Bottom 5 fixtures

[Mar]

Would seem that there are five teams in the relegation race now as I think Aston Villa have been dragged into it. The game against them on the 24th is crucial to keeping them in it. Start of March they were 10 points clear of Bolton and 8 points clear of the drop zone. Now they're just 6 points clear. Should we beat them they will be only 4 points off the drop and I can't see the likes of Bolton, Wigan and QPR not getting 4 points. So it would be nice to see them heading into the drop zone. I'd say Swansea and WBA are safe on 39 points.

It might just be a case of someones form dropping and keeping their eyes on the rest of the table like last year with Birmingham (who looked comfortable and just won a cup let it all go to waste).

This years a completely different prospect than last year. We were 8th in the table last year on 43 points. 14 teams have 39 points this year yet this number was a lot lower last year. Seems theres been a bigger divide thats just seeing the rest of the teams play catch up now. I'd be shocked if 39 points wasnt safety this season.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Most notable thing - apart from ludicrous asides like "we can't buy a win at home" after winning two of our last three home games - is that the upper end of the bottom five are now approaching a 1ppg: QPR and Wigan have 31 from 33 games.

This weekend, everyone's away...

Sat 3pm Swansea v Blackburn, Sunderland v Wolves, West Brom v QPR
Sun 4pm Man U v Aston Villa
Mon 8pm Arsenal v Wigan

I'd be surprised if QPR win at the Hawthorns: Hughes has admitted that they're targetting the home games, West Brom are tough nuts to crack and Hodgson will demand improvement after the City hammering (note also that West Brom are 'only' on 39 points, so he'll be asked about that and defiantly insist they're not safe).

I'd be less surprised if Blackburn win at Swansea, but if I were laying money it'd be on a home win. Imagine the stench on this thread if we'd lost against 10 men in the last minute – and let Andy Carroll score. (They must have borrowed the Bad Runs Ended Here sign, eh?) Also, after a heavy defeat at QPR Brendan Rodgers will also be in amongst his players this week - they too are only on 39 points.

Wolves have gone, so it's not all bad news.

If Blackburn or QPR do win, the silver lining will be the official involvement of Aston Villa in the drop-dodging cabaret - they'd only be a point clear of Saturday's winner, and facing a trip to a Fergie-bollocked United. (City play at Norwich on Saturday; if there's anything in their revival, they have to win, but even if not United will surely be too strong for a lacklustre Villa who've only one won league game in the last 10.)

And Wigan will probably lose at Arsenal. Pleasantly, impressively, passingly, but they'll lose. Which would leave us two points behind them with six games left to their four.

[ohjimmyjimmy]

This really will be a big weekend. If results go our way it should serve as an almighty kick up the backside for Coyle to get among the squad and motivate them for our final push for saftey.

[Gary the Enfield]

Most notable thing - apart from ludicrous asides like "we can't buy a win at home" after winning two of our last three home games - is that the upper end of the bottom five are now approaching a 1ppg: QPR and Wigan have 31 from 33 games.

This weekend, everyone's away...

Sat 3pm Swansea v Blackburn, Sunderland v Wolves, West Brom v QPR
Sun 4pm Man U v Aston Villa
Mon 8pm Arsenal v Wigan

I'd be surprised if QPR win at the Hawthorns: Hughes has admitted that they're targetting the home games, West Brom are tough nuts to crack and Hodgson will demand improvement after the City hammering (note also that West Brom are 'only' on 39 points, so he'll be asked about that and defiantly insist they're not safe).

I'd be less surprised if Blackburn win at Swansea, but if I were laying money it'd be on a home win. Imagine the stench on this thread if we'd lost against 10 men in the last minute – and let Andy Carroll score. (They must have borrowed the Bad Runs Ended Here sign, eh?) Also, after a heavy defeat at QPR Brendan Rodgers will also be in amongst his players this week - they too are only on 39 points.

Wolves have gone, so it's not all bad news.

If Blackburn or QPR do win, the silver lining will be the official involvement of Aston Villa in the drop-dodging cabaret - they'd only be a point clear of Saturday's winner, and facing a trip to a Fergie-bollocked United. (City play at Norwich on Saturday; if there's anything in their revival, they have to win, but even if not United will surely be too strong for a lacklustre Villa who've only one won league game in the last 10.)

And Wigan will probably lose at Arsenal. Pleasantly, impressively, passingly, but they'll lose. Which would leave us two points behind them with six games left to their four.

I love you, DSB

Having a shit day until I read this.

We still have to win our games though.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

We do, and we can. Not all, perhaps, but enough.

