Another way to look at it Madness is we need 19 points from 15 games! Where are those points coming from? Southampton H Man Utd A Liverpool H WBA A Chelsea H Cardiff A Newcastle H Man City A Everton H Villa A Norwich H Spurs A Hull H Stoke A Palace H
Assuming that we pick up form and luck will be on our way we can collect 20-21 points. Some of the teams are bounded to be on bad day against us. Southampton - 1 Man Utd - 0 Liverpool - 0 WBA - 1 Chelsea - 1 (very optimistic) Cardiff - 3 Newcastle - 3 Man City - 0 Everton - 1 Villa - 1 Norwich - 3 Spurs - 0 Hull - 3 Stoke - 1 Palace - 3
I was beginning to despair until I got to the end of that list of fixtures. Five of the last six games are against teams who could well be in and around the lower reaches of the table. That means none of them will be walkovers - they'll be as up for it as we are - but all of them are winnable. If we can nibble away with a win here and a draw there in the earlier games to stay in contention, we could be all set for a barnstorming finish to the season to leap gracefully out of trouble, a la Roy's heroes of 2008. Anyone got anymore straws for me to clutch at?
I know our last few fixtures on paper are very winnable, the only trouble being that these are also teams likely to be in trouble themselves, so will be fighting for their lives, plus by the time the last few winnable games arrive, we could be too far adrift. Lose against Southampton and that could be that for us.
I know what you mean about needing to avoid being too far adrift by the time of our late run of games comes around, but there's no way - no way at all - that it's all over if we lose to Southampton. Nobody is dead and buried at the beginning of February. There is no such thing as a 'must win' game at this stage of the season. That said, we really, really need a good result at the weekend.
Captain I was hoping you were going to give us a ray of light and hope!!! It is not totally lost. I just find it hard to explain to my 5yo daughter why supporting Fulham is a journey of ups and downs. Unfortunately for her she joint me to football games in the season of many downs!! She is still hanging in there (I hope)!
we're not cut adrift right now and we must stay in and around the other teams with at least 6 games to go. When I say in and around I mean no more than 4 points off safety.
Bloody hell, that fixture list does not look particularly nice. It is going to be one hell of run in. We are fulham though and this is not the first time we have been in this position, let's hope Rene can get the blood pumping in a few of the players. Passion is required in the truck load.
Major point against us is the terrible goal difference. No one around us is even close with the exception of Cardiff who are still 5 goals better off. WBA are only two places and 3 points above us but we would currently have to score 24 goals to go above them. Yep 24! To put that mountain into perspective that's 2 more goals than we have scored all season. The two teams immediately below us - West Ham and Sunderland are currently 17 & 13 goals respectively better off than us. If anything dooms us come seasons end it will be goal difference.
Completely forgot about the goal difference. That's puts a slightly different slant on things. I predict 7 points from the next 3 games and not 9!
So just don't lose touch with the pack, get 10 from 10 then 10 from the last 5 games. Simples! Not forgetting that there are a lot of matches to be played amongst the bottom 10 clubs. And just wait for some of the clubs above us becoming desperate after a few defeats. Gloom everywhere but We Are Fulham! COYW!!