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Author Topic: Relegation Watch  (Read 148916 times)

Online Dave P

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #75 on: February 25, 2020, 08:50:15 AM »
I think Norwich have gone.  Watford have had their run and seem to be slipping so it seems to be one from us, West Ham, Brighton, Bournemouth and possibly Newcastle but I think their heads are just above the water.  Do we have enough? Should West Ham be more worried?

Online dave.woodhall

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #76 on: February 26, 2020, 04:58:22 PM »
I think Norwich have gone.  Watford have had their run and seem to be slipping so it seems to be one from us, West Ham, Brighton, Bournemouth and possibly Newcastle but I think their heads are just above the water.  Do we have enough? Should West Ham be more worried?

Yes, I think a club who have got less points than us, are in worse form than us and whose supporters woud like to tear their manager and board limb from limb are probably worse off than we are.

Offline hilts_coolerking

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #77 on: February 26, 2020, 05:06:05 PM »
I think Norwich have gone.  Watford have had their run and seem to be slipping so it seems to be one from us, West Ham, Brighton, Bournemouth and possibly Newcastle but I think their heads are just above the water.  Do we have enough? Should West Ham be more worried?

Yes, I think a club who have got less points than us, are in worse form than us and whose supporters woud like to tear their manager and board limb from limb are probably worse off than we are.
I suppose it depends what span of games you're talking about.  Over the last three, we have the worst form in the division.

Offline PeterWithesShin

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #78 on: February 26, 2020, 05:10:49 PM »
West Ham have been shit for 5 months, I have little doubt the majority of their fans are more worried than we are.

Offline Drummond

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #79 on: February 26, 2020, 05:56:02 PM »
I'm not naive enough to think everything in the garden is rosy, but we're heading in to March in 17th which is where we'd like to finish. It's not a bad state of affairs. Obviously we'd all like to have amassed 40 points already so that we could afford to lose the rest of our games but that was never going to happen.

We have bad matches and good matches, and bad periods in good matches. If we're only as good as our last fixture, then yes, we're in big trouble, but we're not are we? We've shown in a number of matches that we're better than that, even if we're prone to fuck a few things up.

Offline Risso

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #80 on: February 26, 2020, 07:13:12 PM »
Why was it never going to happen? That’s nonsense. Better recruitment and better coaching could have seen us much higher.

Offline JJ-AV

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #81 on: February 27, 2020, 01:02:28 PM »
Yeah I agree with Risso there. We've signed probably 5 players in the Summer who weren't up to it. Had one of those been a hit we'd probably be a handful of points higher up.

Similarly, most who've watched us use the word naive, a lack of nous has cost us points. That comes from recruitment (i.e. lacking experience) and style. We haven't managed to develop a more robust approach to gain us an extra handful of points to give us some breathing space.

Smith's done a very good job overall but this season, particularly the last 3 months or so I have started to wonder about his methods, particularly with the persistence of problems. Specifically - shots conceded, the inability of the midfield to track runners and the fact we so rarely play the early ball in to the front-man.

I still back Smith and think if we go down we should stick with him. However, if we stay up, there may be a decision to be made too...

Online ChicagoLion

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #82 on: February 27, 2020, 01:23:27 PM »
You get a chance to score against us every 5 and a half minutes.
Smith has done nothing to address this situation, on Saturday we gave Southampton 20 opportunities.
This is just sheer madness and I would love just one journalist to ask him why he thinks this is and what he is doing about it.

Offline Luke8

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #83 on: February 27, 2020, 01:31:35 PM »
Yeah I agree with Risso there. We've signed probably 5 players in the Summer who weren't up to it. Had one of those been a hit we'd probably be a handful of points higher up.


Recruitment is tough though. You look at even a team that are doing well, like Sheffield United, and it’s not like that many of their summer signings have been major successes so far. Callum Robinson has even been moved back out on loan already. And that was building from a much better position that we were in and knowing that they would be promoted a fair bit earlier.

Don’t completely disagree with your point, and I’m not saying the recruitment should be defined as a success, but given what we had to do I think it a bit harsh to think they could have done a lot better.

Online AV82EC

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #84 on: February 27, 2020, 01:50:00 PM »
You get a chance to score against us every 5 and a half minutes.
Smith has done nothing to address this situation, on Saturday we gave Southampton 20 opportunities.
This is just sheer madness and I would love just one journalist to ask him why he thinks this is and what he is doing about it.

I think we need to be careful here about this shots conceded stat as I’d be intrigued to know how many were actually a clear cut chance to score? I’m not saying it irrelevant, it definitely isn’t but like any stat how you construe it can be misleading.

Ultimately we are too open and naive.

Online Rudy Can't Fail

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #85 on: February 27, 2020, 01:50:39 PM »
Has a team with the worst defensive record in the PL ever managed to stay up?

Online Dave P

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #86 on: February 27, 2020, 02:19:18 PM »
I think Norwich have gone.  Watford have had their run and seem to be slipping so it seems to be one from us, West Ham, Brighton, Bournemouth and possibly Newcastle but I think their heads are just above the water.  Do we have enough? Should West Ham be more worried?

Yes, I think a club who have got less points than us (1), are in worse form than us (having played Man City and Liverpool away) and whose supporters woud like to tear their manager and board limb (see elements of the Dean Smith thread) from limb are probably worse off than we are.

I've added a bit of context in brackets.  We are matching West Ham stride for stride with shitness and I'd be less worried if the last game of the season was at home!

Offline PeterWithesShin

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #87 on: February 27, 2020, 02:41:23 PM »
Don't forget to add that West Ham have won 3 league games in 5 months and once since Christmas.

Online nigel

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #88 on: February 27, 2020, 02:58:16 PM »
I think Norwich have gone.  Watford have had their run and seem to be slipping so it seems to be one from us, West Ham, Brighton, Bournemouth and possibly Newcastle but I think their heads are just above the water.  Do we have enough? Should West Ham be more worried?

I've a horrible feeling Watford will get out of it, leaving two from Bournemouth, Brighton, WHU and us

Offline Luke8

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Re: Relegation Watch
« Reply #89 on: February 27, 2020, 03:10:26 PM »
Has a team with the worst defensive record in the PL ever managed to stay up?

Bournemouth conceded seventy last season. Something for us to aim for.

 


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