Fleckys Flip-Flop

3 points will be enough, 1 point probably won''t. I''d fancy them to pick up points against Palace and Hull at home. They could also get a point at either Spurs or Stoke away. You wouldn''t put it past them.

Gossy''s equaliser v Munich, Culverhouse v Everton - his only league goal I think, Bellamy v Sheffield United when he went round Simon Tracey out wide and calmly slotted in from almost at the corner flag, Tettey''s last week and Leon''s against Man Utd are my top 5 favourites. I can''t pick just one.

Spot on Bethnal. Young Jamar played very well and it was great to see him last the full 90. But let''s not forget, he has failed to make a real impact in League 1 this season already. This season should be excellent for his development, much like Chris Martin''s spell at Luton was for his. Loza has the potential, but he needs real competitive games to realise it. Hopefully he can finish the season well at Southend and move up to League 1 level next year. It would be a waste to keep him here as 4th choice next season. The boy reminds me of Jermaine Defoe and he went out on loan plenty of times before he got his Premier League chance. Let''s not get carried away.

Le juge, Sunderland have to go away to Anfield, stamford Bridge, Etihad, Old Trafford and White Hart Lane... Not a run in like ours?

Ruddy Martin Bassong Yobo Olsson Tettey Howson Snodgrass Hoolahan Elmander RVW

Sunderland''s games in hand are Man city away and Arsenal away - The other is West Brom at home. So it''s gonna be pretty tough I think.   Perhaps the more realistic claim is ''If we win our next 2 home games we will stay up''? 

[quote user="The Great Mass Debater"]Surprised at how few people are willing to have a punt on likely outcomes for our run in. People seem to have very strong views on whether we will stay up or down, but arent willing to speculate on how that might happen. Obviously noone knows how many points we will need, but I would have thought people would be happy to make some predictions as to how many points we would acquire and in which games, especially as plenty on here seem to like a gamble. If you feel the team is doomed, demonstrate why. If you feel the team will win lots of points, predict in which games. Both views are strong, surprisingly few people willing to illustrate either...[/quote]   Did you just start this to have a pop at anyone who thinks we might stay up?   Here''s an opportunity for you then;   Sunderland - 3pts Swansea - 1 pt West Brom - 3pts Fulham - 1pt Liverpool - 0pts Man Utd - 1pt Chelsea - 0pts Arsenal - 1pt 39 points - safe   I make my predictons on the basis that football happens in places other than Norwich. You may not have noticed, but fortunately we are coming into a spell against some teams with pretty poor form.   Sunderland played out a boring 0-0 draw with Palace at the weekend. Both looked devoid of much of an attacking outlet. Sunderland being the home side should be more concerned. They looked very much like us v Cardiff at home. Lots of half chances, no real gilt-edged stuff. We will do just enough for a 1-0 win.   Swansea''s honeymoon under Monk is well and truly over. Two points from 4 games including Palace, Stoke and WBA isn''t good and I expect them to return empty handed from Goodison and the Emirates before they play us, having had a midweek match. Our games over there are usually entertaining and we have a good record at the Liberty Stadium. I think we will hold them to a 2-2 draw.   West Brom had a good result this week, but without Brunt and Anelka, miss two really important players. They have 2 very important games against Hull and Cardiff before they play us. I expect both sides to be in decent form coming in to the game. But it will be a cagey affair which we will edge 1-0. My reason for this? I just think we are a better side.   For their win at Newcastle, Fulham were poor and it took an almighty cock-up from Krul to gift them the victory. They have Man City away, Everton at home and Villa away before us. 3 defeats in my book. Dejected and defeated, they play out a 0-0 draw.   Liverpool are just too bloody good. 0-5   Manchester United are struggling at home this season. We tend to pull big performances out of the bag against the big clubs and I don''t think United have it in them to punish us the way Chelsea and Arsenal did earlier in the season. I''m going 0-0   Chelsea will be pushing for the title. Even if they aren''t I think they are just too good at home for us. 0-3   Arsenal travelling to Carrow Road on the last day of the season with nothing to play for. They are on the beach, but we can''t finish them off. 0-0

The form is the problem. Personally I back us to get 7 or 8 points from our next 4 games and I think that will be enough to stay up. But I think those who are worried are worried for a good reason. If we don''t take maximum points off Sunderland then I will also be very worried.

Ideal for me is that Cardiff, Fulham and WBA don''t get any points. Maintain the gap. If they all lose then it''s at worst (for us, best for them) one game less for them to make up those 4 points.

At the moment it seems like we have absolutely no chance of winning any of our games if you listen to some ''fans''! Like the Spurs one for example... Hughton has never lost against So''ton in the prem. As such a very similar logic to the one that says we ''can''t'' beat Fulham says we can''t lose tomorrow!    

In fairness LDC, our three aren''t pushing to get in the world cup squad, which was the point of the OP. So it wasn''t really relevant to the topic. Although I''m not sure Houston needed to get so angry about it. I think I get what you mean though. We have exciting players too and all with something to play for - their premier league futures.   Your second comment is bang on the money though. I never know why people say ''we have no chance'' before any game. On any given matchday anyone can beat anyone. We all know that!

