I want to vote that we should be aiming high, but I don't want to be part of a voting unit that appears to think that we will be top 4 so I refrain from voting.
I am in the same boat.
This is definitely the positive-mentality from a player who has been successful. It's good to set goals which are high, but not unrealistic.
I scoffed at a comment on here a few days ago. It was something along the lines of "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it". I didn't scoff through malice, but more along the lines of the said person obviously not being in attendance when I won my first pub darts competition, which was purely throw & hope. :lol:
We should be aiming high, but at this time we can't realisticaly achieve a top four finish.
The problem with a comment like this is that it gets certain people 'all juiced up' and when we aren't 3-0 up after twenty minutes of the next home game they start moaning and slagging off the players.
As Eggy found out, 'expectation management' is an important skill when dealing with the new breed of West Ham fans.
carnage wrote:I'd sooner hear this than the usual from Curbs "Lets do our best and see where it takes us" malarky he usually trots out.
But that's not what he has said most recently. He has said we should aim for a European place.
Anyway, some WHU supporters seem to find it so hard to keep a realistic control over their expectations that setting a target of reaching Europe would leave them moaning if it wasn't achieved. Even if it was, I bet some would moan that it wasn't done in the 'traditional WHU way', 'let's get rid of Curbishly', 'I'd rather lose playing attractive football than win being efficient' blah blah blah.
Nevertheless Freddie is right saying we should aim high.
Also remember (1) he sees stuff on the training ground that we don't (2) he definitely knows what it takes to get into the top four. Maybe he's seen something we haven't and thinks we can go on a run. We were mighty unlucky not to win both matches at City (with their vaunted home record), especially the second match
"To do it (qualify for Europe) we will have to catch at least one of the clubs who were in joint fourth on Saturday morning," he urged.
"So if you close the gap on one of them, why not all of them?
I like a bit of positive thinking, and this is a good thing he's brought with him from Cashburden Grove, but it doesn't make much sense. Yes, Liverpool or City might drop enough points for us to catch them. But Liverpool, City, Villa AND Everton are not all going to get 8 points fewer than us, and even if they did, Pompey and Blackburn would still probably be above us.
Same with relegation: one or two from Sunderland, Birmingham and Wigan might catch us. Not all three, through. And even if they did, Bolton or Boro would be going down instead of us.
Only a Spuds fan would be deluding themselves about finishing 4th from this position.
devonshire flu wrote:
I like a bit of positive thinking, and this is a good thing he's brought with him from Cashburden Grove, but it doesn't make much sense. Yes, Liverpool or City might drop enough points for us to catch them. But Liverpool, City, Villa AND Everton are not all going to get 8 points fewer than us, and even if they did, Pompey and Blackburn would still probably be above us.
Same with relegation: one or two from Sunderland, Birmingham and Wigan might catch us. Not all three, through. And even if they did, Bolton or Boro would be going down instead of us.
That relegation scenario is completely different to the one we are in. The teams above us only have to drop 5 to 7 points, and they could ALL easily do that.
In all sincerity, the fourth place is up for grabs. Liverpool will probably pull away, but Everton, Citeh and perhaps Villa are in with a shout. A really good run could make things interesting.
MS in the West wrote:
But that's not what he has said most recently. He has said we should aim for a European place.
Anyway, some WHU supporters seem to find it so hard to keep a realistic control over their expectations that setting a target of reaching Europe would leave them moaning if it wasn't achieved. Even if it was, I bet some would moan that it wasn't done in the 'traditional WHU way', 'let's get rid of Curbishly', 'I'd rather lose playing attractive football than win being efficient' blah blah blah.
Nevertheless Freddie is right saying we should aim high.
Also remember (1) he sees stuff on the training ground that we don't (2) he definitely knows what it takes to get into the top four. Maybe he's seen something we haven't and thinks we can go on a run. We were mighty unlucky not to win both matches at City (with their vaunted home record), especially the second match
I think it's possible to aim high without expecting high. Credit to Freddie for having some ambition, but it doesn't mean we should all be expecting great things from now on. I think we should just be pleased that we have players who are thinking big and take it from there.
rare as rockinghorse shat wrote:
I want to vote that we should be aiming high, but I don't want to be part of a voting unit that appears to think that we will be top 4 so I refrain from voting.
I have just got back to the Hotel after watching the Seattle Sounders get beaten by the Portland Something's & loads of people had a " 10 Ljungberg " Shirt on costing a whooping $89.99 USD in the Club Shop..