DumbleDelia is Magic 0 Posted November 10, 2004 IMO anyways. There is a more than good chance that Southampton are going to take up one of the relegation places. They do have a good squad but have zero confidence. It''s absolutely rock bottom. A defeat at a certain top quality East Anglain team in a couple of weeks could push them over the edge Seriously though, they are a team which we could realistically say we could finish above. The only thing that could change their fortunes is a new manager which wouldn''t surprise me. Wigley reminds me a bit of a Hamilton. Brought in as an assisstant, pushed up to management and being out of his depth. Great! Another club which we have the potential of finishing above is West Brom. IMO employing Bryan Robson was not a good move. For some reason Pease was determined to employ a high profile failure (Robson, Hoddle etc) I could be proved very wrong but I don''t think Robson will do a good job. Cash or no cash. This means that (best case scenario) two of the relegation spots will be taken up. Therefore, there are another possible 4 clubs who could realistically get relegated- Blackburn, Palace, Birmingham and of course us. I think that clubs like Spurs, Man City, Fulham and Charlton have too much quality in their squad to get relegated. You could say the same about Birmingham I suppose. But the fact of the matter is that as we approach Christmas, their is not one or two clubs sinking without a fight, unlike other seasons. I know my signature says otherwise but I think we could stay up with significantly less than 40 points. Things are tighter at the bottom than a gnats b****ks! Sorry, a horrible phrase but it is!! Come on lads we can do it. A win and the confidence will roll. We''ve got a great chance. Or am I being a bit optimistic? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gazzathegreat 0 Posted November 10, 2004 DD i know you are at uni, but i thought it was something to do with crime investigation not studying flies, correct me if i am wrong Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gentleman Jim 0 Posted November 10, 2004 Super-optimistic-Jim agrees with you DD with regard to WBA, on their Forum there is about 80% who are against the Robson appointment ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NavMan 0 Posted November 10, 2004 Dont think you are being too optimistic at all. IMO it all hinges very much on when we can secure this first win. At the minute we are relying on the four or five clubs with us to either draw or lose in order that they cannot get ahead of us by any great margin which would make it very hard for us to catch up. My concern is that if a couple of clubs suddenly do a Palace and secure a couple of wins then our confidence would take a severe nosedive if say after 14 or 15 games we are still drawing or losing and seeing a gap develop between the bottom three clubs and the rest. Of course it could be us that get those couple of wins and I sincerely believe that once we get the first we could go on to greater things. It is just getting the blessed thing in the first place. There is of course also the possibility of staying in the mix of things with no gap developing until Jan when we see what happens on the transfer front. But that is another matter as not only us will be in the junt for signings but so will the other clubs with already Blackburn and Mark Hughes being reported as having the money to delve in the transfer market. All in all it does depend on how quickly we can get our act together but firmly believe that if we can then we can climb this what I believe a very ordinary lower half of the season. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
westoncanary. 0 Posted November 10, 2004 I agree in principle but we have to start winning games now. It sounds obvious I know but the longer this run goes on the harder it is going to get. We must get at least a point against Charlton and 3 points is a must against Southampton. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZLF 271 Posted November 10, 2004 I agree DDiM - we have more chance of staying up now than we did at the start of the season because at that stage I was only looking at the promoted clubs and Everton as likely relegation candidates.Now we know that Everton are well away from that but they have been replaced by Rovers, Soton and, imo, Fulham who will all be scrabbling about come the end of the season.I agree a record low is likely to keep you up this year - but we do need to get a win under our belt soon.And most importantly avoid being bottom at Xmas - a further millstone that we could do with avoiding as it simply breeds more pressure.OTBC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StevenageFan 0 Posted November 10, 2004 Ever the optimist I believe we can and will do it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
We need a Manager 0 Posted November 10, 2004 Birmingham and Fulham no i just cant see those clubs being involved in the relegation battle . Its a 5 team race the 3 promoted teams Blackburn and Southampton . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DumbleDelia is Magic 0 Posted November 10, 2004 [quote]DD i know you are at uni, but i thought it was something to do with crime investigation not studying flies, correct me if i am wrong[/quote]No you are right Gazza! I''m studying psychology with criminology. Not flies Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ayrton Twigge 0 Posted November 10, 2004 I''ve been optimistic with a capital O all season. Now its optimistic with a small o.I think its perm 3 from 5 to go down - the 5 are us, WBA, Palace, Saints, Blackburn.On what I saw on Saturday, Blackburn were c**p. (But then, so were we 2nd half).WBA - one trick pony. Whack it upfield and hope Earnshaw taps it in. Can''t see Robson making much difference.Saints - played well against Arsenal, awful last night, otherwise at our level - tightish defence but poor attack. Will Beattie and Phillips solve that?Palace - all heart - breakaway opportunities for Johnson, but believe they''ve just had a purple patch - but ultimately will crumble and die.So my view - Down for certain - Palace and Blackburn.Other candidate - anyone of the remaining three so consistency is going to count. Saints probably have the edge.But we CAN make it. Beating the Saints will be a great start. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Creative Midfielder 1,985 Posted November 10, 2004 IMO most of what you say Aryton is spot on but I think you''re seriously underestimating Palace. There''s much more to them than just heart - they have a very good manager, and organisation and commitment that we could definitely do with. Their defence is tighter than ours and Johnson has scored almost as many on his own this season as we''ve managed in total - of course if he gets injured they may struggle but I would still rate their chances as better than ours.My feeling is that the current table is a fair reflection of the season so far, and we therefore have some catching up to do, not a lot maybe but at the moment we''re losing rather than gaining ground. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites