention a run of wins at some stage (hard to fathom on these performances) and for a couple of sides to drop enough points (it's a big gap) and for us to win a 6-pointer or two against Champion's League rivals.

As I have said, I don't think we will get a Champion's League spot - but the gap is a point of interest to me, so will keep an eye with all digits crossed tightly week-on-week, whether it's due to us drifting further off or closing the gap.

[Insidious]

If we still have any ambition of finishing in the top 4, it's going to take an enormous turnaround from ourselves. I fancy the sides aboves all dropping enough points. I just cant see us getting out of the current malaise.

Probably right to be fair. Have made a personal, conscious choice not to despair this season (even if we lose to Chelsea today) and to try to focus on what I hope will be green shoots for future seasons, such as Darwin, Stefan etc.

in terms of our (admittedly outside) chances, Newcastle and Man United are the sides we are trying to reel in. No easy thing when we keep dropping points ourselves. A 12-point gap or less (4-game swing) and I'll retain a sliver of outside hope. A 5-game swing and I think it is absolute "lights out" on things.

Anyway, when both Liverpool and Man United had played 18 games this season, there was a 10-point gap (28 and 38) with Newcastle also on 38, but having played one match more. To claw back this 10-point deficit over 20 games, I thought I'd divide the remaining fixtures up into two sets of 10 - if we claw back 5 points on the sides above us after 10 matches, I think we may believe a little more and it will present a bigger sample size for us to look at.

So I'll be coming back to the following lay-out to see how well (or poorly!) we are doing on that objective by checking the gap after fixtures. I'll personally find it an easier visual than looking at the League table, where on result can potentially make you rise/fall by 3 positions.

Niche post is niche

Starting point - Gameweek 18 for Liverpool - 10 points behind Man United and Newcastle (game in hand on Newcastle)

Cluster One


Gameweek 19 -
Gameweek 20 -
Gameweek 21 -
Gameweek 22 -
Gameweek 23 -
Gameweek 24 -
Gameweek 25 -
Gameweek 26 -
Gameweek 27 -
Gameweek 28 -


Have we clawed back 5 points? Less? More? Answer -

Cluster Two - The Business End

Gameweek 29 -
Gameweek 30 -
Gameweek 31 -
Gameweek 32 -
Gameweek 33 -
Gameweek 34 -
Gameweek 35 -
Gameweek 36 -
Gameweek 37 -
Gameweek 38 -


Will update accordingly over the coming weeks.

[miller0863]

Forget it, we are mediocre, mid table tripe.

[Insidious]

Forget it, we are mediocre, mid table tripe.

I don't see it either myself.

Champion's League races are very scrappy, which we have forgotten.

A (current) 9-point gap on 4th isn't insurmountable on paper. Do I believe we are going to get into a good enough run of form to do it? No - I don't.

Will keep tabs on the gap all the same. Just a point of interest for me in a season that doesn't inspire much.

[Insidious]

Starting point - Gameweek 18 for Liverpool - 10 points behind Man United and Newcastle (game in hand on Newcastle)

Will update accordingly over the coming weeks.

The post-editing function seems missing on my PC here unless I'm being daft.

Anyway - Gameweek 19 - no change - 10 points behind Man United and Newcastle (game in hand on Newcastle, who have played 20) as all 3 sides drew.

[dicko1969]

Newcastle to bottle it.

[Insidious]

Newcastle to bottle it.

That would be unbelievably great, particularly if we capitalised. Tottenham, Fulham, Brighton, Brentford, Chelsea and even Aston Villa will all be thinking the same. Champion's League qualification races are so unlike title races - so many sides will take points off each other yet until the main contenders reveal themselves for the last 8-10 games of the season.

February 18th we play them. They'll be juggling the League Cup semi-final (two legs remember) and after they play us in the League they'll have difficult enough opposition in the form of Brighton and Man City. Not sure I would call our fixture against them a "must-win" but it certainly looks a "must-not lose" and we could reassess.

[CCTV]

Gained a point on united.

Same as before with newcastle.

Lost a round of matches to do better.