Relegation Watch

[itmustbe_it is!]

All is not lost yet - I can still see us staying up :

Norwich and Bournemouth bottom 2

Watford : draw with Newcastle (H) and West Ham (A), lose to Man C (H) and Arsenal (A) - 33 pts

Villa: lose to Man U , beat Palace (H), draw with Everton (A) , lose to Arsenal (H), beat West Ham (A) - 34 pts

None of those results , in isolation, that unlikely.

Keep The Faith !!!

[Risso]

Hard to see how anybody else would have been worse. Dismal Dean has been absolutely atrocious. Worse than Lambert.

[ktvillan]

We are toast.  We are fucked. Our goose is shot, plucked, stuffed and cooked. That said, we are long overdue a home win against the RedManc.............nah.

[KevinGage]

After Watford away, that was the moment. Plenty of us said it on here so no revisionism. Whole Jan window and the Winter break for search and getting to work. We’ll look back and say we blew it then.

No way were we going to pot a manager who'd got us to the semi final (and eventually the final) of a major cup competition just a few short months after securing promotion.

We can say the signs were there, but to act that early would have been viewed as brutal.  At the time it merely looked like a bad run with our own fate well and truly in our hands.  But -save for respite with the semi final win at home and the last minute winner against Pearson's lot - the bad run never truly ended.

[hilts_coolerking]

No way were we going to pot a manager who'd got us to the semi final (and eventually the final) of a major cup competition just a few short months after securing promotion.

We can say the signs were there, but to act that early would have been viewed as brutal.

I hope that wasn't the thinking.  Dean's not more important than the club or staying up.  Some say brutal, some say decisive.

[sickbeggar]

yeah but by that decisive or brutal response SGT would have been out the door midway through his first season after promotion

[The Edge]

A quick look at the last 5 seasons shows survival at 36,38,38,35,35. We need 3 wins. Palace, Everton, Arsenal plus a point at West Ham. Gives us 37 points and survival. It's easy this football malarkey.

[Legion]

It is. Shame Smith is not up to the job.

[Villan82]

If this.
If that.

The only if I'm certain of is if we'd sacked Smith before Christmas we wouldn't be in this position.

We all like Smith and he did well to get us up...and may well be the man to get us up again. But let's face it, the manager is the most important job at a club and it is at least a decade, more likely 14 years, since we went out and appointed a proven top manager. Making a whole series of bad appointments over the years has led us to here. That is a position where we are at the arse end of the table all through the season but keep the manager because he's basically 'one of us'.

We have got this badly wrong. It all feels like one step forward and two backwards.

[SoccerHQ]

After Watford away, that was the moment. Plenty of us said it on here so no revisionism. Whole Jan window and the Winter break for search and getting to work. We’ll look back and say we blew it then.

We picked up 7 points in the next 4 league games so probably the same as if a new manager had come in. Of course we could've then had better results v Bournemouth, Spurs and Southampton and properly pulled clear.

The key was Chelsea. If we'd played that in Mid March and lost I think DS would've been sacked given we had 3 weeks until our next match. We all know what happened next.

Given we've only just cut been cut adrift now there would've been enough time for someone to come in and at least shake things up. Decision was made and we have to accept the consequences of it. Interesting the three that have stuck with managers for whole season is very likely now to be the bottom 3.

[SoccerHQ]

Hard to see how anybody else would have been worse. Dismal Dean has been absolutely atrocious. Worse than Lambert.

Bit harsh. He gave us the fantastic run in and Wembley. I know Lambert didn't manage us in the championship but bar a decent end to 12/13 his reign seemed to be one new club low after the other. And it went on for f***ing ages. If DS leaves in the summer he'd still have managed us for a full year less than Lambert's 33 months here.

Will always have a soft spot for Dean due to watching Walsall when he first managed them and seeing him work his way up but he needs to be put out of his misery before things get much worse next season.

[wince]

We aren’t gonna win again this season

[Axl Rose]

We need a new manager and one of those new manager bounces. Get that manager in today and give him the last 5 games.

[Nunkin1965]

lose against Man Utd and we're gone.

We have already gone.   Effectively 5 points from safety and cannot score goals.

Not quite, but I think we are on the brink.  The Palace game is the glimmer of hope at the moment.

Agree.
Palace at home is the game.
Win that and we’re in with a shot of staying up.

“It ain’t over till it’s over”
Yogi Berra 1973.
Lenny Kravitz 1991.

[RamboandBruno]

All is not lost yet - I can still see us staying up :

Norwich and Bournemouth bottom 2

Watford : draw with Newcastle (H) and West Ham (A), lose to Man C (H) and Arsenal (A) - 33 pts

Villa: lose to Man U , beat Palace (H), draw with Everton (A) , lose to Arsenal (H), beat West Ham (A) - 34 pts

None of those results , in isolation, that unlikely.

Keep The Faith !!!

I’ve been clinging onto something like this and agree it could still happen. I think the major problem now in the mini league we’re in, is if we lose tomorrow, Watford play a day before us at the weekend. If Bruce’s boys don’t turn up, Watford will be 5 to 7 points ahead of us by the time we play palace. I think then it is literally win or bust on Sunday and I’m not sure this group of players will handle that pressure at the moment.

Or we could beat Man U, and Watford could lose to Newcastle.....dreamland