No, we could finish in the top half and I still won't feel silly for thinking we were involved in a relegation battle. We are involved in a relegation battle.
Agree with Joe. We will be out of a relegation battle when actually have 40 points in the bag. It's a funny old game as they say and despite the recent performances and results a couple of bad decisions and one or two silly mistakes could see us lose three or four on the spin (of course I hope and expect not) and we could be in trouble again. I do think we will stay up though!
Time will tell but the performances which have been consistently good for a while now are starting to be converted into points more regularly. We are playing better than Norwich, Fulham and Sunderland (West Ham are also in our sights). I think Newcastle may overtake us. Consistency is key, we are in and around the required level of performances and effectiveness to continue to climb the table. Mid-table is 8th to 13th. We will finish above Norwich, Fulham and Sunderland.
And by the same logic, we might start to get the fortune we have been starved of earlier in the season as we saw on Saturday. Onwards and upwards!
Here's hoping - I'll take a correct penalty decision from the ref, followed by a goalkeeping howler at a corner and useless positioning from a full back to let Lallana in for our third! We must be due these from earlier this season....
We've had the element of surprise in the past few games. But now I think every manager in the league will have taken notice and will be thinking of plans to counter our new style. All it takes is for one manager to get it right, and the rest will take note. Having said that, Pocchettino seems smart enough to have several back up plans. Newcastle away will be much tougher than Man City was. If we get a point up there, I'll be convinced that we are the real deal.
I had a thought today that what happens if the opposition tries the same tactics...be an almighty scrum in the middle.
On already @ 10/1 pre-season, then a second time @ 50/1 before Newcastle (h), and again at 33/1 after we'd beaten them but before Norwich (h). It's been tumbling ever since ;-) Lat
Newcastle is definitely a difficult matchup, stylistically. If Tiote starts, they'll have a midfield that can win a ball or two themselves, which could make for a pretty chippy contest in the middle of the field. Will be watching their Europa ties with great interest; if they get a middling result (one-goal win or draw) at home against Metalist, I wonder how strong of a side they'll commit for the return leg. They're playing in Ukraine on that Thursday evening, which is a very short turnaround for an early Sunday game.
Will be watching their Europa ties with great interest; __________________________________ Me too. I wonder how brave Pards will be, not very would be my guess. I've enjoyed this thread, I hope after the next two game we are as equally positive.
Long ball results. Actually, there was an incident of it on MOTD. What happens is that any of the back line dinks the ball over the opposition back line for the striker to run on to. In fact, Rickie Lambert did it two or three times against Man City, when the game got compressed. Man City didn't do it once because they weren't thinking about it. Saints were definitely one up in the tactical battle there. To stop that from happening, the opposition back line drops back 5 or 10 yards, and so the long ball doesn't result. Saints back line were doing that too, when the play compressed, so they were way ahead of the game tactically.
We are still too close to 18th to say we are not in a relegation battle. If we can stay healthy we should be safe. My concern is an injury to Cork and/or Morgan would put us in a bind. To me they are the nearly irreplaceable players in the team. The last couple of games has shown that. They are the ones who really make the pressure work. The fat lady has not started warming up just yet to me.
Those thinking we are not in a relegation battle currently need to do two things: 1. Look at the result of Man Utd v Blackburn last season 2. Check out Readings up coming run of games, which includes us. I thnk we will be ok, however lets not kid ourselves just yet. Win the next three in a row and we can pop this thread up again.
Fans have to keep their nerve...you can lose a couple of games together just like (hopefully) you can win two together. My confidence stems from our form over a reasonably long period and the fact that there are still quite a few games to go. As I've said before, preparing yourself for failure won't make you any happier if the worst happens. It would be nice if the New Saints would get the points early and not make us hang onto the end like Old Saints.
ereryone down at the bottom will be doing the maths to see how many wins, and most will be saying " we can do that". as always there will be many tewists and turns before the end of the season. Qpr started picking up points then ground to a halt, and wigan have been dragged into the strife after a reasonable start, as are west ham! saying that I am confident that we will stay up, as we seem to be playing really well, and picking up points. the other key is goals, and we do seem to be able to score from all round the team.
Pretty brave, apparently; he's sent out quite a strong lineup today. Not sure he'll do the same on the away leg, though.
Metalist weren't very good, but Newcastle did have 2 goals harshly disallowed. If we play like we did against Citeh we'll win 8-0.
I agree with you joe. I wouldn't be surprised after a few good displays where we only drew, and now suddenly we win against a team that i was certain would beat us, that we start to mess it up. We really aren't that far away from the drop zone. I always look for Lawro's prediction and I always hope he says we will loose, because I then know we have a good chance of winning or at least a drawer. I definitely don't want him to predict a win
