How many points will keep us up?

[adrenachrome]

How many 'must wins' have we had recently? Off the top of my head I can think of Wigan, Saints and Newcastle...and we all know what we got from them. It's the hope that kills you!

Despair kills you as well. In the long run we are all dead.

There's nothing left but faith.

[JJ-AV]

We have had little runs of form throughout the season. I think we're on a good run now. But just like the run that finished at Liverpool we're not picking up enough points.

We lose home and draw away. It's only going one way. I think we'll do well to get to 32, let alone 35 or 36 (which shouldn't be enough anyway).

We have the worst squad in the league by a distance, certainly the most unbalanced. Only Reading have less quality than us and they're on a good run and have momentum. I think we're down and we'll end up bottom.

[JJ-AV]

Norwich and Fulham play each other next, a winner in that game and that team is out of it.

Although I think they're both too far ahead.

[Dave]

5 wins in the last 40 odd league games. It's going to take a significant change in momentum to get 4 or 5 in the last 13. Can't see it myself. Think we'll finish bottom with 28-30.

Sadly I agree with this. Any sort of half decent run- ie 5 wins in 13 games- would probably see us right but I just don't think we're capable of it. We've shown a chronic inability to win games for well over a year now and I can't see it changing soon.

The key could be if we can somehow get Dunne fit and play him alongside Vlaar. That would give us a much more solid base to work from. I still think if Dunne had comeback on schedule last September we wouldn't be in such a mess.

Richard Dunne is just this season's Carlos Cuellar: a player who goes from maligned scapegoat to world beater by simply not playing.

I don't think anyone is suggesting he's a world beater - but if you had to pick the one player in our squad likely to stick his head underneath an opposition corner it would be Dunne.

If we'd been better at that over the last month or so, we could easily be six points better off and looking forward to a cup final.

[SoccerHQ]

Norwich and Fulham play each other next, a winner in that game and that team is out of it.

Although I think they're both too far ahead.

Think I'd prefer both to get safe as quickly as possible as we play both in our 6 games and it's usually good to play mid table teams with nothing to play for if you need points to stay up.

[Big Dick Edwards]

35 points won't keep us up. Not with our goal difference.
A position of going to Wigan knowing victory would mean redemption is the best we can hope for now. Our fans would be there in force too.

[eastie]

35 points won't keep us up. Not with our goal difference.
A position of going to Wigan knowing victory would mean redemption is the best we can hope for now. Our fans would be there in force too.

To be honest big dick i wouldnt fancy going to wigan needing a win , i think we need at least 38 points.

[Clampy]

35 points won't keep us up. Not with our goal difference.
A position of going to Wigan knowing victory would mean redemption is the best we can hope for now. Our fans would be there in force too.

To be honest big dick i wouldnt fancy going to wigan needing a win , i think we need at least 38 points.

Is his name Dick or do you know something we don't?

[Big Dick Edwards]

35 points won't keep us up. Not with our goal difference.
A position of going to Wigan knowing victory would mean redemption is the best we can hope for now. Our fans would be there in force too.

To be honest big dick i wouldnt fancy going to wigan needing a win , i think we need at least 38 points.

I wouldn't be over-confident myself but our fans would be there in huge numbers backing the team. At least we'd know precisely what we had to do.

[SoccerHQ]

Well whatever happens, a really low points tally will keep teams up this season, could even be lower than 35.

[john e]

Could be as low as 32 points needed to stay up

[junxs]

Theres usually another team that no ones expecting that runs into a spot of bother around this time of year and finds themselves in the scrap too. Could it be Norwich or Fulham, neither in great form. Norwich havent won in their last 6.
A win tomorrow and we'll be just 5 points behind them.

[junxs]

Man City beat Southampton and its been a perfect day for us without even playing, need to make the most of it tomorrow.. please

[eastie]

Could be as low as 32 points needed to stay up

I dont think so- there will be some shock results along the way - i would hope for 38 at least to be safe.

[Brian Taylor]

Lots to come. We can improve. A win tomorrow against the shirt stealer's and we'll be on our way!