Up For Grabs Now – Michael Thomas Remembered
Apr 1st, 2015 by 'holic
26th May, 1989. Brian Moore relays the story as the League Championship reaches a barely believable climax.
“Arsenal come streaming forward now in surely what will be their last attack. A good ball by Dixon, finding Smith, for Thomas, charging through the midfield. Thomas, it’s up for grabs now… THOMAS! Right at the end. An unbelievable climax to the league season.”
In such a dramatic fashion did Michael Lauriston Thomas write his name large in Arsenal’s history. The title deciding goal in the final minute of a season at the home of the favourites and potential double winners. A heck of a way to crown his first season as a box to box midfielder in the First Division.
Signed as a schoolboy in 1982, Michael turned professional two years later. The versatile Thomas, captain of England at schoolboy, youth, and under-21 levels, would make his breakthrough in the 1986-87 season as George Graham set about blooding a string of exciting youngsters at the club. After a brief loan spell at Portsmouth Michael would make his first team bow in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against the neighbours, replacing the injured Viv Anderson at right back.
His first medal was secured when he made a cameo appearance as a substitute in the 2-1 defeat of Liverpool at Wembley. The following season Anderson was one of the senior players jettisoned to make way for the young Guns. Michael found himself the preferred right-back. Positionally it was not his best role, but he used his attacking instincts to good effect, racking up eleven goals in forty-six league and cup appearances.
Graham signed Lee Dixon in 1988 and this enabled Michael to join his schoolboy pal, David Rocastle, in the Gunners midfield at the start of the 1988/89 season. Michael featured in 37 of the 38 matches that culminated in that incredible night on Merseyside, scoring seven goals. It is probably fair to comment that he owed such a contribution to the nine match ban that Paul Davis picked up for breaking Glen Cockerill’s jaw and his subsequent falling out with Graham. Having said that Bobby Robson gave Michael a full England debut in a 1-1 draw in Saudi Arabia.
The following season Arsenal slipped to fourth place, but Michael’s consistency improved and among the eight goals he scored was a hat-trick in a League Cup tie at Plymouth. A deserved second cap for England came in December in a 2-1 defeat of a good Yugoslavian side. Personally it remains a mystery that he did not get further international recognition.
Michael collected a second champions medal in 1990/91, but it was a bittersweet end of season for him. First choice in the number four shirt through to a 1-1 home draw with Nottingham Forest in March, Michael fell foul of his manager, as had Davis two years earlier. Michael, in the form of his life, played in just one of the final ten league matches as the title was secured with two matches to spare despite a two points deduction by the FA for a bit of handbags at Old Trafford.
At the start of the following season he found himself rotated with David Hillier and his old friend Davis. Graham was toying with the side and the arrival of Ian Wright meant a change of tactics for the team. Michael scored his thirtieth, and last, goal for the club as a substitute in a 4-1 win at Crystal Palace, and although we didn’t know it, the last of his 208 appearances for the club in a single goal defeat at West Ham. Michael would depart in December bemoaning Arsenal’s increasing reliance on the long ball game and by-passing the midfield.
Graeme Souness paid £1.5 million to take Michael to Liverpool, of all clubs. The opposition against whom he had won his first two medals. Despite that Michael soon endeared himself to the Anfield faithful and ended the season scoring at Wembley in a 2-0 FA Cup Final win against Sunderland. He picked up a League Cup winners medal too, although only an unused substitute against Bolton in 1995.
The curtain came down on Michael’s career after a brief loan spell at Middlesbrough, and a season each at Benfica and Wimbledon. He remains, unsurprisingly, hugely popular with Arsenal and Liverpool supporters alike. Michael enjoyed some success at Liverpool as Arsenal, despite the cup successes of 1993 and 1994, were plunged into a more spartan era style wise.
When I’m down though I know I can always break open the dvd of that incredible night at Anfield and step back in time.
“Thomas, it’s up for grabs now… THOMAS!”
A Campo Retro Shirt Still Up For Grabs
To celebrate the run up to the match against Liverpool the good people at Campo Retro have come up with a wonderful prize for one lucky ‘holic. You can choose one of a wide range of Arsenal shirts which can be found by clicking here. Both of my favourites are included in the Campo Retro collection.
