People keep saying we'll be okay once players return from injury but no sign of this happening.
2 wins since beginning of October - 16 games. Can't see much room for optimism.
Always room for optimism. It'll get you a lot further than fearing the worst.
Last February with our crap run of results and no strikers, did you ever think we'd win promotion in May?
I still feel positive ... I don’t expect relegation and expect us to start moving up the table in a few weeks.
Trouble is there are gaps opening up every few places now. Couple weeks ago you could win a couple games and jump 5 places... just not the case any more.
People keep saying we'll be okay once players return from injury but no sign of this happening.
2 wins since beginning of October - 16 games. Can't see much room for optimism.
Always room for optimism. It'll get you a lot further than fearing the worst.
Last February with our crap run of results and no strikers, did you ever think we'd win promotion in May?
Optimism has to be based on something - if players return from injury or we sign some new players then I'll have grounds to be optimistic.
We've had a terrible run of injuries and are fielding players who are out of their depth or not fully fit. I'm being pretty realistic as far as I can see.
I hope things do change but relegation is a strong possibility. The Championship is far harder than League 1.
People keep saying we'll be okay once players return from injury but no sign of this happening.
2 wins since beginning of October - 16 games. Can't see much room for optimism.
Always room for optimism. It'll get you a lot further than fearing the worst.
Last February with our crap run of results and no strikers, did you ever think we'd win promotion in May?
I still feel positive ... I don’t expect relegation and expect us to start moving up the table in a few weeks.
Trouble is there are gaps opening up every few places now. Couple weeks ago you could win a couple games and jump 5 places... just not the case any more.
There is further up the league as Millwall proved today. The problem is that 1 win in 12 games puts a serious dent in any campaign. We would need a run of 2 or 3 wins & a couple of draws just to put us in the mid table pack.
What we need to worry about is not this month where picking up points look nigh on impossible but February, where we play 4 of the bottom 6 or 7 teams.......mostly at home. Lose those 6-pointers & we really are fucked
People keep saying we'll be okay once players return from injury but no sign of this happening.
2 wins since beginning of October - 16 games. Can't see much room for optimism.
Always room for optimism. It'll get you a lot further than fearing the worst.
Last February with our crap run of results and no strikers, did you ever think we'd win promotion in May?
I still feel positive ... I don’t expect relegation and expect us to start moving up the table in a few weeks.
Trouble is there are gaps opening up every few places now. Couple weeks ago you could win a couple games and jump 5 places... just not the case any more.
There is further up the league as Millwall proved today. The problem is that 1 win in 12 games puts a serious dent in any campaign. We would need a run of 2 or 3 wins & a couple of draws just to put us in the mid table pack.
What we need to worry about is not this month where picking up points look nigh on impossible but February, where we play 4 of the bottom 6 or 7 teams.......mostly at home. Lose those 6-pointers & we really are fucked
6 pointers are not our forte unfortunately! I think Lutons last win was against us and then the loss to Derby. Feb is a huge month though I agree but unfortunately any 'fit' players returning will be run into the ground again unless we get a handful back at once, along side signings that can walk strait into the 1st team.
People keep saying we'll be okay once players return from injury but no sign of this happening.
2 wins since beginning of October - 16 games. Can't see much room for optimism.
Always room for optimism. It'll get you a lot further than fearing the worst.
Last February with our crap run of results and no strikers, did you ever think we'd win promotion in May?
I still feel positive ... I don’t expect relegation and expect us to start moving up the table in a few weeks.
Trouble is there are gaps opening up every few places now. Couple weeks ago you could win a couple games and jump 5 places... just not the case any more.
There is further up the league as Millwall proved today. The problem is that 1 win in 12 games puts a serious dent in any campaign. We would need a run of 2 or 3 wins & a couple of draws just to put us in the mid table pack. What we need to worry about is not this month where picking up points look nigh on impossible but February, where we play 4 of the bottom 6 or 7 teams.......mostly at home. Lose those 6-pointers & we really are fucked
This. And the effect on morale of being thumped every game during January on too of our current bad run cannot be underestimated.
People keep saying we'll be okay once players return from injury but no sign of this happening.
2 wins since beginning of October - 16 games. Can't see much room for optimism.
Always room for optimism. It'll get you a lot further than fearing the worst.
Last February with our crap run of results and no strikers, did you ever think we'd win promotion in May?
I still feel positive ... I don’t expect relegation and expect us to start moving up the table in a few weeks.
