I honestly did not think we would struggle this season, on paper we have the best squad ever assembled...however that clearly counts for nothing.
An awful lot of people (and not just on here) seem to be enjoying this season more than last....eh !?!?!?!, I'm certainly not (and neither are any of the blokes I go with and drink with before/after the game!) getting beat every week and only mustering a point against possibly the worst team seen at the Valley for 5 years (and I include the cup games in that!). Watford were truely woeful and if we cannot beat them then I am (now) seriously worried about our chances of staying up.
The plus' this season are for me:
Carson (shame we probably won't keep him past January)
Faye (best signing by a country mile and has carried the midfield virtually single handedly)
Reid (excellent player if he can stay fit !!!!!)
Diawara (reminded me of Rufus saturday, not particularly pretty - but bloody effective and made every ball his)
Bent (started well, but must surely be getting frustrated at the service)
Pouso (jury out but I am resting alot of hope on his shoulders !!!!)
On the down side, personally I think:
El Kak (awful, no timing when jumping, poor distrubution and why we let this bloke take set pieces god only knows)
Hughes (no further comment needed)
Holland (worked hard saturday but not good enough for this level anymore)
Thomas (did absolutley nothing for me saturday and to often loses the ball in key areas)
JFH (I expected alot more)
There are others and I could go on.....I've always been a Romm fan but for me he doesn't see enough of the ball at the right time to hurt teams.
All in all, I am currently very down and fear for us, if as has been said we've dipped into next seasons budget, then even more so.
How many of the current squad would be around if we were to go down........sadly from my point of view, I think Hughes would be !!!
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In terms of end of season, Watford and Sheff U are much worse than us, then its a bit of a muchness. So effectively we are fighting to avoid one spot. Its not going to be a great season, but I'm confident we will do it comfortably. Every team turns the corner and has a run at some stage. I'm confident we have enough quality to have a decent run when it all clicks in.
I think a lot of people myself included would agree with that 100% but there are a few mitigating factors going against us this season.
Its crunch time for me now. If I take someone on at my place, it doesnt matter how good they say they are, they are still getting a 3 month probation and if they are clueless at the end then they are out.
Its not as easy to do that in football, but surely if we are in this position in late December then the board may well start thinking about a change.
With Traore back, TEK replaced, Pouso coming in for Holland and Thomas and Reid at 100% I genuinely dont think that Dowie can fail. Time will tell.
I'll accept that we played some good stuff at the start of last season but we also had a easier run of games. More importantly, for what ever reason (and I'm sure people on here will have there own views as to why) we weren't able to sustain it. Take away the first 10 games of last season and bar the odd game, we have been playing awful football for probably the last 2-3 seasons.
Of course the results have been disappointing but in terms of performances, I'd take this season over the dross that was served up last year.
The results will come. We will not go down!
Some people have very short memories...
would certainly explain divorce rates....
Agree about ELK but hopefully with Sorondo and Fortune fit to play along side Diawara with Gibbs still to come back we may shortly have seen the last of him.
I'm not talking about where we finish, I'm talking about performances, which IMO have been far better that the hoof and hope tactics played last season.
My memory isn't so short that I've forgotten how bad the football was last season when the wheels fell off after the spurs game.
Did anyone else think that Watford probably headed it more than they kicked it ?
Newcastle away it's gonna happen. Keep the faith.
man city 5/1
west ham 9/2
wigan 4/1
charlton 5/4
sheff utd 2/5
watford 1/3
on the manager front to go it's:
dowie 11/2
roeder 5/1
pearce 4/1
pardew 5/4
Personally, I think we currently have one of our weakest ever Premiership squads. Our only creative midfielder is Reid, playing out of position, while we only have one striker in the squad worthy of the name. We have a good, young keeper, a decent selection of wide players and a plethora of defenders, but in the two areas most important for actually creating and scoring a goal we are desperately weak.
Agreed.
Watford and Sheffield United are worse than us probably but can you name another? For that reason I think we'll be like Birmingham were last season.
It's a harsh thing to say but if you can't beat Watford at home then you are going to struggle.
I'll take 17th now and put the reserves out in the cup competitions. The Prem is where we need to be.
Lets see how fast Reading drop when a couple of injuries kick in.
Wigan only managed a draw at home against Watford.
There's at least 3 teams that are as bad if not worse than us at the moment and that's without seeing who they've played. Not to mention those that could get sucked into it through bad form or a mid season injury crisis!
As Len said, you do have to worry if you cant beat Watford at home. I honestly think they will have a worse points tally than Sunderland last season.
The question was could we name another team that is worse than us and at the moment I'd say that West Ham, Newcastle and Man City are all as bad, if not worse than us.
I don't think that our season is really going to hinge on whether or not we beat Watford at home.
But it helps to beat those around you in the table, especially when you are struggling.
That is our first game against any of the promoted sides and traditionally we've always picked points up against the promoted sides, I view it as two dropped rather than one gained but it's early days yet