To win the shirt of your choice just answer the following question. Who scored the winning goal in the 1971 FA Cup Final against Liverpool?
a) George Graham b) Eddie Kelly or c) Charlie George
Please send your answers to competitions@camporetro.com along with a contact email and phone number plus your Twitter handle if you have one. The winner selected after the competition closes at mid-day UK time on Thursday, 2nd April, will receive the shirt of their choice. There is no cash alternative.
Get 20% Off Your Campo Retro Favourite This Week
If you want to take advantage of Campo Retro’s special Easter offer to snap up your favourite shirt then place an order on their site and when checking out enter the promo code EGG to receive a 20% discount, even off the 1971 long sleeve shirt, the price of which has already been cut by 20%. Some deal that.
That’s it. Get your entries in (just one per person please), and good luck to you.
73 Responses to “Up For Grabs Now – Michael Thomas Remembered”
First!
(And I read the post too!)
Thanks Lars. I’m not sure too many do these days. 🙂
2nd or third?
Your too good to ignore. Dear old Mickey. Paul Davis should have played in that game against Saudi Arabia. Bloody Glenn Cockerell
Paul Davis effectively lost eighteen months, not nine games. Criminal waste of an extraordinary talent. Thanks Les.
Lovely piece. Thankyou ‘holic.
I was 7 when Michael Thomas scored that goal. It is my first real football memory!
I’m adding an ’88 away No.4 shirt to my wishlist.
Cheers.
F’cking hell, Guv’nor. What is it, something like three posts in two days? All of them gems in their own way. You’re spoiling us. You must be looking forward to the football starting again, so you can have a rest.
Best bar in the world, this one.
COYG
Lively stuff again, Holic.
Been reading everything – just – but a couple of very difficult weeks have meant little or no time to contribute.
Can’t add much to your superb history posts anyway. 😉
NBN,
Great post in a previous round on Diaby’s age, appearances etc.
Lively ? = Lovely
I thought he was dead when I saw the headline.
Great post. Again.
LED lighting (previous drinks) is a terrible invention by the way. We’ve had LED street lighting put in recently and it’s weird being out after dark now. You can’t really see things in the mid distance properly, so every shadow is potentially fucking Frankenstein’s monster out to get you, and it takes ages for the eyes to adjust to proper lighting if you’ve been out for a while. My eyes feel like they’ve gone mouldy on the edges after a while. Sort of woolly and not really mine.
Are LED floodlights even feasible?
As for Mickey Thomas, my main memories of that game are the flowers before kick off, the desperation of Liverpool trying to claim the Smith header wasn’t one when he had a big mud splat on his face where he’d made contact. Mickey missing what looked like THE chance just before he scored and me thinking he’d blown it, ONE MINUTE McMahon? Bet it feels like ONE YEAR every time you happen to see that clip or highlights of the game.
John Aldridge being a stroppy bastard at the end.
Cynic. Last minute and Mickey Thomas passing back to Lukic. That does seem weird now.
Great post H. I’m sure that any Arsenal fan that is old enough to remember that glorious evening will remember exactly where they were. Exactly who they were with and how they celebtated. The Brian Moore commentary still makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It was just a glorious evening.
I loved Michael Thomas as a player but always felt that he underachieved with us. For some reason I expected him to dominate our midfield for 10 years plus. Still, he will always have legendary status and he is responsible for one of the biggest hangovers I have ever had.
In other news…….
Happy Anniversary Tottenham Hotspur
50 years ago today, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club of Middlesex became a North London club.
On April 1st 1965, the Municipal Borough of Tottenham, within the County of Middlesex, which White Hart Lane sits within, was abolished and combined with other districts in the area to create the London Borough of Haringey under the London government Act 1963.
This jurisdiction change created a rivalry with London’s existing North London club, Arsenal, who had resided in the Metropolitan Borough of Islington, within the County of London before the boundary changes, for 52 years. Up until 1965, Arsenal were the only London Club. In fact, Arsenal were London’s first Football Club, having originated in the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, also in the County of London (and not the County of Kent as some think).
Arsenal did not protest about Tottenham becoming a North London rival, despite the move creating two clubs in the same area, and potentially damaging Arsenal’s London fan base.
Up until this point, North London was Red. Since this point, North London is Red.
