Stoke preview

So after Forest's ( sadly ) routine 2-0 H win, we travel to Stoke. After this, we have Sheff Utd / Wigan H - and the magic 50%,,,,,,,,,, at that point I think I will do an article about the magic number it appears we may need to get ......... and points per game required.

Lambert goes back to his former club, can he get one over them?

Will we struggle away at a good side?

I've got a feeling ( probably need to be sectioned ) we may get something from this. Not saying W, maybe D.

Thoughts?

 

No more points until Wigan, and then probably no points against Wigan either.

It's pretty shocking how bad we are. At the moment I can't see anything that is going to change that.

 

Nope,continue to struggle for anything positive.

 

I think the players and manager need to put the league table aside and focus on tightening up and making it difficult for opponents. At the moment everyone must see the Ipswich fixture coming up and look forward to the points bonanza.

 

I understand where you’re coming from Westy, as I don’t think a draw is beyond the realm of impossibility, but chances are this will be another defeat and I’ll opt for a narrow, gutsy 2-1 defeat.

If we could get something against Stoke and then, stop me if I’m going overboard here, record back-to-back home wins over Wigan and Sheffield United ... No. Just won’t happen. It’s the desperate, last-ditch hope that kills you.

2-1 loss, one of the young lads (Bishop, Lankester etc) to get off the mark.

 

Trouble is nuggets, if we won the next three matches straight we would still be in the relegation zone. We would probably need to win all five games in December to get level with the line. If we can win all five in December we would have roughly half the points we need to survive in half the matches and I would say we are in with a chance of survival.

It's likely we need to win two of the five not to be even further adrift come January.

 

We’d still be in the relegation zone, even if we won the next three matches, but we wouldn’t be this far adrift and the doom and gloom around the place would certainly start to shift. The four teams above us (Bolton without a win in ten, Millwall without a win in five, Reading without a win in four, and Rotherham without a win in four) are likely not going to clock up a similar run.

If, and it’s a massive if, we win the next three, you’re most likely looking at our current deficit from safety being roughly halved from nine points to around four points, and that puts us in a much better position than continuing to lose games.

 

Cold hard statistics is what makes it so unlikely we can pull ourselves out of this. A three game winning streak is obviously preferable to our current results. But even if we do that the chances are we would lose or draw the following one, and the gap would increase again slightly. The kind of form we need to hit to move up the table with any haste would be quite phenomenal, or to make up the deficit slowly and steadily requires unbreakable consistency of form for the rest of the season.

 

We could probably debate the minutiae of hypothetical situations all day long, but the fact is that if this team won the next three games, the benefits that form would bring in terms of boosting morale, self-confidence, and enjoyment would give us a stronger platform to push on and fight off relegation. We could continue that run, in theory, and we’d certainly look more appealing to potential January recruits.

As it goes, I highly doubt that this squad can win three games in a row. In fact, I highly doubt this team’s ability to win three games before the January window even opens.

 

Comments from the Forest fans are that they won’t get an easier game all season, that Town embarrassed themselves. The fans came in numbers but were quiet and didn’t manage one song.

Cole Skuse has said the club is in a much better place, that they can take positives from the game and they can see the light at the end of the tunnel and no one is pressing the panic button.

They need to smash the **** out of that panic button.

 

McCarthy managed a three game streak in his 6th, 7th, 8th matches and recorded half his total wins, 7, by Christmas, but he had 7 points from his first five matches. So unless we win four or five of our matches in December it looks as though we are going to have to outperform that 2012-13 side over the second half of the season.

Whichever way you slice it, it ain’t happening.

 

Well alright, lets propose you are correct - and there's no reason right now to suggest you aren't. I AGREE we're a bad side, and AGREE Lambert's results - while I'm happy with various things. Has he got that first win? No.

However, I'm going to ask you this question.

Seeing as ' it ain't happening ' - why not take yourself down to the bookmakers - or online. Now this isn't a dig regarding your previous point. We are 1/5 to be relegated.

So that's 20% ROI tax free in five months.

There won't be a limit to amount you can put on up to a good figure on this either. So for anyone saying this - why not make some easy cash?? Seeing as we're down, why not put £5000 on us to get relegated for an easy £1000?

Myself, I'll have to see what we do in January. I am so angry with things ITFC right now it's not even true.

 

Maybe I would if I had £5k floating around Westy. Sadly I don’t.

 

Well, whatever amount floating. £50 / £100 / £200 - whatever. Easy ££££ right!? More than the banks will give you over the course of the year!?

 

The odds are so bad it’s not worth putting a small stake on. I wouldn’t tie a grand up for five months to get a hundred quid back.

 

Of course it's worth putting a stake on. It's 20%.

You'd keep money in a bank I assume or use an ISA for far less than 20%.

So why not make a higher ROI in a shorter period of time?

Easy after all, we're already down aren't we.

 

Mick McCarthy had a much better squad than Paul Lambert has now. That 2012/13 team was pretty average and stuffed with several mercenaries, but there were good players in that side and we had proven goalscorers. Aaron Cresswell, DJ Campbell, Daryl Murphy, and Carlos Edwards, I'd even throw in a younger Luke Chambers and David McGoldrick (even Michael Chopra, who bagged several goals and had a proven goalscoring record at this level).

In this squad, who are the stars? An out-of-form Bart? A fading Edwards? An in-form Sears? And then you're just banking on potential from the youngsters. It's a mess. The squad is an absolute mess. We've got plodders like Chambers, Spence, and Knudsen at the back (who have been absolutely terrible the last few games and, in an ideal world with an ideal squad, would be dropped). Our goals are coming from Freddie Sears, who was fourth choice striker last season. Granted, he's hit a purple patch, but for how long?

 

Spence should be nowhere near the first team. The players we have are capable but not of the type of form we require now and certainly not playing the way we are, which has nothing to do with personnel.

 

£200 is not a great return Westy. If I had a grand sitting around doing nothing, which I don’t, I could invest it in a business or loan it or invest it in advertising and make a much better return in the long run.

I don’t have a gambling budget funnily enough because bookies always keep the odds in their favour.

 

Ahhhh but according to you we're already down, so how is it gambling