The PL relegation battle ...

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Smug in Boots

Smug in Boots

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2011
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... internationals, injuries and upcoming fixtures.

Sadly my only real interest, in these internationals, is our players coming back unscathed.

I hate these breaks in general but particularly because we're sending players around the world and counting them back in. I'd imagine supporters of other, bottom half, clubs feel the same. It's all very nice having the honour of international caps but it's a conundrum because we have so many good players 'at risk' these days.

The Wolves game is what some call a 'six pointer' and there are others, like Burnley v Leeds, in the next round of games. Someone will be dropping points, let's hope it's Wolves ...

... and let's hope Leeds, Burnley, Forest, etc, all come back with a few injuries.
 
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Aye I’m not a fan of international football at all if I’m honest, I rarely watch England unless it’s a the group/knockouts of the major tournament. The qualifying and friendlies are some of the most boring football I’ve ever had to watch and as you say it’s now just hoping we don’t get players sent back with an injury.

On the relegation battle I noticed for the first time we aren’t within the 3 favourites to be relegated. Burnley, Wolves and now West Ham are shorter odds. Would’ve liked West Ham to hold onto Graeme Potter for a longer mind got a few fixtures against teams at the bottom coming up.
 
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WorkyTicketFTM said:
Aye I’m not a fan of international football at all if I’m honest, I rarely watch England unless it’s a the group/knockouts of the major tournament. The qualifying and friendlies are some of the most boring football I’ve ever had to watch and as you say it’s now just hoping we don’t get players sent back with an injury.

On the relegation battle I noticed for the first time we aren’t within the 3 favourites to be relegated. Burnley, Wolves and now West Ham are shorter odds. Would’ve liked West Ham to hold onto Graeme Potter for a longer mind got a few fixtures against teams at the bottom coming up.
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I agree about Potter but, tbf, West Ham just aren't a good well balanced team with a great spirit.

Some people are saying their problems are solved, because Nuno is there, but it's not a foregone conclusion.

Moyes took West Ham to the lowest points total, of any European trophy winning team, and was sacked.

He didn't leave them in a good place and they've just got worse imo.
 
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WorkyTicketFTM said:
Aye I’m not a fan of international football at all if I’m honest, I rarely watch England unless it’s a the group/knockouts of the major tournament. The qualifying and friendlies are some of the most boring football I’ve ever had to watch and as you say it’s now just hoping we don’t get players sent back with an injury.

On the relegation battle I noticed for the first time we aren’t within the 3 favourites to be relegated. Burnley, Wolves and now West Ham are shorter odds. Would’ve liked West Ham to hold onto Graeme Potter for a longer mind got a few fixtures against teams at the bottom coming up.
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I think it's behind the scenes stuff at West Ham that's been going on for a long while that's causing them problems. On the face of it, they should be a good club to manage, but there definitely seems to be something wrong there and they continue to slide. They remind me of us until we eventually slipped out of the EPL. Something wrong that can't be easily fixed.
 
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WorkyTicketFTM said:
Aye I’m not a fan of international football at all if I’m honest, I rarely watch England unless it’s a the group/knockouts of the major tournament. The qualifying and friendlies are some of the most boring football I’ve ever had to watch and as you say it’s now just hoping we don’t get players sent back with an injury.

On the relegation battle I noticed for the first time we aren’t within the 3 favourites to be relegated. Burnley, Wolves and now West Ham are shorter odds. Would’ve liked West Ham to hold onto Graeme Potter for a longer mind got a few fixtures against teams at the bottom coming up.
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There are too many international games so they have gone from special occasions to something very humdrum.

I bet it's because they are money spinners for countries' organising bodies so the more the better for them.
 
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Robertson said:
There are too many international games so they have gone from special occasions to something very humdrum.

I bet it's because they are money spinners for countries' organising bodies so the more the better for them.
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Well said, I hate these breaks, and am actually sick to death of England, I could not care less about the "World Cup " even, once a magical event , now bleed to death by greed and corruption at the top.
 
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clockstander said:
Well said, I hate these breaks, and am actually sick to death of England, I could not care less about the "World Cup " even, once a magical event , now bleed to death by greed and corruption at the top.
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I’m glad I’m not the only one.

People are chided because they no longer get excited about seeing a German football manager wax on about young lads from Chelsea they’ve barely heard of.

If the players looked a bit more interested that might help.
 
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C Montgomery Burns said:
I think it's behind the scenes stuff at West Ham that's been going on for a long while that's causing them problems. On the face of it, they should be a good club to manage, but there definitely seems to be something wrong there and they continue to slide. They remind me of us until we eventually slipped out of the EPL. Something wrong that can't be easily fixed.
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Imo, it’s the ground move, it’s a soulless place, couldn’t be more different than the Boleyn , the Hammers fans I know absolutely hate it there and can’t forgive the Board.
 
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Robertson said:
There are too many international games so they have gone from special occasions to something very humdrum.

I bet it's because they are money spinners for countries' organising bodies so the more the better for them.
Click to expand...

Depending on teams involved, they are. And then there's football politics.

Some countries want something (say a world cup bud) and need support, so they'll arrange a match as a trade off to gets someone's backing, or as a means of making up when two FAs don't get along.

South Africa arranged a friendly in South Africa in 2003 to ensure England supported their bid for the 2010 World Cup. Similarly, England were supposed to play a game against Thailand in Thailand when they pledged (falsely because they were already going to vote for Russia despite everything they said) to back us for 2018.

Germany were invited to play the first match at the rebuilt Wembley as part of a reconciliation after England and the German FAs fell out over the 2006 world cup bids. On a related note, the Home nations FAs don't have a good relationship with the Australian FA going back to the 80s, but they have a good relationship with the USA.

There's a lot of politics that goes on behind the scenes.
 
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vic9 said:
Very rarely watch the England football match’s now,don’t know why just doesn’t appeal to me now
But I always enjoy watching the Englands cricket test matches,
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Probably because it’s like watching Man City without the excitement lol. Loads of sideways passes in our own half. “All fart nee ****e” as my granda would’ve said.
 
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The lads at home beat Livingston 2 zip the other day and have been given 4 days off.

Hopefully come back refreshed and ready for Wolves. Great chance to put some gap between us and them with the fixtures
 
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Time for another look at this I reckon.

The bottom four teams, over the last 24 games, have only won 2 and drawn 5.

That's a total of 11 points between the four of them.

Wolves and Burnley haven't picked up a point in the last 6 games.

After beating Newcastle we now have twice the 13 points of the bottom three teams

So, is it now time to abandon all negative thoughts and forget about the possibility of going down.

If Burnley lose at Bournemouth tomorrow, and West Ham lose at Man City, I'd say that's it ...

... a point or three at Brighton and I'd say we'll be finishing top half.
 
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