Yep. I've given up with Redmond totally. He has no end product whatsoever. I'd be putting Sims ahead of him right now.
The second half of the season will see the newly promoted sides plus Hudds all go through a massive drop in form. Their squads aren't good enough. With everyone fit and a signing or two, we are suddenly a mid-table squad again. And, we have the new manager in nice and early. Just gotta stop playing Vestergaard.
Send the kids out for Redmond has definately upped his game and is taking players on but I agree totally with what you say... No end product, no ability to read the game. It's the same as playing with 10 men. I would put anyone in his place!
No, I'm afraid, they won't see a massive drop in form. History suggests that they'll see a substantial increase in form. In no PL season has a team with fewer than 34 points survived (and that has only happened once). There are currently six teams below that threshold, and we're currently on pace for 21. We only have a chance of survival because the bottom third of the table has been historically bad; we can't count on it getting even worse. Through this point in the season, we're in the bottom 3% of all teams to play in the Premier League by points. We aren't a sleeping giant. We're a team that needs to start winning right quick, or we'll be cut adrift.
I think you're relying on maths a bit too much. According to maths, Crystal Palace were supposed to be relegated last season after their horrific start. Things turned out alright though. Promoted teams always dip in form, it's a given. Maybe if Wolves spend in January, they'll continue as they are, but Cardiff and Fulham won't. Mate, football is football, and anything can happen. We could hit a point where we win 5/6 games on the bounce. You just don't know.
No, seriously, this won't last. There is absolutely zero chance that this lasts. This is so far beyond every previous season that it simply isn't a possibility that it lasts. We aren't going to survive with fewer than 30 points. It just isn't going to happen. The level Cardiff and Fulham are on now? That gets you relegated in every single season of the Premier League to date. We can't wait for them to be bad, because they are already really, really bad, and yet as good or better than us. We could win 5/6 games on the bounce, sure. You could get odds from your local bookie sufficient to ensure that you will never have to work again, but it's possible. And you can get similarly favourable odds from that same bookie on a team surviving with 30 points or less, which -- and it cannot be overstated -- would still be a massive improvement for us. These are things that are such long shots that it's barely worth considering, never mind relying upon.
Sad but true. The same could largely be said for any player up front or at the back. It’s a very odd and sad situation. Something remarkable needs to happen for any of this to be reversed.
For 2 of those Liverpool games (maybe 3), we had van Dijk but it still applies to one, maybe 2 games.
I think 32 will be enough personally......teams at the bottom (us included) are really poor this season . But as we have replaced MH with Ralph I am confident we will stay up......he wouldn’t have joined if there is no money to invest in January.
I dont think anybody is saying we will stay up if things stay the same. Thats why we just replaced the manager.
After last year , anything can happen . I like to think we will stay up , but if we get relegated , at least we will have Ralph to try and guide us straight back up again .
We don't need things to merely get better. We need to get a lot better. To give you an idea, comparing last year's bottom five versus our current pace: 15th Huddersfield 17/18 - 37 points (-30) 16th: Saints 17/18 - 36 points (-19) 17th: Swansea 17/18 - 33 points (-28) 18th: Stoke 17/18 - 33 points (-33) 19th: WBA 17/18 - 31 points (-31) ____________________________ 20th Saints 18/19 - 21 points (-40) Unless this is a totally aberrant season, we don't need to just be better. We need to be a hell of a lot better. And we need to be a hell of a lot better quickly. We're historically awful. To adjust for that, we need to be quite good pretty well immediately. If it takes us a few weeks, we need to play the remainder of the season like a team competing for a European spot just to survive.
My memory may have failed me, but I think VVD was definitely missing for at least 1 Liverpool game...I was at the match when he got injured and I remember being pissed off because we had a cup game v Liverpool coming up.
Two problems with that!! Who wants him? And furthermore, why should he leave SFC when he has a contract that is better than he is likely to get anywhere else?
I think part of the “no end product” issue is the lack of support when he breaks with the ball. He often has only one player to aim for, so ends up holding the ball up, waiting for other options, then he gets closed down and loses the ball. Lemina was our best player yesterday yet he regularly mishits passes. They are all pretty much equal which is why we are in a mess.
Disagree about Long. We've seen what a confident Long can do. In Koeman's last season he scored about 15 goals if I remember correctly. OK he had a better team around him but my point is he was full of confidence. If Ralph can reinstall some of that confidence he will be a very effective player for us.
I feel West Bromwich Albion had this in mind last season, because of last season´s PL relegated teams, they are the ones looking likely to bounce back. Just maybe this is in the back of the Board´s mind as well. Not that I wish relegation on any team, except any team in the current PL top 6.
