80 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Some might say this has been covered by 'accept 17th?' or the 'relegation fred', but I see a gap in the thread market. It's one thing to say what position you think we'll finish in, but another to say how we'll get there, whether it's through tactical genius or demoralising off-pitch disputes. So, I thought this could be a place for people to take in the whole picture and say how they think it's likely to turn out and why. Hell, why talk about the club when you could even save time and comment on an individuals future, or jump ship and take more interest in other clubs altogether. God only knows, we need to give Stu and co. more well-crafted ammunition or they might not have anything to doghead next season and the forum will turn into a dustbowl. So, staggering on from a game of both abject despair and life-affirming glory against Arsenal, we yesterday emerged from Ewood Park with some promising play but no goals and only one point to show for it. Above us, Liverpool and Tottenham have picked up steam. The teams below us meanwhile... well... are they all doing likewise? Superficially it seems just about so, some far more than others of course in this especially tight and topsy-turvy season. I'm gonna type some stuff below that you might be well-advised to ignore until you see some thicker, upper-case letters. Blackpool have finally ended a run of five losses with a draw, which is pretty unimpressive in itself, but they've always had a lot of goals in them, and where there are goals there's a chance of points. So two questions are whether they can keep scoring while keeping losing and vice versa. WBA's board hit the panic button and had a bullet put in Di Matteo, all for Hogson, the slags. I like him as manager, but I really don't have a strong view on whether he alone can turn them around in time for this season. It had looked like they'd already begun their post-sacking bounceback today but then... West Ham score three away from home to equalise. They're too shit to really pull themselves out aren't they? But apparently little Scotty Parker the chocolate soldier had a tantrum the likes of which he's never had before at half-time in the dressing room today, which will make all the difference, if you believe in that sort of thing. Everybody can manage one good game... Even Wolves, against Manchester United. More ground to make up than most, but it's not a huge amount and did anyone have them to go down this season? Still, if you're bottom you're bottom for some kind of reason. Uninspiring. And it's the bottom three that get relegated... Wigan? Well, they were shit against us, but they've got a bit about them, snubbing the King Kenny story at Anfield as they have. And our last-gasp bids to seize N'Zogbia didn't come off, unluckily... so he's still there to grace them. Birmingham are on the march. Aston Villa... well they definitely gave it some financial oomph, that's their steam. The Bent one was quite possibly not a bad one all things considered in my view, depends what the other options were but he'll have paid for himself if he's the difference between survival and relegation. Still, I don't much fancy them, I understand they have problems and I don't have a lot of time for Houllier, even if he's not the true source of those problems. If his club has it's back against a wall, he's someone who needs people who are instinctively on his side, characters he's moulded, and not potential enemies as he's pretty good at upsetting people. Everton. Disappointing but safe. Fulham... They're ok. Blackburn I can picture in trouble. I don't reckon Kean and with each result seeming more decisive than normal, I can see them coming off worst, or not coming off best, more often than'll be good for them. Bolton have been sliding, but thought to ask Chelsea if they could take Daniel Sturridge on loan. They hadn't even sold their star striker, only released Mustapha Riga the cheeky fuckers. Stoke. Bastards. They're alright. NEWCASTLE - so important I've bolded it so you know you can skip the derivative shit above. Still, you can't assess our form without considering its merits relative to everyone else's. 12 games, 23ish potentially available players and one compromised cockney love-god in charge of them. Where do they go from here? Well, I've typed and bored myself so much already I'm just about sick of this thread and have stopped thinking clearly, which is why I don't normally start them. Still, I'll give it a crack. Believe it or not, it is insightful to say it's been hard to tell how things are going to go. It feels like there are more variables in play than normal, aside from the usual injuries and gangrapes. This is partly due to Pardew still being new and still occasionally managing shock me with shit team selections that I really wouldn't have expected of him, but the key one in the past has been this fabled team spirit of ours. Successive traumas might have you thinking that by rights it ought to crack but it keeps reasserting it's own existence, its depth and strength, by persevering, which is almost exactly what it ought to do if it really exists. Good team spirits are only exposed in adversity, not success. Which is great. Still, team spirit and club harmony aren't one and the same, so if the aims of the club's government and its team's members diverge, problems could arise. Thankfully for our results this season, that didn't occur at the times it was most likely to, following