Our next 3 games could shape our season...

And we've really got to win them all.

A win against CSKA just about puts us through into the knockout stages of the CL. We can almost afford to relax for the last two games and not worry about team selection so much.

An away game against Sunderland (where we've been beaten 1-0 in each of the last 3 seasons) will be a tougher proposition with Poyet in charge. They will surely be in our faces giving us no time on the ball.

A home game against Spurs who are up there in the mix at the moment. They are a decent enough side, but have relied on a few scrappy 1-0 Soldado jammy penalties.

We've got a very tough December fixture list (Swansea, WBA, Southampton, Arsenal, Liverpool) with 9 games in 28 days so we just have to win these 3 games.

I totally agree with you on the idea of winning the next three games.  We need to beat Sunderland in order to stay in the hunt, but beating Spurs is more key because it helps us to take out one of the front-runners.  We'll still be behind them (unless they lose next weekend), but it'll only be by one good result.

As for the CL game, I don't agree we can ease off.  If we beat CSKA on Tuesday, we're on 9 and they're stuck on 3.  But I'd not call 9 points safe, as CSKA's next game after us is at home against Bayern.  Bayern should thrash Plzen again on Tuesday and be home free on 12 points, so they might not fancy a trip to Moscow and send a second team.  If they do, CSKA could notch up a win, with just Plzen left to play and suddenly 9 points isn't enough.  So I'd want at least one more point and, frankly, if we can't bag a win against Plzen ourselves, in our own back yard, we probably shouldn't bother.  And then we can field a youth team at the Allianz, safe in the knowledge that we're already through, we don't have to risk anyone and, frankly, our youth team looks a better bet to get a result  

Once we're into the CL knockouts, December should get much easier.

leopold wrote:I totally agree with you on the idea of winning the next three games.  We need to beat Sunderland in order to stay in the hunt, but beating Spurs is more key because it helps us to take out one of the front-runners.  We'll still be behind them (unless they lose next weekend), but it'll only be by one good result.

As for the CL game, I don't agree we can ease off.  If we beat CSKA on Tuesday, we're on 9 and they're stuck on 3.  But I'd not call 9 points safe, as CSKA's next game after us is at home against Bayern.  Bayern should thrash Plzen again on Tuesday and be home free on 12 points, so they might not fancy a trip to Moscow and send a second team.  If they do, CSKA could notch up a win, with just Plzen left to play and suddenly 9 points isn't enough.  So I'd want at least one more point and, frankly, if we can't bag a win against Plzen ourselves, in our own back yard, we probably shouldn't bother.  And then we can field a youth team at the Allianz, safe in the knowledge that we're already through, we don't have to risk anyone and, frankly, our youth team looks a better bet to get a result  

Once we're into the CL knockouts, December should get much easier.

Totally agree Leo.

We went out with 10 points 2 years ago.

Go all out to beat CSKA and Plzen, then field whoever you want for the Bayern game, as they will no doubt rest loads of players by then.

I'm not so worried about Spurs.....Sunderland are pants and if we can't go there and beat them with our squad, we don't deserve to be in the hunt for 4th, never mind 1st.

If we beat CSKA, we are through even if we lose at home to Plzen and away to Bayern as it's unlikely we'll lose by 3 goals to Plzen and we'll have beaten CSKA home and away.

That Spurs game should be a serious test though AVB's defensive tactics might help us a little.

2 successive seasons we went to the Stadium of Light and got beaten 1-0 !! One was offside by a mile and the other was a last minute penalty, both came after we battered them for 85 or more minutes and they defended resolutely.
I would normally never take this fixture for granted, however, this time we are currently playing very well after a shaky start while they are second bottom on 4 points so we should be a little more confident that it will not go pear shaped again over there.

Topdawg wrote:If we beat CSKA, we are through even if we lose at home to Plzen and away to Bayern as it's unlikely we'll lose by 3 goals to Plzen and we'll have beaten CSKA home and away.

Good point.  If both us and CSKA finish on 9 points, we go through on head to head results.  But Plzen beating us 3-0 also means they've got to beat both Bayern and CSKA on the way as they've no points at all at the moment.  And even if they do, we still go through on our UEFA coefficient.  The only way we'd miss out is if they beat us by MORE than three clear goals, and also beat the other two teams.  Or, of course, we don't win tomorrow night.

Last but one season ago, we bombed out with 10 points because we couldn't get a result against Napoli, our main rival for a qualification place.  Technically, we only finished with 7 points as Bayern basically threw their last game against us.

ManCityMan wrote:2 successive seasons we went to the Stadium of Light and got beaten 1-0 !! One was offside by a mile and the other was a last minute penalty, both came after we battered them for 85 or more minutes and they defended resolutely.
I would normally never take this fixture for granted, however, this time we are currently playing very well after a shaky start while they are second bottom on 4 points so we should be a little more confident that it will not go pear shaped again over there.

Our past results at the SoL don't make good reading and, if we're being ruthlessly honest, their current league position isn't vastly different to where they were in previous seasons.  Although we may well have a bit of good fortune in that they'll have two of their first team assassins - sorry, I mean players - sat in the stands on a ban for their red cards on Saturday.  I'd not call them easy pickings even then, though.

As for the Spuds, I got my statement wrong: They were behind us on goal difference before they kicked off yesterday, so were never going to be more than 3 points ahead unless we dropped points somewhere.  And now Everton have done us a favour by holding them to a draw, we should be in a good position to pick them off and leave them behind us with a little bit of a gap.

leopold wrote: And now Everton have done us a favour by holding them to a draw, we should be in a good position to pick them off and leave them behind us with a little bit of a gap.

Bloody hell, the Spuds were crap yesterday, i think it was more like they held Everton to a draw.

The next 3 games should all be won, let's forget the CL permatations and what's happened in past PL seasons. We're playing well at the minute and if we carry on in that vein, we should have no problems in winning all 3.

Agree. After CSKA and Plzen away - I would be seriously pissed off if we can't give both of these teams a good hiding at home, where we are generally, very strong.

Spurs - apart from their first few games, have been poor IMO. They are scraping through games and deserved to get beat yesterday.

I expect us to beat Spurs and Sunderland and comfortably win both CL games.

blueboy wrote:I expect us to beat Spurs and Sunderland and comfortably win both CL games.

Very brave, mate.  I don't expect anything right now, especially after those defeats to Villa and Chelsea...

Typical City. Spuds have score 9 goals in 10 games. Cardiff (before yesterday) had only scored 4 goals at home. Same as Aston Villa.

leopold wrote:

blueboy wrote:I expect us to beat Spurs and Sunderland and comfortably win both CL games.

Very brave, mate.  I don't expect anything right now, especially after those defeats to Villa and Chelsea...

leo,
I expect us to have learnt from those games.....then again i said the same after we threw it away after the Villa game .

blue,
Agreed.

Couldn't Soldado  face retrospective action after his dirty elbow into the chest of Jagielka?

Good question MCM, Balotelli would have