Anyone starting to get worried?

[bilsim]

We have a squad of players who at some point have all performed like they belong in the Premier league. Unfortunately these performances have been interspersed with some absolute dross and regularly we'll have as many as 7 or 8 players who are off the boil in any given game. On the one hand, that's the problem with youth and inexperience. On the other, this is the Premier League and, even if you got time to learn on the job, we're at the thick end of the season and can't afford to wait for them to kick on.

[Sexual Ealing]

I went to West Ham yesterday. It was hilarious. The way crowd turned, and how the team responded, suggested that they're going down.

[SheffieldVillain]

West Ham and Watford have so far proved they've got less than us.

Just because they're below us doesn't change my view that I think they'll both probbaly have too much between now and the end of the season.

That's fair enough, but they've not shown it so far.

My bottom 3 would be Norwich, Watford and Brighton.

Stands a fair chance I reckon.

My dream three would be Watford, West Ham and Newcastle. Unlikely but it would be hilarious.

[N'ZMAV]

My dream three would be Watford, West Ham and Newcastle. Unlikely but it would be hilarious.

mine would be Newcastle, West Ham and Wolves - long odds on that.

[itmustbe_it is!]

Think it might go all the way to West Ham away.

We'll need to score at least twice to cancel out the inevitable Snodgrass goal. Let's see if we still applaud him then !

[ChicagoLion]

We keep showing that we can lose to any one, we give up more chances to the opposition than any other team and have not done anything to address that.
Yesterday’s result was a massive blow and I can’t help thinking if we can’t show up against Bournemouth then there is something fundamentally wrong with the set up.

[Ads]

Man United, so their ridiculous fan base actually has something to moan about.

[mallo]

We don't get results against the top half so that was a massive loss yesterday. We can only hope we get a couple of jammy wins - that literally is our hope.

[Ads]

I think Spurs, Wolves, Man United and Chelsea will yield points at home out the top 8.

[RamboandBruno]

I've always been worried about this season and still am.  The real disaster of yesterday was gifting Bournemoth another win and helping their mini revival.  If we're to stay up my feeling is they will need to be one of the fall guys because I still think Watford and West Ham will have too much.

It's tight, but it was always going to be.  We're still one of the form teams in the relegation mix and we've got Jack with McGinn also to come back.  If I was one of the other teams I'd be worried about us.

There's a long way to go and there will be plenty of flip flops between 'we're doomed' and 'we look good' between now and the end of the season.

For me, it's too tight to call, which is pretty much what we should really have expected at the start of the season.

Agree with most of this. Though think West Ham are the classic team that looks too good to go down on paper. But they’ve form for dropping and have been a bit of an unhappy ship for a few years, plus their big name striker really isn’t doing any better than Wes was for us.

As for Watford, given their run I was really expecting a lot more when they came to villa. Someone on the thread mentioned we had a miracle win against them, yes it was last kick of the game, but I thought we were the much better side and they were poor.

For me, despite their comeback yesterday I’d be worried if I was Brighton, play good football most games, but can’t buy a win.

So all is not lost.

It’s going to close and some of our players are very up and down, Nakamba for example, best player on the pitch against Watford and very good against Leicester, then some weeks awful, but that’s how it’s going to be for the rest of the season I think.

Our last 5 games have been 2 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats, repeat that for the next 5 and the 5 after that we’ll probably be safe with a few games to spare.

[Big Ming]

Anyone know what the parachute payment situation is, if you have only been back up for a single season?

Do you get tapering payments over more than one season and is it still a decent wedge?

[AV82EC]

Anyone know what the parachute payment situation is, if you have only been back up for a single season?

Do you get tapering payments over more than one season and is it still a decent wedge?

55% in Yr 1, 45% in yr 2 and 20% in yr 3. Approx £80m in yr 1, etc etc

Added to which of course we’d have in excess of £100m from sales of Grealish, Mings, McGinn etcetc

[Big Ming]

Anyone know what the parachute payment situation is, if you have only been back up for a single season?

Do you get tapering payments over more than one season and is it still a decent wedge?

55% in Yr 1, 45% in yr 2 and 20% in yr 3. Approx £80m in yr 1, etc etc

Added to which of course we’d have in excess of £100m from sales of Grealish, Mings, McGinn etcetc

That ought to buy a bounce back squad.

[David_Nab]

8th in Form league over last 5 games which isn't too bad , I think the 2 week break has come at a good time for us.

2 weeks more training for Samatta , integrate Baston and 2 weeks closer to McGinn return

[SoccerHQ]

I think Spurs, Wolves, Man United and Chelsea will yield points at home out the top 8.

I think we'll beat Shefifeld United if that game gets moved to mid to late April.Get the feeling once they get to 40 points they'll ease off in the manner West Brom used to under Pulis. They'd hardly win a game in last three months of the season.

10 more home points and we'll stay up imo. Think we'll get one more away win.