Hughton and Carroll's departures (unless, as has been proven to always be possible with Ashley, some other even more special kind of atomic shitbomb gets dropped). So shy of management actively working to turn them against each other, that ought to be safe. And it's nice to think that the closer we get to the relegation zone, the harder that spirit drum will bang. All the same, togetherness isn't self-belief, and this is one area that I've got concerns over. Best, Ranger, Lovenkrands, Ameobi, Perch, Guthrie, Harper and Williamson aren't natural confidence-dynamos. They need external sources to push them on, which by and large they've had in the guise of an in-form Nolan, Barton, Simpson et al as well as, across the season, decent management. Still, we've never encountered genuinely bad form yet, 3+ games with little solace because even the things that normally go well have gone well and still haven't been enough to help. This group of lads have always been weaker, or at least more fragile once we could at least rely on Carroll's presence, in attack than defence. And now we're down to Best, Lovenkrands, Ranger and a time-transported retired ancient Olympian up front for possibly the best part of two months. And we're now overseen by Pardew, who I don't think has yet grasped the concept of needing to put effort into tactically unlocking Nolan in order to bring out his full worth to the team. Yes, like a lot of people I think goals are going to be a big story for us. If we keep playing well and not scoring, we risk our players getting disheartened, we risk our attacks becoming more desperate and our defence becoming more ragged and panicky. We risk more of these last-minute point-losers getting conceded, and we risk teams learning they can have far more confidence to play against us and rely on our own immobility, or lack of guile, or composure to keep us in check. We also lack depth. A yellow card for Tiote at resurgent, Obafemi Martins-armed Birmingham City next week and we'll lose him for two home games against Coyle's Bolton and Everton. Frankly it won't take a lot of bad luck for us to come out of these games with only one more point and a lot more pressure, more in-squad doubts about the wisdom of selling Carroll and terrace-side deathly premonitions. A successful reducer on Simpson or Enrique would see the return of Perch. Twitchy? Yes I am. But I do admit I've been twitchy before, albeit about different things, and we've come through it, or at least not collapsed. So the overall outlook? Well I foresee bad things, a flirtation with relegation far more serious than most seem to be expecting. Our good results haven't been enough because the other buggers keep getting them too, and now it looks like we're stopping getting them. As I type, 5 points separate us from the drop and I see that reducing, while Fulham, Birmingham and quite possibly any of Everton, Blackpool, Villa, WBA and even Wigan make their way past us in a significant sense (as significant as things get in this tight league), while we float among the remainder. I wouldn't be surprised to see Roeder lose his title as highest point-scoring manager to be relegated this season. But there's an upside, folks. I can't trust myself enough to say it's good sense instead of mad hope, but I don't think we'll go down and might well finish the season with a flourish that scorns the bitch of a run-in that we've got. Why? Ben Arfa first off. I'm hoping he hasn't already quietly gone into a huff, I'm hoping there aren't any new surprises on the injury score, but otherwise his return will wake us up big time and remind us of what we were like when we weren't shit if it should be required. Secondarily, you can't suspend Tiote for all the matches... And most importantly underlying all of this, once again, the team spirit. By hook or by crook, if we really see ourselves in a desperate enough position, we'll at least get the points we'll need. Thankfully, the wins are even bigger than the losses in this scenario, and I envisage at least one of WBA, Villa, Blackpool or Blackburn being ahead of us in the queue to drop with West Ham and Wolves. Ultimately though, and because I seem to be determined to be negative, I see us coming through this period weaker than we had once been. Slightly less resolute and more conceited in character, a bit more like we used to be. Less unity of purpose and momentum. I can see us doing well enough to make Enrique open to signing a new contract though, if that cheers anyone up. Just been doing the BBC's predictor, and I've got us finishing 11th or 12th (due to a bug) with 45 points, Blackpool going down with 37, Wigan staying up with 38. I didn't have Blackburn collapse like I think they might. Wins for us against Blackpool , Wolves and on the final day against a West Brom who relax following news of Wigan and Blackpool's final day defeats, and allow us to haul ourselves up from 15th... Still, a small piece of bad luck here and there, or weird decision-making the likes of which I've already witnessed, and things could be a fair bit more sour. If we fail to fight our way to a draw at Stoke and concede a last minute equaliser at Blackpool, West Brom definitely won't be in the mood to roll over and let us tickle their tummies on the last day, either... I'm sure someone can write something a lot more concise and at least as interesting so go for it. P.S. Annoying but no fixture lists allowed I'm afraid... not even Manc Reds or Scouse Blues... Like Basil Fawlty, I think I got away with a little one earlier, but it doesn't mean you have to try. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtype Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 We'll reside in a safe, mediocre league position after a boring last dozen games that certainly won't be interesting enough to deserve a megapost like this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BooBoo Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benwell Lad Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Nice post, you really have got all the bases covered. I think we've got a scrap on our hands and I'm not sure whether dominating games but not winning them is a positive or negative thing. I only see the squad being stronger from here on in as players return and disagree with your lack of confidence in Harper - I still struggle to see a better English keeper. Guthrie and Williamson also make positive contributions. If we had a top quality striker we'd be safe already. I'll breathe easily when 6 teams in the league need to make up a point per remaining game on us, we may not see that level of comfort and still survive but there could be some nail biting to do yet. If we continue giving the level of support we do and they respond accordingly we'll make it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Nice post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNUFC Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Can't believe i've just read every word of that post! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankpingel Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Interesting, if long, post. In my opinion we desperately need to win a match for everyones sake and if we can scrape one at Brum I think 8 points clear all but seals safety. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benwell Lad Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Interesting, if long, post. In my opinion we desperately need to win a match for everyones sake and if we can scrape one at Brum I think 8 points clear all but seals safety. I agree but that is a hell of a difficult place to get a win. Keep it tight, scrape a winner and I'll be celebrating more than I did when the 4th went in against Arsenal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfcmagpies Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Can't believe i've just read every word of that post! Care to summarise for me? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BooBoo Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Can't believe i've just read every word of that post! Care to summarise for me? A long ramble that gives birth to a mouse of an idea: we're poor but there's worse teams in the league and as such we wont go down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfcmagpies Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Can't believe i've just read every word of that post! Care to summarise for me? A long ramble that gives birth to a mouse of an idea: we're poor but there's worse teams in the league and as such we wont go down. You know what, I think he's on to something. He might just be right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Parka Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Great post. Basically nolan is playing too deep for him to get on the end of what enrique and co are providing. We should play a 451 once hba or ireland are back, but even then one of those two would do a better job in the hole? We are going to struggle for goals, for sure. I expect lots of draws, the odd 1-0 and a finish around 14th. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guinness_fiend Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Can't believe i've just read every word of that post! Care to summarise for me? A long ramble that gives birth to a mouse of an idea: we're poor but there's worse teams in the league and as such we wont go down. This. I agree with pretty much everything 80 says, but I'm hopeful that we're capable of picking up points where it counts and retaining our Premiership status. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucaAltieri Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Depends, what are the fixtures? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Some might say this has been covered by 'accept 17th?' or the 'relegation fred', but I see a gap in the thread market. It's one thing to say what position you think we'll finish in, but another to say how we'll get there, whether it's through tactical genius or demoralising off-pitch disputes. So, I thought this could be a place for people to take in the whole picture and say how they think it's likely to turn out and why. Hell, why talk about the club when you could even save time and comment on an individuals future, or jump ship and take more interest in other clubs altogether. God only knows, we need to give Stu and co. more well-crafted ammunition or they might not have anything to doghead next season and the forum will turn into a dustbowl. So, staggering on from a game of both abject despair and life-affirming glory against Arsenal, we yesterday emerged from Ewood Park with some promising play but no goals and only one point to show for it. Above us, Liverpool and Tottenham have picked up steam. The teams below us meanwhile... well... are they all doing likewise? Superficially it seems just about so, some far more than others of course in this especially tight and topsy-turvy