The Great Escape

I agree with the first part, that our lack of goal scoring will relegate us.

But not the second. I honestly think if we just had a bang average strikers this season we would be flirting with relegation but not cut off as we are. But we are worse than poor at finishing. The xg table has us six points clear of relegation if we had taken our chances - and this doesn’t even consider the numerous occasions we’ve been in great positions and contrived to not even get a shot away.

Similarly a bang average striker is all we need to stay up, if we play how we have been. And a modicum of confidence in front of goal.

that confidence can come from one or two results.

whether it will or not is a different matter

 

When it comes to strikers, I honestly think we could have played Gomes, Bachmann and Dahlberg up front and we'd have been no worse. I actually think they would have taken some of those chances as keepers tend to hit the ball hard.

Let's be honest, Foster has already had one more shot on target this season than Deeney.

 

And what a damning point that is for the cowards who populate our first team squad. They are a disgrace.

 

Yep, another season of this **** or relegation and a purge?

 

We could have played me and you up front and I expect we wouldn’t have less points than now.

unless that is you got aggressive and took away corners and free kicks from the Delfmeister, then we would probably be safe already

 

I honestly believe if I took our corners and free kicks I’d have about 5 assists with my dibbly dobblies lofted into the box. Our output would be higher than Holebas and Delefeou with a circus bear kicking the ball in any random direction.

 

But where is your consistency? Can you hit the front man 9/10?

 

Would be nice to actually be in a relegation battle close to the end of the season. On each of the 3 previous relegations from the top tier we've never been close and sank without a trace well before the end of the season. Unfortunately looks like it will be the same this season. Just wish we could keep in touch so we still had a realistic chance of staying up with 2-3 games to keep it interesting go for a change.

 

Yes in the autumn we were, beat chelsea too, but no-one had any realistic hope of staying up come January. Always 2-3 wins away from really making a fist of it.
Very frustrating. Approx 10 seasons in the top flight. 6 Seasons of excellence/comfortable survival. 4 cold hard cut-adrift relegations.

 

I gave up on that season when we lost the return game at Bradford in the January. We had six 3-2 defeats that year, five of them at home.

 

you put W against Man Utd. I stopped reading after that.

 

I think the most nonsensical idea of all, should the Pozzos have it, would be to bring Pearson in and then bin him off for someone else if we get relegated; he's literally perfectly suited to what that task would be. He knows the Championship extremely well, he's ****ed it previously, and everyone told us on his appointment that he works best having been given some time at a club to implement his mindset and methods. It's not like we brought him in for his undeniable Premier League record as a coach!

That nonsensical ranking would be superseded prior to the fact if they don't bring in a competent striker on January 1st and claim/pretend they think our current logjam of malco's, complemented by rarely scoring teenage fish out of water João Pedro, will be enough to score the goals needed to keep us up. Then I will be genuinely a little angry. I fully expect it to be the case.

 

In the film of the same name, the escapees were largely recaptured or machine-gunned to death. Suggests that even if we win a couple and get our heads momentarily above the water, we won't succeed in our escape bid. Could we really be that chap who walks over the border into Spain or the two who row their way out of that major sea port ??

 

So what key factors are going to change our fortunes?

Well, it's obvious what our problems have been, but I firmly believe we are on the right path and will almost certainly improve over the second half of the season.

My belief in why we'll improve is because I've been hugely impressed by Nigel Pearson. His press conferences ooze confidence. He's clearly a man who will get the best out of players. He's not a tyrant but does not suffer fools. Any player trying to mug him off will know all about it. It's an approach the players need. Before Pearson was appointed, the profile I considered we needed was someone who could bully players a bit. Pearson is that man. He's tough but fair and players will respect that. Those that don't can go, as we don't need players who are not willing to fight for the cause.

Already performances have improved, even going back to those games under Mullins. The British coaching set up is exactly what we need right now. Technical ability is all well and good, but right now we need heart and guts.

Now, the management is one thing, but Pearson or Shakespeare cannot put the ball in the net, but this is something I think will improve also. I believe if players apply themselves more, and play without fear, they will create more chances. As a striker, you know if the team you are playing for create a lot of chances, then it relaxes you. You know it's not quite so vital to take a chance, and adversely, it's that attitude of knowing you'll get other chances which allows you to score at a better ratio. The anxiety and fear of missing subsides.

