CFC Match/Match Comparison 2010-11/2011-12: -4pts
71-4 = 67 points
Chelsea Blip-O-Meter reading: 9.5
The Blip-O-Meter has slipped out of the Red Zone – just.
Had we failed to beat Bolton I fear we may have witnessed another execution.
Still, a solo romp forward by an accident-prone central defender often criticised for his failure to maintain his position, a goal from a corner that was ably assisted by the Bolton player allegedly “on the post” attempting to do so while standing outside of the goal mouth and a third from Lampard late against a deflated side, is not up there among the things that inspired the ancient poets.
But it is a reprieve.
I’m sure Abramović doesn’t really want to sack Villas-Boas. He’s already sacked rather too many managers for the long-term good of the team.
But lose to Napoli (as looks likely) and fail to win the next three domestic games (WBA, Birmingham & Stoke) and the Blip-O-Meter will be well and truly back in the Red Zone.
Nothing in the last decade suggests that Abramović is the patient type…
Unfortunately, it appears that everything now revolves around the UCL.
In the 21st century football business model, a domestic league is simply some “volume” to fill the stadium’s production line, it covers some overheads so they can viably produce the “Premium” niche product the proprietor puts his heart into (This really happens).
It’s a contractual obligation that has to be fulfilled (often with the enthusiasm seen in later Band LPs – now there was genuine talent going through the motions).
UCL money floats the boat.
Players want to compete in it.
Corporates want to watch it.
Managements want to get their snouts into its trough.
In our case, the owner wants to win it.
And to win it you’ve got to be in it.
That means fourth is the minimum acceptable outcome, André.
As pointed out before, the table below demonstrates, the highest number of points finishing fifth this century is 67 and the lowest number of points earning fourth place is 60, therefore 68 points should equate to fourth place and UCL football, albeit with a potentially tricky UCL qualifier next season.
Premier League Top Fives 2001/02 – 2010/1
1 87, 83, 90, 95, 91, 89, 87, 90, 86, 80
2 80, 78, 79, 83, 83, 83, 85, 86, 85, 71
3 77, 69, 75, 77, 82, 68, 83, 83, 75, 71
4 71, 67, 60, 61, 67, 68, 76, 72, 70, 68
5 66, 64, 56, 58, 65, 60, 65, 63, 67, 62
There remain 18 points available to us that we failed to obtain last season.
They include Saturday’s visit to The Hawthorns.
If we manage to pick up half of them (say: beat WBA, Villa, Fulham & Newcastle) and only drop some (fixture-against-fixture) with say, a draw against Spurs (I’ll wash my mouth out with soapy water) we could end up with about 74-points.
Which should deliver fourth – possibly third – without needing to beat Man City, Liverpool or Arsenal. Pick up some points from those games and third is definitely on the cards.
And André could yet save his job.
That makes this weekend very important.
Posted by Steve Symmons
| Match | Available | 11/12 | GF | GA | GD | 10/11 | GF | GA | GD | Par | PtsYTD | GFYTD | GAYTD | GDYTD |
