am i the only one who fears a slide ?

[doubledecker]

I really do feel that we fans ( and on the evidence of Sunday the players and coaching staff too ) are unbelievably complacent about our League position. We are only 7 points away from the bottom 3 and yet we are resting key players to save them for the UEFA Cup, which we have already qualified for next season. Personally I do not rate the UEFA Cup as a competition with its ridiculous inclusion of failed CL teams half way through. The only real benefit of being in it apart from the money is that new transfer targets can be offered European football ( albeit B grade ) as a carrot.
I have no problem with having a go at winning a second trophy but not if it takes our eye off our league form. That should be our priority and our next games against West Ham, Man City ,Chelsea and Portsmouth are not easy. Then we have 5 of the folowing 6 matches against fellow strugglers. Let's hope they are not 6 pointers.
Too good to go down ? Of course we should be .But then we should be too good to be where we are right now.
Before I get slated as a doom and gloom merchant let me add that if we play our strongest available team in the league matches then we will be fine. But if we keep playing players either out of form or out of position we could be in trouble.

 

[TrueYid]

I think you will find that we will win almost all our remaining home matches, and concentrate on the UEFA Cup, there is nothing wrong with priorotising the UEFA after all we have been moaning for 20 years how we need to be playing in it, and if we are not in to win then whats the whole point?

We will games at home and we will be safe don't get all worked up.

 

[camaj]

Don't be silly. We've lost one game and people have been hinting at relegation, it's almost like people are waiting for the team to slip up so they can start fear mongering. We're closing ground on West Ham and are pushing up the table, one defeat doesn't change that. We'll continue our progress up the table, we won't finish 4th but we've got a good chance at finishing close to teams like Man City.

If you think we might get relegated, ask yourselves why we're any worse than the 10 or so teams below us. Since we beat Man City at home, we've been playing like a top 4 side, hardly relegation form.

 

[Barmy_in_Palmy]

Barcelona lost 4-2 on the weekend, I also fear that they will be relegated as well.

 

[c0d]

Barcelona lost 4-2 on the weekend, I also fear that they will be relegated as well.

:rofl:

 

[doubledecker]

Barcelona lost 4-2 on the weekend, I also fear that they will be relegated as well.

Good comparison, Barca 25 points ahead of the bottom 3. We are 25 points behind the top 3.
And I am not saying we will be relegated , I am saying that if we play the kind of line ups we did against Brum that we could be sucked into the struggle. If we play our strongest team then we will not. But believing we are too good is one way to give ourselves problems.

 

[Chaplain]

I really think this game was a result of several things:

a) Post-Cup hangover
b) Underestimation of opposition
c) Completely rejigged cb pairing and partial rejig of midfield & strike pairing.
d) Lack of focus on current game and major focus on PSV game.

 

[Barmy_in_Palmy]

Good comparison, Barca 25 points ahead of the bottom 3. We are 25 points behind the top 3.

your shitting yourself over one result, will Barcelona get relegated over one result? (hint: the answer is no) Will we get relegated over one result? (hint: the answer is no).

And I am not saying we will be relegated, I am saying that if we play the kind of line ups we did against Brum that we could be sucked into the struggle. If we play our strongest team then we will not. But believing we are too good is one way to give ourselves problems.

Ramos (thinking to himself) *I have played our weakest lineup for the last 10 games and we have lost the last 10 games, I hope we don't get relegated, but I will continue to play our weakest lineup*

 

[Kendall]

I'm worried about our chances in the Uefa and worried we will not move any higher in the league. Purely because our other defenders (when King and Woody don't play) seem incapable of playing at anything like an acceptable level.

 

[guiltyparty]

Think it's a fair enough concern and well articulated, not sure why everyone's giving him so much stick. Point is, Ramos won't keep playing such a weak team, so we should be fine. But we could absolutely be sucked into it if we falter, and people laughing their arses off now won't be quite so happy if we do.

 

[Juande]

I do agree with you, and it was a bad result, but i think the fact is, befor the weekend we all have seen improved performances over the last few months and we have been playing well. As Ramos has said these players are playing for there future, so yes i do think that Saturday was a bad result and yes i do wish we had more points on the board, no that over concered by one game.

 

[haxman]

Relegation is very unlikely. Looking at the table, it's safe to say that Derby are gone, and Fulham will more than likely follow them. That leaves 18th spot to avoid. There are 7 teams between ourselves and Fulham. That means that all 7 teams would have to play better than us in the closing stages of the season, first of all to catch us and then overtake us, I really can't see that happening. 2 more wins I believe will be more than enough to see us safe.

 

[Randall Flagg]

Barcelona lost 4-2 on the weekend, I also fear that they will be relegated as well.

And the team that beat them lost to Bolton, who are 17th... :bang:

 

[DJS]

I know it's an old chesnut but that was nowhere near our best side against Brum.

With Woodgate shoring up the back (hopefully King too maybe at some point), Jenas back providing energy in the middle and Keane back upfront linking up with Berbatov we should see a massive improvement.

Plus Lennon to come back in and hopefully Gilberto to give us a nice bit of left-sided balance! :up:

 

[hughy]

As Long as we stick it out untill the summer, and don't finish lower than 12th, I think we'll be alright.

 

[clarryboy]

11 matches left, 7 of them at home.

Surely we can get two wins out of West Ham, Pompey, Boro, Newcastle and Bolton?

We'll be able to scrape a couple of points from the rest of our fixtures as well.

So, barring a catastropic collapse, we'll be OK.

 

[hughy]

I didn't realise we had 7 games out of 11 at home. Holy cow, we should be dandy.

 

[milkman]

dont worry. have faith in Ramos. :up:

 

[Barmy_in_Palmy]

And the team that beat them lost to Bolton, who are 17th... :bang:

So Barcelona are doomed then?

Well if thats the case can I be the first one who suggests we buy Messi on the cheap.

 

[nickspurs]

I'm not so worried. The defense without either King or Woodgate is a problem but provided one of them is fit I think we're OK. As long as Woodgate stays relatively fit we'll be fine.

It's just when we have a CB combination of guys playing out of position (Zoko, Hudd), young (Kaboul) or lost the plot (Dawson) we have problems.