Do we have the players who will score goals? Well they've done it in the past. I don't expect a high goal output from Deeney or Gray, but we cannot write-off Welbeck. If we get him back in January and he remains fit, he'll be like a top quality signing. Sarr is improving and has shown glimpses of why the club spent a fortune on him. I can only see him getting better over the remaining season. Also we have the unknown quality of Pedro. I'd like to think he can be instrumental as being a young kid playing without fear.

There are reasons to expect a much better second half of the season. However, there is one caveat. We do need to aim for around 30 points. Going from 9 in the first half to 30 in the second seems highly unlikely, but doable if everything goes right. This means we have to get fair and correct decisions from officials and VAR reviews. We cannot afford anymore rough justices.

Momentum is key, and it starts against United on Sunday. Big game, fans will be up for it and so will the players. I really believe this is where it all starts. If we manage back-to-back wins against both United's, then we're looking at 24 points from the second half of the season, instead of 30.

Having made my case, I still think we need some extra quality from the transfer market in January. Be it loan or permanent, we need a couple of players who will raise the standard of the playing squad. We are usually picking up points on a ratio of 1.1 per game, so we'll need to be able to up that average. A couple of astute signings, could make all the difference.

 

Not sure if it’s been mentioned, but I read earlier that Southampton, after this weekend, won’t play another team currently in the bottom half until February.

Haven’t looked to see how our own fixtures stack up, beyond the next 4-6 games, but you’d have to think this is our best chance to put together a decent run of form and up the pressure on Saints.

We also play Villa twice in the next month, giving us a chance to potentially overhaul them as well.

I think one out of the current bottom 4 will survive, and shockingly, despite our horrific start to the year, it might not take much more than a mediocre run of form and results against our nearest rivals to get ourselves ahead.

If we can find a competent goal scorer in January, we might just make it.

 

I like the emotion shown by our current Manager and staff, we haven’t had that on the bench for a long Long time!, it has to rub off on the players!

 

I've looked. Its horrific! All our games are against teams above us in the league, like the fixtures computer deliberately shafting us.

Well we have our version of Pele incoming.

 

Maybe we should change our theme music from Z Cars to The Great Escape!

 

I had us on 37 points but I still have no idea where the goals are going to come from to get us there

 

Seems like a pretty safe bet...

 

Well 3 that may be coming today after 60 mins which will help. the W looks like its correct after all.

 

So no one has survived with 9pts after 17 games

Yet after our 18th game, we’re ahead of the curve again. 2 teams have been on 10pts at Xmas and survived. Plus Burnley had 12pts at this point last season and ended up 15th.

 

Awkward.

 

What a fantastic result.. I was still nervous until the 92nd minute tho!
Momentum plays such a huge part in sport, and what a difference that win has made. Yes we’re still bottom, yes the mountain is high, but we’ve strapped our crampons on and are setting the climb!
IF if if we can build more wins on this V ShefU and Villa think how it could look.. especially with Muff in free fall too.
I can see the Hillary steps in the distance!!

 

You should have kept reading.

 

You were right Hornetboy1 when you had a go at Flores for his negative tactics at home to Sheffield United, Bournemouth and Burnley. Amazing to think that many fans were still defending Flores right up until he lost his job.

We wasted so many points with Flores and our last few performances have shown that it is possible to pick up points without being boring

However, we will need a goalscorer to stay up. At the moment we do not have one Premier League level striker. Pedro is unlikely to make a big impact and Welbeck, although better than what we have, has never been a prolific goalscorer. I hope we at least bring in a quality striker next month even if it is on loan.

 

Hopefully Gino will bring a Deulofeu-style loan in.

 

At least on that front it’s positive there’s the Euros next summer and no doubt decent players not playing who would consider a loan to try and force their way into international reckoning,

 

Having thought about it, the beauty about this win is how soon we have more games coming up to really generate momentum.

I feel like an international break right now would’ve been disastrous.


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A 15 goal a season striker on loan and I’d definitely swing towards favouring us to stay up.

 

Danny Ings is the sole difference between us and Southampton right now to be honest.


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You’ve got Ings on 11, Puki on 9, Maupay on 7, Wood on 7, Barnes on 6... Troy and Andre very likely won’t reach any of those figures combined.

 

We can do it. That is all.