Premier League 2015/16 Relegation Watch

after 37 games!

 

Yes, good enough to overtake Muff & Narrch probably.

 

In newcastle, sunderland, villa & norwich there could well be four worse teams.

 

Once they are rid of Schteve Newcastle will improve, Villa might just too now that Sherwood has gone. They're both big clubs with long histories enough to attract many out of work or up and coming managers but could you really see a low riding Naarch or Muff getting anyone better than they already have, yet alone attracting decent players?

 

100%. Utter arrogance to write off Bournemouth and go on like we're safe.

 

Based on current league positions we play none of the top 8 in our last 6 matches of the season. Our last two home games are Villa and Sunderland.

 

To be honest, we haven't beaten any of the top 6 yet and we can't expect promotion if we can't beat them.

 

Wet Spam may currently be in the top 6 but they are not "Top 6"

 

If you combine Scteve's final results at Derby and his start at Newcastle it must be a shocking form line!

 

Remember what Leicester did last year? And palace turning it around the year before? It's way too early to start saying which clubs are certainties to struggle. I can see Brendan going to Villa or maybe Newcastle once they sack McLaren and keeping either up. We can't write off Big Sam at Sunderland, and there is no way we should write off Bournemouth or Norwich. Let's just concentrate on ourselves. We have had a very solid start but we are only a few points ahead of those below and only a winless 3 or 4 game run form being dragged right into the relegation mix.

I wish there weren't so many idiots on Twitter giving it the big one to afcb fans, football has a nasty habit of coming back and biting you in the ass.

 

There are very stupid football fans out there. Bourenmouth's "we score when we want" chant so early is a case in point. Most with their heads screwed on will both recognise there is a long way to go yet and also that it is beyond daft to write off teams. Do I think Bournemouth will go down? Yep. Am I about to mouth off on Twitter because I am that confident (and a complete tool)? Nope.

I'm sure someone will say it's just "banter".

 

The 'Bigger' clubs Newcastle, Sunderland and Villa have all been struggling for years. they have stayed up as they have been slightly less rubbish than the promoted teams to come up. As things stand we look the most likely to stay up. However things change and a run of 3-4 defeats and we are the team being written off. Where we have an advantage is the recruitment, in general the players we brought were better than that what our relegation rivals brought. Keeping everyone fit is another must if we are to stay up. I do feel come Jan if we need a couple more new faces then we will bring them in.

Sunderland and Villa by sacking the managers that kept them up last year so early have given them a chance to repeat the magic this year. Although I think one will end up going down. Big Sam at Sunderland said on the radio he will make them more solid first then worry about the other end. Pretty much what QSF has been saying. Lets be honest Big Sam knows a thing or 2 about keeping teams up so I do think we are on the right path. Having Villa and Sunderland at home near the end of the season could mean we have our destiny in our hands.

Someone unexpected always ends up in trouble and from what I saw Sat i think that team could be Stoke. we were able to bully them, stop their flair players and force them into mistakes.

Either way I agree with others lets stop giving it billy big balls on social media and enjoy the ride. If we get safety then we can can give it large as much as we like.

 

Holebas is a certain to go given what we've heard about him so we need at least a new LB to fight/cover Anya and Aké. CB, RB, CDM, ST and Wingers are covered assuming all things are equal.

 

Norwich went the distance but knocked out on penalties by Everton. Bit of a shame they couldn't go through just to give them another game to think about. Stoke through though.

 

I think Hoolahan forgot he already had a penalty, slipping in the box!

 

Amongst this weekend's PL matches:

Man City v. NORWICH
Everton v. SUNDERLAND
Southampton v. BOURNEMOUTH
Tottenham v. ASTON VILLA

Time to begin opening up a meaningful gap from those below us in the table......COYH

 

It's not as straight-forward as thinking it'll all be home wins. Whilst Sunderland now always seem to win a derby game, this win could give them the momentum they've craved and I wouldn't put it past them to beat Everton. Muff will see this game as a huge derby game (even if it's not reciprocated by Soton) and Howe will get them pumped up for this. Whether that'll be enough given their current form and Soton's current form, I'm not sure. As for Villa, it's extremely hard to predict how Villa will do now that Sherwood has gone.

 

Sunderland were heading straight towards defeat until the red card and penalty.

They are, indisputably, still ****.

 

Sherwood had an impossible job there, if you ask me.

The only thing that's going to save Villa's Premier League status is new owners before Christmas, and a spending bonanza in January.