season. I'm gonna type some stuff below that you might be well-advised to ignore until you see some thicker, upper-case letters. Blackpool have finally ended a run of five losses with a draw, which is pretty unimpressive in itself, but they've always had a lot of goals in them, and where there are goals there's a chance of points. So two questions are whether they can keep scoring while keeping losing and vice versa. WBA's board hit the panic button and had a bullet put in Di Matteo, all for Hogson, the slags. I like him as manager, but I really don't have a strong view on whether he alone can turn them around in time for this season. It had looked like they'd already begun their post-sacking bounceback today but then... West Ham score three away from home to equalise. They're too s*** to really pull themselves out aren't they? But apparently little Scotty Parker the chocolate soldier had a tantrum the likes of which he's never had before at half-time in the dressing room today, which will make all the difference, if you believe in that sort of thing. Everybody can manage one good game... Even Wolves, against Manchester United. More ground to make up than most, but it's not a huge amount and did anyone have them to go down this season? Still, if you're bottom you're bottom for some kind of reason. Uninspiring. And it's the bottom three that get relegated... Wigan? Well, they were s*** against us, but they've got a bit about them, snubbing the King Kenny story at Anfield as they have. And our last-gasp bids to seize N'Zogbia didn't come off, unluckily... so he's still there to grace them. Birmingham are on the march. Aston Villa... well they definitely gave it some financial oomph, that's their steam. The Bent one was quite possibly not a bad one all things considered in my view, depends what the other options were but he'll have paid for himself if he's the difference between survival and relegation. Still, I don't much fancy them, I understand they have problems and I don't have a lot of time for Houllier, even if he's not the true source of those problems. If his club has it's back against a wall, he's someone who needs people who are instinctively on his side, characters he's moulded, and not potential enemies as he's pretty good at upsetting people. Everton. Disappointing but safe. Fulham... They're ok. Blackburn I can picture in trouble. I don't reckon Kean and with each result seeming more decisive than normal, I can see them coming off worst, or not coming off best, more often than'll be good for them. Bolton have been sliding, but thought to ask Chelsea if they could take Daniel Sturridge on loan. They hadn't even sold their star striker, only released Mustapha Riga the cheeky fuckers. Stoke. Bastards. They're alright. NEWCASTLE - so important I've bolded it so you know you can skip the derivative s*** above. Still, you can't assess our form without considering its merits relative to everyone else's. 12 games, 23ish potentially available players and one compromised cockney love-god in charge of them. Where do they go from here? Well, I've typed and bored myself so much already I'm just about sick of this thread and have stopped thinking clearly, which is why I don't normally start them. Still, I'll give it a crack. Believe it or not, it is insightful to say it's been hard to tell how things are going to go. It feels like there are more variables in play than normal, aside from the usual injuries and gangrapes. This is partly due to Pardew still being new and still occasionally managing shock me with s*** team selections that I really wouldn't have expected of him, but the key one in the past has been this fabled team spirit of ours. Successive traumas might have you thinking that by rights it ought to crack but it keeps reasserting it's own existence, its depth and strength, by persevering, which is almost exactly what it ought to do if it really exists. Good team spirits are only exposed in adversity, not success. Which is great. Still, team spirit and club harmony aren't one and the same, so if the aims of the club's government and its team's members diverge, problems could arise. Thankfully for our results this season, that didn't occur at the times it was most likely to, following Hughton and Carroll's departures (unless, as has been proven to always be possible with Ashley, some other even more special kind of atomic shitbomb gets dropped). So shy of management actively working to turn them against each other, that ought to be safe. And it's nice to think that the closer we get to the relegation zone, the harder that spirit drum will bang. All the same, togetherness isn't self-belief, and this is one area that I've got concerns over. Best, Ranger, Lovenkrands, Ameobi, Perch, Guthrie, Harper and Williamson aren't natural confidence-dynamos. They need external sources to push them on, which by and large they've had in the guise of an in-form Nolan, Barton, Simpson et al as well as, across the season, decent management. Still, we've never encountered genuinely bad form yet, 3+ games with little solace because even the things that normally go well have gone well and still haven't been enough to help. This group of lads have always been weaker, or at least more fragile once we could at least rely on Carroll's presence, in attack than defence. And now we're down to Best, Lovenkrands, Ranger and a time-transported retired ancient Olympian up front for possibly the best part of two months. And we're now overseen by