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Relegation

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Charles Hawtrey said:
I think Newcastle and Norwich will really struggle to stay up. The key question is who is the third club. Right now it looks most likely Watford based on form. Yes the Watford that put 5 past us at Goodison. The next worst form team is us! Dyche will keep Burnley up even if by suspending them from his concrete vocal chords. Leeds, Southampton, like us, too good to go down.
It is slim pickings.....
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I’ve seen a lot of teams relegated over the years that people thought were too good to go down Charles.
 
The Missing Lineker said:
When this thread started, no way did I think it would get to 74 pages and still be going mid December. Could we have any more hallmarks of a club on the verge of implosion? Just changing the manager ain’t gonna shake off this growing feeling of dread anymore
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I think not this season, but wider picture? Relegation trajectory no question. Just looking at the framework of the squad, Benitez getting his feet under the table.

I mean what's more likely, Digne, DCL and Richy get inspired by Benitez, we buy 3 or 4 legit good players and he gets us singing?
Or those three players leave, we buy mediocrity, players lose heart because we're a genuinely bottom 3 side?

I don't think anyone believes Rafael is going to clean house and then march us onwards to glory - but this idea that we'll be OK-ish and just tread water for a couple of seasons while ffp blows over, stadium gets built etc is worrying. There is no treading water in elite sport or elite anything - you're either trying to move up or you're going backwards, and playing relegation level football is habit-forming if you do it often enough.
 
We’re in trouble for sure. Haven’t seen such a dispirited, leaderless bunch. No spirit there at all, they look broken. That’s on the manager.

Then we’ve got the fact that the squad is pretty crap and when you add injuries to Mina, DCL, Coleman, Richie (allegedly), Townsend and the
 

The set pieces are what are truly killing us. Last season after about mid-October right through until the end of the season we were just as passive in our intensity and just as clueless on the ball as we are now but keeping set pieces out of our net and scoring them at the other end is what kept us competitive.

The reason the Watford collapse was allowed to happen was because we let them back into it through set pieces, we let Wolves open the scoring with a corner, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa put the game beyond us with corners, West Ham snatched a win in a nothing 0-0 game with a corner and I'm sure I'm missing some other examples too.

It is worrying to think how self obsessed Benitez has to be to insist on his failing methods for set pieces when a superior way literally already exists in the dressing room from last season.

Set pieces are what could send us down. Teams either snatch wins off us in games that are heading for a draw or put us to far out of reach when a comeback may be on the cards. Add to that the fact that we can't score them ourselves and the goal swing that we are suffering from compared to last season is enormous.
 
Black Belt Jones said:
I think not this season, but wider picture? Relegation trajectory no question. Just looking at the framework of the squad, Benitez getting his feet under the table.

I mean what's more likely, Digne, DCL and Richy get inspired by Benitez, we buy 3 or 4 legit good players and he gets us singing?
Or those three players leave, we buy mediocrity, players lose heart because we're a genuinely bottom 3 side?

I don't think anyone believes Rafael is going to clean house and then march us onwards to glory - but this idea that we'll be OK-ish and just tread water for a couple of seasons while ffp blows over, stadium gets built etc is worrying. There is no treading water in elite sport or elite anything - you're either trying to move up or you're going backwards, and playing relegation level football is habit-forming if you do it often enough.
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but we can't spend any money, and beyond the first team the squad is very poor. so if you hit injuries to key players like we have, your'e going to struggle.
 
Probably jumping the gun...
However it does feel like things are all horribly coming together to see us go down...
A manager no one cares for...
A fan base truly not bothered and distant...
Every half Decent player injured or woefully out of form...
No money to try and buy a difference maker...
 
R.Reddington said:
Luckily Norwich , Newcastle and Watford/Leeds/Southampton/Burnley look absolutely awful and nailed on to go down.

If the league was a bit better, we’d be going down this season.
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I wouldn’t be so sure. We are right in with them.

If we lose against Newcastle, what does that say about us?
 

Kev50 said:
but we can't spend any money, and beyond the first team the squad is very poor. so if you hit injuries to key players like we have, your'e going to struggle.
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Think this is the worst situation for a Benitez tho because he is too inflexible, and this is a very bad thing when you're struggling and cash-strapped. You need to be much more agile and have some give and take with players - lose some face now and again if it means three points.

Moyes for all his dour exterior was not a my-way-or-the-highway manager at all. He cut his cloth accordingly (he even accommodated Royston Drenthe for a few games) because he had to. You feel Benitez would bench Digne for a season if it meant being seen to assert authority.

In his favour the players are playing for him. Playing really badly but they're trying. I hear the argument against getting someone way less seasoned in (e.g Potter) because a bad run of results could get our gang of wasters completely downing tools.
 

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