So to our little sister up the Road, Happy Anniversary.
Cheers, ‘H. Just backdrank on this and 4 other posts, all great posts in their own rights. Good to see most of one’s old and not so old favourites still contributing on a regular basis and the bar generally waxing stronger. I did notice nurse ABB has been absent for quite a while now, hoping all is well with her & hers wherever she may be. Up The Arse!
Les – I have found myself thinking DON’T PICK IT UP! when watching that game. I miss the good old days of frequent and plentiful back passes to run down the clock.
Great piece Holic! I will always remember that moment in time.
Always brings a smile to my face, especially when I see Liverpool pundits try to downplay it in the media 😀
Great piece, holic. I didn’t know for arsenal in 1989, so have learned (so often) the history of our fine club. Thank you.
And, what the heck, if you don’t mind: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cFo1eyWbTtc
That should read (here, so often).
Heh@14!
Cynic, there are quite strict regulations about the lights at football grounds so I would assume that the LED lights that will be installed at the Emirates have very little resemblance to the street lights where you live.
Just a reminder why I am glad Skrtel is not playing against us this weekend..here he is doing his stuff to my friend whom I played football with during Czech Republic – Slovakia friendly two days ago http://media.sport.cz/images/top_foto1/0000006909990564/ybuVO5fYjwbFMdyNx4CT3A/551ce5a831fdd36586c90200-194143.jpg?20150402084602
Great piece H. Michael Thomas was a great servant to the club and that Anfield goal is a wonderful recurring memory. I have seen him at THOF occasionally and I do believe that he is also a fan.
Steve T @14 – another great piece. I did not know that the Marshdwellers only joined the metropolis in 1965. Their difficulty to cope with the pressures of urban existence must explain their lack of success since the move. Once a bumpkin…..
If you’re being rotated with David Hillier then you know that you’re time is up – shame really as Mickey was a very decent player although not up with Davis or Rocky.
That picture shows little Stevie Nicol as the last Pool defender. He is a regular pundit on ESPN and hates Arsenal. I reminded him a while ago that it was over 25 years ago, he lost and he should get over it. Despite these words of advice he still hates us.
UTA.
Steve T – nice one. That’s news to me.
CoR,
Liverpool ‘pundits’ have been trying, and failing, to get over that night for a touch over 25 years. The presence of so many of them on BT Sport is the main reason I won’t have anything to do with it. Their continuing bitterness and sniping at The Arsenal at every opportunity is way beyond a joke.
What a fabulous post for any fan to read.
As Steve said, its one of those iconic moments in time when you remember where you were watching it.
My abiding memory of that game is towards the end when Steve McMahon was holding up his fingers to his fellow Liverpool players denoting that there were only a few minutes left to play and to maintain concentration………priceless.
Seems rather apt given the weekend ahead of us. If we beat Liverpool this weekend I think we’ll more or less have assured CL footie for next season by opening a 9 point gap. From their perspective they simply have to win. So we’re going to need complete focus. Its a massive game.
Joe,
ONE finger, ONE minute.
That’s what made it so special / funny* (* delete as appropriate)
I mean, can you imagine a team not having to concede a goal for just ONE minu ……. Oh dear !
🙂 🙁 * (* delete as appropriate)
Massive indeed, Joe. We have put ourselves in a really good position for the run-in, but so far it is nothing more than a good position. Saturday is a hugely pivotal fixture for both us and them, and I really hope we can come up with the goods and win this one.
“One finger, ONE minute” Indeed Trev heh..!
That always gets me 🙂
And while I believe that ‘Pool earned some revenge years later when Michael Owen pilfered the FA Cup against an Arsenal side that were so superior that Titi recently said they should have won by 9 or 10 – it pales by comparison to the winning the league in that fashion in ’89.
Lars,
I just hope we turn up. I don’t think there’s a solitary single Liverpool player that would make this Arsenal side including “Raheem-the-dream-Sterling”. And that in some way is testament to how they’ve managed to hang in there. For me y’know, Rodgers has done more to prove himself this season than last when they relied so heavily on the form of Suarez. It’ll take a good performance to beat them – but if we do, we’ll have taken a giant step towards CL footie for next season.
Great memories Guv’nor.
