I think RvW, Fer, Elmander, Ruddy and Bassong would go, perhaps a couple of others, but we'd keep hold of a lot of our squad, and have enough money from sales and parachute payments to build a squad capable of escaping the championship. I still don't think we'll be in a position to be worrying about this by April though.
i think palace, baring a miracle, will go down. i thought sunderland would at the start of the season and they still look short to me but realistically its any two from: sunderland norwich stoke cardiff west ham fulham aston villa west brom newcastle hull (i'll discount swansea - i think they'll be ok) i don't think west brom or newcastle will go down either but any two of the above are in genuine danger of being relegated this season. it also means that 8 of them will end up fine. i fancy our chances... guru, ask the same question in april - then we can answer it rationally
just to add to the above, although the table may say otherwise, on what i've seen i think we're better than palace, sunderland, aston villa, stoke, fulham, cardiff and hull
I agree Palace are dead men walking, in regards to the other 2 places its between in my opinion Sunderland Norwich Stoke Cardiff Hull I reckon Fulham, Newcastle, Villa, WBA and Wet Sham will have just that little bit too much to go down. I reckon this year you have got to do better against the sides around you than last year, basically you results against the bigger teams saved you. So its all down to the games like last saturday for you guys to survive, but i feel the aura around the club means its a uphill battle.
Sunderland will survive (just). Stoke will go down with Palace and Cardiff. FACT. You are all welcome.
we were better than all three sides though. they may have won (or drawn) on the day, but over the season i think we'll finish above all three of them
to be fair, we've won one, drawn one and lost one against those teams so far and only one of the games was at home. it just shows the season has still hardly got going
if fulham keep with Jol, i think they will really struggle this season and could go. plus one of Hull or Cardiff to go, can't see right now 2 promoted teams staying up, just a feeling
...and failed to score against them. The 'crime list' includes Hull down to 10, Villa keeper saving a penalty and some 30 efforts on the Cardiff goal.
I'm not sure about Stoke, even we managed to beat them and they were at home. They must be god damn awful.
I have been avoiding the CH debate lately because a) I thought it had got rather repetitive and b) I think it's getting personal and rather nasty. But I'll wade in again here. For me, the most serious charge against CH is that he lacks imagination and mistrusts skill. I think Carrabuh is spot on when he says that CH puts size and speed ahead of intelligence, vision and flair. Look at the way Fox and Surman got marginalised (not the tallest or most physical of midfielders, but with a hell of a lot more vision than Johnson, say). He couldn't do it with Hoolahan last season because he had no alternatives, but the signs are that he is doing it this year. And when CH buys a player with skill and intelligence, such as RvW, he doesn't seem to have a clue what to do with him other than set us up as if he were Andy Carroll. From what I've seen so far, I wouldn't classify CH as a bad manager, but I think he is a very limited one. I think his 'natural level' is bottom half of the Prem because he doesn't have the imagination and breadth of vision that it takes to be more than that. (I also worry about his man-management skills and his lack of ability to inspire, but I accept I cannot know this for sure because I'm not a fly on the wall at Carrow Road.) So I wouldn't be averse to changing him, but the problem is with who? Malky seems flavour of the month but from what I see he's basically no different. There is a pool of managers of roughly CH's ability, and they have their moment in the sun, and then they slip from grace (e.g. Pulis), and then sometimes they rise up again and hit the same ceiling, and the circle keeps repeating itself. If we are going to risk seriously destabilising the club, we need to be pretty sure that the new guy is a step up from Hughton, and I don't see who is available (at least in England) who would be. Obviously, if things get worse, then the risk-benefit balance moves in favour of radical change. Until then I can't really see the point. Not a ringing endorsement of CH, I know, but a reason for getting behind him in my opinion unless things take a serious turn for the worse.
My proviso to what I said above is the tensions that are starting to exist within the whole club, especially the fans. If keeping CH leads to the club tearing itself apart, then the sooner he goes the better. There are many examples of what civil war does to a club (e.g. Blackburn).
Basically, I don't think there has been too much wrong in the home games against Villa or Cardiff, other than our inability to put the ball in the opponents' net!!!! Our midfield needs to deliver better quality balls into the box to give any players there a chance to actually score. I think I'm right in saying that most of our goals have been as a redult of shots from the edge of the area (RvW's header against Everton and Pilks goal against Chelsea being the exceptions). The type of ball that Hooper played across the goal and Pilks just failed to connect with on Saturday is the what I would like to see more of. I'm a fan of Hughton (as I ALWAYS have been of Ruddy), but unless we start scoring goals and winning games next month, then I'm afraid that it will be time for him to go - though I haven;t got a clue who I'd like to see replace him. I see McLeish and Coleman are now in the frame for the Palace job!! - http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/oct/30/crystal-palace-alex-mcleish-chris-coleman
do you know what worries me the most? the thought of neil lennon being unveiled at carrow road as our new manager. gut feeling says he'd be the man we approach. be careful what you wish for. the funniest suggestion was posted on the pink'un (i'm going on here'say - i've not seen it so if it's untrue i apologise) but someone has said our new manager should be michael owen! this is the level of brain power some of the fans are illustrating. i bet that fan is a 'boo'er'.
