interesting in the guardian on tuesday, they had a focus on the bottom half of the table. this included a mini-league for results against others in the bottom half. despite the losses to villa and fulham we were third in that league (before the palace game). this is very important and shows we are doing well here.
I think that this is the key CT, as always. I've been looking at City's last 18 games, from which they need 5 wins and 3 draws, or 4 wins and 6 draws to reach your 38 points (I still feel more comfortable with 40, myself). The 6:6:6 results those at the bottom require looks a much tougher task indeed. I feel that Cardiff, Palace, West Ham and Sunderland will all struggle to reach 38 points. Fulham's cause was improved by their win over West Ham, but they did need a second half against 10 men to scrape that. All that still makes me reasonably confident about City's chances, whatever the bookies may think!
Looking at the teams that are down there I don't see three that I think have a good chance of reaching 38 points.we now have twenty games played and eighteen remaining so all five teams below us have to at least match their current point haul with fewer games.Two of those are promoted sides who tend to fade.Yes Cardiff have money but the presupposes that you can use it to good effect,wtiness QPR.there is a good chance that you will just get a bunch of mercenaries,Samba at £12million was going to scare defences to death I seem to recall. As regards yesterday's result and people saying it was bad for us,look at it from where Palace are.These are must win home games for them,they will soon be running out of winnable ones.Home draws are useless against fellow strugglers.
I would have thought one of the bottom five or six would put a good run in at somepoint, just got that feeling, a bit like Wigan did 2 seasons ago.
That's always possible, Max, but if so, it's likely they'd take points off the other strugglers. A good run for City would be good though!
Yes that's right one of them probably will.On the other side one of those in mid table will probably have a bad run and the way the table is structured they may well get sucked in to trouble.As long as it's not us of course.
good point rick about taking points of others, didn't think about that. plenty of proverbial six-pointers left!
Anyone of us can go down this season. Its going to go to the wire and will be settled on the last day by the looks of it.
It wouldn't surprise me at to see 18th place up for grabs on the last day but I think 19th and 20th will be settled before that.and I think your compatriots will be involved.
What if he doesn't. He has just advised the local media that by playing every week that he is the fittest hr has ever been at anytime in his career. ps its Huddlestone.
Of the bottom ten teams, Hull only have Swansea and West Brom at home left (neither of whom are mugs), so basically it will only take a couple of unfortunate away results for it all to look very ugly. I don't expect Hull to get relegated, though, but I think they'll be in the mix until close to the end. ps it's "he" and "it's"
The trouble is, most of them have been at home Home Cardiff Palace West HAm Fulham Villa Swansea Away Stoke West Brom Palace Thats an extra 3 games where the advantage is with our fellow strugglers
What's odd about that is it has only now struck me that we have taken eight points from six games from those teams at home, but seven points from three games away. Are we now a better side away from home because of the crowd pressure?
There is quite a bit of evidence that this is true of a number of PL teams. Not really surprising when so many home crowds are so quick to get on their team's back. A supportive crowd can have a huge positive effect; is it daft to suggest that a critical or even hostile crowd can have a huge negative effect?
you've missed sunderland away carrabuh, but i take your general point. even if we drop down the mini-league to say mid-table, that's still decent - i think Sunderland had taken 4 points plus like Rob has mentioned, our away record has been ok bar the drubbings against top teams, i think we will get some points from the likes of cardiff,west ham etc away. Fulham will be a loss though!
Whilst the Mini-league isn't everything, it is an indication of potential survival prospects. It's interesting how well City have done in those away matches with 2 wins and 2 draws. These matches are the critical ones for the bottom 10 teams. Everton away will be difficult, but Hull and Newcastle at home and Cardiff away after that will be an opportunity for points and confidence for future matches. Crunch time definitely.
Interesting article here including a bit about the relegation candidates, with a touch of statistical focus: http://www.statsbomb.com/2014/01/en...al-predictions-than-you-can-shake-a-stick-at/ It suggests that it'll be Sunderland and Cardiff definitely going down, with either Fulham or us joining them!
Interesting JK, but also slightly spurious. The return of Winston Reid will make West Ham safe, for instance, while no mention of the return of RvW, Tettey, Pilks, Howson and Turner, which might have some impact on City's season. He also fancies Pulis to save Palace, which I, for one, don't.