If I were a gambler, I'd have a go at Villa at 14/1. Terrible form, lost their best (only?) goalscorer to injury and midfield organiser to leukemia, won 1 in 10 just as those below them are coming into form, and the hideously unpopular manager proved last season that he can't stop late slides into the drop zone. In truth the sides below them may have left it just too late but that's the risk that gamblers take. They're only six points above 18th (us), Wolves aside they're on the worst form of the entire league in the last 10 games, and that's a quarter of a season, not a mid-afternoon nap.

[norm the jedi]

I'm sorry concentrating on the minutia of other peoples fixtures whilst pleasingly diverting does rather gloss over the fact that we need to win games..
Swansea? In a poor trot but decent and we struggled to knock their reserves out of the cup.. With our first 11.
WBA could go either way but they are decent enough and score goals.. easily a fulham..
Tottenham.... Not happening
Villa... Pace and goals up front dogged and defensive... So Nowt there not great but better than us!
Sunderland.. They may be at the beach.
Stoke.. 5-0 one way or t'other probably t'other...

We are broken in midfield and can't score enough goals.. We lack quality...
5 more points is generous ... Qpr despite the results have more than us, Wigan are currently miles better than us, villa are better than us.. Blackburn is a close run thing because whilst they're shit Yakuba can score for fun... Wolves are history...
Glass half empty? What glass?
Never seen a bookie on bicycle..

[BWFC_Insane]

We do, and we can. Not all, perhaps, but enough.

If I were a gambler, I'd have a go at Villa at 14/1. Terrible form, lost their best (only?) goalscorer to injury and midfield organiser to leukemia, won 1 in 10 just as those below them are coming into form, and the hideously unpopular manager proved last season that he can't stop late slides into the drop zone. In truth the sides below them may have left it just too late but that's the risk that gamblers take. They're only six points above 18th (us), Wolves aside they're on the worst form of the entire league in the last 10 games, and that's a quarter of a season, not a mid-afternoon nap.

For Villa to go down we will probably have to win there. Which is not impossible. But I'd not put money on it happening either.

[Whookam]

To be fair the pessimists have more reason to be pessimistic than the optimists have to be optimistic. We've been poor this season and there's nothing to suggest we will get more than a few points so out of our remaining fixtures. Sure, we've dominated the teams in the bottom 5 but our record against teams outside that is woeful. I'm not going to look at the Newcastle performance, the straw some are clutching, and think that if we play like that for the rest of the season we'll be okay. We've had good games and failed to build on them a few times this season, to be honest we're more likely to see a repeat of the Fulham performance than anything else.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I'm sorry concentrating on the minutia of other peoples fixtures whilst pleasingly diverting does rather gloss over the fact that we need to win games..
Swansea? In a poor trot but decent and we struggled to knock their reserves out of the cup.. With our first 11.
WBA could go either way but they are decent enough and score goals.. easily a fulham..
Tottenham.... Not happening
Villa... Pace and goals up front dogged and defensive... So Nowt there not great but better than us!
Sunderland.. They may be at the beach.
Stoke.. 5-0 one way or t'other probably t'other...

We are broken in midfield and can't score enough goals.. We lack quality...
5 more points is generous ... Qpr despite the results have more than us, Wigan are currently miles better than us, villa are better than us.. Blackburn is a close run thing because whilst they're shit Yakuba can score for fun... Wolves are history...
Glass half empty? What glass?
Never seen a bookie on bicycle..

With respect, Norm, you've been saying we're dead and buried since February at least. Furthermore, your minutiae-examination is as (pleasingly divertingly) biased as anyone else's.

We've won three games in the last five. I reckon we can win three more in the next six, and I reckon that might well be enough.

[truewhite15]

I'm sorry concentrating on the minutia of other peoples fixtures whilst pleasingly diverting does rather gloss over the fact that we need to win games..
Swansea? In a poor trot but decent and we struggled to knock their reserves out of the cup.. With our first 11.
WBA could go either way but they are decent enough and score goals.. easily a fulham..
Tottenham.... Not happening
Villa... Pace and goals up front dogged and defensive... So Nowt there not great but better than us!
Sunderland.. They may be at the beach.
Stoke.. 5-0 one way or t'other probably t'other...

We are broken in midfield and can't score enough goals.. We lack quality...
5 more points is generous ... Qpr despite the results have more than us, Wigan are currently miles better than us, villa are better than us.. Blackburn is a close run thing because whilst they're shit Yakuba can score for fun... Wolves are history...
Glass half empty? What glass?
Never seen a bookie on bicycle..

With respect, Norm, you've been saying we're dead and buried since February at least. Furthermore, your minutiae-examination is as (pleasingly divertingly) biased as anyone else's.

We've won three games in the last five. I reckon we can win three more in the next six, and I reckon that might well be enough.