Pardew, who I don't think has yet grasped the concept of needing to put effort into tactically unlocking Nolan in order to bring out his full worth to the team. Yes, like a lot of people I think goals are going to be a big story for us. If we keep playing well and not scoring, we risk our players getting disheartened, we risk our attacks becoming more desperate and our defence becoming more ragged and panicky. We risk more of these last-minute point-losers getting conceded, and we risk teams learning they can have far more confidence to play against us and rely on our own immobility, or lack of guile, or composure to keep us in check. We also lack depth. A yellow card for Tiote at resurgent, Obafemi Martins-armed Birmingham City next week and we'll lose him for two home games against Coyle's Bolton and Everton. Frankly it won't take a lot of bad luck for us to come out of these games with only one more point and a lot more pressure, more in-squad doubts about the wisdom of selling Carroll and terrace-side deathly premonitions. A successful reducer on Simpson or Enrique would see the return of Perch. Twitchy? Yes I am. But I do admit I've been twitchy before, albeit about different things, and we've come through it, or at least not collapsed. So the overall outlook? Well I foresee bad things, a flirtation with relegation far more serious than most seem to be expecting. Our good results haven't been enough because the other buggers keep getting them too, and now it looks like we're stopping getting them. As I type, 5 points separate us from the drop and I see that reducing, while Fulham, Birmingham and quite possibly any of Everton, Blackpool, Villa, WBA and even Wigan make their way past us in a significant sense (as significant as things get in this tight league), while we float among the remainder. I wouldn't be surprised to see Roeder lose his title as highest point-scoring manager to be relegated this season. But there's an upside, folks. I can't trust myself enough to say it's good sense instead of mad hope, but I don't think we'll go down and might well finish the season with a flourish that scorns the bitch of a run-in that we've got. Why? Ben Arfa first off. I'm hoping he hasn't already quietly gone into a huff, I'm hoping there aren't any new surprises on the injury score, but otherwise his return will wake us up big time and remind us of what we were like when we weren't s*** if it should be required. Secondarily, you can't suspend Tiote for all the matches... And most importantly underlying all of this, once again, the team spirit. By hook or by crook, if we really see ourselves in a desperate enough position, we'll at least get the points we'll need. Thankfully, the wins are even bigger than the losses in this scenario, and I envisage at least one of WBA, Villa, Blackpool or Blackburn being ahead of us in the queue to drop with West Ham and Wolves. Ultimately though, and because I seem to be determined to be negative, I see us coming through this period weaker than we had once been. Slightly less resolute and more conceited in character, a bit more like we used to be. Less unity of purpose and momentum. I can see us doing well enough to make Enrique open to signing a new contract though, if that cheers anyone up. Just been doing the BBC's predictor, and I've got us finishing 11th or 12th (due to a bug) with 45 points, Blackpool going down with 37, Wigan staying up with 38. I didn't have Blackburn collapse like I think they might. Wins for us against Blackpool , Wolves and on the final day against a West Brom who relax following news of Wigan and Blackpool's final day defeats, and allow us to haul ourselves up from 15th... Still, a small piece of bad luck here and there, or weird decision-making the likes of which I've already witnessed, and things could be a fair bit more sour. If we fail to fight our way to a draw at Stoke and concede a last minute equaliser at Blackpool, West Brom definitely won't be in the mood to roll over and let us tickle their tummies on the last day, either... I'm sure someone can write something a lot more concise and at least as interesting so go for it. P.S. Annoying but no fixture lists allowed I'm afraid... not even Manc Reds or Scouse Blues... Like Basil Fawlty, I think I got away with a little one earlier, but it doesn't mean you have to try. Good post - I agree with most of what you say. The whole thing can be summarised by saying that we have half a decent side and half a Championship outfit ; in such a situation, you are going to get ups and downs depending on which half of the side dominates in each game. Some people on here will use any stat they can to show we are safe and that, frankly, is ostrich territory. With such a small gap separating several teams, it does not take much of a slump(or a lift)in form to either be dragged down or to get into what appears to be 'safe' territory. With the players we have I foresee quite a few draws, both home and away because thanks to the likes of Colo, Enrique, an improving Simpson and Harper, we will be difficult to score against ; if these guys slip up, though, we will find it difficult to pull back deficits because of the woefully weak forwards. There will NOT be an Arsenal-type escape in 99 games out of 100 so scoring first is a priority if we are to stay in comfortable territory over the next 3 months. If I had to bet on it, I would say we will achieve survival by a small margin - but its by no means a