Who will go down with us and the Boro ?, WHU would be a laugh for arrogance etc (£30m bid in for a player in one of the Sunday papers today !) Swansea were bad against the Boro but too far to travel, Palace , Leicester, Watford etc will stay up now I would say Hull though.
Hull have some momentum. 13 points from a possible 15 at home since Silva came in. I have a sneaky feeling Burnley will get sucked in.
I was thinking Burnley could be sucked in. It's not beyond reason that if they lose to Stoke they could lose that home 'fortress' mentality and go on to lose the rest of their games. Hull are not done yet, not by a long shot. If Boro don't win both of their next two games, vs Hull (a) and Burnley (h) they'll be gone as well imo.
Sunderland, Boro and Palace Great win for Palace at Weekend but their fixtures are the hardest, Southampton next then Arsenal, Leicester, Liverpool, Spurs, Burnley, Man City, Hull and Man U. maybe 2 wins and a draw max! and even then I have them beating Burnely and Hull which are not certainties Hull will beat Boro at home next, perhaps draw stoke, beat Watford, draw Soton then Sunderland and Palace to play for some 6 pointers. Hull are the in form team and perhaps have the most favourable fixtures, plus very good home form. Swansea have perhaps 3 winnable with 2 draws Burnley have the some favourable fixtures too but only 4 home games which is where they pick up most of their points away from home they look vulnerable I don't think Whu, Leicester of Watford will be involved, they are all 1-2 wins and a draw away from safety
I think this is my last throw of the dice. On Saturday I gave up, but thought today that if we win at Leicester, (of course we need to score goals and have more than they do after 95mins, so not expecting) then if we could be certain to win Boro Hull and Swansea ( a further 3 wins ?) (3 wins when we always struggle against other crap teams ) so unlikely. But could give us a last shot.
I think that team at the bottom will win 5 of their next 9 games and be fine... Sorry - 5 of their next 19 games! Sorry - 5 of their next 190 - I give up!! Bottom 3 as it stands IMO although I'd like to see Swansea down as well or West Ham (I'd love that but it won't happen) Best case scenrio would be Leicester, West Ham and Swansea but that won't happen as us and Boro are gone IMO
The last optimist!! I said before the Burnley game that we had 8 "winnable" games left - we've played 2 of them and won none!!! Looking at the fixtures noth taking into account anything else (league table, form, manager etc.) most would say "Sunderland will probably win at least 4 and get a couple of draws" - but then you put back in everything I took out in the sentence and we'll probably beat United and Arsenal and lose the rest!!!
I'd happily get thumped 10-0 off both Utd and Arsenal so long as we won 5 others, to incl. the 3 teams immediately above. Lets see how my optimism stands at 10pm tomorrow !
5/1 on Skybet for Sunderland bottom, Boro 2nd bottom and Swansea 3rd bottom, that's the one to go for. Swansea had an uplift in form a while ago, but have looked poor recently, there was a distinct lack of quality from both teams when they played Boro yesterday. Hull home form is very good, and even when they've lost recently they've been playing well. You can definitely see them winning the home games they've got to come against Sunderland, Boro and Watford, and picking up a few more points elsewhere along the way, that would nudge them to around the 40 point mark and into safety. Burnley's recent form is poor, but they've got one of the better run ins, and Sean Dyche is very experienced in scrapping down the bottom end, so I can't see them going down.
Leicester have won 5 on the bounce since Ranieri was sacked, including victories over Liverpool and Sevilla. I fully expect them to make that 6. Where some of you lot find this optimism from I'll never know, but fair play and respect to you, I'd have given up months ago, probably about 24 hours after the window shut. Edit: Of course, I mean the summer window.
You know how optimistic I am but I just can't b! If' we'd got 4 points from the last 2 I'd have had a little optimism left but to have picked up 1 point from games against 2 poor sides (Burnley are the second worst team I've seen at our place this season) and my optimism has vanished!! Edit: I'd be happy if the side simply showed a little fight and determination to not finish bottom - but we only seem to have 3 players capable of doing that - possibly 4 if cattermole comes back (Pickford, Defoe and N'Dong being the other three!
Not sure how Hull are the in form team when Palace have just won 4 on the bounce including easily the best team in the league? They are safe IMO. Sam has done what Sam does. It will be us, Boro, and Swansea or Hull.
My grasping thoughts are similar - a lucky win next home game -Moyes negativity baggage goes - unbeaten run on or its the songstress
Practice, practice and more practice, but this is our stiffest test yet, and some of us, me included, are beginning to wilt.
Simple fact of the matter is beat Leicester (not as easy as it would have been 2 months back but still do-able) and hope Swansea lose to Spurs (should happen). Then win our game in hand Boro away (do-able) and all of a sudden we are 2 points behind Swansea with them still to come to our place. I know Hull are in the mix as well but again we have to go there. We need a win or 2 before we play those 3 games but if we do and are in striking distance of Swansea/Hull they will be bloody cagey affairs possibly decided by who can take the chance or 2 that comes there way and in Defoe I would fancy him more than anyone at those other clubs. Long shot it is but looking at the fixtures it's more feasible than when we done it under Poyet.
Before anyone jumps on the lunatic bandwagon I'm not saying this is how it will pan out just that us being us it wouldn't surprise me too much. That and the mighty cattermole and big vic returning.