Trouble is there are gaps opening up every few places now. Couple weeks ago you could win a couple games and jump 5 places... just not the case any more.
There is further up the league as Millwall proved today. The problem is that 1 win in 12 games puts a serious dent in any campaign. We would need a run of 2 or 3 wins & a couple of draws just to put us in the mid table pack. What we need to worry about is not this month where picking up points look nigh on impossible but February, where we play 4 of the bottom 6 or 7 teams.......mostly at home. Lose those 6-pointers & we really are fucked
This. And the effect on morale of being thumped every game during January on too of our current bad run cannot be underestimated.
If we don't get some new players or midfielders returning from injury then January could be a nightmare. We lack any creative spark at present.
6 pointers unfortunately are not our forte... If anyone on here can see us doing a job on our fellow relegation candidates then we have been watching a different football club for many years! We are more likely to smash and grab a few points off of any promotion candidates we encounter, when the chips are down, there are only a few exceptions over the years, where we have not bottled it.
People keep saying we'll be okay once players return from injury but no sign of this happening.
2 wins since beginning of October - 16 games. Can't see much room for optimism.
Always room for optimism. It'll get you a lot further than fearing the worst.
Last February with our crap run of results and no strikers, did you ever think we'd win promotion in May?
I still feel positive ... I don’t expect relegation and expect us to start moving up the table in a few weeks.
Trouble is there are gaps opening up every few places now. Couple weeks ago you could win a couple games and jump 5 places... just not the case any more.
There is further up the league as Millwall proved today. The problem is that 1 win in 12 games puts a serious dent in any campaign. We would need a run of 2 or 3 wins & a couple of draws just to put us in the mid table pack.
What we need to worry about is not this month where picking up points look nigh on impossible but February, where we play 4 of the bottom 6 or 7 teams.......mostly at home. Lose those 6-pointers & we really are fucked
Agreed.
The important games to win are against the teams around you.
The writing is on the wall , something dramatic has to happen (as in decent new signings and keeping Lyle Taylor) to kickstart our season again , sitting here crossing our fingers for players to get fit and saying be optimistic isn’t working !!
People keep saying we'll be okay once players return from injury but no sign of this happening.
2 wins since beginning of October - 16 games. Can't see much room for optimism.
Always room for optimism. It'll get you a lot further than fearing the worst.
Last February with our crap run of results and no strikers, did you ever think we'd win promotion in May?
I still feel positive ... I don’t expect relegation and expect us to start moving up the table in a few weeks.
Trouble is there are gaps opening up every few places now. Couple weeks ago you could win a couple games and jump 5 places... just not the case any more.
There is further up the league as Millwall proved today. The problem is that 1 win in 12 games puts a serious dent in any campaign. We would need a run of 2 or 3 wins & a couple of draws just to put us in the mid table pack.
What we need to worry about is not this month where picking up points look nigh on impossible but February, where we play 4 of the bottom 6 or 7 teams.......mostly at home. Lose those 6-pointers & we really are fucked
Agreed.
The important games to win are against the teams around you.
Its funny because although I said this in the above post & generally agree with the sentiment, my mind always goes back to the season we got relegated from the Premier League. We played West Ham at home in February and smashed them 4-0......but they stayed up by beating Man U in the last game of the season relegating Sheff U in the process. Ok they had Tevez & should have been docked points......but the fact we beat them in a 6 pointer but they went on to beat Man U shows that it is more down to picking up points and not who against. Defeats my own argument I know. 😁
People keep saying we'll be okay once players return from injury but no sign of this happening.
2 wins since beginning of October - 16 games. Can't see much room for optimism.
Always room for optimism. It'll get you a lot further than fearing the worst.
Last February with our crap run of results and no strikers, did you ever think we'd win promotion in May?
I still feel positive ... I don’t expect relegation and expect us to start moving up the table in a few weeks.
Trouble is there are gaps opening up every few places now. Couple weeks ago you could win a couple games and jump 5 places... just not the case any more.
There is further up the league as Millwall proved today. The problem is that 1 win in 12 games puts a serious dent in any campaign. We would need a run of 2 or 3 wins & a couple of draws just to put us in the mid table pack.
What we need to worry about is not this month where picking up points look nigh on impossible but February, where we play 4 of the bottom 6 or 7 teams.......mostly at home. Lose those 6-pointers & we really are fucked
Agreed.
The important games to win are against the teams around you.
