According to Mr R Savage we will come out of the pack and be relegated. As he says there's always one - and strictly speaking in this case he's it. Tosser. http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16321286.stm
He does however go on to say that he could be completely wrong. At the end of the day it's his opinion, one which he is paid to give. We are currently four points from the bottom three so it's not completely unfounded to suggest we will go down. I don't think we will but I can see why others might.
It may be his opinion to give, but the fact that the platform for such a moronic opinion being funded by the taxpayer is what really grates on me. Its one thing to tip us or villa to go down, but at least back it up with some evidence of what either team has done to justify this prediction. This whole 'savage says' weekly thing is just an excuse for him to come up with outlandish statments with no substantive base whatsoever.
Just the usual we need to sell newspapers or get more listeners claptrap. We've taken points from City, Arsenal, Liverpool and should have had Spurs (without the 2 goalkeepers) and are a heck of a lot better off than some other clubs. C O Y W
We have to be careful but we are playing better in the second half of the season. In addition we have most of the "small" teams coming to the Cottage.
I think everyone needs to 'chill out' Savage's opinion isn't going to please everyone, the same as Lawro's predictions. Both men have opinions to give, naturally three sets of fans will be angry that their teams are being tipped for relegation but I don't think it's a vendetta against us or something. I can see the substance behind his thinking, we have been poor this first half of the season and so have Villa. Savage probably thinks us losing both AJ and Zamora will make us weaker and has made his prediction based on that. Jamie Redknapp has an article on Sky Sports about how he thinks every team has done, and lists Fulham as the biggest underachievers. The fact is the first half of the season has not gone terribly well for us. Gerascores: Yes we have taken points from Liverpool, Arsenal and City but we have also failed to take points off Wolves, Swansea, only one from Blackburn and one from Villa. Getting results against the big teams is all well and good but if we can't beat those around us then we will be in trouble.
We haven't lost AJ and Bobby. But I agree with your general sentiment. Although he didn't give any kind of reasoning (apart from there "always being a surprise package") he was probably asked to give a list and that's what he came up with. I doubt he was bashing down BBC's door pleading for them to let him get his crystal ball out.
Generally speaking Bidley, there usually is a surprise package that goes down. Newcastle, Hull (great start) Blackpool (great start) Birmingham (CC winners) were all relatively surprising candidates for relegation. I think Villa are in a lot more trouble than we are, and after their appointment of McLeish I had them down to struggle so they may not even count as a surprise package. For me Bolton would be the surprise team to go down after how well Coyle did with them last season. Next point, there are plenty of names such as Henry and Cahill that although have not yet moved, it is much more likely than unlikely that they will join new clubs come January, Zamora and AJ are two other names in the same boat.
I don't disagree that there's a surprise package every year, I just said that was his only explanation. I do agree that Bolton would most definitely qualify as a surprise package. Henry and Cahill's parent clubs are already in talks or are agreeing deals - are we in talks with other clubs about Bobby and AJ? I don't doubt that it looks nailed-on that they'll go, but there're only rumours floating around, nothing concrete (correct me if I'm wrong )
You are not wrong, Fulham often do business behind closed doors, so I doubt we will even know the specifics even after the deal is completed.
