KjParton Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Relegation is still a possibility and until it is not we should accept that. Isn't relegation a possibility for pretty much the whole bottom half of the table? Excluding 1 or 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Well I first have to revise what I would have expected thus far against the teams we have played, more or less objectively: West Ham (away) - Draw (we lost) Everton (home) - Draw (we lost again) Newcastle (away) - Loss (we drew!) Swansea (home) - Win (and we did) Southampton (away) - Win, because they are terrible (Loss) WBA (home) - Win, home derby and all (Draw) Spurs (away) - Nothing but a complete loss, and it was a (Loss) Fulham (away) - Draw (Loss) Norwich (home) - Win (Draw) Sunderland (away) - Draw (Win!) So all in all we have been pretty dire at times, against mediocre opposition. Not at Everton, Spurs and Newcastle are rubbish but we have not played any of the big guns yet. They will come up next and I think that we just lack the ability to deal with them. We can win against other sides having tough times (like Sunderland) which is very nice to know, but the match at Southampton proved we can lose to pretty much everyone on any given day. Every game just seem to be a lottery in the end, against the mediocre sides, we don't control the games at home and win, we just play and see what happens. The Norwich-game was ruined by Bennett's stupid red card, but we were in trouble before that happened. I would have expected a few more points on the board, what we have managed is an absolute minimum - our team is not that bad after all. The funny thing is that our fanbase seem to think we are Bolton now and cannot expect anything, although we have players other bottom 10 sides would dream to sign. Tell Norwich and Stoke they could get Bent, N'Zogbia, Dunne, Given, Warnock and Hutton, they would have taken everyone. We know most of them are shit, but they have proved before they can play very well and a change of clubs could resurrect any player. Lambert has not been able to get anything out of many people I hoped he would be able to handle, even though these are early days. So I expected a few more points, I think most of our games have been terrible to watch but luckily we are not in the relegation zone before these three difficult games on the schedule. A team like ours should always be setting sights at challenging for 6th place, one way or another, but that is impossible given our shit start. Of course we lack players for 6th, I am not saying I expected it, but there are a lot of factors contributing and many parties are liable. Lambert has perhaps been naive in his purchases it would seem, but we don't know how much money Lerner is willing to spend. How optimistic am I? It would be wrong to use that word, because I am not optimistic. With this team, this style of play, this lack of cohesion and lack of alternatives on the bench - the best we can hope for is 12th-14th in the league and I guess most people have better things to do than being optimistic about it. I check every bit of Villa-news daily, in good times and bad, I watch most games because every PL-game is on the TV in Norway, but I haven't been upbeat about much this season. To go through what we had under MON, which was really fun basically, then destruct into a team the objective viewer would never wish to see on TV, well, it hasn't been very pleasant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Isn't relegation a possibility for pretty much the whole bottom half of the table? Excluding 1 or 2 Yep spot on Even stoke only have 9 PTs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Well even Man Utd and Chelsea can relegate given that they only have 24 and 23 points thus far. Southampton are most likely going down and so are Reading. Wigan, Norwich and QPR are also bigger contenders than us and Stoke. However, I am 100% sure that three of these teams will relegate because all the other teams just have better players and squads. Stoke will get points and so will Sunderland, they have established squads and good managers, even though they are struggling a bit now. QPR have good players but I think there might be a problem with the dressing room, too many ingredients and a bigheaded manager. I think there are just too many shit teams in the league this season for us to go down, but it could be pretty grim at worst. We have been lacklustre thus far, but luckily we have double the amount of points as Soton and Reading - that is reassuring as hell. 15. Aston Villa 16. Wigan 17. QPR 18. Norwich 19. Reading 20. Southampton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 QPR will pick up once they appoint Arry. Wigan are seasoned battlers and RM will keep them safe somehow. Stoke and Swansea may struggle and WBA may even get sucked down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roonst83 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Well even Man Utd and Chelsea can relegate given that they only have 24 and 23 points thus far. Southampton are most likely going down and so are Reading. Wigan, Norwich and QPR are also bigger contenders than us and Stoke. However, I am 100% sure that three of these teams will relegate because all the other teams just have better players and squads. Stoke will get points and so will Sunderland, they have established squads and good managers, even though they are struggling a bit now. QPR have good players but I think there might be a problem with the dressing room, too many ingredients and a bigheaded manager. I think there are just too many shit teams in the league this season for us to go down, but it could be pretty grim at worst. We have been lacklustre thus far, but luckily we have double the amount of points as Soton and Reading - that is reassuring as hell. 15. Aston Villa 16. Wigan 17. QPR 18. Norwich 19. Reading 20. Southampton I fully expect Dave Whelan to be interviewed on Skysports news tomorrow morning disputing those predicted league standings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 A very very small possibility at that. Not at the minute it isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Isn't relegation a possibility for pretty much the whole bottom half of the table? Excluding 1 or 2 Where have i said it wasn't. Just pointing out that we should accept the possibility of going down this season. Nothing more sinister than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Not at the minute it isn't. And how is that then? is the league over soon is it? **** me here's me thinking it ended May! