Are we being complacent about our relegation chances?

[GM]

Picking a single period of a season?

 

What 5 months?

 

Sorry for narrowing it down like.

 

Why not pick a five months when he was doing well? Makes no sense.

 

Its the last year of his managerial career, and its not going too well is it.

 

Calendar year. Luckily football seasons don't tally.

 

Lucky for Sam.

 

So you admit it means nothing then? Seeing as nobody looks at it that way.

 

Who says it means nothing simply because is calender and not season? It shows a manager out or sorts over a period of the last year. Do we have to wait until May for that to register amongst people?

 

Who the hell would put on his CV 'Well we finished in a shit position, but for the last five months of the year we were ace.'?

 

Managers are judged on seasons.

 

Yet so many are sacked only months into them.

 

If so, then only because they are sacked by idiotic chairmen.

[Dave]

My take;

 

We are fortunate to have as many points on the board as we have, as it does give some breathing space. However we are in relegation form as it's now only 2 wins from 13 games, IIRC. Some tough fixtures coming up (Man United and Arsenal away are two), so it's hard to see where the points are going to come from. We won't be relegated, but we aren't even going to be mid-table. We'll finish somewhere around 14th-15th, IMO.

 

Is that good enough for you lads ?

 

And that'll get him the sack anyway iyam. EVERYBODY'S 'APPY!

 

Not really, another year wasted, several million no doubt wasted.

 

And if we sack Allardyce now things will be different?

 

Depends who we get and how completely lost internally the club is with him, which from where am standing looks pretty terminal.

 

 

 

Give over man, it'll be another period of transition whilst he gets in his own staff and players. It'll be written off either way.

[GM]

Stop this train, I'm getting off.

[Dokko]

My take;

 

We are fortunate to have as many points on the board as we have, as it does give some breathing space. However we are in relegation form as it's now only 2 wins from 13 games, IIRC. Some tough fixtures coming up (Man United and Arsenal away are two), so it's hard to see where the points are going to come from. We won't be relegated, but we aren't even going to be mid-table. We'll finish somewhere around 14th-15th, IMO.

 

Is that good enough for you lads ?

 

And that'll get him the sack anyway iyam. EVERYBODY'S 'APPY!

 

Not really, another year wasted, several million no doubt wasted.

 

And if we sack Allardyce now things will be different?

 

Depends who we get and how completely lost internally the club is with him, which from where am standing looks pretty terminal.

 

 

 

Give over man, it'll be another period of transition whilst he gets in his own staff and players. It'll be written off either way.

 

It should of been about progression, this is borderline regression.

[Dokko]

Picking a single period of a season?

 

What 5 months?

 

Sorry for narrowing it down like.

 

Why not pick a five months when he was doing well? Makes no sense.

 

Its the last year of his managerial career, and its not going too well is it.

 

Calendar year. Luckily football seasons don't tally.

 

Lucky for Sam.

 

So you admit it means nothing then? Seeing as nobody looks at it that way.

 

Who says it means nothing simply because is calender and not season? It shows a manager out or sorts over a period of the last year. Do we have to wait until May for that to register amongst people?

 

Who the hell would put on his CV 'Well we finished in a shit position, but for the last five months of the year we were ace.'?

 

Managers are judged on seasons.

 

Yet so many are sacked only months into them.

 

If so, then only because they are sacked by idiotic chairmen.

 

No doubt, 90% of the time that is correct.

[Mick]

What does iyam mean anyway

 

Don't ask me.

[James]

My take;

 

We are fortunate to have as many points on the board as we have, as it does give some breathing space. However we are in relegation form as it's now only 2 wins from 13 games, IIRC. Some tough fixtures coming up (Man United and Arsenal away are two), so it's hard to see where the points are going to come from. We won't be relegated, but we aren't even going to be mid-table. We'll finish somewhere around 14th-15th, IMO.

 

Is that good enough for you lads ?

 

And that'll get him the sack anyway iyam. EVERYBODY'S 'APPY!

 

Not really, another year wasted, several million no doubt wasted.

 

And if we sack Allardyce now things will be different?

 

Depends who we get and how completely lost internally the club is with him, which from where am standing looks pretty terminal.

 

 

 

Give over man, it'll be another period of transition whilst he gets in his own staff and players. It'll be written off either way.

 

Still, if the new man has a positive approach, or at least be able to find somec onfidence within the players, we may have some fun.

 

After Souness was sacked, I wanted the replacement in ASAP so he could find his feet and plan for the summer.

 

I wanted Roeder to be sacked ASAP from January onwardsfor the same reason.

 

And if we are to dispense with Allardyce, I'd rather do it now than later for the same reason.

[thomas]

What does iyam mean anyway

If You Ask Me. 

However I find "If You Are Mental" works better in conjunction with this board.

[1878]

No chance of going down.

