Hiring Hughes was baffling, deserve to go down for that appointment and hopefully it will be the last seen of this awful manager at this level if he takes 2 down in a single season.
West Bron have got to be gone now surely? I think Southampton are also right in it now after such a beating from a fellow relegation rival. Palarse still look in danger Stoke are not far away either. It’s going to be interesting. Huddersfield and Newcastle should also be ok.
Well, we can mess around with that a bit! Seriously though, it will be a bit concerning if we put in another poor performance against Huddersfield, the other away games we've ****ed up under Gracia we've at least had some valid excuse for not winning, but Huddersfield are there to be got at. Newcastle all but safe, only two points behind us now, but hopefully they'll be on the beach by the time they visit us
I’m pretty sure we will beat Newcastle. Anyway we are on a winning run of four consecutive victories against them. I do agree Huddersfield is a must get sonething from away fixture. Even a point wouldn’t be too bad. We need one more win or three draws to be almost certain of safety. If three teams below us lose next week and we win it’s job done I feel.
Not even thinking about the drop now, we've got some winnable games, Southampton have a horror run to come. I'm pretty superstitious regarding the Newcastle and Huddersfield games, rather than think positively about our recent record against Newcastle, I'm more concerned our run is going to end at some point! Likewise for our away form, I just feel for some reason we're due something on the road. Nothing but law of averages behind that though lol
I agree we should be safe, but you can never trust this Watford side. They are more than capable of losing the last 6 games. The only question is, is 37 points enough? Well it does depend on the others. If Southampton win their game in hand we are just 7 points clear. This will probably be enough, but we cannot be complacent. Those two points thrown away today, would have been enough to ensure we stay up, but now there is still that little bit of doubt. Of the games left you can forget getting anything at Spurs or United, so that's 4 games. Palace, Burnley, Newcastle at home, and Huddersfield the other away game. It's a shame, as we have some terrific players at the club. Cleverley, Chalobah, Deulofeu are all unavailable, and would make a massive difference to this team. It's just frustrating we just about seem to limp over the line, when I can see we should be capable of so much more.
On today's showing Southampton will do well to get points against Arsenal, Chelsea, Man C though . I'd fancy Stoke's chances more . Guess there were no protests at the Olympic Staduim today ..
Southampton aren't getting to 37 pts, I'm about 99.9% sure of that. In any case, I'm a lot more positive now than I was last season. Then, we had a tough last 6 games with a dire coach and average players. We now have an easier run-in, a better coach (with, perhaps crucially, potentially his job on the line rather than being out the door already) and hopefully some of our better players to come back, Hughes already is looking pivotal after his absence. I do think we'll jog to the finish line this time, hopefully we can go past QSF's haul and nab a top half finish
Why are people so obsessed with 40 points? It’s not as if it is some sort of finishing line that you have to cross. Our points total now would have been enough to keep us up last season and is the average figure needed to stay up over the past twenty seasons, so it’s more than likely we’ve done enough already. That said, I have been thinking for around two months now that the target would be 38, and I am still confident that will be fine.
Baggies are long since gone. Stoke nearly. Palace will NOT go down. Between Saints and Huddersfield and Saints have a car crash of a final few games. Careful what you wish for Baggies and Saints fans: Pulis and Puel especially don't look so shabby now?
Pulis would have taken them down anyway. They have an ageing squad with no pace and very little creativity. I doubt anyone else would have done much better anyway. Puel is a good manager though, maybe Southampton could have built on him
It is incredible to think how badly Pardew has done. A circus animal randomly pointing its paw at players on a match day to allocate selections would have secured better results. Pardew has just had 6 highly winnable games in a row. As good a run as it gets in premier league. He lost every single match. Are they really sticking with this dreadful manager next season?
If say WBA are joined by Stoke and Southampton. Are the replacements Wolves, Cardiff and say Fulham or wild bet Millwall likely to be stronger additions? I wouldn't say so. Removing three established Premier League teams and retained this years promoted teams and three new ones, should make relegation picks next year harder then ever.
Good summary. Huddersfield look like they're really struggling for goals. Watford can play well and still lose matches because of their defensive inadequacies and Huddersfield will be aware of that and may well throw the kitchen sink at us. Edit: You can bet they will.
Given his propensity for being 'economical' with his cash, is there any chance that Gino might turn to a beast with commensurately modest salary expectations for our next appointment? A dachshund called Colin?
Arsenal just scored a contentious penalty- guess Wenger won't be moaning though this time ! Mind you as it's Stoke don't feel too sorry for them.
Anyone wondering why no English refs will be at the World Cup only need to look at Craig Pawson's decision for the penalty. Only given because it was Arsenal. Oh, and another one. Because it was Arsenal.
Nothing wrong with the decision to get rid of Pullis, they were on a horrendous run of form going back to the previous season and the football was obviously atrocious. What was stupid was having nobody decent lined up to replace him.
They had a really bad run at the end of the season (like us) and despite winning their first 2 games never really seemed to have recovered. Often lost games by a goal or two that might have been 1-0s a season or two ago. None of the bottom 6 really have the ability to score goals (cue Huddersfield scoring 3/4 against us...again!) and well as Stoke proved today even if you defend well sometimes things go against you.
I've been looking at the remaining fixtures for the bottom 8 teams in the PL and I have been VERY generous in estimating the maximum points they might possibly get from those fixtures, and here is what I came up with: - Brighton - 9pts = 43pts West Ham - 9pts = 40pts Swansea - 12pts = 43pts Huddersfield - 9pts = 40pts Palarse - 18pts = 48pts Southampton - 9pts = 37pts Stoke City - 12pts = 39pts West Brom - 9pts = 29pts I emphasise, I think I have been VERY GENEROUS, as I do not really think all, or possibly any of them will get that many points, but they could of course get more. Therefore, with my generous estimates in mind, I would be happier if we could get at least another 3pts from our remaining fixtures, as that would almost certainly see us survive, having said all that our existing 37pts will probably enough. My three for the chop are Stoke, Southampton & WBA.