certainty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BooBoo Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Whilst we aren't a million miles from the relegation zone, its crucial that there are so many teams below us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGuv Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Good post. After travelling home from the game yesterday i said yep a point will do. However, when i looked at the table this morning without hazy vision from the night before i was worried. The strikes (again) were non existant. They never really start to react to anything until it happens. This is why Ranger needs to be closer to the first XI. The wing play was poor yet the play to get the ball to the byline was very good. I forgot Nolan was playing a times. I feel its going to be a long 12 games but like Otter posted there's 7 teams worse of us than us atm. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 God only knows, we need to give Stu and co. more well-crafted ammunition or they might not have anything to doghead next season and the forum will turn into a dustbowl. Chomping aside, as this was raised in the other thread, when opinions are given as a thought-out reason, I can't see any need for it to be re-raised in the future. I think you'll find the posts I've requoted have almost entirely been knee-jerk, throwaway comments that have been lazily posted without any real justification (OMG! Nolan is rubbish!!11). Great post, the forum is a much better place for these types of posts Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
relámpago blanco Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Depends when Sholas back imo how we will finish the season, if Shola comes back and scores 5-7 goals we could do well, but its not just the goals we need, hes decent at hold up and bullies defenders a bit. Like a shit Andy Carroll but hes alright. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stifler Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 In January time I said the key games for us after Wigan and West Ham are Birmingham home and away, Wolves, and Blackpool. These are the game we must win, and if we can't win then we must not lose. As it happens we have gained a few creditable draws in the last few games which helps us. But 3 wins from those 4 games is a must. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNUFC Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Can't believe i've just read every word of that post! Care to summarise for me? It's just a big ramble of if's and but's... The way i see it, all the teams mentioned above are in exactly the same boat, all fighting for survival, just because Everton or Birmingham or Villa have done well in previous seasons does not make them immune from relegation. We scored 4 against arsenal and just because we never had that bit of luck against Blackburn and never scored, people panic. Strange. It's all if tiote gets booked, if they won't pick up a point, but we have team spirit but we don't have class and all that malarky. We are 10th in the league a bit of positivity wouldn't go a miss as far as i'm concerned, don't look at other teams and think well they might could or won't go down, look at ourselves and go from there, so far so good, i'd rather be us than than the 10 teams below us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStar Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Really haven't got a fucking scooby. The table makes my head hurt. Wish we could get most of the teams on the same number of games so we had a better understanding of where we actually are. There are teams we could steal a march on if we win our game in hand against them and teams which could leapfrog us from down in 13th and 14th if they win their game in hand. Our next five games are winnable and we need to come out of them with a decent points haul. But we've said that before, gone on to drop points against teams like Blackpool and Fulham and taken points from teams like Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs. To show how mental this season has been, Wolves have beaten Man U, Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool and they're bottom Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 In answer to the question; we'll consolidate our position and finish with our heads well above water, safe and sound. Wigan/West Ham/Wolves will all go down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JH Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 It's a difficult one, because no team outside the top four (even some inside it) seem capable of putting a solid run of form together. It's the first season that I've known that at the start of the weekend, any team can beat anyone regardless of league position/quality. That being said, the league is beginning to take some form of shape (albeit a very loose one) and those four W teams keep being mentioned alongside relegation. West Ham, Wolves, Wigan and West Brom. Based on performances against us, Wigan and West Ham don't appear to have alot of oomph in their squad and the quality, with the exception of N'Zogbia and Parker respectively. Wolves I can't really comment on as we played them relatively early on in the season, but their games against Arsenal, Liverpool, Stoke and Bolton make their performance against Manchester United the exception to the rule, rather than the creation of one. Similarly with West Ham and their comeback yesterday. Whilst they have shown glimpses of quality and fighting spirit, they have been peppered in with some extremely poor showings and the likes of Bridge and Keane on extremely high wages isn't exactly going to help their cause (especially with the latter injured). Wigan are just Wigan. Sometimes they pull something out of their arse, the rest of the time they look like a League Two side (no offence Accrington). Fact is, they're nowt without N'Zogbia and we all know how easily he can throw his toys out of the pram. The only side I fear of any sort is West Brom, because there is some quality in there and Hodgson is a decent low PL level manager - the question is whether there is enough time left for him to have any sort of comeback. The novelty seemed to wear off quite quickly yesterday even though he wasn't officially in charge. To me, there is a pool of insignificant teams - Aston Villa, Everton, Fulham and Blackburn. We are a couple of wins from becoming part of that pool - teams that are down there but aren't really going to get relegated unless something ridiculously significant changes. The gap is only five points but we're in a better position than 10 other teams which is something significant in itself. Whilst I think it'll be tight, I still think if we can hit the 40 points mark relatively soon then we'll be safe (even if we scrape it). Now onto us. It's a strange one because I think we look better organised under Pardew and our performances have generally improved (especially against the teams dubbed 'worse' than us). I'm also more confident going into home games than I was under Hughton. The 'strange thing' is, I'm less confident in our ability to score goals. Now that might be considered weird, especially after Arsenal last week, but in the games away at Wigan and Blackburn yesterday, we enjoyed significantly more possession of the ball and had alot more chances than the opposition. Yet we came out of both games with only 1 goal scored, it's slightly concerning for what was significant dominating (IMO). I think we'll sink a bit closer to the relegation zone than we are now, and I think Tiote potentially missing for the two home games could prove to be a big miss (come on, we all know he'll get booked at Birmingham). I'm not expecting anything from trips to the Britannia Stadium, Anfield and Stamford Bridge. But Manchester United aside, those five home games are absolutely vital and all five of them are very very winnable. Like I said earlier in the season, home form is key. If we win those games, we're safe. If we don't, we need to rely on the lads pulling out a few rabbits at Birmingham and Blackpool. Now how can we get back to winning I hear you say? It's a tough one, but these lads have surprised me on a number of occasions this season and so I wouldn't put it past them to find a bit of form in the run in to the end of the season. The difference between this squad and the squad that was relegated is no doubt the squad harmony and togetherness. At first, I thought it was just a saying that Hughton peddled out to make an excuse for why players apparently lacking in quality, were somehow performing. But in recent months, having spoken to a few people at the club and having heard interviews from the likes of Kuqi and Ireland coming into the team, it's amazing how together this side is and whilst I was worried it would dissipate under Pardew, it seems to still be there even if it is a bit of a lukewarm one at times. The Fulham game was incredibly worrying on first glance. Our heads were down, everyone was feeling sorry for themselves and things just weren't clicking. Add that to the first half of the Arsenal game and I thought we were doomed. We were a team without its mojo and it was seemingly never coming back. However, once again in the face of adversity and criticism the team picked itself up, heads were banged together and what was produced in the second half (although given a bit of a push from the referee and his assistant) is amongst the greatest spirit and fightback that I've ever seen from any Newcastle United side. Every goal felt like the winner and Tiote's strike felt like we'd just won the league. That 4th goal was the moment when the emotion and optimism chip inside me flicked back on. It was the moment that I realised that despite what we might think of the quality of some of the players, no matter who has been sold and who hasn't been brought in, what the manager says in public and how much we all hate the owner, when we're running in the same direction we can achieve something. It is moments like that why we all love Newcastle United and moments like that will help me to keep the faith no matter where we are in a game. If the players can play with the same spirit and fight that they showed in the second half of that game, and the fans can make even half of the noise made in the second half of that game, we'll be laughing all the way to the bank to cash in next year's TV money cheque. I'll stop now before it becomes too mushy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenham Mag Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 We have Bolton, Birmingham, West Brom and Wolves left to play at home which i think we will win. Probably pick up a serious injury to Enrique and see the much welcome back return of HBA who will be awesome. Pick up odd points here and there and i think we'll finish on 50-55 points in about 8th-9th position. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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