 

It will be one of those depressing seasons when you finish 11th or something and have nothing to play for in the last two months of the season. At least you get a bit of excitement in a relegation battle.

[Guest neesy111]

saying thing like we're too good to go down, will haunt us

 

2 wins in 12 games tells it own story, relegation form

 

6 of the top 8 to play in our remaining away matches

 

we are on exactly the same points at this time last season and we survived relegation by 3 points

[Ericz]

Please don't be so pessimistic. Life is full of hope and hope is all around ^^

 

Believe in the team, support the team even if their form is poor, cheer them on, that is all what matters.

 

Causing panic is definitely not the way to go.

 

 

 

Regards,

Ericz

 

[Shak]

Can easily see us finishing 15th or so, we'll just avoid a relegation battle tbh.

 

I expect a really crap finish to the season, maybe 2 or 3 points from our last 6 games to seal Sam's fate.

 

 

Regards,

 

Shak

[EthiGeordie]

After such a nice summer I can't beleive we are talking about this right now. Sad very sad.

[Guest Ridzuan]

Yes I think we are being complacent.This is the premier league,you never know what could happen and the best way to survive it,is to win matches and currently we are not doing that,the team on top of us are getting further and further away from us and the team below us are quickly catching up to us (not to mention Derby).If we dont do something about our current situation,then we might just be drag down with them,but being the optimisitic person I am,I dont think we will be relegated this season.

[Wallace]

Weren't the first few seasons at Bolton relegation battles for Sam and then they started to gradually improve?

 

As for a relegation battle, I think we will be in it.

 

Spurs will definitely overtake us and probably Reading as well so that takes us down to 13th.  Hard to say about Birmingham, Wigan, Fulham with their new managers as performances have improved but will the results improve enough?  Sunderland and Boro - who knows - but they will probably raise their game when they come to SJP.

 

Our away games look like non-starters - Man Utd, Arsenal, Villa, Spurs, West Ham, Liverpool, Everton, Portsmouth.  Home games include Man Utd and Chelsea.  Oh and remind me where did Fulham last won away?  Bolton and Blackburn won't be easy home games if we are still lacking in confidence.

 

That doesn't leave us with many games to get points from. 

 

It does depend on the teams below us and if they run into some kind of form. 

 

 

[merlin]

Just because we'll lose games doesn't mean those below us will win games.

 

So yes then

 

Yes what? They're down there because they can't win games. So because we're s*** they'll all turn into Brazil 1970?

 

Just yes that there seems to be complacency that we arent capable of being dragged into it

 

That is exactly the point - we ARE capable of being dragged into it - Wigan's point at Anfield illustrates just what can happen...don't forget, Wigan & Derby have new managers and there is always a honeymoon period when this happens,,also, in the case of Jewell, I reckon that had he come in earlier, they could have improved enough to make a realistic attempt at escape.

I said on this site yesterday that we would be lucky to get 3 points out of games with Man U(twice), L'Pool away, Arsenal away , Villa away and Everton away - with Chelsea also to visit SJP...that leaves 11 games to secure another 14 points which would put us on 43 - an acceptable safety margin...

We have a home game against Boro, and if they play as they did against Arsenal, we will get a point at best...after results during the first part of the season against largely mediocre opposition and the performances of late, can ANYONE put their house on the club NOT being threatened with relegation.??

 

If we lose at Stoke, Allardyce has either to be fired OR be given full backing in the transfer market - there is no middle way now and as I said before, its a really tough call for Mort & Ashley...if they let it drag on in limbo as we are now, then there could be real problems later in the season and I hope it doesn't come to that because this team are NOT equipped for a relegation scrap...

[Dr Venkman]

 

 

2 wins in 12 games tells it own story, relegation form

 

 

 

no, relegation form would be 7 wins in 38, you dont get relegated on the results of 12 games, you're getting ripped on your season ticket if you think there's only 6 home games every season

 

 

[Guest iliketoonarmy]

Sam is s*** enough to get us relegated, and the team is lacking enough to gladly oblige, but i think the early points would see us realistically stay away from the coming dog fight.

 

 

 

Yeah, he proved that at Bolton didn't he?

 

Souness won things, means jack s*** doesn't it?

 

Sam has performed CONSISTENTLY with Bolton and in the premier league. There's a difference.

 

at the BOLTON,end of story idiot.

[Teasy]

No chance of going down.

 

It will be one of those depressing seasons when you finish 11th or something and have nothing to play for in the last two months of the season. At least you get a bit of excitement in a relegation battle.

 

This just shows that people outside of the club have no idea how bad this situation is, 11th?, we could only dream of finishing 11th..  Have you seen our remaining fixtures in comparison to the ones we've already played?

[Guest Brazilianbob]

How on earth anyone can suggest we won't go down on current form beggars belief.  There is a certain club in the Championship right now who thought they wouldn't go down last season, but they did when results conspired to go against them on the very last day of the season.  Sheffield Utd anyone?

