Least it might mean they have nothing to play for come May 5th so we might get something then. Hard to believe we beat them 3-0 back in November.
Ha ha......Stoke player goes down in the box in the last few seconds. Michael Oliver blows his whistle......but this time he blew for offside. He did disallow three West Ham goals though, so he was kind to Stoke.
So had we beat Bournemouth and drawn with Burnley, or Huddersfield the lowest we could have been was 3rd bottom (though lets be honest we'd be looking up not down). So frustrating and disappointing
Second season in a row where we're going to survive by being a little less sh*t than the others. We really could finish 17th again.
Was reading this on the West Brom forums (about whether they deem the last 10 years to be a success. It's quite interesting to see their views and it'll be interesting to see whether we consider the Pozzo era a success in the future. Certainly so far it is, but if we do just become a team that makes up the numbers that eventually goes down it'll probably feel we never capitilised on our position (ala West Brom). Certainly as it stands, our first season back up would be deemed to be the most successful so far http://westbrom.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=f11194d08cdd52e8abc5f332534c29b2&topic=21694.0
There are an embarrassing amount of teams who could theoretically leapfrog us just by winning their game in hand. I imagine they won't all do it, but it would be a fell swoop on our league position if it happened. Might start to look a tad pathetic again, and become, as you suggest, an almost carbon copy of last year's dire end.
The first post is very interesting, showing what others have achieved and why it's not unrealistic for us to aim for the same things.
Technically Brighton game in hand is tomorrow against Spurs, Southampton’s game in hand is Thursday away at Lesta. Table may look the same before we kick off Saturday
Exactly, i know it's all relative but i agree with this bit (which i have adapted) I had 3 core reasons for wanting us to be established. 1, I wanted to see players play for us who in years to come I could look back on as being top class players 2, I wanted to see us challenge for a cup competition, reach finals and hopefully win something 3, I wanted to see us in Europe" We came close to 2 but i would love to see us win something and experience 3
WBA have been odd though. They stuck with the same manager for far too long, just treading water. Then ironically sacked him when he was exactly what they needed to stay up.
All correct decisions by the linesman tbf. We might come 15th as a lot of sides have tough run ins or play each other . Reckon Palace will finish about us and maybe Swansea .
West Ham do as well, although they don't play 'til Sunday and luckily enough for us have a terrible run in; still got to play Arsenal, City, Leicester, United, but will probably be saved by their final day at Everton if nothing else. Think the only team to have it worse than them is Brighton, as their run in is solely against the top teams; I'd be scared of not getting another point if I was a Seagull. Then again, they have a very well organised manager who is perfectly capable of setting up against top teams to play professionally and attempt to snatch a result. Even if they don't, it's perfectly possible the 35 points they already have will keep them up. We have the joint worst form in the division, a wonderful milestone we've reached again in record time after the last occasion at the end of Slither's reign, and only matched by two of the three teams in the relegation zone.
11th-17th does not matter - Watford will be among the favourites with the bookies for relegation next season along with Huddersfield, Burnley, Brighton and the play-off winners (unless it is Fulham). 2018/19 16 Watford 17 Burnley 18 Brighton 19 Huddersfld 20 Cardiff (or Villa, Boro, Derby, Millwall, Sheff U, Preston)
That can't be right. More learned forum members have pointed out the teams below us will have to win "50% of their remaining matches" to overtake us. You must be mistaken.
Why not Fulham? And you really think that your own team will fall from 7th to 17th in one season? You are even more pessimistic than us Orns!!
Interesting that they would have preferred a bigger stadium than wasted money on players. I think they're right. A grand stadium does so much for the image of a football club. Our ground too, is Championship at best. Also agree that having small minded fans is so depressing. I really hope Gino leaves us a fantastic Premier League grade stadium as his legacy... it will be there for a long time after all.
Be handy if Spurs can get a goal v Brighton. If not thrn will have to hope Leicester beat Southampton. If so a point might be enough against Palace ? Saints would have to get 10 points from their last 4 games .
HAH. Brighton manage to pick up a point in the very first of their nightmare fixtures. I wonder if we'll see us hold Spurs to a battling 1-1 draw in 2 weeks time?
Brighton have been pretty good at defunding throughout most of the season, last night they looked very solid. We can only dream of being able to defend like that. I found myself wondering after defunding so well, what the odds would've of one of those Brighton players suddenly deciding to handle the ball for no reason at all? Not a chance in hell.
Brighton’s tough-looking run does include teams still competing in the FA Cup, plus the champions who technically now have nothing to play for. Spurs rested a few players last night and looked as if their minds were on Saturday’s big match. Of course if United win that one, the same could probably be said for our trip to Old Trafford, just before the final.
The goal they conceded was a defensive blunder, but I get your point. Overall they looked solid, and have looked this way every time I've seen them play. They have conceded 47 goals. Newcastle have conceded 42 goals. They are two newly promoted sides. In our first season we only conceded 50 goals in 38 games. Swansea, who are fourth from bottom have only conceded 46 goals. Currently we have conceded 60 and counting. As you can see, you don't need to spend a fortune or be one of the top 6 in order to have a competitive defence. Burnley have only conceded 29 goals!! Basically conceding 60 goals in just 34 games, tells everyone we are flaky. Now are our defenders vastly inferior to those plying their trade at Burnley, Newcastle, Swansea & Brighton? I would say all sides are similar in ability. So what is the problem? Ok, we do need to upgrade, but there has been a systematic failure in coaching the defence. Flores put great emphasis on this area, and it paid dividends. Since then, no one has bothered with it. We had the three at the back of Mazzarri. That doesn't work. Silva went for zonal marking, that doesn't work. Now Gracia has had very little impact either. The naivety shown at Liverpool was an eye-opener to me. 60 goals conceded is a staggering amount. Stoke have conceded 64, but we are the next leakiest defence. It's why we are not clear from the threat of relegation. West Ham have the exact same problem as us. They have conceded 59 goals and it's held them back.