Feb
18
2008
A lesson in class, or why Everton, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Portsmouth can’t pip Liverpool to 4th place
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So what this article is saying is that any of those teams (Everton, Villa, Liverpool, City) might or might not finish 4th? Well done.
Villa: “the most entertaining and refreshing”. Dont make me laugh. 80% of their goals from set pieces. Read no more after that.
“Hubris” means over-arrogance and challenging the gods.
“Hardly no time” means a long, long time.
Otherwise a vaguely fair article. I think you might be going a bit far to describe Babel, Carragher and Finnan to be part of a who’s who of football, and that’s coming from an Irishman.
i think you’ll find, DJ, that the figure is 44%. villa have scored more goals then any other away from home and sit 3rd in the scoring charts overall.
villa have indeed been ‘entertaining and refreshing’, just look at the 4-4 at stamford bridge (a game we would have comfortably won had ballack not cheated for a pen and got knight sent off).
and the 4-4 at spurs.
and the second half of the newcastle game.
and the 4-0 hammering of blackburn at ewood park
and the dismantling of chelsea at villa park
and the 3-0 hammering of boro at the riverside
and despite the effort not quite being enough, given arsenal their worse ’seeing to’ in the league (2nd half, villa park)
i don’t think villa will finish 4th, but you can’t deny we haven’t been entertaining. you must be a bitter bluenose, DJ!!!
City have the worst away record in the league do they?!
Away record in prem
1 Chelsea 13 8 2 3 15 9 6 26
2 Arsenal 12 7 4 1 23 10 13 25
3 Portsmouth 14 8 1 5 21 16 5 25
4 Liverpool 13 6 5 2 14 8 6 23
5 Manchester United 12 6 3 3 18 9 9 21
6 Everton 13 6 3 4 17 12 5 21
7 Blackburn Rovers 13 5 5 3 19 20 -1 20
8 Aston Villa 12 4 6 2 24 17 7 18
9 West Ham 12 5 2 5 14 10 4 17
10 Manchester City 13 3 5 5 13 18 -5 14
11 Middlesbrough 13 3 4 6 9 20 -11 13
12 Tottenham Hotspur 14 2 6 6 15 19 -4 12
13 Birmingham City 14 2 3 9 12 24 -12 9
14 Newcastle United 13 2 2 9 12 29 -17 8
15 Bolton Wanderers 12 1 3 8 9 23 -14 6
16 Wigan Athletic 14 1 3 10 9 28 -19 6
17 Fulham 13 0 5 8 7 22 -15 5
18 Reading 13 0 3 10 16 34 -18 3
19 Derby County 13 0 3 10 5 31 -26 3
20 Sunderland 13 0 2 11 9 32 -23 2
How about a lesson in researching?!
Right so you’ve just gone and stated that Liverpool will finish fourth. You’re not a skeptic, you’re a fool.
Eugene my boy! Care to have a little wager on one of the `small clubs’ finishing above Lpool?
Eugene Quinn in 4th Place Not Decided Yet Shock!
Good article i thought. I’m a Villa fan but i’ll be honest, I think Everton will finish 4th and we’ll have a Uefa cup spot. Which will do us just fine. Oh and we have have been the most entertaining team all season, fact.
you think you can finish in forth place and you cant even beat a division 2 team
what a joke
even we beat preston and we were crap
So ‘Look at the players! (Liverpool) means nothing when you have a manager with one tactic. Launch the ball forward as quickly as possible. Wimbledon MK2
Quote: “Hubris†means over-arrogance and challenging the gods.
Indeed. And it’s “cynic”, by the way, not “cynicist”
So, 4/10 Must Try Harder for English
And 3/10 for a fairly bland, unconvincing piece of journalism. Don’t give up your day job.
All in all, I actually enjoyed reading this article. As a City fan, its refreshing to read an article thats not completely biased to the writers favorite (or slagging City of as mch as possible).
Anyway, well done mate, a good article.
To everybody whinging and moaning about a few “off” facts, get a life, at least he’s not slagging anybody off and its his opinion after all.
I always hate having to justify an article. It’s essentially stating the points because someone else can’t understand it. Nevertheless..
The Man City away league part was a typo on my part. I meant to say the worst in the top half but I missed it out somwhere. My mistake, so apologies for that regard.
Misuse of certain words…yep, I’ll hold my hands up there as well, if that’s the best that can be used against me, I’ll live, I think.
And about me being undecided on who will finish 4th? Yeah, of course I’m undecided about who will finish 4th. The aim of the article was not to definitively prove nor decidce who will finish 4th, it was an article to show the merits and faults of sides who could possibly finish 4th. If I wanted to write and article on who would finish 4th, then why wouldn’t I just say that I think Liverpool will, and write a missive on their own pros and cons, and forget everyone else.
Hell, you’re all entitled to your opinions, I suppose, but if you’re going to criticise, at least ensure that you actually appreciate what I’m trying to write about first, before dismissing it without a second thought.
What a tosspot! Class my ass, Liverpool are a poor shadow of the team they were early on in the season, they are, in essence a rudderless team relying on big performances from Stevie Deadhard because there is no-one else in the midfield capable of turning matches around. Kewell, Babel and Pennant are used inconsistently, Alonso injured too much, leaving fringe players to battle for the rest of the places. Squad is just not good enough considering the amount of cash spent. I have to say if they are the 4th best side in the country we are in trouble! Everton are inconsistent and my own side, Villa, are troubled by inconsistent defending but are still much better than the two scouse sides, overall. Ah well, we will see in May eh?
