Since Rene Meulensteen has come in, we've played 4, won 1, lost 3, we've also had 4 positive performances in which is perhaps deserved more than what we actually got.
We're 17 games into the season, meaning we have 21 games still to play. If we carry on playing how we have, we should pick up wins against the teams around us, as we did against Aston Villa.
For long periods of today, we dominated Manchester City, the best team in the league, and you probably couldn't argue that we didn't deserve a point, that shows how well we played today.
Reasons why we'll stay up:
- Individual quality; I don't think any of the teams around us has the individual talent we have. (Taarabt, Dejagah, Berbatov, Kasami, Ruiz) these are players that can change football matches. From 13th-20th, I can name 2 at most for each team barring us that has a player capable of winning a game on their own.
- Bigger January transfer budget; I'm fairly certain Shahid Khan and Alistair MacIntosh know that spending to stay up will cost a lot less than going down. Mr Khan can now open his chequebook to back Rene Meulensteen and the club in order to help us pick up points, and the imminent loan signing of Clint Dempsey is a possible statement of intent for a busy January.
- Performances; We've played more difficult opposition than the teams around us since Meulensteen's arrival but have probably played better than anyone from 13th downwards. Aston Villa have looked really poor, as have West Brom, Norwich and West Ham. As I said above, if we played against any of the teams around us as we did today and in recent weeks, chances are we pick up 3 points.
Reasons why we'll go down:
Ageing central midfield; Although the performances are there, we need fresher legs in there but with more experience than Pajtim Kasami. A 26 year old Giorgos Karagounis would be huge, it's where we most needed to improve in January.
Injury to Brede Hangeland; I'm confident that we'll be ok during the Christmas/New Years period against the teams behind us, but I can't help but feel we would look more solid and organised than we have done with our captain back in the side. His form before injury was below par, but let's be honest, whose wasn't? I think under Rene's regime, he would be a vital cog in the centre of defence.
Goals from elsewhere; Perhaps this is where Clint Dempsey comes into it? Only four Fulham players have scored more than one Premier League goal this season (Berbatov, Bent, Kasami and Sidwell), which becomes even more ludicrous when you think Fulham have scored 16 goals this season and Suarez scored 19, Aguero 13 and Yaya Toure 9. We're creating better chances, but we need goals and hopefully Clint Dempsey can help us out with it, even if only for two months.
There are reasons as to why we could go down, but I'm not worried, I think we should wait for the next 3/4 weeks and the culmination of the January transfer window before we get to the true nitty-gritty of the Premier League.
