Will we go down?

[Trent Canary 0]

Read a lot of posts on here saying we are definitely going down with Hughton in charge, that we are sleepwalking into the Championship etc. Thought I would highlight that you can get 3/1 with Ladbrokes so suggest you invest while the odds are still good!Anyway, cock on the block time - Do you think we will go down? Me? - I think we will stay in pretty much the same situation, finishing about 15th and surviving by 3-4 points.

[Barossa 0]

13th place finish for me

[birchfest 401]

We won''t, but it ain''t gunna be pretty. I think what will save us is that palace, West ham, Fulham and Cardiff are all just a little bit worse... In fact I''d be tempted to add stoke and West Grom into that mix too.

[ron obvious 1,711]

I think there are about 4 or 5 teams actually worse than us & another 2 or 3 on a par. It''s stupidly close this year though.

A lot of it will come down to willpower & character. This is where Hughton really falls down - he wants to play a methodical, controlled style where individual players are irrelevant & subservient to the team ethic.

This is good for when players go out of form or are injured. Or, would be in theory. In practice it isn''t looking quite so rosy.

[BOO 0]

We will stay up, but if it''s only by the skin of our teeth, which I think it will be, time for a change of manager.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Vanwink"]We will stay up, but if it''s only by the skin of our teeth, which I think it will be, time for a change of manager.[/quote]

If we stay up by the skin of our teeth, I agree.

[PurpleCanary 6,385]

Impossible to be certain. Four wins out of the last 17 would give us a fair chance of staying up, and five would pretty much guarantee it. And before the horrid final four we have six potentially winnable games in a row, as well as some possible points from the next three. No matter how dispiriting and craven some of our performances seem to be we are not yet so obviously one of the worst three sides in the league. We are not Reading or QPR from last season.But if our current regression continues and we fail, for example, to win any of those next three then that run of six in March and April will  look far less likely to provide the necessary points for survival.For what it''s worth, I don''t blame the board for not sacking Hughton. There hasn''t been a clear tipping point - a combination of some really bad results to add to any longer-term disquiet - that would have made the decision easy. And I don''t think he will be sacked before the end of the season. In part because there does not seem to be a markedly better replacement available.

[iron_stan 0]

 yestime for change, do it now before its too late

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

On the face of it, it''s a fair question, but at the risk of being slated for dodging the issue, I agree with purple that it really is far too early to say yet.In the poll on MOTD, there was a huge majority of those who think Palace and Fulham look doomed, but, for the 3rd place all the others were equal.One thing is for sure. Any team that can put an even vaguely decent run together..back to back wins, 9pts out of 15, unbeaten in 8 games, that sort of thing though not being enoughto be absolutely safe will give a satisfactory cushion. I know that there are a few oddballs that feel there is no significance to our run in of four final games, but the more realistic of us surmise that, basically we need to have the requisite amount of points by Apr 12th, or we are in real trouble. Significantly that game is Fulham away. I wonder how significant that result will be to both clubs'' futures?

[Salopian 1]

On current form, the answer is that it looks likely that we shall be relegated.

[pete 371]

If we ever fall back into bottom three I fear we do not have enough to get back out of the relegation places.

[kingsway 101]

I think we can finish anywhere from 10th through to bottom and nealry half the Division are in the same predicament!

 

I think the most likely scanario is we''ll stay up but only just and it won''t be pretty!

[PortlandCanary 0]

Look at the bottom half if the table right this minute and take a mental picture. This is exactly what it will look like at the end of the season. The bottom five are especially set in stone.

[im spartacus canary 0]

i am resigned to it, we are poor, our last hope was tony pulis he will keep palace up cos he knows what he is doing and can set a team up

[Norma Stick 0]

Yes. With Hughton in charge and the negative football we''re playing its inevitable. Those below us and around us are starring to pick up points in games they should be picking points up in. We''re not.

I think we have the players to dig us out of this mess but not using the tactics Hughton deploys.

[Samwam27 606]

If we stay up it will be by the skin of our teeth. The only thing in our favour is there are other teams still doing worse, and they''ve even changed their managers.Footballs a funny old game and it only takes one bit of luck (let''s face it we don''t get our fair share) or a bit of magic from someone like Hoops or RVW, and a win puts us back into mid table

[Europe_93 50]

I think the board will back Hughton and get at least one or two players in.

But with current squad & manager I rate our chances as 50/50.

[Surfer 1,547]

I wouldn''t be surprised if we did, but I don''t think we will. A lot will depend on whether we can add one or two players this transfer window, and especially if we get our four injured midfield players back.

[Christian 0]

And a lot will depend on our managers questionable tactics and ambitions.

[Guest]

Right now, it looks a very close call.Hughton can''t get any consistency from his team, making a judgement call on their long-term prospects near impossible.What we can say based on last season is that Hughton is likely to settle for draws against teams around us, rather than go for wins. This cautious approach may well leave us in an impossible situation in those final four games. We may watch on helpless, as teams below overtake us, without being able to do a damn thing about it.  If only we had been positive in those winnable games, Chris?

[Alfie54 83]

sadly and honestly, out of the bottom ten we look the least likely to put any sort of run together. Given that there are some very poor sides there it will be criminal if we go down and I am now starting to believe that we will.