Hope its villa, but think Everton deserve it more, well done. Still think Liverpool have to be favourites though UTV
Bassetmax…..Everton – inconsistant? Two league defeats since October, against Arsenal and last minute Manchester United. Inconsistant? That’s 16 games, 10 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats. That’s not inconsistant, that’s pretty damn consistant.
Oh and I’m not an Everton fan, I just can’t understand how they are talked down of all the time.
Dave (regarding Bassetmax),
it only shows that those people do not care about other teams, they only follow their own team and belittle and talk down their rivals. Small minded I say.
Sorry to nitpick but when were City 3-1 up against Fulham?
Congratulations on a well written and researched article. As an Evertonian, I’m far too uncomfortable with the closness of the race to offer a prediction. I do feel, however, that each team mentioned have pivotal issue which, if solved, could mean the difference between Champions League qualification and the UEFA Cup.
Everton: can they get results against teams they are in direct competition with (ie the ‘6-pointer’ at Anfield)
Liverpool: can they fully recover after the managerial fracas, the fa cup exit and a possible (i think probable) CL exit to Inter Milan?
Aston Villa: can they start take a leaf out of Everton’s book and grind out results against teams they really should be beating?
Man City: can Benjani fire? If not, I think they are the team, most in danger of missing out on a UEFA Cup spot
Portsmouth: can Defoe (who I really admire) find his scoring boots and can Portsmouth improve their home form?
Hilarious! You claim ” Look at the squad, look at the players they can put out every week, and it becomes clear quickly why they are still the favourites to finish 4th. Gerrard, Torres, Alonso, Finnan, Babel, Carragher etc” Then you say they will finish fourth…even though you mention Liverpool hasn’t had a truly good game since December!!! You suddenly just think they are going to get their shit together? They have eben trying and failing for two months!
Face it! Liverpool are completely overrated. Everton is more talented than their neighbors, and should be the favorites to finish fourth. They play better football and don’t amrch out the same underachieving, overpaid scouse uselesness that has been the norm this season. I would even make a case for Aston Villa above Liverpool, but that will probably take another year or two to happen for real.
“It doesn’t matter how badly they played in their last match, you can never, ever write Liverpool off in any match, in any competition, certainly not with the dearth of talent at their disposal.”
It is precisely because of this ‘dearth’ of talent that you CAN write them off! Perhaps you meant depth?
But seriously, regarding the sentiment, words that would apply to Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea of this and recent seasons….but Liverpool?????
For me it’s a catch 22 situation for Liverpool. They get knocked-out of Europe and arguably they have nothing else to concentrate on. However, morale will be so low if this happens and the noose so tight around Rafa’s neck that they could actually blow it.
On the other hand, they could have a run in Europe but this could distract them from the race for 4th (just like 3 years ago) and they could blow it that way.
They’re not good enough to go far in Europe so I think it will be the former scenario and all comes down to how they cope.
As an Everton fan I think we have as good a chance as anyone but there is very little to chose between us, City, Villa and Portsmouth. Even Blackburn. All good sides.
Liverpool are the odd one out and I can understand the views of them varying between potential European Champions or overated rubbish. They have been both recently.
Stating the case for my own team I think our manager has steadily built towards our current position and I think we may show more resilience in the run-in because of that.
But I think it will all come down to a few 6 pointers.
I think this is pretty fair. I fancy that if any team will push for the final place with Liverpool, it will be Everton. As a Villa fan, I’d love to see us there, but I’ve just been so delighted with what a turnaround we’ve seen this season that I wouldn’t even be too disheartened if we missed out on Europe. After all, someone has to, and we’ll be stronger still next season anyway. It has made for the most exciting Premiership season I can remember. Everything is so wide open, upsets are coming thick and fast, and some of the football is magnificent. I’m just going to keep enjoying it, whether or not we’re up there at the end.
The race for 4th is going to be very tight this year, and as an Evertonian I’m loving every minute of this season.
I’ve looked at the “big games” left for the 4th place and it’s hard still to say who has the better chance.
Aston Villa: Have 6 pointer games against Portsmouth and Everton – but are away in both of them. They also have 2 away games at Arsenal and Man Utd.
Everton: The next two Prem games will be crucial, away to Man City then home to Portsmouth. Could well be defining games in the race. Add away games at Liverpool and Arsenal and a home game to Chelsea means they will have to pick up maximum points against the lower placed league teams and those fighting relegation.
Liverpool: If they don’t start performing they could be in real trouble. A fixture string of Man Utd (a) Everton (h) Arsenal (a) and then Blackburn (h) will be their biggest test.
Man City: Maybe the best placed of the lot with their remaining fixtures. After the Everton on Monday they only have to face Chelsea (h) Portsmouth (h) and then Liverpool (a)
How I see it (trying to be impartial !)
4th Everton
5th Man City
6th Liverpool
7th Aston Villa
Gerrard and Torres the others are rubbish, wouldnt get into any of the top three sides. The league is now a top 3 with everyone else failing and chasing, Liverpool have missed the boat Rafa is a muppet but a lucky manager( i do hope he stays)two finals two penalty shootouts say no more. The yanks have sold them down the river and us blues ae loving it.
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