This is the season...

[Richard]

Fair point Chicago but I'm struggling to see any good strikers in the teams around us as well

[Richard]

In other words it's vital to become harder to beat and accumulate draws along the way too

[PeterWithesShin]

Although we've only scored 10, the Sherwood drag factor has to be taken into account. And if you look at what other sides are doing, from Liverpool in 10th down, only Norwich and Chelsea have scored significantly more than us (both on 16), everyone else is on 10-13 goals.

[Diablo]

Relegation is not inevitable but our situation is pretty damn dire. I say this not just from our obvious lack of a goal threat (as so many people are pointing out) but when I see that Bournemouth are about to get an injection of cash from American owners (25% ownership I believe) and think Oh sheeeeet!!!! That's a sign we really are in trouble.

[Dave]

Is that a particularly big deal? The owner who has up to now spent a huge amount (given that we're talking about Bournemouth) on transfer fees and infrastructure is selling a quarter of his stake to an American businessman?

That doesn't strike me as worrying news for us at all.

[Dave]

Changing topic, if we were to go down (and I don't think that we will), I don't think there would be a particularly large exodus of players. Amavi has probably shown enough and built up enough of a reputation that somebody would take him off us, and you'd think that Richards might have his eyes on a move out.

Other than that, I expect that a lot of the others would still be earning a lot more in the Championship than they would have been at Nantes, Lorient, Lille, Valencia, Elche etc. And probably haven't shown enough that anybody is going to come in and give us millions for them. Gestede, Guzan, Westwood, Adama, Sinclair, Grealish have all played lower-league football before so presumably wouldn't kick up too big a fuss - and even if they did, it's not like they've really done enough for anybody in a much better position to want to take them on.

Looking at teams that went down last year, the likes of Fer, Sandro, Austin, Phillips stuck around at QPR. Hernandez, Huddlestone, Diamé, Davies etc have stuck at Hull.

So if we were to go, I'd be pretty confident that enough of our better players would stick around to make a good fist of going straight back up.

[Stirchley Villain]

Changing topic, if we were to go down (and I don't think that we will), I don't think there would be a particularly large exodus of players. Amavi has probably shown enough and built up enough of a reputation that somebody would take him off us, and you'd think that Richards might have his eyes on a move out.

Other than that, I expect that a lot of the others would still be earning a lot more in the Championship than they would have been at Nantes, Lorient, Lille, Valencia, Elche etc. And probably haven't shown enough that anybody is going to come in and give us millions for them. Gestede, Guzan, Westwood, Adama, Sinclair, Grealish have all played lower-league football before so presumably wouldn't kick up too big a fuss - and even if they did, it's not like they've really done enough for anybody in a much better position to want to take them on.

Looking at teams that went down last year, the likes of Fer, Sandro, Austin, Phillips stuck around at QPR. Hernandez, Huddlestone, Diamé, Davies etc have stuck at Hull.

So if we were to go, I'd be pretty confident that enough of our better players would stick around to make a good fist of going straight back up.

How many have relegation clauses in their contracts?

[Ads]

I don't foresee us being in the bottom three by the time we kick off against West Ham on Boxing Day.

[Percy McCarthy]

Changing topic, if we were to go down (and I don't think that we will), I don't think there would be a particularly large exodus of players. Amavi has probably shown enough and built up enough of a reputation that somebody would take him off us, and you'd think that Richards might have his eyes on a move out.

Other than that, I expect that a lot of the others would still be earning a lot more in the Championship than they would have been at Nantes, Lorient, Lille, Valencia, Elche etc. And probably haven't shown enough that anybody is going to come in and give us millions for them. Gestede, Guzan, Westwood, Adama, Sinclair, Grealish have all played lower-league football before so presumably wouldn't kick up too big a fuss - and even if they did, it's not like they've really done enough for anybody in a much better position to want to take them on.

Looking at teams that went down last year, the likes of Fer, Sandro, Austin, Phillips stuck around at QPR. Hernandez, Huddlestone, Diamé, Davies etc have stuck at Hull.

So if we were to go, I'd be pretty confident that enough of our better players would stick around to make a good fist of going straight back up.

All of them I would guess. Which means they are contracted to take a pay cut if we go down.

[Dave]

Changing topic, if we were to go down (and I don't think that we will), I don't think there would be a particularly large exodus of players. Amavi has probably shown enough and built up enough of a reputation that somebody would take him off us, and you'd think that Richards might have his eyes on a move out.

Other than that, I expect that a lot of the others would still be earning a lot more in the Championship than they would have been at Nantes, Lorient, Lille, Valencia, Elche etc. And probably haven't shown enough that anybody is going to come in and give us millions for them. Gestede, Guzan, Westwood, Adama, Sinclair, Grealish have all played lower-league football before so presumably wouldn't kick up too big a fuss - and even if they did, it's not like they've really done enough for anybody in a much better position to want to take them on.

Looking at teams that went down last year, the likes of Fer, Sandro, Austin, Phillips stuck around at QPR. Hernandez, Huddlestone, Diamé, Davies etc have stuck at Hull.

So if we were to go, I'd be pretty confident that enough of our better players would stick around to make a good fist of going straight back up.

How many have relegation clauses in their contracts?

As Percy says, I expect they all would. Since we started finishing in the bottom half, I'd be very surprised if even with the quirkiness of our management over the last few years weren't putting clauses that specified what happens to the player's terms if we were relegated in any new contract we were offering.

[Stirchley Villain]

I don't foresee us being in the bottom three by the time we kick off against West Ham on Boxing Day.

Bloody hell... that's optimism for you...

[HK Villan]

The other teams around us (OK, above us!) have tough fixtures as well, and we are not far behind.  I was thinking by New Year ...

[Legion]

By May would do for me.

[SoccerHQ]

I don't foresee us being in the bottom three by the time we kick off against West Ham on Boxing Day.

Hmmmm. If Newcastle win another game and Norwich pick up a point they'll both be on 13 points and those are pretty low totals for a run of what 6 games before boxing day so even with that we'd still need to win 3 games. I'm presuming you think we'll win at Newcastle, beat Watford and either win at Southampton or Everton?

That's still a tough task for a team who is very low scoring and lacks quality in final third.

Hopefully Remi can keep on installing defensive discipline and structure in the midfield as if we can keep some more clean sheets we can sneak a goal or two in some games.

After Arsenal home game we play Newcastle, West Ham, Norwich, Sunderland, Leicester and Palace. I think that's as good a run of fixtures that has the potential to make or break the season, maybe not that dramatic but after that in mid January it will show how hard or comfortable our task will be e.g. if we're only on 11-12 points after that I'd say we're as good as down as we'd have to win a ridiculous number of games.

I really think we need to be around 20 points as then the task will be to win 5 more games and draw a couple which is very possible.

[PeterWithesShin]

7 games before New Year. Plenty of points up for grabs there I reckon.

Everton (A)
Watford (H)
Saints (A)
Arsenal (H)
Newcastle (A)
West Ham (H)
Norwich (A)