[Football] Are we going down?

[Tooting Gull]

Based on Saturday, the 'home games against those around us' might not be the shoo-in everyone seems to think. They badly need the points too, right? I suspect we may need at least one unexpected win.

 

[Murray 17]

I suspect we may need at least one unexpected win.

Which one do you expect that not to be?

 

[Bold Seagull]

Based on Saturday, the 'home games against those around us' might not be the shoo-in everyone seems to think. They badly need the points too, right? I suspect we may need at least one unexpected win.

We’re in the top flight, who thinks any game is a shoo in!?

 

[Turkey]

Other than the top 6 sides only Leicester and Burnley have beaten us at the Amex in the Prem right? We haven't suddenly turned to shit. We've been on a tough run, which was predictable looking at the staying up tracker thread, we've had a bit of bad luck and people are getting twitchy. We've got a favourable set of fixtures, no one's suggesting they'll be easy, it never is, but we're a good side at home and we've gotta play most of our rivals at home. We'll get back on track.

What will not help is the fans wetting themselves if things aren't going perfectly on the pitch. I remember away at Stoke and Southampton last year thinking they weren't crap sides, or at least not compared to us player ability wise, but the atmosphere at their grounds was toxic and that spiral of negativity helps no one.

 

[Brightonfan1983]

Should/shouldn't go down?

 

[Mr Putdown]

It was a one match ban for the two yellows (which he served last week v West Ham)

Is that the same game against West Ham in which Zaha scored the equaliser?

 

[GT49er]

Based on Saturday, the 'home games against those around us' might not be the shoo-in everyone seems to think. They badly need the points too, right? I suspect we may need at least one unexpected win.

What you appear to be forgetting - and the author of the article in the OP clearly hasn't got a clue about, having done only the laziest research - is that our recent 'dip' was expected due to the nature of the fixtures, and has very accurately mirrored the predictions in the staying up tracker thread.

True, losing does become a habit, and we do look as if we need a bit od a boost/kick up the backside at the moment, but that's no cause to extrapolate the next 12 matches on the basis of results in the last 12. No room for complacency, to be sure, and you'll find none from me, but I still believe the likelihood is that we'll be in the PL for a third season next year.

 

[nicko31]

Does anyone remember Hull getting relegated? They had 27 points at Christmas.

5 out of 6 of our remaining home games are winnable, its in our hands. Players need to continue to show grit seen to be fair for most of the season

 

[dazzer6666]

Based on Saturday, the 'home games against those around us' might not be the shoo-in everyone seems to think. They badly need the points too, right? I suspect we may need at least one unexpected win.

Winning two of them will probably be enough....if we can’t do that then we deserve to go down.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

What will not help is the fans wetting themselves if things aren't going perfectly on the pitch. I remember away at Stoke and Southampton last year thinking they weren't crap sides, or at least not compared to us player ability wise, but the atmosphere at their grounds was toxic and that spiral of negativity helps no one.

Try telling that to the NSC self righteous brothers... oh, you just did... shame that the idiots are incapable of changing their tune.

 

[OzMike]

View attachment 104512

Me also, throwing away a bloody big points gap and can’t buy a league win at the moment..

 

[Weststander]

Winning two of them will probably be enough....if we can’t do that then we deserve to go down.

Hard to argue with that.

 

[Icy Gull]

Try telling that to the NSC self righteous brothers... oh, you just did... shame that the idiots are incapable of changing their tune.

I get the impression that the team get the full support of the majority of NSCers during a game. From my standpoint I never boo the team or hurl abuse at them during a game, I might have a right old moan on here afterwards though. Negativity from the stands can only encourage the opposition and hinder our players imo. From the tv it sounded like it got a bit toxic towards the end of the Burnley game, but was that towards the ref or the team or both? It certainly doesn't happen often at the Amex.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

This was posted on the Physio.com site today - thought it was a fair current analysis of the 'one from six' scenario


The Relegation Run-In – Brighton Beware

13 February 2019

If you’d stuck with Match of The Day to the bitter end, you will have caught Ian Wright’s suggestion that Crystal Palace will at some point soon ‘give someone a right hiding.’ The source of this claim was that the Eagles had just let West Ham off the hook by missing a plethora of chances, including James McArthur’s staggering miss that would have had many a Sunday league player yelling ‘I could have scored that,’ at their TV screens.

Whether Wright is correct remains to be seen. The suggestion is that Palace won’t keep missing such chances, but since they’ve made it this deep into the season and haven’t yet reached double figures for goals at home suggest otherwise.

But the comments are an interesting ‘glass half full’ approach to Palace’s play. Given the number of chances created, it is indeed hard to see Palace being the most likely side to drop out of the top flight come May, but the chances spurned is the very reason they are not sat in mid-table with the likes of Bournemouth and Leicester.

Saturday’s scores do emphasise what a chaotic relegation battle this is turning out to be. Dropping into the bottom three seems enough of an incentive to suddenly goad the prime relegation candidates into life, with first Cardiff and then Burnley clearing the bottom three in the space of a few hours.

So who is going to set their bank manager into apoplectic shock by saying goodbye to the Premier League millions? If the remaining twelve matches mirror the last twelve, there are certainly going to be some furrowed brows.