Its funny because although I said this in the above post & generally agree with the sentiment, my mind always goes back to the season we got relegated from the Premier League. We played West Ham at home in February and smashed them 4-0......but they stayed up by beating Man U in the last game of the season relegating Sheff U in the process. Ok they had Tevez & should have been docked points......but the fact we beat them in a 6 pointer but they went on to beat Man U shows that it is more down to picking up points and not who against. Defeats my own argument I know. 😁
LThen if we had lost to West Ham the final game could have been academic.
I'm more than happy we have Wigan in our penultimate game, although so keen on the last one!
In the freefall we are in, teams rarely arrest the slide dramatically.
It's going to be a long 5 months, but a successful season if we stay up.
Often, teams are in freefall because the manager has lost the dressing room. That's not the case at Charlton.
The team spirit is still high, the team is competing, it's not getting battered. All that's really lacking is so many key players missing through injury - and their replacements also injured. And their replacements, raw inexperienced kids - 6 of them played yesterday, including 5 at the same time.
No other club this season has had to deal with an injury situation like it. And if they did, they would be in freefall also.
It might well be a long 5 months, but first let's see what January brings?
You could argue that our luck changed last night a bit
For weeks we've been letting in defensive errors with Swansea being gifted three of them in the 1st Half
Ball didnt go in though - Complete difference to what we've seen since Sheffield Wednesday
Going down to endless narrow defeats means our GD isn't bad but not helping our points total. It would have been much better to be tonked in a couple of these narrow defeats BUT also have a game where we somehow fluke a win
In a way our goals aren't being well "distributed" when compared to some of the other struggling teams. It's frustrating that other than Brizzle, when we score 2 goals we also let in 2, but then when we let in just 1, we don't score. That consolation penalty at Derby in a game where we deserved nothing would have given us a point last night for example or even better taken 2 points from Huddersfield or Boro in those 6 pointer matches.
I feel very positive having LB as manager but there's obviously a limit to what he can do with the resources at his disposal. The injury crisis this season is pretty amazing and I don't imagine anyone saw it coming.
Here are the last teams to get relegated in each of the last five seasons:
Rotherham 2019
40
-31
Barnsley 2018
41
-24
Blackburn 2017
51
-12
Charlton 2016
40
-40
Millwall 2015
41
-34
With the exception of 2017 which looks to have been a pretty freak season, 42 points would have been enough to stay up each time. If we take that as a target, that means we need 14 points to stay up. If we can get just four points a month for the next four months we can do that with two to spare. We did it in December, we can do it in the other months!
Now, I can almost hear people shouting, but we didn't do it in November and we've not got off to a good start in January, but here are some things to be positive about:
We've got brand new owners who have just shelled out a fortune on our club. I don't believe they've done that just to watch us get relegated. I've got faith that they'll invest in the squad. We might not have a squad full of Neymars or De Bruynes that some people were fancifully saying last month, but I'm sure that Bows will have a meaningful war chest to help keep the ship afloat.
Bows is a great manager, he'll get the best out of the players.
The youngsters have shown terrific spirit, with a couple of more experienced players in there it'll look really positive.
The injuries won't last forever. With Williams and Cullen back in the side we'll be looking good again.
If you pick up a couple of wins at this end of the table you can go up a few places.
It's not going to be a comfortable ride and we can't rule out that the worst could happen, but however bad things look at the moment, tell me they don't look worse from a Luton, Barnsley, Wigan perspective.
Here are the last teams to get relegated in each of the last five seasons:
Rotherham 2019
40
-31
Barnsley 2018
41
-24
Blackburn 2017
51
-12
Charlton 2016
40
-40
Millwall 2015
41
-34
With the exception of 2017 which looks to have been a pretty freak season, 42 points would have been enough to stay up each time. If we take that as a target, that means we need 14 points to stay up. If we can get just four points a month for the next four months we can do that with two to spare. We did it in December, we can do it in the other months!
Now, I can almost hear people shouting, but we didn't do it in November and we've not got off to a good start in January, but here are some things to be positive about:
We've got brand new owners who have just shelled out a fortune on our club. I don't believe they've done that just to watch us get relegated. I've got faith that they'll invest in the squad. We might not have a squad full of Neymars or De Bruynes that some people were fancifully saying last month, but I'm sure that Bows will have a meaningful war chest to help keep the ship afloat.
Bows is a great manager, he'll get the best out of the players.
The youngsters have shown terrific spirit, with a couple of more experienced players in there it'll look really positive.
The injuries won't last forever. With Williams and Cullen back in the side we'll be looking good again.
If you pick up a couple of wins at this end of the table you can go up a few places.