I had taken a group of kids to Legoland with my brother- in – law in the days before Europe showed more English football than we did. I heard the result on the Radio Four news at 10 o’clock and sole all the kids up. When I saw the game back I still almost didn’t believe we’d do it.
Awesome stuff as was Steve’s post.
I’m just waiting to go to Portugal with a couple of Spurs supporters who will love this( not) !
Happy Easter to all Holics !
Joe, I definitely agree we’re the better side overall and should win this so like you say, let’s hope we turn up. It’s always tricky with these bloody interlulls though to know where the team stands.
ttg – It’s dreadfully bad etiquette, and I offer sincere apologies, but I feel as one almost equally guilty, I may ask you this…
Second paragraph, second sentence: you “… sole all the kids up”. Sole? It’s get me beaten.
COYG
Cheers for that mate. Loved Mickey Thomas (and Paul Davis). And that night was my 29th birthday. What a fucking night! And we’ll do those scouse cunts again on Saturday. And I’ll be there to see it, with me laddo.
CANT.
FUCKING.
WAIT.
I assumed Ttg ‘sold’ his kids, Pangloss, so he could afford the trip to Portugal. Right Thunder? 😉
Öskar
Here’s one for Alan Davies, Arsenal fanatic, QI resident panellist and questionable Aristotle authority … http://play.bbc.co.uk/play/pen/gr8yqyl8c4
Can YOU pick the Arsene quotes from Aristotle’s? For the record I scored 3/11! And one of those was a pure guess… 🙁
Öskar
If Wenger is worried about Theo Walcott’s confidence, perhaps he should have continued picking him when he was scoring goals after he came back from injury, instead of dropping him, hinting about problems with his contract in public, criticising him indirectly by talking about players who can’t defend can’t play and so on.
This is not to say Theo should be playing, but if there’s a confidence problem who helped to cause it?
End of Theoblog 😉
OTD and Pangloss-soleing the kids is an olde English custom rarely seen nowadays mainly because ……it doesn’t mean anything. Whether it’s predictive text or just plain bad typing I meant ‘ woke’.
I tried to stifle a yell because it was 11 o’clock there but winning the league again after 18 years was just too exciting! I’m afraid four sleepy children, several of whom were at least Gooners were woken by my raucous roar of celebration from another adjoining room and we very nearly ended up in the bar.
Sanity prevailed as I did not want a report back to Mrs TTG which suggested I got four sleeping children up to go drinking late at night. And you bet someone would have spilt the beans! Pathetic I know but what an evening that was!
oskar, that was fun. thanks for pointing it out.
Real football must be imminent again ‘cos Theo Walcott is back in the bar.
I know it’s not the way of the world with the present day footballer to be frateful and realistic but, if he were, I think Theo would not be embroiled in contract haggling again,
It seems no time at all since the last round of bargaining, when Arsenal had their meat and two veg uncomfortably squeezed by the young man tbreatening to leave, were his demands for around £100,000 per week not met.
Since then, after a very promising three or four months, he has resumed his rightful place in the treatment room for around a year, and come back into the side looking like professional football is something of an unfamiliar concept to him.
Let’s be generous and say his attitude is the result of concerns over his fitness. If, however, that is the case, then he should limit himself to training until he has rediscovered the confidence in his body to play properly.
As one who has suffered recurrent serious injuries, I honestly hope he can. In his present state he is of very little use to the team.
Ok folks, time to reawake and be interested again.
Blasted touch screen keyboard – frateful = grateful. 🙁
Personally Trev, I just try to watch only non-English streams to get away from the nonstop bitterness!
French, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, anything is better to listen to than the biased and imbecilic English commentary that gets served up on a regular basis.
Non-English live streaming, and Arsenal.com replays/highlights is the recipe for a happy gooner lifestyle 😀
Trev, Trev, Trev … enough about Theo already.
Öskar
Cynic & Trev: I doubt any manager would provide this much public support and vote of confidence to a player returning from a very severe injury and in the middle of contract negotiation:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/02/theo-walcott-england-arsene-wenger?CMP=share_btn_tw
[ “I don’t worry about Theo because he’s not completely there yet and I told you that a few times,” Wenger said. “He has been out for a year with a very bad injury and he’s coming back. But being exposed like that, people have a harsh judgment on him that is not deserved because he does well. For me, he is on course to come back but he’s not completely there.”
