Anyone starting to get worried?

[PaulWinch again]

If we continue to start games with the intention of going into our bunker and desperately trying to cling on we have no hope. It’s utterly defeatist and it’s also counterproductive, especially with our squad. We have no pace to scare teams on the break. We just get overloaded until we get broken down. Then Dean makes like for like subs and surprise surprise nothing improves. It’s weak minded and doomed to failure.

[Meanwood Villa]

Newcastle at home was one of our few good performances of the season, a relatively dominant performance and comfortable win. That has to be the order of the day on Wednesday.

[Fred Crump]

If we continue to start games with the intention of going into our bunker and desperately trying to cling on we have no hope. It’s utterly defeatist and it’s also counterproductive, especially with our squad. We have no pace to scare teams on the break. We just get overloaded until we get broken down. Then Dean makes like for like subs and surprise surprise nothing improves. It’s weak minded and doomed to failure.

I agree, the lack of pace at this level is a killer. It annoys me to say it but Adama Traore made all the diffference when he came on for the dogheads the other day.

[mr underhill]

We will get beaten at Newcastle imo but it won't change anything now for Smith. Whatever happens he's here until close of play.

[Villan82]

I reckon we've dropped over 20 points from winning positions this season.

Much is due to poor game management - that's the managers job.  We've simply learned nothing and repeated the same mistakes over and over.  For all the talk of poor recruitment it's our failure to adapt that'll cost us.

An astute management and coaching team can manage their resources and find a way to grind out enough points. 3 or 4 defeats - Arsenal Away, Bournemouth at home, and arguably Liverpool at home and Spurs away should have been draws. That's 4 points straight away and that's not counting the West Ham home game that should have been a win and Man Utd away which at the time felt like a disappointment. There are better examples than the ones given, I just can't think off them right now. I think the players had the same thoughts, actually, as we had squandered so many points by the time we played Leicester at home and the wheels just fell off.

An astute backroom team would have got us safe, despite some of the problems in the squad. If I'm honest, this has been a really disappointing season for me personally. The Lambert years weren't pleasant, and the year we got relegated was a horror show, but this season we have been so frustratingly, I don't know, call it what you want,  reckless- careless- profligate.

[Risso]

There's an utter lack of belief as well.

Most of the time we don't even seem to be trying to win, but rather just trying to avoid conceding with blind hoofs out from the back and no real intent or idea as to retaining the ball.

I know Smith said we had 10 cup games to stay up, but he's treating them like cup games where we've been drawn against opposition from three divisions above us!

Spot on.  The way we were trying to defend with 10 men in the box yesterday, before hoofing it out on the odd occasion we did get the ball was utterly embarrassing.  As somebody said, I've moved from 'worried' to 'resigned'.

[Villan82]

We could still survive. We are a point away, not cut adrift.

The question is can we get a just a little bit better than a point a game from what's left.

[ASHTONVILLA]

We could still survive. We are a point away, not cut adrift.

The question is can we get a just a little bit better than a point a game from what's left.

Cant see us getting a point a game with this shambles. If we don't ditch Smith I predict 3-4 more points tops.

[Risso]

We could still survive. We are a point away, not cut adrift.

The question is can we get a just a little bit better than a point a game from what's left.

Given our goal difference, it's two points.  We now need to rely on other teams doing badly, AND us taking advantage when they do, which as we've seen, is just not something we're capable of.

We've got 8 matches left, and I just can't see where the points are coming from.

Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal and Wolves will be almost certain defeats.  So we'll need points from Newcastle, Palace, Everton and West Ham.  I can't see us getting more than 4-6 points from the rest of the season, which will put us on 30-32 points, and cetain relegation.

[PaulWinch again]

We could still survive. We are a point away, not cut adrift.

The question is can we get a just a little bit better than a point a game from what's left.

Given our goal difference, it's two points.  We now need to rely on other teams doing badly, AND us taking advantage when they do, which as we've seen, is just not something we're capable of.

We've got 8 matches left, and I just can't see where the points are coming from.

Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal and Wolves will be almost certain defeats.  So we'll need points from Newcastle, Palace, Everton and West Ham.  I can't see us getting more than 4-6 points from the rest of the season, which will put us on 30-32 points, and cetain relegation.

The reference to the first four games as certain defeats sounds like a Dean Smith pre-match press conference!

[Meanwood Villa]

This is the worst Arsenal team for decades. We shouldn't be writing that off straight away.

[AVH87]

I think we could get something out of Arsenal and MU definitely, already matched MU at their place, but we need to get back to playing like we were earlier in the season, it should be doable given who we have fit.

[kippaxvilla2]

I started to get worried Arsenal second half and that game sucked a lot of belief out of the players.
Smith stood there watching us get dominated by 10 men without a clue what to do.
The same thing has happened time and again. I was hoping the break would help us but yesterday proved nothing has changed. He has no idea how to effect the game with subs or tactics.
I think there is enough talent in the squad to give us a chance but I don’t think the management is up to it.

I still think the Spurs home game did a lot of damage.

[hilts_coolerking]

This is the worst Arsenal team for decades. We shouldn't be writing that off straight away.

That's true but I still worry about Aubameyang and Lacazette against our back four.

[kippaxvilla2]

It doesn't seem to matter how shit the teams are who used to be good, it doesn't seem to matter that the shit teams are well shit.  It doesn't seem to matter who we play, we just don't appear to be mentally capable of a) having confidence to win and b) even in the unlikely event we manage to get in front holding onto the lead.  I was at dad's yesterday afternoon and saw it come up that we had scored.  I didn't celebrate, I wasn't even close to thinking we could hold onto that lead.  And I hate being proved right.  This is another of Dean's disastrous streak of games and unfortunately this time it is going to cost us a place in the league.