[Albion] 2022/23 Relegation Thread

[Durlston]

I'm about to get a Racing Post shortly.

Heads up - it has an 80 page football pullout for the new season today. Definitely worth buying even if the paper is £4.20!

 

[Durlston]

18th Brentford.
19th Wolves.
20th Bournemouth.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Hopefully, Palace without Gallagher will really struggle and Lord Viera is over hyped based on having such a round football-like head. Leeds are nutcase of course and could implode, as they have definitely lost their best two players (even though Raphinha is another over hyped imho). They'd be my two outside bets.

The Forest manager seems to have nous and maybe they could scrape it.

I haven't, but if I did, I'd put my money on Muff, Brentford (Erikson was so huge for them) and Fulham to go down.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Fulham, Bournemouth, Southampton.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Can't understand why some of you are tipping Wolves? Clever manager and seems an ok squad, if they stay injury free.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Can't understand why some of you are tipping Wolves? Clever manager and seems an ok squad, if they stay injury free.

Maybe because they were truly dreadful a lot of last year and were quite lucky to finish as high as they did?

 

[herecomesaregular]

Maybe because they were truly dreadful a lot of last year and were quite lucky to finish as high as they did?

You can be "dreadful" and "lucky" to win a cup but not to finish 10th in the Premier League imo.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

You can "dreadful" and "lucky" to win a cup but not to finish 10th in the Premier League imo.

Did they win a cup lol?

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Can't understand why some of you are tipping Wolves? Clever manager and seems an ok squad, if they stay injury free.

They're solid at the back and have a top international class striker. Neto should also be back for them. They also have the financial clout and contacts to go on a massive shopping spree in Jan if they have a bad start. There's also a (ok this an outside bet) possibility that they sign a certain wantaway Man U striker

It would take a lot to go wrong for them to go down. But hey sometimes a team has a disastrous campaign. I have them finishing up around 12th.

 

[schmunk]

In reality, i'm calling the three promoted teams to go straight back down. First time for everything yeh

Second time - the first time it happened (in the PL era) was 1997/98.

 

[Knockaert Punch]

They're solid at the back and have a top international class striker. Neto should also be back for them. They also have the financial clout and contacts to go on a massive shopping spree in Jan if they have a bad start. There's also a (ok this an outside bet) possibility that they sign a certain wantaway Man U striker

It would take a lot to go wrong for them to go down. But hey sometimes a team has a disastrous campaign. I have them finishing up around 12th.

Which wantaway striker are you referring to?

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Two of the promoted clubs, Bournemouth and Fulham to take the drop, along with Brentford.

Leeds, Southampton and Wolves in the mix too.

 

[Swansman]

Can't understand why some of you are tipping Wolves? Clever manager and seems an ok squad, if they stay injury free.

They play horrible, boring football and in the last third of the last season it looked like the players were done with the "go one up and defend for 60-70 minutes" strategy, key players like Jimenez, Coady and Moutinho aren't getting any younger, Ruben Neves is class but looks like he might want a new challenge, and the company that owns them made massive losses last year so there won't be any significant spending I think.

I think they could end up struggling hard.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

They play horrible, boring football and in the last third of the last season it looked like the players were done with the "go one up and defend for 60-70 minutes" strategy, key players like Jimenez, Coady and Moutinho aren't getting any younger, Ruben Neves is class but looks like he might want a new challenge, and the company that owns them made massive losses last year so there won't be any significant spending I think.

I think they could end up struggling hard.

Yes l think lack of investment could hit them hard, it might benefit them if they did their shopping somewhere other than Portugal too.

 

[herecomesaregular]

They play horrible, boring football and in the last third of the last season it looked like the players were done with the "go one up and defend for 60-70 minutes" strategy, key players like Jimenez, Coady and Moutinho aren't getting any younger, Ruben Neves is class but looks like he might want a new challenge, and the company that owns them made massive losses last year so there won't be any significant spending I think.

I think they could end up struggling hard.

Fair enough, thanks for answering beyond "dreadful and lucky". I know they were awful towards the end of the season and barely picked up any points but I still like the look of Hwang Heechan (also the best named footballer in the league) and Podence, aswell as all those you mentioned. They certainly have players I'd like in our squad compared to the other teams mentioned for the drop.

 

[Badger Boy]

I thought Southampton were looking nailed on for relegation, but they've changed their approach in the transfer market to try and hoover up young and exciting talent. There's no guarantee it will work, but Hasenhuttl does seem to know how to develop young players and they seem to have an eye for identifying good youngsters. We'll see how their team settles down this season but they'll probably be ok. I think Forest might have done too much in the market and tried to change the team too quickly, but Cooper seems very shrewd in putting a team together.

I think Bournemouth and Fulham will both struggle, probably Everton as well without actually being relegated. Brentford will struggle this season I think and hopefully Leeds will too.

 

[WhingForPresident]

I'm going with Everton, Fulham & Bournemouth.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

You can be "dreadful" and "lucky" to win a cup but not to finish 10th in the Premier League imo.

A mate of mine is a STH and he reckons they're shitehouse! Well, he didn't go that far, but he wasn't exactly raving about their chances.

Had an email exchange with him this morning about some work-related stuff, but talk always turns to football. Here's what he had to say:

'In less brilliant news, Wolves aren’t signing anyone and things looking decidedly bleak where our ownership is concerned. As I type, we literally have no available strikers for the first game of the season as Raul got crocked in pre-season and he’s our only registered striker.

The lack of investment or interest from Fosun is one of the biggest mysteries in the PL, but it is not being covered by a soul. So we could actually do a Derby as we only have about 14 players in the entire squad. But it isn’t being reported upon.

I do hold out hope that our starting 11 is strong, but we have no strikers, three central midfield players (Neves, Moutinho and Dendoncker) and if one of those sustains an injury, we only have youth players to bring in. Honestly, there’ll be players names in our squad you’ll have never heard of before (Conor Ronan, Bueno, etc etc), but if we do all stay fit then we might be close enough to avoiding relegation. Such a shame as we were promising to conquer the world. Chinese politics have put paid to that!

Anyway, what about BHA?! Glad for our sakes that your talisman midfielder left, as he’s one of many examples of a player we can’t compete with. Hope you have replaced with some quality!'

 

[The Sock of Poskett]

I reckon Leeds, Bournemouth and Brentford. The Bees will miss Eriksen hugely, Leeds have flogged their two best players and Bournemouth don't look to have the quality.
Following them will be Fulham (if Mitrovic delivers), Forest (Cooper looks to be capable of building a team that is more than the sum of its parts) and Everton. I also wonder how Palace will manage without Gallagher ...

 

[Swansman]

Yes l think lack of investment could hit them hard, it might benefit them if they did their shopping somewhere other than Portugal too.

Yeah that heavy involvement with Jorge Mendes is probably a bit limiting for them. They get some players they probably wouldn't get otherwise. But the main source of income for most agents are the standard 10% they get from each of their clients wages. They need to keep on good terms with him - a.k.a. let him have a lot clients in it - or he might start pulling his players out of the club. Their likely lack of money also means he might look for other clubs for his clients back in Portugal.

These are some of the risks when a club gets heavily involved with any agent. PSV in Holland decided to work closely to Vladimir Lemic for a lot of years and as long as it was working, it was working, but as soon as there was trouble between the two, everything fell to pieces... players starting to force their way out, no real scouting infrastructure in the club as they were reliant on Lemic. It's not a healthy strategy in the long run. Wolves are a bubble waiting to burst, this season might be too early but sooner or later it will happen.