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 And how is that then? is the league over soon is it? **** me here's me thinking it ended May! I was referring to our current position but since you are unable to comprehend that then please study this... I WAS REFERRING TO OUR CURRENT POSITION. Maybe you need it in Braille, or maybe ill send you a book and some crayons. Maybe you might even need a speech therapist to utter the words... morph was referring to our current position. Hope i've been of some help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1974Centenary Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Isn't relegation a possibility for pretty much the whole bottom half of the table? Excluding 1 or 2 so this makes our situation better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TezzRexx Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 so this makes our situation better? That a few decent results for us, and a few bad results for others, could turn tables around completely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted November 5, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted November 5, 2012 I was referring to our current position but since you are unable to comprehend that then please study this... I WAS REFERRING TO OUR CURRENT POSITION. Maybe you need it in Braille, or maybe ill send you a book and some crayons. Maybe you might even need a speech therapist to utter the words... morph was referring to our current position. Hope i've been of some help. to be fair you re the chief spouter of PL out etc. around here at the moment so it would be easy to "misunderstand" where you are coming from. the big post from norway was a ood read and sums it up quite nicely really, the big spend and fun times under MON make it a hard bump down to earth, especially after 2 seasons of mis-management (even if i do think GH could have done somethign decent had illl health not hampered, still long term appointment he wasn't). PL on the other hand should not be judged on a handfull of games, just as westwood should not have been thrown on the shat heap for a bad 45 against s'ton where the team as a whole (after a good 45) were gash. as it stands, in terms of optimism, i reckon we'll do better than a point or two from the 3 toughest games we'll face for a good while. i'd back us fora shock win against one of the three big guns and maybe a draw along the way too. anything more than a point though will be good enough as long as we look united and bust a gut for each other on the pitch for 90 mins a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 so this makes our situation better? Yes, because it means the situation could change very quickly. We're certainly not cut adrift from mid-table as it's getting pretty packed between 11th and 17th. The bottom 3 on the other hand are getting cut adrift already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 If we get 5 points out of the 12 on offer in November, that should be good enough, Three of the games are at home. This season we've already won where we're playing away. So we've got a good chance of continuing this winning streak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skarroki Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 That a few decent results for us, and a few bad results for others, could turn tables around completely? a few bad results for us, and a few decent results for others, could put us right in the shit. seeing as this is football it is not easy to predict what is going to happen. Having said that, this month looks horrible on paper and seeing as our next 3 games are games any onlooker would expect us to lose, then relegation is still a massive threat, as things currently stand 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodigan Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 at the end of the day, we need to start keeping clean sheets - if we do that, we will start turning the silly losses into at least draws... on saturday we did that, albeit by the skin of our teeth, but still, we'll take it as a start.... benteke looked a real handful on saturday and gabby certainly looks like he's up for it this season... if benteke can start playing with confidence, we could start to see goals going in far more regularly... i think that many of the games that we have lost or drawn would be the sort of games that a team playing with confidence would win.... saturday showed a little of that to me, and while i spent the last 15 minutes of the game pacing around the living room, the boys held out - three massive points.... a point or more this weekend will work wonders for us if we could get it... overall, i remain confident, although i fear that is likely to be tested this month, as results for any team against our next three would be hard to come by... UTV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Sunderland have to be candidates to go down, there terrible Hardly created any clear cut opportunities against us, just lumped the ball in the box.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 to be fair you re the chief spouter of PL out etc. around here at the moment so it would be easy to "misunderstand" where you are coming from. With all due respect it was very clear in my post what i was actually getting at and the poster in question was having a go just for the sake of it as he has done on several previous occasions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smetrov Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 we could easily go down. I think Harry Redknap will be at southampton before very long. QPR have money and good players and could possibly change manager as well. Our best hope is that many other teams get dragged in - Swansea, Sunderland, Norwich - I always have a feeling that the wheels will come off at WBA - but they haven't yet. We are right in there - make no doubt. - Much as I trust Lambert to get it right - with a young inexperienced team - that doesn't score many goals - or keep many clean sheets - there is still a high probability of relegation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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