Despite admitting Walcott can be sensitive, Wenger is not overly concerned about the Italy game having an adverse effect. “He is not fragile mentally, he is strong mentally,” the manager said. “But he is disappointed because when you come back you always think you are ready.
“He needs patience. He is at the moment not in his best mood. He is not a fragile type. He has big confidence in himself and he has gone through some difficult periods in his life and he has always come out with strength.” ]
Whatever happens with Theo’s career at Arsenal will happen (I hope he will stay), but to say that Arsene has somehow ever contributed to Theo’s confidence problem doesn’t, as they say, quite ‘compute’.
CoR @ 40: Here in US for the last couple of seasons of PL the commentators employed by NBC Sports have mostly been tolerable and their in-house analysis teams (half-time experts etc.) more level-headed and not entirely without merit.
Speaking of which, I don’t know whether viewers in Europe can hear them, but the Phil Schoen (a big Arsenal supporter) and Ray Hudson duo who now commentate for beIN sports (used to be regular features in GolTV) for all their faults — Hudson’s over-the-top verbal flourishes can be unbearable if you are not in the mood, though Phil’s more pragmatic style provides a nice balance — demonstrate a depth of understanding for the technical subtleties and knowledge of the history of the game that is not easily matched by any PL commentary teams.
‘Holic: Wonderful post for a wonderful memory. And every time I hear Brian Moore, I realize how much better a commentator he was than most of the muppets you get doing the job today.
Trev@8: Cheers.
Steve T@14: Send the neighbours back to where they belong. Support the Association of British Counties, dedicated to honouring the 92 historic counties of the U.K. http://abcounties.com.
Dr F@43: Fill you boots with Ray Hudson: http://hudsonia.blogspot.co.uk. A tribute blog to the commentator who has “a unique ability to coin phrases that defy both logic and belief”.
summer solstice today
good friday is it ?
my feckin arse it is
I’m thirsty already
bloody priests
oh and howdy ‘holic and howdy ‘holics
ya smug heathen buggers
taunting me with yer open bars and offys
ya shower !
Slurp!
Yer aye dribblin’, Z. 🙂
This reminds me of Fever Pitch the movie, all the acts and then that final moment when its Thomasssssssssssssssssssssss, sheer ecstasy watching the movie so i can very well imagine how it must be watching the real game.
Tomorrow offers one more chance for us to perform in a big game. We have had mixed results in such games this season and the corresponding fixture was one where we played poorly, should have won yet conceived to draw.
Arsenal need to turn up for the game tomorrow. Early kickoffs have left bitter taste in the mouth and the international break was at the worst time for us, for it spoiled the whole momentum. I do believe that with all our first 11 playing till mid week, the chances of a jaded performance could be the order of the day, hopefully not.
Theo will get his chance tomorrow and he needs to remember each game now on is a scrutiny, whether he likes it or not.
Gabriel or Per? Per i believe will start but against a pacey forward line up of sturridge and sterling, i rather have Gabriel starting.
Arsenal need to have a go at their full backs and have someone tracking coutinho and henderson.
This will be a close game but if we get our pace and movement, that defense can be conquered. COYG.
Oskar @41,
My thoughts exactly, the whole time I was typing it.
Blame Cynic though – he started it.
I agree with almost everything he writes and love his humour but I just couldn’t help myself. We have, after all, won six league games on the trot while conceding just three goals so the criticism seemed a bit strange.
No further word from me though. Promise.
ah pull yer neck in trev
ya neck puller
as our lord and master always says
the ‘holicnation is a broad oul churchy unit
lard yourselves up and wrestle it out like men
Trev v Cynic
THE MAIN EVENT
.
slurp indeed zico ya wee blert !
grrrrrrrrrr
😉
What’s with this Oirish law about serving drink on Good Friday? I had never heard of this. Is it new? It’s very anti-craicish.
Not denying Cynic his opinion, cba.
Don’t think my comment was at all aggressive.
How’s your own neck doing ?
Lard up, cba? Where’s Carlos with his wax when you need him?
ye can all feck the fuck off
.
i am but a humble lad
bereft of beer
.
*lines the beers up on the bar for cba*
You never should have ditched your Druids. These guys knew how to party.