| Stoke (a) | 2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | = | = | -1 | -1 | = |
| WBA (h) | 2-1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6-0 | 7 | 1 | 6 | = | = | -5 | = | -5 | |
| Norwich (Blackpool) (h) | 3-1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4-0 | 11 | 1 | 10 | = | = | -6 | +1 | -7 | |
| Sunderland (a) | 2-1 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4-2 | 15 | 3 | 12 | = | = | -8 | = | -8 | |
| Man Utd (a) | 3 | 1-3 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1-2 | 16 | 5 | 11 | = | = | -8 | +1 | -9 |
| Swansea (West Ham) (h) | 4-1 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 3-0 | 19 | 5 | 14 | = | = | -7 | +2 | -9 | |
| Bolton (a) | 5-1 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 4-0 | 23 | 5 | 18 | = | = | -6 | +3 | -9 | |
| Everton (h) | 2 | 3-1 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 1-1 | 24 | 6 | 18 | +2 | +2 | -4 | +3 | -7 |
| QPR (Birmingham) (a) | 3 | 0-1 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0-1 | 24 | 7 | 17 | = | +2 | -4 | +3 | -7 |
| Arsenal (h) | 3-5 | 23 | 15 | 8 | 2-0 | 26 | 7 | 19 | -3 | -1 | -3 | +8 | -11 | |
| Blackburn (a) | 1-0 | 24 | 15 | 9 | 2-1 | 28 | 8 | 20 | = | -1 | -4 | +7 | -11 | |
| Liverpool (h) | 3 | 1-2 | 25 | 17 | 8 | 0-1 | 28 | 9 | 19 | = | -1 | -3 | +8 | -11 |
| Wolves (h) | 3-0 | 28 | 17 | 11 | 2-0 | 30 | 9 | 21 | = | -1 | -2 | +8 | -10 | |
| Newcastle (a) | 2 | 3-0 | 31 | 17 | 14 | 1-1 | 31 | 10 | 21 | +2 | +1 | = | +7 | -7 |
| ManCity (h) | 2-1 | 33 | 18 | 15 | 2-0 | 33 | 10 | 23 | = | +1 | = | +8 | -8 | |
| Wigan (a) | 1-1 | 34 | 19 | 15 | 6-0 | 39 | 10 | 29 | -2 | -1 | -5 | +9 | -14 | |
| Tottenham (a) | 2 | 1-1 | 35 | 20 | 15 | 1-1 | 40 | 11 | 29 | = | -1 | -5 | +9 | -14 |
| Fulham (h) | 1-1 | 36 | 21 | 15 | 1-0 | 41 | 11 | 30 | -2 | -3 | -5 | +10 | -15 | |
| Aston Villa (h) # | 2 | 1-3 | 37 | 24 | 13 | 3-3 | 44 | 14 | 30 | -1 | -4 | -7 | +10 | -17 |
| Wolves (a) | 3 | 2-1 | 39 | 25 | 14 | 0-1 | 44 | 15 | 29 | +3 | -1 | -5 | +10 | -15 |
| Sunderland (h) | 3 | 1-0 | 40 | 25 | 15 | 0-3 | 44 | 18 | 26 | +3 | +2 | -4 | +7 | -11 |
| Norwich (Blackpool) (a) | 0-0 | 40 | 25 | 15 | 3-1 | 47 | 19 | 28 | -2 | = | -7 | +6 | -13 | |
| Swansea (West Ham) (a) | 1-1 | 41 | 26 | 15 | 3-1 | 50 | 20 | 30 | -2 | -2 | -9 | +6 | -15 | |
| Man Utd (h) | 3-3 | 44 | 29 | 15 | 2-1 | 52 | 21 | 31 | -2 | -4 | -8 | +8 | -16 | |
| Everton (a)# | 3 | 0-2 | 44 | 31 | 13 | 0-1 | 52 | 22 | 30 | = | -4 | -8 | +9 | -17 |
| Bolton (h) | 3-0 | 47 | 31 | 16 | 1-0 | 53 | 22 | 31 | = | -4 | -6 | +9 | -15 | |
| WBA (a) | 3 | 1-3 | 54 | 25 | 33 | |||||||||
| Stoke (h) | 2-0 | 56 | 25 | 35 | ||||||||||
| ManCity (a) | 3 | 0-1 | 56 | 26 | 34 | |||||||||
| Tottenham (h) | 2-1 | 58 | 27 | 35 | ||||||||||
| Aston Villa (a) | 2 | 0-0 | 58 | 27 | 35 | |||||||||
| Wigan (h) | 1-0 | 59 | 27 | 36 | ||||||||||
| Fulham (a) | 2 | 0-0 | 59 | 27 | 36 | |||||||||
| Newcastle (h) | 2 | 2-2 | 61 | 29 | 36 | |||||||||
| Arsenal (a) | 3 | 1-3 | 62 | 32 | 34 | |||||||||
| QPR (Birmingham) (h) | 3-1 | 65 | 33 | 36 | ||||||||||
| Liverpool (a) | 3 | 0-2 | 65 | 35 | 34 | |||||||||
| Blackburn (h) | 2-0 | 67 | 35 | 36 | ||||||||||