This is very correct and also worrying. If you look at our home games to which you refer though, 5 of the 7 have been against Man City, Everton, Tottenham, Man Utd, and Arsenal. That policy/tactic was spot on against teams like that and the rewards have justified it. Let's turn this around on its' head from discussing the probable relegation candidates for a minute. Accepting that anyone can succumb to the pressure in the last couple of months of a Premier season, who do you see from Villa down in the table that are more or less nailed on (in your own opinions of course) to actually stay up? I'll go for three. Villa, Swansea and West Ham - the rest are as likely to go down as each other at this stage.
I'd put money on Sunderland, Palace, and West ham to go down, though Norwich, Stoke, and West Brom could be in the mix at end of season!...........
...and it's wins that move you up the table not a load of draws. Draws are a killer if you can't win games.
I honestly think so. Allardyce has got some good players there, but they need a frontman to finish off some excellent approach play. If and when they get Carroll back from his long layoff, they'll start winning games against good opposition other than having to rely on beating likes of Fulham for instance.
Carroll the saviour!............................. Don't rate big Sam, and I see West Ham fading...............
Cardiff are doing just as expected imo. Their goal for this season is to finish out of the bottom three and that would be a good season. They are short on quality but that is to be expected in their debut season and should they survive they will then know what players they need for a better season next time. It is much the same for us really as it is also our debut season for competing in the prem and europe and again its about survival and not trying to finish better than last season like most of us thought we would do before the season started, we have learned that we are having trouble in consistency and that is due to too many games and too few players. survival is not guaranteed I know but i think the odds are in our favour as one of the better sides. i also think cardiff will survive if they strengthen in january..
Dai - from what I've seen, and not just in our last game against them, Stoke are a pretty dire outfit for an established Prem side. I'll take them to struggle along with Hull who for all the enthusiasm of Bruce, are punching well above their weight. Your game against them Monday could restart their downward spiral after that surprising win over Liverpool - (what happened there mate. ) Palace and Sunderland have a lot to do to turn their seasons around even with new managers. I think these four teams will be battling out to stay up come the last few weeks. I'd have to say that we also have a lot to do to stay out of it.
sparkey you may well be right but i can guarantee you that you will find the second half of the season much harder than the first half and should any of us be at the bottom during the final push at the business end then you will see some very strange scores as everyone goes for broke to miss the drop...Its fun to watch if you are safe but a squeaky bum time if you are still in the mix....we have done well so far and never been in that situation...
I think two teams have been relegated from the Prem under Big Al, it could be a good omen for your club.
I can't recollect Big Sam taking anyone down from the Prem whilst he was with them, let alone two clubs. Perhaps you can tell us who they were. I know he's previously managed Bolton, Newcastle and Blackburn in the Prem with varying degrees of success, but none were relegated whilst he was there, and he took West Ham up from the Championship. Personally, I don't particlarly like the guy having a very high opinion of himself as a manager in the past, but that doesn't make his side more likely to go down than stay up. I think West ham are far more likely to stay up than anyone else in the bottom 8.
It's funny. I was thinking about how I feel about our performances this season. I'm a bit nonplussed at times. Then I looked at the table and thought about how many points we have. In our first season in the Prem, I remember saying I'd be happy if we had 20 points by New Years Day. We achieved it and (after seeing the points total of the relegated teams at the end of the season) we were safe by the middle of March. If we beat Hull on Monday, we will have 21 points by 9th Dec. I still think survival is our top, of not only, priority. Then we look at the boys up the road. 14 points with West Brom, Liverpool and Southampton being the more difficult of the games coming up before New Years. If Sunderland pick up the pace it could be a very difficult christmas period. A few new managers and injected impetus in there. I'd say it really could be a Tale of Two Cities...
For me Cardiff have to be more adventurous. They simply do not score enough goals. When swans go 1 down I'm still confident we can turn it around and win the game. I wouldn't necessarily say the same for Cardiff. There are 4 points between us at the moment but 4 points in the premier league is actually quite hard to close. Stoke in their first season relied heavily on set pieces and that Rory delap throw, but I just feel that the more accustome that other teams become of Cardiffs set plays, the less goals you are going to score from them. Where do the goals come from then? I understand you have Cornelius to come back but does he even have a prolific record? I feel a lot of pressure and expectation is going to be put on his head to get the majority of the teams goals. It can be quite a bit for a youngster to take. Just checked aswell, Cardiff have won 1 match in the last nine. And that game was against ourselves in the derby where form more often than not goes out the window. The game you won before that was back in September. The only thing that's going to change your form is goals and I feel that with malky at the helm then that is going to be hard to come by.
Still prefer Mutch in your team ahead of Bony after today Sparkey? That's what you said wasn't it? Didn't think 'much' of his display or your team's actually.
Your right, he hasn't been in charge of a Prem team that got relegated but he has bee sacked multiple times at teams that later in the season dropped a division. He also led West Brom to their lowest league position. Cardiff shouldn't go for the guy and his so called reputation as being a safe bet comes from his time at Bolton.
Just "gentle banter" as Sparkey would say. I'd just be interested if he raises his head, that's all. He's made sweeping statements about how great Mutch is and how poor Bony is, even so far as saying he'd prefer the former in his team "any day" so it's a fair point.
