Is relegation a real possibility?

[Guest Smirky]

Looking at last season stats makes very scary reading

 

Goals Scored

 

1 Chelsea 38 72

 

  2 Man Utd 38 72

 

  3 Arsenal 38 68

 

  4 Liverpool 38 57

 

  5 Tottenham 38 53

 

  6 West Ham 38 52

 

  7 Blackburn 38 51

 

  8 Bolton 38 49

 

  9 Fulham 38 48

 

  10 Middlesbrough 38 48

 

11 Newcastle 38 47

 

  12 Wigan Athletic 38 45

 

  13 Man City 38 43

 

  14 Aston Villa 38 42

 

  15 Charlton 38 41

 

  16 Portsmouth 38 37

 

  17 Everton 38 34

 

  18 West Brom 38 31

 

  19 Birmingham 38 28

 

  20 Sunderland 38 26

 

 

 

Taking into account we have lost Shearer (10 goals) and Owen (7goals), we will be lucky to score more than 35 goals with the present squad, which puts an awful lot of pressure on our defence (which by the way had the 7th best defensive record in the league last year and does not deserve most of the unfounded critisicism it receives)

I know there is another 2 weeks until the close of the transfer window, but **** that - the season starts tomorrow and Im starting to shit myself

 

[Ronaldo]

Looking at last season stats makes very scary reading

 

Goals Scored

 

1 Chelsea 38 72

 

  2 Man Utd 38 72

 

  3 Arsenal 38 68

 

  4 Liverpool 38 57

 

  5 Tottenham 38 53

 

  6 West Ham 38 52

 

  7 Blackburn 38 51

 

  8 Bolton 38 49

 

  9 Fulham 38 48

 

  10 Middlesbrough 38 48

 

11 Newcastle 38 47

 

  12 Wigan Athletic 38 45

 

  13 Man City 38 43

 

  14 Aston Villa 38 42

 

  15 Charlton 38 41

 

  16 Portsmouth 38 37

 

  17 Everton 38 34

 

  18 West Brom 38 31

 

  19 Birmingham 38 28

 

  20 Sunderland 38 26

 

 

 

Taking into account we have lost Shearer (10 goals) and Owen (7goals), we will be lucky to score more than 35 goals with the present squad, which puts an awful lot of pressure on our defence (which by the way had the 7th best defensive record in the league last year and does not deserve most of the unfounded critisicism it receives)

I know there is another 2 weeks until the close of the transfer window, but **** that - the season starts tomorrow and Im starting to shit myself

 

 

wish Mark Lawrenson could see that the next time he goes on about our 'awful defence'

 

but yes it is worrying, we all know we need at least 1  20 goal striker

[M4]

It can quickly become it yeap if we get off to a poor start, the downward spiral sets in.

[Guest Knightrider]

It's a possibility but it won't happen, mid-table beckons however unless we sign some quality in forward positions.

[Toon_Crazy]

Nicky Butt will be the premiership's top scorer this year, no need to worry lads about goals, he has it all covered!

[Cajun]

Im worried about our lack of striking options but I dont think we will get relegated.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Not at all, alot of poor teams compared to us.

[Guest Smirky]

Im worried about our lack of striking options but I dont think we will get relegated.

 

I agree, but are we falling into the "too good to go down" syndrome?

[Raconteur]

Not at all, alot of poor teams compared to us.

 

That's what it comes down to really - we're not in a good way, especially if we don't sign a striker, but there is some real crap below us... And as for thinking we are "too good to go down", well, even our present squad would have to be decimated by injuries AND in poor form for us to come third last in a league containing the likes of Reading, Sheffield United, Watford, Charlton, Fulham, Wigan, Villa, Citeh and Everton...

 

In my opinion, of course...

 

[Ally]

There are 3 teams worse than us, so no.

[wor jackie]

without another striker, we are looking at about finishing 12th. however, get in martins, and we could be looking at finishing higher. we should be aiming at 6th- 5th after last year, but we need firepower for that to happen!

[Montey]

I think relegation is possible but fairly unlikely.  I think a top 5 finish is about as likely as relegation.