Big Sam will keep Sunderland up. I think it's just a question of whether Newcastle or Norwich are going to be with Muff and Villa in the bottom three when the fixtures run out.

 

I agree, but momentum and confidence can start from anything.

If you remember the 1990/91 season, we were utter sh!te. We sacked Colin Lee at the end of November and Perryman came in, we had a brief pick up of results until normal service was resumed and we were destined to finish bottom. Then suddenly out of nowhere David Byrne scored that 92nd minute winner out of the blue at Middlesbrough in late March and we went to win 7 of our last 10 to end up safe with a match to spare.

 

I actually think that Sherwood is a chancer and any decent manager would've got something better from that squad. That said, they did not buy players with Prem experience to replace Delph and Benteke and instead used the money to buy talent for the future. The one thing Sherwood had going for him it seemed was that the players rallied around him.

Still wouldn't rule out Muff just yet but they do look as if they are doomed. Also wouldn't rule out Newcastle sacking McLaren and bringing in someone that just pulls through for them. I'm preparing myself the worst-case scenario that all three of Villa, Sunderland and Newcastle stay up (as they inevitably and annoyingly do) by taking part in their annual cycle. In that scenario, we have to make sure that there are at least 3 teams that are worse than us.

 

That wouldn't surprise me, all 3 have greater resources than Muff & Narrch. Hopefully at least one of the 3 will fail to pick up.

 

B'muff have a billionaire owner ... however it is too late for a root and branch, those injuries have left them with a squad that is not good enough and whoever comes in will have trouble adjusting to Howe's ethos.

As it stands they and Naarch look almost certs IMO, it's now only a question of which of the other three's January changes don't quite go as planned.

 

Leicester already came up with a better team than both Bournemouth and Norwich, running away with the Championship title, and are a fairly big club (at least by Championship standards) so could attract the players to ensure their squad had the depth to stay up, and with Nigel Pearson benefited from a manager with more experience and maturity (both Howe and Neil are still very young and relatively new to their managerial careers, at least in the upper divisions of English football). Therefore I'm not surprised they turned it round, if anything I'm more surprised it took them until the penultimate game to secure their safety. Palace had Hollowhead in charge for much of their first season back up, and actually should have done much better with the players they had - Dougie Freedman built a really good team that should have at least achieved automatic promotion. Once they got the right manager in charge with Premier League experience, it wasn't so much "turning it round", but proving to the rest of us what their fans knew they were capable of all along. So comparisons between those pairs of teams, while understandable, is a bit misguided.

That said, I'm certainly not writing either of those teams off, any more than I was writing off Deeney never scoring in the Premier League! I would say, as I thought before the season even began, that Norwich look the more capable, so I'm pretty surprised by their recent results, as they looked really solid in the second half of last season, not losing any away games and being second only to us in the form table, and thought they'd be quite comfortable a la their first PL season under Lambert. But Bournemouth still (just) have their heads above water, have the money to improve their squad and even with a less than full strength team they showed against us they have the quality to score goals and threaten teams.

 

Naarch had a real intense purple patch but in truth they only limped over the line in the end. However much it can spur you on intensity is fickle and difficult to manage, when it fails all momentum is lost in an instant.

 

Norwich and Bournemouth certainly not doomed at this early stage!

They don't look as bright as a month back, but it's along season.

 

And will inexplicably somehow survive once more.

 

Regarding Norwich, Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Sunderland, if we can beat them at home and gain at least a draw away, then that will give us more than half of the points we need for survival. We have only played two of those games in our first 10, but we are nicely ahead of the target.

 

Swansea strike me as the team that are overachieving, I don't rate Gomis or Shelvey half as much as the pundits do and although Ayew is decent I doubt he will be consistent enough to keep them mid table. The rest of their squad looks a bit thin IMO.

 

Agreed and I wasn't that impressed by Stoke City last weekend. Their run of three consecutive single goal wins over relegation contenders was brought to an abrupt halt when they met a "mid-table(!)" team.

 

"Mid table" is a very broad term, I actually put us bang on par with Everton who IMO have an easy second quarter to come. Wherever they finish we won't be far behind.

 

I think by end of January , people wont even be thinking about survival .

We are too solid and there are quite a few poor and average teams this year.

 

Anything can happen in a month or two. While I'm confident we can avoid relegation comfortably as things are going, it only takes one or two injuries to key personnel (ie: Gomes, Deeney, Cathcart and to a lesser extent Capoue) and we'll be looking a lot thinner on the ground. Plus LB is only Ake and Anya.