Relegation Possibility

[pauliewalnuts]

It's worth poitning out that if we do beat Bolton, which is our game in hand, and we'd be favourites on paper to do so at home, we'd be level with WBA on 36 points, who nobody is talking about in terms of relegation.

They've got the three point difference in the bag, though.

The only sides we've beaten at home this season are Blackburn (at their worst), Norwich (squeaked past) and Fulham (93rd minute goal bundled in).

We're hardly dependable at home.

[Dave]

Newcastle managed to hold on to their players, and win the Championship. Surely we could?

Newcastle have a much lower wage structure than us

Quite possibly. But they had a few big earners on the books then. Barton, Nolan, Coloccini, Enrique, Alan Smith

and done much better getting rid of most of them .

Every single one of those players stayed with them for whole time they were in the Championship.

I meant in the Prem   including Carroll

That's fine, but completely irrelevant when the discussion is how teams cope with high-earning players when they are relegated.

[N'ZMAV]

The difference between us and Newcastle is that when they went down, they didn't really have a particularly good squad in the first place, so found it easier to keep their side together.

They had, for example, no Darren Bent, who would be straight off if we went down. Or Shay Given, for that matter.

  Michael Owen was then as good as Bent is now.

You're joking, aren't you?

He was permanently injured for a start.

In terms of a footballer Owen was top drawer. In terms of fitness. Shocking.

[Concrete John]

It's worth poitning out that if we do beat Bolton, which is our game in hand, and we'd be favourites on paper to do so at home, we'd be level with WBA on 36 points, who nobody is talking about in terms of relegation.

They've got the three point difference in the bag, though.

The only sides we've beaten at home this season are Blackburn (at their worst), Norwich (squeaked past) and Fulham (93rd minute goal bundled in).

We're hardly dependable at home.

True, we aren't.  However, when the thread comes round I'll be predicting a home win against Bolton.  It might well be our only win for the rest of the season, but I do think we'll get it and that will finish off any relegation fears.

[garyshawsknee]

It's worth poitning out that if we do beat Bolton, which is our game in hand, and we'd be favourites on paper to do so at home, we'd be level with WBA on 36 points, who nobody is talking about in terms of relegation.

They've got the three point difference in the bag, though.

The only sides we've beaten at home this season are Blackburn (at their worst), Norwich (squeaked past) and Fulham (93rd minute goal bundled in).

We're hardly dependable at home.

You're forgetting our win against the mighty Wigan.

[ktvillan]

It's worth poitning out that if we do beat Bolton, which is our game in hand, and we'd be favourites on paper to do so at home, we'd be level with WBA on 36 points, who nobody is talking about in terms of relegation.

They've got the three point difference in the bag, though.

The only sides we've beaten at home this season are Blackburn (at their worst), Norwich (squeaked past) and Fulham (93rd minute goal bundled in).

We're hardly dependable at home.

We've won very few at home.  None were totally convincing,not even Blackburn.  We couldn't beat a very poor QPR.  We now have a severely depleted and inexpereinced squad to choose from.  We look like we couldn't beat an egg.  Those 3 points look like an abyss at the moment.

[VillaAlways]

We've won very few at home.  None were totally convincing,not even Blackburn.  We couldn't beat a very poor QPR.  We now have a severely depleted and inexpereinced squad to choose from.  We look like we couldn't beat an egg.  Those 3 points look like an abyss at the moment.

Well let's just hope that the likes of Stoke , Norwich and Spudz are on the beach by the time we play them because it's going to be like an effing cup final for Sunderland and WBA

[joe_c]

It's worth poitning out that if we do beat Bolton, which is our game in hand, and we'd be favourites on paper to do so at home, we'd be level with WBA on 36 points, who nobody is talking about in terms of relegation.

They've got the three point difference in the bag, though.

The only sides we've beaten at home this season are Blackburn (at their worst), Norwich (squeaked past) and Fulham (93rd minute goal bundled in).

We're hardly dependable at home.

You're forgetting our win against the mighty Wigan.

Our historic first ever home league win against Wigan to be precise.

[pauliewalnuts]

It's worth poitning out that if we do beat Bolton, which is our game in hand, and we'd be favourites on paper to do so at home, we'd be level with WBA on 36 points, who nobody is talking about in terms of relegation.