 

Finally, I think that finishing in mid-table space is almost a certainty, but that may be well down in the bottom half should one more attacking players pick up an injury at any time during the season.  Its the fact that we just can not sustain an injury to an attacking player, as there are -no- genuine attacking reserve prospects on our books that has me most worried.  An early injury to Ameobi (say in the 1st third of the season) and we're in trouble, an injury to Luque as well and we're in big, big trouble.

[Howaythelads]

It's a possibility but it won't happen, mid-table beckons however unless we sign some quality in forward positions.

 

Complacent, tbh.

 

As it stands we don't have any decent strikers bar the injured Owen, so we will generally struggle to score goals. This is made worse by the lack of creativity from Parker and Emre, resulting in very little threat from midfield either.

 

If Butt is generally included we should get to see whether or not Parker and Emre can offer even a small threat around the opponents penalty area. Personally I doubt they can offer much threat at all, I don't see where the goals are going to come from. Relegation is therefore a possiblity and only a complete fool would ignore it.

 

It all changes if we sign a couple of decent strikers and a creative midfielder to play in the centre with Butt.

[Cajun]

It's a possibility but it won't happen, mid-table beckons however unless we sign some quality in forward positions.

 

Complacent, tbh.

 

As it stands we don't have any decent strikers bar the injured Owen, so we will generally struggle to score goals. This is made worse by the lack of creativity from Parker and Emre, resulting in very little threat from midfield either.

 

If Butt is generally included we should get to see whether or not Parker and Emre can offer even a small threat around the opponents penalty area. Personally I doubt they can offer much threat at all, I don't see where the goals are going to come from. Relegation is therefore a possiblity and only a complete fool would ignore it.

 

It all changes if we sign a couple of decent strikers and a creative midfielder to play in the centre with Butt.

 

We have lost about 17 goals from last season but have Milner who was very creative last season and Duff now in the team. I think we should be safe although I do share your worries that we wont score enough to be a success, i dont think we will score so few we go down.

[Howaythelads]

It's a possibility but it won't happen, mid-table beckons however unless we sign some quality in forward positions.

 

Complacent, tbh.

 

As it stands we don't have any decent strikers bar the injured Owen, so we will generally struggle to score goals. This is made worse by the lack of creativity from Parker and Emre, resulting in very little threat from midfield either.

 

If Butt is generally included we should get to see whether or not Parker and Emre can offer even a small threat around the opponents penalty area. Personally I doubt they can offer much threat at all, I don't see where the goals are going to come from. Relegation is therefore a possiblity and only a complete fool would ignore it.

 

It all changes if we sign a couple of decent strikers and a creative midfielder to play in the centre with Butt.

 

We have lost about 17 goals from last season but have Milner who was very creative last season and Duff now in the team. I think we should be safe although I do share your worries that we wont score enough to be a success, i dont think we will score so few we go down.

 

Let's hope you're right.

 

I see Duff coming in as a creative player in for a creative player out. Zog was excellent at times last season and was definitely more creative than Parker and Emre combined. Milner is just potential, and again, if he plays he's probably taking the place of a fairly creative player in Solano.

[Skirge]

There is a chance we could go down, I would say bigger chance of going down than there is of us getting a top 6 finish.

Its near enough the same squad we had last season and we were nowhere near good enough then.

Okay Duff and Milner are here but whooopidoo we still have the same deffenders!

[Delima]

The Roeder Curse

=============

                1st season - 2nd season

 

Watford          7th          Relegation

West Ham      7th          Relegation

Newcastle      7th          ??

[Guest teepee]

 

Taking into account we have lost Shearer (10 goals) and Owen (7goals), we will be lucky to score more than 35 goals with the present squad

 

 

i've seen this rationalisation before, and must admit i find it bloody hilarious - so we're to take out shearer and owen and replace them with two players who wont score a single goal between them?

 

in all honesty i think we'll score as many as last term, but that is nowhere near good enough - we need a lot more goals!

 

as for relegation - no bloody chance - about 10th without anymore players, 6th if we bring in three good reinforcements!

[Cajun]

It's a possibility but it won't happen, mid-table beckons however unless we sign some quality in forward positions.