Of course, the game has been up for Huddersfield for some time. One point is all they have taken from their last 36 available, with a change of manager not being enough to change their woeful record.

The net is closing on Claudio Ranieri’s Fulham as well. Andre Schurrle’s bizarre interview in which he distanced himself from the low standards that have been on display at Craven Cottage only add to the belief that Fulham’s stay this time round is a one-season one.

The battle though is all around that third spot. Most seasons, managers talk about 38 points being the likely safety line. Based on the last 12 matches, that will again be true, but it might surprise you who would drop below this.

In fact, two sides will fall short of that magic marker – Newcastle and Brighton. Rafa Benitez has galvanised his troops in recent weeks, and the victory over Manchester City is an added bonus, but points taken off sides around them are where the lower half teams will have their season made or broken.

With Rafa also allowed to finally get the cheque book out, the Geordies are at least heading in the right direction, which should have former manager Chris Hughton sweating.

Hughton’s side are in free-fall. Nine points from their last dozen games is a badly timed disaster for the club. A side that had seemed to be of no relevance to the relegation battle is on current form, primed to fall through the trap door at the last minute.

As is so often the case, those who have been fighting the drop all season have become used to battle-hardy bodies-on-the-line performances, with the late contenders dropping out without having really been involved for most of the season. Brighton would finish on 36 points if their next dozen games reflected the last, with Newcastle on 37.

Sneaking home based on form would be Cardiff and Southampton. The new manager bounce Saints have received under Ralph Hasenhuttl has improved the football, but hasn’t increased the points haul enough to get them clear of the dogfight.

Meanwhile, the pain of recent weeks on top of being so heavily surrounded by the grief of Leicester City earlier in the season, seems to have made Cardiff a club whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There’s a spirit from top to bottom that is now taking them through, which is the main reason why that last relegation spot is so much up for grabs.

The remaining sides should be safe. There is an alarming slide for Everton under Marco Silva, while Bournemouth’s home form should be enough to counteract their dreadful efforts on their travels, and even Crystal Palace’s atrocious finishing at Selhurst Park shouldn’t get them into trouble.

The 12 matches of the relegation fight are now counting down to one side joining Fulham and Huddersfield in the Championship…and if current form is to be believed, there could be some very concerned coastal clubs!

Three matches from the end of the season, Brighton make the long journey to Newcastle, and with the Seagulls finishing with Arsenal and Manchester City, Chris Hughton’s men need to arrest their alarming slide very quickly and emphatically. If they’re not safe by their visit to Tyneside, the damage may be too great to repair.

Excuse me for correcting that article but we've already played Newcastle away, and beaten them. The remaining match in April is at the Amex.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Is that the same game against West Ham in which Zaha scored the equaliser?

Wrong, yes. He served it last week against Fulham - then cynically delayed the extra match so he could face WHU.

 

[AmexRuislip]

I get the impression that the team get the full support of the majority of NSCers during a game. From my standpoint I never boo the team or hurl abuse at them during a game, I might have a right old moan on here afterwards though. Negativity from the stands can only encourage the opposition and hinder our players imo. From the tv it sounded like it got a bit toxic towards the end of the Burnley game, but was that towards the ref or the team or both? It certainly doesn't happen often at the Amex.

According to NSC myth, most NSCers have brains, so will probably make up their own minds.
Then there are the amoeba crew that just throw teddy out of the cot, because we were beaten by a team that know how to play the tactical game.
Everyone will moan, it's only NSC, but theres a time and place, not booing the team you have paid to watch IMO

 

[Tooting Gull]

I get the impression that the team get the full support of the majority of NSCers during a game. From my standpoint I never boo the team or hurl abuse at them during a game, I might have a right old moan on here afterwards though. Negativity from the stands can only encourage the opposition and hinder our players imo. From the tv it sounded like it got a bit toxic towards the end of the Burnley game, but was that towards the ref or the team or both? It certainly doesn't happen often at the Amex.

Agreed. During the game most on here I'm sure support the team and if they let off steam it is at the officials or the opposition players or manager. Those really getting on the backs of our own players are there, but a minority. What passes for discussion on here is often the equivalent of when you get back to the pub with your Albion-supporting mates and exasperatedly discuss the shortcomings of the team/club that you wouldn't admit to fans of other clubs...

 

[BensGrandad]

Even the majority of critics support the club hence the criticism when not happy but the support doesnt go away.

 

[trueblue]

Buying Chris Wood for £15m shouldn’t have been beyond us in funds or scouting.

True. But imagine the binfest among the fans when we signed another Championship striker, when we already had a couple of the best in that division. It's a fair point but I think the club was acting with the best intentions and trying to improve, looking for an alternative to Murray, rather than another forward in a very similar mould.

Perhaps what I should have said is 'pacey strikers with good movement and a decent scoring record don't come cheap'.

 

[supaseagull]

True. But imagine the binfest among the fans when we signed another Championship striker, when we already had a couple of the best in that division. It's a fair point but I think the club was acting with the best intentions and trying to improve, looking for an alternative to Murray, rather than another forward in a very similar mould.

Perhaps what I should have said is 'pacey strikers with good movement and a decent scoring record don't come cheap'.

Trouble is, we haven’t bought a championship striker and that’s half the issue. We’ve bought strikers who have never played in England and have so far struggled to make a significant impact or a decent return on their investment.


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