They've got the three point difference in the bag, though.

The only sides we've beaten at home this season are Blackburn (at their worst), Norwich (squeaked past) and Fulham (93rd minute goal bundled in).

We're hardly dependable at home.

We've won very few at home.  None were totally convincing,not even Blackburn.  We couldn't beat a very poor QPR.  We now have a severely depleted and inexpereinced squad to choose from.  We look like we couldn't beat an egg.  Those 3 points look like an abyss at the moment.

To be fair, I thought Blackburn was a pretty convincing win.

It's also fair to say we were excellent for half of the match against QPR, probably the best stuff we've played all season came in the second half of that match.

The problem is we didn't win it, and that's been the problem far too often this season.

[Risso]

It's worth poitning out that if we do beat Bolton, which is our game in hand, and we'd be favourites on paper to do so at home, we'd be level with WBA on 36 points, who nobody is talking about in terms of relegation.

They've got the three point difference in the bag, though.

The only sides we've beaten at home this season are Blackburn (at their worst), Norwich (squeaked past) and Fulham (93rd minute goal bundled in).

We're hardly dependable at home.

We've won very few at home.  None were totally convincing,not even Blackburn.  We couldn't beat a very poor QPR.  We now have a severely depleted and inexpereinced squad to choose from.  We look like we couldn't beat an egg.  Those 3 points look like an abyss at the moment.

To be fair, I thought Blackburn was a pretty convincing win.

It's also fair to say we were excellent for half of the match against QPR, probably the best stuff we've played all season came in the second half of that match.

The problem is we didn't win it, and that's been the problem far too often this season.

You can probably point to four or five halves of decent football this season.  That's a bit pathetic three quarters of the way into the season.

[the weatherman]

It's worth poitning out that if we do beat Bolton, which is our game in hand, and we'd be favourites on paper to do so at home, we'd be level with WBA on 36 points, who nobody is talking about in terms of relegation.

When we played Bolton earlier this season at home, i seem to remember we were comprehensively beaten by their second string.

[ktvillan]

It's worth poitning out that if we do beat Bolton, which is our game in hand, and we'd be favourites on paper to do so at home, we'd be level with WBA on 36 points, who nobody is talking about in terms of relegation.

They've got the three point difference in the bag, though.

The only sides we've beaten at home this season are Blackburn (at their worst), Norwich (squeaked past) and Fulham (93rd minute goal bundled in).

We're hardly dependable at home.

We've won very few at home.  None were totally convincing,not even Blackburn.  We couldn't beat a very poor QPR.  We now have a severely depleted and inexpereinced squad to choose from.  We look like we couldn't beat an egg.  Those 3 points look like an abyss at the moment.

To be fair, I thought Blackburn was a pretty convincing win.

It's also fair to say we were excellent for half of the match against QPR, probably the best stuff we've played all season came in the second half of that match.

The problem is we didn't win it, and that's been the problem far too often this season.

Okay I'll give you Blackburn - but that's not much for three quarters of a season.  But we've rarely looked like winning even at home against shite and with a full squad, and even when we did play well, like second half against QPR, we'd already done the damage first half.  I wish I could see where we can beg another win from, but I can't, even against a dreadfully out of sorts Liverpool team.

[Concrete John]

It's worth poitning out that if we do beat Bolton, which is our game in hand, and we'd be favourites on paper to do so at home, we'd be level with WBA on 36 points, who nobody is talking about in terms of relegation.

When we played Bolton earlier this season at home, i seem to remember we were comprehensively beaten by their second string.

Let's hope their first team is playing then, the one we've already beaten away this season. 

[VillaAlways]

Let's hope their first team is playing then, the one we've already beaten away this season. 

And let's hope that our reserves can beat them

[ktvillan]

Just said on radio , small heath were 1 point better off them us at the same time last year

They were, in fact they were above us, as we only had 33 points after 30 games, they had 34 points. At that point they were only 2 points above the drop zone whereas we are currently 5points above it. 

However if you think that is enough of a safety margin, consider this.  Blues had 35 (3 ponts clear) after 31 games and 38 (6 points clear) after 32 games.  They then took only 1 point from their last 6 games.   Thus McDunce has thrown away a bigger cushion over fewer games to get relegated than the one we have now.