We're fighting a losing battle, oh hairy one. Content yourself with numerous cries of "I told you so" if we stay up.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm sorry concentrating on the minutia of other peoples fixtures whilst pleasingly diverting does rather gloss over the fact that we need to win games..
Swansea? In a poor trot but decent and we struggled to knock their reserves out of the cup.. With our first 11.
WBA could go either way but they are decent enough and score goals.. easily a fulham..
Tottenham.... Not happening
Villa... Pace and goals up front dogged and defensive... So Nowt there not great but better than us!
Sunderland.. They may be at the beach.
Stoke.. 5-0 one way or t'other probably t'other...

We are broken in midfield and can't score enough goals.. We lack quality...
5 more points is generous ... Qpr despite the results have more than us, Wigan are currently miles better than us, villa are better than us.. Blackburn is a close run thing because whilst they're shit Yakuba can score for fun... Wolves are history...
Glass half empty? What glass?
Never seen a bookie on bicycle..

With respect, Norm, you've been saying we're dead and buried since February at least. Furthermore, your minutiae-examination is as (pleasingly divertingly) biased as anyone else's.

We've won three games in the last five. I reckon we can win three more in the next six, and I reckon that might well be enough.

DSB it depends how you look at those three games.

Its either three amazing wins demonstrating the bottle and resolve in our squad to survive.

Or

Its a beating the worst side in the league, (despite them battering us for long periods) beating the second worst side in the league on the back of an emotion fuelled response to Muamba's situation and beating QPR thanks to a clear goal not being awarded to them.

I know I'm one of the negative ones, I KNOW! But I don't see how those three wins translate into three beating teams (at least, I think it will need 10 points from where we are) above us in the league, when all the evidence this season suggests thats not going to happen!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

By that exception-filled rationale, we wouldn't have won any of those games either.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

We're fighting a losing battle, oh hairy one. Content yourself with numerous cries of "I told you so" if we stay up.

Can't stand told-you-so, even when I did the telling... but yes, I'm even hairer than my avatar at the mo...

[norm the jedi]

Form is temporary
Dross is permanent...
Three wins in five . Lol or three in ten?
Normally I'm first in line for coolade
Just think it's our time...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Heh! Fair enough, and you might be right. It just wryly amuses me to see folk twisting fact and opinion to suit their argument (so, for instance, Blackburn 'look a miles better team than us' until we beat them, whereupon they're 'the second worst team in the league', etc etc).

It's all guesswork, and all that analysis is inevitably biased by the gatekeepers' perceptions and beliefs. I happen to believe we'll stay up, and my perceptions still support that belief... for now, although I can't imagine it changing this weekend.

[norm the jedi]

I feel a wet Tuesday night at the villa coming on! Always rains when I go there....
Could be the turning point?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I feel a wet Tuesday night at the villa coming on! Always rains when I go there....
Could be the turning point?

We may have had to create a little movement before then, but it certainly looks important as a winnable game against a possible Railegation Replacement Service.

Villa away always reminds me of that 3-1 win in April 1998 when Cox, Bob Taylor and Blake scored and we felt hope after one win in the previous five. (Mind you, we'd earlier gone 13 games without winning.) The team that day, for the doe-eyed reminiscence of old farts like us: Branagan, Cox, Taggart, Fish (Fairclough 52), Bergsson, Phillips; Thompson, Frandsen (Johansen 18), Sheridan; Blake, Taylor (Giallanza 89). Unused subs: Jaaskelainen, Salako.

[BWFC_Insane]

I feel a wet Tuesday night at the villa coming on! Always rains when I go there....
Could be the turning point?

We may have had to create a little movement before then, but it certainly looks important as a winnable game against a possible Railegation Replacement Service.

Villa away always reminds me of that 3-1 win in April 1998 when Cox, Bob Taylor and Blake scored and we felt hope after one win in the previous five. (Mind you, we'd earlier gone 13 games without winning.) The team that day, for the doe-eyed reminiscence of old farts like us: Branagan, Cox, Taggart, Fish (Fairclough 52), Bergsson, Phillips; Thompson, Frandsen (Johansen 18), Sheridan; Blake, Taylor (Giallanza 89). Unused subs: Jaaskelainen, Salako.

We followed it up by thumping Palace, was it 5-2? At home. I think we'd started playing 3-5-2/5-3-2....

Relegated the week after at Chelsea......

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Yep, system forced on idealistic manager by necessity... I was at the Palace and Chelsea games, just weird...

[BWFC_Insane]

Yep, system forced on idealistic manager by necessity... I was at the Palace and Chelsea games, just weird...

Yeah, and the random Italian who failed to get his head on the ball, to equalise (and keep us up at Chelsea) was it Giallanza? Chelsea went up the other end and made it 2-0.

There was a sense of inevitability about it!