chicago_shearer

I will definitely be watching.  There is a 1% chance of a truly epic victory, and a 99% chance of a bumming so brutal and comprehensive that it will put me off this entire sordid business for the rest of the season.  Win/win in a sense.

Can one of the "it'll never happen" crowd explain to me a plausible scenario for staying up, because I just don't see it. 

Can't really grumble too much with Hughton.

 

He's out of his depth, he's not a manager.

You can't sack players.  If we blame this all on Hughton then we can pretend that we are only one interim manager away from survival.

No changes How can you not change things when we were THAT bad?

There aren't many changes I can think of that would be an obvious improvement (except hauling Ameobi off).

He's got the brains but not the legs.

But at least he's big in Japan.

Wouldn't it be great if Nacho turned out to be good?

 

http://www.football-shirts.co.uk/fans/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/2009manchesterunitedhome.jpg

Like that

 

The yank style invasion begins.

If that is the Yank invasion then sign Newcastle up.  The alternative seems to be a world of adidas/umbro Eurotrash kits made out of bin liner and fixed with zippers.  Nike don't mess around, just clean designs.  Adidas, on the other hand, will probably come up with some new and innovative way to cock up what should be the easiest thing in the world, black & white stripes.

40 will do it.  And we will be lucky to get that.

villa away on the last day of the season could end up being a crucial game for both sides.

Or it could be a meaningless non-event, the perfect opportunity to give Vukic and Ranger a run out as we casually reflect on the crucial away victories against Bolton & Hull and home draws against the top 4 sides that secured our Premiership status. 

We've got Fulham, Boro and Portsmouth to play at home. We'll survive.

 

If we lose atleast four of our next five, and the Villa game too - that little cluster might need to be nine points minimum.

 

It's gonna be so very f***ing tight.

So we go into the last 3 games of the season needing 6 points to survive?  No thanks.  If you don't mind I think I'd prefer to win a few in the mean time. 

I'm satisfied because there's plenty of positives to take from it. God forbid a bit of positivity; that's three games on the bounce we haven't lost. :cooleyes:

 

That said, four points at the least should really be gotten from the next two games.

 

fyp

Have you seen who we are playing in the second one?

Amazing to see you all so positive as if we've done something brilliant.

 

 

You all have such low expectations

If we don't lose, we don't go down.  That is all that matters.

If you estimate that you need 40 points to stay up, then we need to average a point a game.  If we can beat Bolton, that gives us some margin for error against the top 4 sides we have yet to play.  I'm still up around 6 or 7 on the Relegationometer because I've suspected since around Christmas that our Premiership status is going to depend on our last three games - specifically Boro & Fulham at home.

I've been very down on the quality of this team all year, but if you can keep Bassong, Jonas, Oba and Lovenkrands in the team until May with a fit again Guthrie, keep RTaylor providing those really good set pieces, maybe get a few games out of Viduka and Owen or Barton....that isn't a bad team really. 

And a big pat on the back for Hughton too.  Excellent use of the subs, had the team looking confident and composed after the break.

This morning a draw would have been an OK result, in the context of the match it is very good.  Everton were poor, but who cares.  Verdict:  not unhappy.

I love Bassong.  But not as much as Jonas.

Well if we lose this then you can't blame Hughton.  Fair play.

             Oba

  Jonas              Love

        Butt  Raylor

 

With fullbacks overlapping as Saylor is good down the flank please

Won't happen though. 

Martins and Gutierrez can change this game

Houghton waiting far too long to make the changes IMO.

Happy Birthday Sir Bobby!  :clap:

Sometimes you just have to laugh at how s*** our squad is.

In midfield, yes.  But the really depressing thing is how predictable this was.  Anyone with any sense could see this coming in August.  It isn't as if we signed a bunch of midfield stars and they turned out to be shit or broke their legs.  In June we knew that Butt & Geremi were not going to hack it in this league and we knew that Barton's off the field issues (as in, being in prison all summer and likely to be suspended) were going to be a big factor.  And the guys in charge decided to sign Danny Guthrie.  Which is not to say he isn't a OK player, but when you sign a player from the bottom 5 or 6 (I'm considering him a Bolton player since he didn't really play regularly for Liverpool) then you can hardly expect this to improve the squad.

If I could ask Dennis Wise one question, it would be that.  Why did we go into the season with our central midfield options being 2 old age pensioners, Danny Guthrie and a bloke in prison for attacking teenagers in a McDonalds?  Exactly when did he realize that he might have made a mistake?

Smith is winning because he is suffering from Emre syndrome - drop out of the team for enough time and people forget how average or poor you really are and pretend otherwise.

 

Bit harsh on Emre.  He at least had some ability... could dribble, pick a pass and score the odd goal.  Just was never fit...

 

Smith can't do any of these things.

I agree, I'm not trying to compare the two in terms of ability.  I'm just saying that we tend to forget or ignore the weaknesses of players that disappear for a few months. 

Smith is winning because he is suffering from Emre syndrome - drop out of the team for enough time and people forget how average or poor you really are and pretend otherwise.

http://i41.tinypic.com/2v0ixjd.jpg

Terrible.  Looks like something professional cyclists would wear. 

Think carefully before you post, this thread is at a crossroads.

Does it become another boring argument between boring people with way too much time and energy on their hands, or does it become a thread celebrating fit women in lingerie.  I vote for option 2.