 

The team are now getting used to losing or at least not winning and is now on the verge of freefall right into the relegation battle.  After 10 games Allardyce was on his usual ego trip hailing our best start for years in the EPL, but the more cautious amongst us said hang on those were easy matches we haven't played anyone halfway decent yet.

 

Well all those pigeons are now coming home to roost now we are losing/drawing against poor sides and then having that form (or lack of form) compounded when we play the decent sides.

 

If we don't get a much needed boost by either getting rid of Allardyce and his method of playing football that is so archaic that the players just don't understand what they have to do, or Ashley has to spend really big on a top class striker who will score goals.  It's no good bringing in defenders and continuing in the same vein because they will rapidly lose confidence and form playing to Allardyce's defensive tactics.  A striker or top class creative midfielder is required to bring goals because with goals comes the confidence which is what the side is sadly lacking!

[Dokko]

Can easily see us finishing 15th or so, we'll just avoid a relegation battle tbh.

 

I expect a really crap finish to the season, maybe 2 or 3 points from our last 6 games to seal Sam's fate.

 

 

Regards,

 

Shak

 

I agree.

 

Regards,

 

Me

[Skirge]

Lose to many home games there is a massive risk you go down, but with teams behind us now seeming to get their acts together a bit its going to make it even harder for us to escape the relegation battle.

One thing for sure is we can forget about playing in Europe next season, that ship has sailed..

[gonufc]

Sam is s*** enough to get us relegated, and the team is lacking enough to gladly oblige, but i think the early points would see us realistically stay away from the coming dog fight.

 

 

 

Yeah, he proved that at Bolton didn't he?

 

Souness won things, means jack s*** doesn't it?

 

Sam has performed CONSISTENTLY with Bolton and in the premier league. There's a difference.

 

at the BOLTON,end of story idiot.

 

You're calling me an idiot when you have referred to Bolton as "the BOLTON"? Wow, you're special to say the least. So you're trying to tell me it doesn't matter what he did at his last club? I do realise that they are different clubs but here's a small hint for you: Every club in the premier league is different. Idiot.

[wibble]

Complacent - yes.  Relegation - nee chance.

 

Despite the pessimism and eternal gloom-fest going on here, I think we played well at Chelsea and were just unlucky not to get a point.  Last night, yes, Man City punished us for some shoddy defending, but they benefited from yet more ridiculous decisions against us.  And while we're creating some really good chances lately, we're just not being clinical enough and converting them at the moment.

 

To put it into perspective though, our home results actually aren't all that bad:

 

Home: DWWWWLLDWDL (18 points)

 

Our earlier losses came against Liverpool (6 away wins) and Portsmouth (7 away wins) who are both right up there at the dizzy end of the away wins league this season.  I can't put any positive spin on Man City though coz they actually did have a worse away record than us!  I suppose they are top 4 in the league at the moment though...  What I'm getting at is these are decent teams who took all 3 points away from us at SJP.  Given their away records/table positions, it's perhaps not that surprising.

 

On the flip-side, our away record isn't too spectacular - but then again, we're a mid-table side with limited players so the delusional should just get over it when we don't hump sides 3:0 away from home:

 

Away: WDLLLDLWLL (8 points)

 

Unless you're a top side, winning away from home is VERY difficult in the Premiership - I have no problem with the Toon playing for the most boring, uneventful goalless draws in history away from home (apologies to the long-suffering who travel to 'em).  And, if we can keep a clean sheet, we might even manage to nick the odd win (ala Fulham).

 

So...

 

We're currently sitting on 26 points from 21 games.  Okay, it's not fantastic by any means, but with 17 games left we should be able to claw together at least another 12 points and beat the drop.  Ignoring all the big teams (who we could still pick up surprise points from) at the 'easier' end of the scale, we have Bolton, Boro, Fulham, Reading, and the dirty Mackems all to play at SJP.  All apart from Boro have ZERO away victories this season, btw.

 

As we know, the majority of our forthcoming away games are going to be pretty tough going because they're against some decent sides.  Our best chances for some bonus away points are probably at Birmingham, West Ham and Portsmouth (yes, they have a terrible home record).  We simply don't need to go all gung-ho/suicidal - as long as we pick up some useful points here and there.

 

Also, take heart from the fact that most of the sides below us have truly, truly appalling away records with very few draws, never mind wins.  To emerge from their own relegation plight they'll need to string together more home wins than we do.  A couple might manage it, but most simply won't.

 

I reckon Derby, Fulham and Boro (hurray!) will all get relegated simply because they don't possess enough firepower to survive in this league.

 

[Karjala]

I would like to hope we can get at least 3 wins from Bolton, Boro, Fulham, Reading and Scum and that will be enough to keep us up.

 

But, getting 3 wins out of those won't be easy.