 

Complacent, tbh.

 

As it stands we don't have any decent strikers bar the injured Owen, so we will generally struggle to score goals. This is made worse by the lack of creativity from Parker and Emre, resulting in very little threat from midfield either.

 

If Butt is generally included we should get to see whether or not Parker and Emre can offer even a small threat around the opponents penalty area. Personally I doubt they can offer much threat at all, I don't see where the goals are going to come from. Relegation is therefore a possiblity and only a complete fool would ignore it.

 

It all changes if we sign a couple of decent strikers and a creative midfielder to play in the centre with Butt.

 

We have lost about 17 goals from last season but have Milner who was very creative last season and Duff now in the team. I think we should be safe although I do share your worries that we wont score enough to be a success, i dont think we will score so few we go down.

 

Let's hope you're right.

 

I see Duff coming in as a creative player in for a creative player out. Zog was excellent at times last season and was definitely more creative than Parker and Emre combined. Milner is just potential, and again, if he plays he's probably taking the place of a fairly creative player in Solano.

 

N'Zog is as much potential as Milner, Milner was more creative in a worse team last season.

[Guest Dan]

if we go down it'll be the biggest fuck up our club has seen since we appointed souness.

 

i think we'll stay up but we're in for another season of mediocrity. shame really because if we added three or four quality players in the right areas i think we'd be challenging for top 4 again.

 

i think our midfield is good enough to compete with the best and we've got good understudies challenging for a starting lineup. add two new strikers and two new defenders and our outlook for the season will change.

 

the problem is that fat fred has left it too late again. it was so predictable that we would end up waiting until the last week of the transfer window. who does everyone reckon we'll be panic buying this time?

[Howaythelads]

 

Taking into account we have lost Shearer (10 goals) and Owen (7goals), we will be lucky to score more than 35 goals with the present squad

 

 

i've seen this rationalisation before, and must admit i find it bloody hilarious - so we're to take out shearer and owen and replace them with two players who wont score a single goal between them?

 

in all honesty i think we'll score as many as last term, but that is nowhere near good enough - we need a lot more goals!

 

as for relegation - no bloody chance - about 10th without anymore players, 6th if we bring in three good reinforcements!

 

The point is we don't have two players to replace these two players, we only have one and he's not good enough anyway.

[Guest teepee]

 

Taking into account we have lost Shearer (10 goals) and Owen (7goals), we will be lucky to score more than 35 goals with the present squad

 

 

i've seen this rationalisation before, and must admit i find it bloody hilarious - so we're to take out shearer and owen and replace them with two players who wont score a single goal between them?

 

in all honesty i think we'll score as many as last term, but that is nowhere near good enough - we need a lot more goals!

 

as for relegation - no bloody chance - about 10th without anymore players, 6th if we bring in three good reinforcements!

 

The point is we don't have two players to replace these two players, we only have one and he's not good enough anyway.

 

my point is that we can put any two players in there, and even shola and luque will probably add about 17 goals in the same number of matches..... ok, i know that may be a bit far fetched 

[abertoon]

I remember a thead almost exactly like this last year. 

[Cajun]

I remember a thead almost exactly like this last year. 

 

I remember an absolutely shit start to the season last year where we didnt score until our 5th? game??

[Guest Smirky]

 

Taking into account we have lost Shearer (10 goals) and Owen (7goals), we will be lucky to score more than 35 goals with the present squad

 

 

i've seen this rationalisation before, and must admit i find it bloody hilarious - so we're to take out shearer and owen and replace them with two players who wont score a single goal between them?

 

in all honesty i think we'll score as many as last term, but that is nowhere near good enough - we need a lot more goals!

 

as for relegation - no bloody chance - about 10th without anymore players, 6th if we bring in three good reinforcements!

 

The point is we don't have two players to replace these two players, we only have one and he's not good enough anyway.

 

my point is that we can put any two players in there, and even shola and luque will probably add about 17 goals in the same number of matches..... ok, i know that may be a bit far fetched 

 

Yes, but Ameobi played 30 games last season and only managed 8 league goals - and at the minute we dont have anyone who is likely even to match that