It's not going to be a comfortable ride and we can't rule out that the worst could happen, but however bad things look at the moment, tell me they don't look worse from a Luton, Barnsley, Wigan perspective.
All of whom have to visit The Valley.
Win those 3 and we take a big step in the right direction.
It's not going to be a comfortable ride and we can't rule out that the worst could happen, but however bad things look at the moment, tell me they don't look worse from a Luton, Barnsley, Wigan perspective.
I would say that Luton are favourites to go down. The Director notes in the programme when we played them made it very clear that they wouldn't be splashing the cash to stay up, and that their new stadium and longer term projects are their priority
Barnsley and Wigan on the other hand are playing much better than us at the moment, I certainly think that both have a chance of survival, depending on injuries and the January window.
Suddenly. Jeez people slowly waking up and smelling coffee 2 months too late.
Yes suddenly because they've only just started to close that gap, therefore to stay 7 points away from them we need to get some points on the board again. Admittedly this is simply because I quite liked the 7 point gap.
So long as we stay at least 1 point ahead of 3 other sides, come the end of the season, despite how stressful it may feel... I really couldn't care less as we'll have survived.
Comments
It'll get you a lot further than fearing the worst.
Last February with our crap run of results and no strikers, did you ever think we'd win promotion in May?
Well said.
In Bows we trust.
We've had a terrible run of injuries and are fielding players who are out of their depth or not fully fit. I'm being pretty realistic as far as I can see.
I hope things do change but relegation is a strong possibility. The Championship is far harder than League 1.
What we need to worry about is not this month where picking up points look nigh on impossible but February, where we play 4 of the bottom 6 or 7 teams.......mostly at home. Lose those 6-pointers & we really are fucked
The important games to win are against the teams around you.
It's going to be a long 5 months, but a successful season if we stay up.
I'm more than happy we have Wigan in our penultimate game, although so keen on the last one!
Most of our key players are injured and if anything our injury list just seems to get worse.
When will our luck change?
For weeks we've been letting in defensive errors with Swansea being gifted three of them in the 1st Half
Ball didnt go in though - Complete difference to what we've seen since Sheffield Wednesday
That's not the case at Charlton.
The team spirit is still high, the team is competing, it's not getting battered.
All that's really lacking is so many key players missing through injury - and their replacements also injured. And their replacements, raw inexperienced kids - 6 of them played yesterday, including 5 at the same time.
No other club this season has had to deal with an injury situation like it.
And if they did, they would be in freefall also.
It might well be a long 5 months, but first let's see what January brings?
In a way our goals aren't being well "distributed" when compared to some of the other struggling teams. It's frustrating that other than Brizzle, when we score 2 goals we also let in 2, but then when we let in just 1, we don't score. That consolation penalty at Derby in a game where we deserved nothing would have given us a point last night for example or even better taken 2 points from Huddersfield or Boro in those 6 pointer matches.
We've got to stay positive, it gives you belief that you can do it.
And we will. Ask Lee Bowyer!
Our luck has to change.
With the exception of 2017 which looks to have been a pretty freak season, 42 points would have been enough to stay up each time. If we take that as a target, that means we need 14 points to stay up. If we can get just four points a month for the next four months we can do that with two to spare. We did it in December, we can do it in the other months!
Now, I can almost hear people shouting, but we didn't do it in November and we've not got off to a good start in January, but here are some things to be positive about:
- We've got brand new owners who have just shelled out a fortune on our club. I don't believe they've done that just to watch us get relegated. I've got faith that they'll invest in the squad. We might not have a squad full of Neymars or De Bruynes that some people were fancifully saying last month, but I'm sure that Bows will have a meaningful war chest to help keep the ship afloat.
- Bows is a great manager, he'll get the best out of the players.
- The youngsters have shown terrific spirit, with a couple of more experienced players in there it'll look really positive.
- The injuries won't last forever. With Williams and Cullen back in the side we'll be looking good again.
- If you pick up a couple of wins at this end of the table you can go up a few places.
It's not going to be a comfortable ride and we can't rule out that the worst could happen, but however bad things look at the moment, tell me they don't look worse from a Luton, Barnsley, Wigan perspective.Win those 3 and we take a big step in the right direction.
Barnsley and Wigan on the other hand are playing much better than us at the moment, I certainly think that both have a chance of survival, depending on injuries and the January window.
So long as we stay at least 1 point ahead of 3 other sides, come the end of the season, despite how stressful it may feel... I really couldn't care less as we'll have survived.