*presses nose against ‘holic’s window*
Ah me, the Raheem Sterling story does me good in so many ways…
So, we start off with a load of stories about how Arsenal “are interested” in buying the player’s contract off Liverpoo. These aren’t supposed to sow discontent amongst the Arsenal support, nor do they do so. Oh dear me no, they don’t.
Then we get a load more stories about how the player isn’t unsettled at Liverpoo, how he’s just considering his future, how this isn’t all just intended to strengthen his hand in contract negotiations, and how the club wouldn’t accept any offers for him at all. Absolutely. None. Not at any price.
Today’s rumour is that Chelski are interested and would, presumably, be happy to outbid all comers should Sterling, against all the odds, become available. (I see there’s also a story that Kolo Tour&eactute; is advising him not to go to Manchester ¢iti – I must have overlooked the rumours that he was Middle Eastlands-bound.)
It’s nostalgic watching a team being unsettled by transfer rumours and I must congratulate Liverpoo on getting there, this time around, without going through a period of sustained success first.
And finally: If the “worst” happens and Sterling does in fact leave Liverpoo, they will have to look for another promising new English striker. If only there were one around, a darling of the press who has enjoyed a good first season in the Premier League.
What’s not to like?
COYG
No worries at all, Trev, I just found it an odd thing to appear to be blaming the England game for “damaging” him when the damage, if there even has been any, was done before this week.
Said what I wanted to, moving on and all is cool.
cba – Lard up? I’m a vegetarian (at least in spirit if not reality). Can’t we use swarfega?
NBN @ 44: Thanks a lot. The blogger had stopped sometimes in 2009 … but an amusing collection.
Just look at today’s training pictures on Arsenal web-site. All outfield players — except Ox who is yet to recuperate from that hamstring injury suffered at ManU — in action!
That is a mighty fucking squad, and may this trend of rude health and fitness continue in all the years to come.
Right, then… we have talked about the importance of the game tomorrow but looking at the bigger picture, how much will we need to finish where? Well, these are the remaining fixtures for the teams from second to seventh:
CITY (61 pts, +34)
Palace (a)
ManU (a)
WHUFC (h)
Villa (h)
Spurs (a)
QPR (h)
Swansea (a)
Soton (h)
ARSENAL (60 pts, +27)
LFC (h)
Burnley (a)
Chelsea (h)
Hull (a)
Swansea (h)
ManU (a)
Sunderland (h)
WBA (h)
MAN U (59 pts, +25)
Villa (h)
City (h)
Chelsea (a)
Everton (a)
WBA (h)
Palace (a)
Arsenal (h)
Hull (a)
LIVERPOOL (54 pts, +12)
Arsenal (a)
Newcastle (h)
Hull (a)
WBA (a)
QPR (h)
Chelsea (a)
Palace (h)
Stoke (a)
SOUTHAMPTON (53 pts, +21)
Everton (a)
Hull(h)
Stoke (a)
Spurs (h)
Sunderland (a)
Leicester (a)
Villa (h)
City (a)
SPURS (53 pts, +5)
Burnley (a)
Villa (h)
Newcastle (a)
Soton (a)
City (h)
Stoke (a)
Hull (h)
Everton (a)
In terms of the fixture lists, you could argue that it’s pretty much even Steven for all six teams. Liverpool have five of eight away from home, but only Chelsea have won more away games than Liverpool have so that may not be much of an issue for them. Tottenham also have 5/8 away from home but they too have been about as good away as they have been at home so not too much of an issue for them either. There is, however, a rather huge difference for ManU who have won 15 points more at home than away and their remaining away games are not that easy. Chelsea, Everton and Palace can beat anyone at home on their day which only leaves Hull as an “easy” away fixture. And two of their home games are v us and City. That said, they have (annoyingly enough) found some really good form lately.
Liverpool and Tottenham do, however, have a bit of a problem with their goal differences. Their +12 and +5 effectively means teams around them have one more point at this stage.
