Relegation?

[saunders_heroes]

After 16-odd years I won't be. I'll still go down but will use viagogo and the ticket offers from the club.

That's what I'm going to do as well, I think.

[john e]

I'd accept another 87 season if we could be guaranteed another Graham Taylor to follow it

[Legion]

Highly likely has now been upgraded to extremely likely:

2014-15

[ChicagoLion]

If we continue to get no points, it won't matter how poor the others are.

This is the point that some seem to ignore, we have actually got to go out and win some games and I have very little faith in our ability to do that.

Its not beyond our imagination to see us not winning it and if we don't we will be in free fall, still not certain to be relegated but more and more likely to be.

Desperate.

[myf]

I think we'll be okay this year.  Reckon 36 will do it and think we're good enough for 8 points from 11 games,  even with our desperate performances of late.  I'm just sick of the culture of defeatism that has set in.  Going to be tough dragging the club out of this rut.

[john e]

I was more worried last year, don't know why but there you go

[john e]

Having said that I'm more disappointed this year

[KevinGage]

We are dreadful, and have been different shades of that from about the Newcastle home game onwards.  At our worst, I don't think I've seen a poorer side in the league this year.

Fortunately, there are a number of sides below us who are consistently dreadful too. One or two  might do a West Ham. Four or five won't.

[aj2k77]

I think we'll be okay this year.  Reckon 36 will do it and think we're good enough for 8 points from 11 games,  even with our desperate performances of late.  I'm just sick of the culture of defeatism that has set in.  Going to be tough dragging the club out of this rut.

This go again mantra bollocks does my head in as well. Each defeat and inspid performance is met by a ''oh well we've got next week to have another shot''. Defeat is just dismissed.

[Irish villain]

If we stay up this season drastic action will be required in the summer.

No more bollocksing around like in the summers of 2011,2012 and 2013.Each time the board promised that Villa expects and Villa fans expect to compete and play decent football. In short, that we as a club should be better, should strive for the best and should never be set up to nick a point. That we should have players capable of taking on our opponents and trying to win games.

Each time this has proved a false dawn with more of the same served up: poor signings and a general failure to really show we mean business again. I must admit, I thought we had finally broken the cycle when Benteke signed a new contract but, aside from that, can anybody genuinely say last summer had the feel of a 1995 about it? We failed to sign the creative midfielder we needed and again the bulk of our signings were, in hindsight, unproven punts.

This time it simply has to be different or we are nailed on for the drop. We need a minimum of four quality additions to go straight into the first team. Only Guzan, Vlaar, probably Okore, Delph, Westwood and Benteke are genuine first eleven quality. Clark, Bacuna, Lowton, Andi and sadly Gabby are squad players and much of the rest could be got rid of.

Our next moves in the transfer window, whether new manager or not, have simply got to be a winning moves. No more punts, no more filler. We need to upgrade on at least four players to ensure we are comfortably mid-table next season. If we continue on this path, those better players will keep going to our competitors and we will be pushed further down. Does anybody else look at teams like Southampton and think that in the natural order of things, two or three of their line-up would be at Villa? I do. The world has gone crazy these past few years.

[brian green]

I cannot see where our next win is going to come from.   I think that loss at Newcastle and the manner of it was a massive blow.   I think we will scrape down, not by much, but down.

To say I don't care is not true, I do care but in the present scheme of things the way the team is, the way they play, the way the club is run, the attitude of the owner, the clunkling dunderheadedness of the manager, it does not matter which league we are in.   It is of no more significance than moving a dying patient from one side of the ward to the other.

Relegation I have done before and it is horrible, shameful and crushing but it is no more horrible, shameful and crushing than year after year of soul destroying lack of anything to be happy about.   Relegation for us would be no more than chucking a bucket of water over a drowned man.

[Ian.]

The Liverpool performance came out of nowhere so I'm still very hopefull we might have another few of those left in us to get us through and the fact that at least 3 teams will fair as bad or worse than us.

That though needs to be massively improved for next season, if we do not start adding quality in the summer this flirting with relegation will catch us out sooner or later.

I have no idea if Lambert is the answer or if we sack him who is, I do know we need to add spend a bit in the summer as most if the team is not good enough.

[OzVilla]

Lose against Norwich and I think we might be that third club down.

Confidence will be shot and we'll have hit our bad run at the worst time with tough games ahead.

Get a win against Norwich and I think we'll make it.

We really shouldn't be having this discussion AGAIN though.

[brontebilly]

Even since times under Gérard Houllier and Alex McLeish came to the forefront I was convinced that we were not going to get relegated. Even last season under Paul Lambert I just knew we were going to be safe. This season, though, I am no longer quite so sure. Please prove me wrong.

coming around to the idea that relegation might not be a bad idea to be honest. the football we are playing is beneath our club and that isnt going to change under this manager. the club is in a right mess, staving of annual relegation is only delaying the inevitable complete reorganisation of the club from owner down.

As to will be go down, very hard to see us beating anyone at the moment. We have 2 players that can nick a goal for us, Benteke and Gabby, but they are nowhere near the form of last season in which we barely scraped through. We dont look like scoring at the moment, if they somehow get going we should be fine.

2 of our worst players at the weekend were Vlaar and Benteke, thats worrying.

Positives - Westwood form has definitely picked up. He got us moving at times towards the end of last season so maybe he can again. If Bacuna had not tried to hand Newcastle a penalty at the weekend, Id say at least our full backs are a lot more defensively solid this time around. He is capable of anything though.

Cardiff look gone. There is a desperate lack of individual quality in the Palace and Fulham sides. Think Palace will still come back into it.

[CJ]

For the last 3 seasons we've averaged around a point a game - 38 in 2011/12, 41 last season and 28 from 27 games this season. We started playing well in the last part of the season last year, and with Benteke's goals we got to 41 points. This year Benteke's goals have dried up, our form is awful, and I don't think we'll get more than 37 points. We're depending on 3 other teams being shitter than us and not getting to 37 points. Bloose got relegated 3 years ago with 39 points and sooner or later that will happen to us.