I''d go for this... Ruddy Martin Yobo Turner Olsson Tettey Howson Fer Snoddy Pilks RVW Personally, I think our best performances came with this kind of formation. Tettey sitting deep allows Howson and Fer to both play their natural roles in central midfield. They both have the freedom to break forward and support the striker whilst still having numbers in the middle when we don''t have the ball. Both Pilks and Snoddy carry a good goal threat. I''d have them switching wings regularly though. It''s tough on Johnson who has been one of our better performers of late.

He was also in the official OPTA team of the week this week. Can''t have been that bad!

I kind of get his point. I personally don''t think there are many in the Southampton starting 11 who wouldn''t walk in to our team. And we have all seen that there indeed WAS a limit to what they could achieve this season! We spent a lot of money, but so did everyone else. We already had the cheapest squad in the Premier League, so to talk of ''dampening'' expectations was sensible. Especially in a season where for some reason, a bunch of fans seemed to think that spending £30million should see us pushing for Europe. I don''t thik he ever said ''we are probably going to be relegated this year''. Rather the idea was to point out that avoiding relegation was still the main priority. It''s really the equivalent of Mourinho and Rogers telling everyone who will listen that their respective sides won''t win the league. Par for the course in management these days.    

We have spent the best part of the season with ''one of our best players missing'', with the amount of injuries we have suffered. I''ve thought Fer needed a rest for the last couple of months to be honest. I think he, much like Mesut Ozil, has struggled without the christmas break to ''recharge his batteries'', so to speak. Howson looked sharp coming off the bench on sunday and Johnson and Tettey have been excellent of late. I''m not too concerned.

Even last season Bassong was prone to dropping more than the odd clanger. For me he is a better centre half than Bennett, but I wouldn''t be completely gutted if he got the nod instead.

The straws i''m clutching at are this; Last 10 games - Norwich - 9 points Fulham - 5 points Cardiff - 5 points West Brom - 9 points For us to go down, one of these sides have to pick up a minimum of 3 points more than us over the rest of the season and they are on just as poor (if not poorer) form than we are.

[quote user="SeattleCanary"][quote user="nutty nigel"]In 2005 we didn''t have 28 points until the end of April by which time we''d played 36 games. [/quote]Considering we finished on 33 points after 38 games, and we all know we lost against Fulham in the 38th game. This isn''t possible. We were on 30 points after 36 games, and had been on 30 points since the 35th game. Call yourself a fan.....[/quote] So it was 35 games by the time we passed 28? I think the point is probably still valid, don''t you?

But RVW isn''t a £15 million striker! Let''s be fair, if you don''t splash 8 figure sums out on strikers then you really are taking a gamble. For every Benteke and Michu there''s a Helenius, Cornelius, Van Wolfswinkel, Mitroglou, Anichebe... They look low on confidence, sure. But perhaps it''s more an issue of the Premier League being both too fast and physical for them to do what they want. The pressure is certainly on them to put every chance away, especially with the relatively few chances they get here. Maybe they just don''t have the mental fortitude to deal with that? I don''t know. But I have to say, on Hooper, with the exception of a couple of nice runs in behind the defence he has looked poor in the last two games. In all honesty I think we have probably expected too much from the pair of them.

Stoke 1-0 So''ton 0-0 Sunderland 1-1 Swansea 2-2 (we tend to do well there) West Brom 2-0 Fulham 0-1 To be honest, I can''t help but feel like there should be a spanking in there for somebody... surely one day all the chances will go in? Maybe West Brom again. I''m also predicting a 0-0 draw with Arsenal, defeats in the other 3 games and 10 points to take us to 38. Baggies, Fulham and Cardiff to go down.

Oddly enough, I had a good feeling about the Spurs game too. Although I predicted a 0-0 draw. As for Liverpool, I wouldn''t be surprised to see them score 5. I have a sneaky suspicion they are going to win the league.

Huckerby Fleck Roberts Culverhouse Gunn That was tough, even just over the last 25 years or so I''ve been following City.

[quote user="skippdogg"]ruddy martin yobo bassong olsson snodgrass johnson howson tetty redmond rvw[/quote] ^^This^^

It really doesn''t take too much to remember when we were playing similarly unadventurous football in the lower reaches of the championship. I''ve seen much worse football at Carrow Road, against much worse opposition. Right now, we are a Premier League club. As long as that stays the same I will be happy!

The rather incredible run that put us in the position of our fate being in our own hands and the excellent start to the Fulham game, disallowed goals and blatant penalty shouts turned down, would suggest that it wasnt a problem then and I doubt it will be one now. Nobody would prefer we went down. Id imagine a player is in a much better bargaining position wage-wise if they are already at a Premier League club. Also, on the basis that our accounts are in such good health, we have no reason to sell regardless of what division we are in. Engineering a move will be no easier whatever division we are in.