So where does that leave everything? Not really sure, to be honest. I am not going to try to predict individual games, but let’s look at the maximum possible points for teams currently behind us:
ManU 83
Liverpool 78
Soton 77
Spurs 77
Like anyone who knows their basic arithmetics already knew from looking at the current points totals, we need a minimum of 18 from the available 24 points to be sure to finish in the top four, assuming Liverpool don’t also make up the 15 goal deficit they have on us. But will we need to win six? Well, I’d be a bit surprised if we did but looking at the fixtures above I’d say it wouldn’t surprise me if we need five wins to keep at least three of those teams behind us. And if ManU keep up their recent form we will probably need at least six wins to finish third.
Anyway, typing this up has provided me with some therapy for the game tomorrow. I am already quite nervous and while I think it is a game we really should win you never know how teams react to these bloody interlulls. I really, really want us to win it and won’t be happy with anything less than three points – but if the game is tied with less than ten to play then I expect us to be a bit clever and don’t throw men forward unless we really have a good opportunity to hit them on the break. A draw would not be a great result for us but it would be far, far better for us than for Liverpool.
Right, pints on the bar for anyone who didn’t fall asleep reading this probably rather dull and incoherent drink 🙂
Lars @ 62: Good one. However Spurs and Southampton both cannot mathematically win all of their remaining matches.
If we win 5 matches (and at least one draw) and don’t lose to ManU or Pool I think we will get the 3rd spot. To get 2nd I think we will need to win at least seven if not all eight.
The smile that only friends can prompt 🙂
Faustus, it is true that Totnum and Soton will take points off each other (I did in fact have a bit on that but deleted it to shorten to post somewhat) but one of the two can still reach 77 points which is the main bit.
Neither dull nor incoherent Lars – on the contrary a great piece of analysis that certainly simplifies matters for non-mathematical personable types like me 🙂
Be nice to get 3rd, although with Citeh’s form being so poor, I would be disappointed if we didn’t secure 2nd if we can sustain current form. A win tomorrow would certainly be the right way to start that. And while I know there are many mathematical permutations, I honestly feel that if we beat Liverpool tomorrow its a serious nail in their CL ambitions leaving them to depend heavily on others taking points from Manu.
However – having spent the last few hours driving and listening to the ever excellent arsecast, Amy Lawrence makes a superb point in this context also: beating Liverpool and Chelski in the coming games at home would define this season as real progress in terms of team development considering we’ve already beaten the Mancs. It puts to bed the notion that we’re flat track bullies.
And with the latest quartet back from injury – this squad is even deeper again. Did we ever think at the start of the season – that there would be no room for Jack Wiltshire in a first 11? As unfortunate as that may be for Jack – isn’t it great from the panels / managers / fans perspective? One or two more additions, and I think this panel will rival any team in Europe.
It is of course “Wilshere”. I always get that wrong.
Cheers, Joe 🙂
Good point about Jack. We do have some depth if only we could keep players fit more often. I don’t know for sure if it’s true but apparently (someone on Twitter said so) this is the first time since 2005/6 that we’ve had the entire first team squad in training an not a single player in the treatment room. If true then that’s really astonishing.
King Lewin is dead !
Long live King Forsythe !
It’s a bit odd actually as I just heard AW saying that he has some injury problems for tomorrow !
Booo ! Kill the King !
Lars @ 65 — That was just an attack of the redundant pedantic who is always somewhere, especially when one doesn’t need him. Didn’t mean to imply your analysis was any less valid because of the mathematical discrepancy. 🙂
Joe @ 66 — You could be very well right but I doubt City will show the kind of inconsistency in their remaining games that they had in recent times. The whole CL saga out of the way — they had genuine aspirations of moving into the later stages of Europe for the first time this year — and a match a week focus, they have a deep enough squad of seasoned professionals to get them close to the maximum remaining points. However I am certain that if we manage to win at least seven of our remaining games we are likely to get the 2nd position. The next two matches would be crucial for City — Palace and ManU away, both exhibiting great home form.
We had beaten Liverpool twice at home last season, Suarez and all. Except for that noble seppuku act away at Anfield last year our record agains them in recent times is pretty solid, and especially so at home.
A Chelsea team managed by Moaninho is a different matter altogether. Whatever be the reasons — including Arsene losing his cool in game preparations and allowing his heart to rule over his head, hard to imagine but not impossible — the fact we have not beaten Chelsea with their manager spewing greenish miasma on the touchlines remains an unpleasant record in violent need of being overturned.
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