Relegation Possibility

[richard moore]

I realise that John e. Things always look different the next day. Last night when I turned on the tv  at 11.15pm to see that Wigan had beaten united and QPR had stuffed Swansea I didn't have time to process all the data. It just seemed ominous and like we'd be in the mire.

Very true Irish, I feel a bit better than I did late last night when it was real doom and gloom. And I've always been a pessimist by nature. I remember thinking we wouldn't win one single game when we came up from the second division in 74/75 - mind you, we didn't win that many when it came to it! I had a Man City best friend at our school in Harrogate who, by contrast, always thought they would win every single game they played and always envied him his optimism - this being a time when they were rapidly moving from having been a very good team to the disasters that would beset them for most of the next 20 years or more!

And, of course, lest we forget, we want all the optimists on here to be right!

[Risso]

By the way, I only highlighted Bolton and Blackburn for convenience and the fact they currently sit in the bottom 3, I havent ruled out QPR or Wigan still being relegated at all. QPR have horrendous fixtures and Wigan, whilst showing some guts, are very inconsistent.

QPR have to play WBA, Stoke, Spurs, Man City and Chelsea still.
Maybe 4 or 5 points at most. In my opinion not even that.

They've won three of their last five, including beating Arsenal and Liverpool.  I think QPR will stay up.

Can they keep it going though. They might stay up but it will be most likely at Blackburns, Wigan or Boltons expense.

You're right of course.  I do think we'll stay up, but it is deeply worrying that the teams below us (excluding the as good as relegated Wolves) have all won games against decent teams recently, and importantly, mostly have managers used to scrapping for their lives.  And of course the Blues situation last year isn't directly comparable, but it is still worrying that the same manager who basically needed one more point from their last three games still took them down.

The trouble is, we're almost certainly going to lose against Man U, then if any of those below us pick up results, the panic might set into the squad.

[pedro25]

Bolton at home has become * our cup final * 

how f**king depressing .   Im off to work .  McLeish OUT!!!!!!

Bolton comfortably beat us at home earlier in the season as well, in the League Cup, I'm worried.

[john e]

Remember it's not just one team below us having do do well and go on a point achieving run, it's three,
 all three have to have a very succesfull end of season whilst we go on a losing run even worse than the Form we have showed so far this season,

As others have said we are pretty good at draws, you still get a point for them as proved against Liverpool

Every little helps

[VillaAlways]

 all three have to have a very succesfull end of season whilst we go on a losing run even worse than the Form we have showed so far this season,

Which is exactly what happened to Blues last season under our manager

[john e]

 all three have to have a very succesfull end of season whilst we go on a losing run even worse than the Form we have showed so far this season,

Which is exactly what happened to Blues last season under our manager

we are not Blues

[Dave]

Bolton at home has become * our cup final * 

how f**king depressing .   Im off to work .  McLeish OUT!!!!!!

Bolton comfortably beat us at home earlier in the season as well, in the League Cup, I'm worried.

And we made them look utterly useless when we played them in the league.

We've been pretty awful this season, but at no point have we lost more than two games in a row across all competitions. We probably need another three points at most to be completely sure of staying up.

We've seen nothing to suggest that we about to go on a six match losing streak.

[pauliewalnuts]

 all three have to have a very succesfull end of season whilst we go on a losing run even worse than the Form we have showed so far this season,

Which is exactly what happened to Blues last season under our manager

we are not Blues

True

We're doing a better impression of them than I'd have liked, though.

[Mazrim]

It's true that under McLeish we typically roll over and have our tummies tickled by the so called elite but we do seem to be able to pick up points elsewhere and I use the term points literally - one at a time.

I dont expect anything against United but we should go there and play with freedom, as Wigan did, and you never know. Its a case of anything is a bonus. Then its business time and we can get points in any of the remaining fixtures. I see no reason why we can't get 40 points at least, maybe more and climb a few places. That's essentially beating Bolton and a couple more draws. Nothing to write home about but still a modest realistic target.

We need Gabby to remember where the goal is, the continued rise of Weimann, a few players back fully fit like Albrighton, N'Zogbia and Clark, then have a real go.
There is quality in this side even if the manager struggles to conjur it. We were unlucky to draw against poxy Stoke despite the negativity and could have came away from Anfield with the points too.
So yes, lots of cause for concern as to what the future holds and lots of work to do in the Summer behind the scenes but we should be alright this season.

In the meantime the main positive is the kids are getting the exposure they need and this kind of situation can be character buiding. Its not ideal but could be a blessing in disguise in the future.

[john e]

i'm thinking about the relegation obsesion that some people have, no matter what happens they can foretell a situation happening that makes it more likely for us to go down,

we have been hovering between 5-8 points of the relegation zone for the last few weeks, the teams below us have picked up points in some suprising places, but hey we are still 6 points clear, so we are actually in better shape now than we were, but still acording to some we are going to be dragged in to the bottom 3 spots soon,

its going to be even worse on here if we lose against Man Utd even if the points difference is still pretty much the same.

the only reason i can think of to explain it, is excitment, its more exciting to think and believe we are in a relegation scrap than to just go through the motions at the end of the season.
i can remember being at Carrow road, and VP against Cov on the final day needing points, and it was exciting.

a bit like football hooliganism in the 70's, you shit your pants most weeks, but you still went back for more the following week because it was exciting.

[john e]

 all three have to have a very succesfull end of season whilst we go on a losing run even worse than the Form we have showed so far this season,

Which is exactly what happened to Blues last season under our manager

we are not Blues

True

We're doing a better impression of them than I'd have liked, though.

have to agree there

[VillaAlways]

I'm pretty sure Blues didn't lose more than 2 games in a row either and then got 1 point from the 22nd April onwards The problem is as team gain ground on you, the panic starts to set in. By my reckoning every other team bar Norwich will have something to play for WBA and Sunderland will be desperate to beat us ,Bolton obvious reasons, Spurs for a champs league spot
I could see us going on a similar bad run if we get a hammering at OT especially if were set up for damage limitation

[villa for life]

john e, that's actually false, we are nearer to relegation than before. Just a few weeks back, we were around 10/11 points clear.

For me, it's beside the point, though. I gain a certain peace from the fact that if we go down, then it won't be because of one unfair incident etc, we have always had and still have more than enough points to stay in the league. If we go down from this point, then we deserve to go down.

[Boz]

To be anything like sure of surviving, we need to score more than one goal a game, as we are unlikely to keep a clean sheet due to set piece syndrome.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

If he did relegate us I think he'd have to leave the country for his own safety

Is Scotland a different country ?