Relegation

[Donny Ironside]

Hoping these signings improve the side enough for us to start picking up points.

Mid table finish it probably best we can hope for. Although how much Dann and Drinkwater will improve us against the likes of Fulham, is anybodies guess.

[Stranded]

Hoping these signings improve the side enough for us to start picking up points.

Mid table finish it probably best we can hope for. Although how much Dann and Drinkwater will improve us against the likes of Fulham, is anybodies guess.

Our season, won't be defined by games against Fulham - though an arguably poorer side won their 2 season ago (Fulham stronger now though) - but games against those in the bottom half - if we can pick up wins against the weaker sides of the division that will stop us being one of them.

Season is so young that anything can happen - if we can go something like W3 D1 L2 up to the next break then we'll be up in midtable and able to build some momentum - much less than that and we'll likely have to settle in for the relegation battle that follows.

[Donny Ironside]

Hoping these signings improve the side enough for us to start picking up points.

Mid table finish it probably best we can hope for. Although how much Dann and Drinkwater will improve us against the likes of Fulham, is anybodies guess.

Our season, won't be defined by games against Fulham - though an arguably poorer side won their 2 season ago (Fulham stronger now though) - but games against those in the bottom half - if we can pick up wins against the weaker sides of the division that will stop us being one of them.

Season is so young that anything can happen - if we can go something like W3 D1 L2 up to the next break then we'll be up in midtable and able to build some momentum - much less than that and we'll likely have to settle in for the relegation battle that follows.

Next 6 games:

QPR (H)
Posh (H)
Fulham (A)
Boro (H)
Derby (A)
Cardiff (A)

Hopefully Posh and Derby are "winnable" games at least on paper, and Boro we could at least draw with

I think if we get 1 win out of those 6 we are in trouble.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

Set up not to get beat against the fake hoops. A clear defensive plan with an organised back 4 with the midfield going back to the start of last season please. I would bite the hand off for a 0-0. Build and tweak against posh for a win. Back to dogged defending against Fulham.
I think i would even take x3 0-0 against those teams. Not inspiring but if anything it would be worth it for the Fulham fans meltdown if they dont beat us.

Even though we are not expected to get anything from QPR and Fulham, its the belief that is missing. If we continue to look clueless on how to defend on the basics after the break and our acquisitions, we deserve to go down.

[TommyF]

Set up not to get beat against the fake hoops. A clear defensive plan with an organised back 4 with the midfield going back to the start of last season please. I would bite the hand off for a 0-0. Build and tweak against posh for a win. Back to dogged defending against Fulham.
I think i would even take x3 0-0 against those teams. Not inspiring but if anything it would be worth it for the Fulham fans meltdown if they dont beat us.

Even though we are not expected to get anything from QPR and Fulham, its the belief that is missing. If we continue to look clueless on how to defend on the basics after the break and our acquisitions, we deserve to go down.

I think to 'win' a 0-0 against QPR we might need to line up as:

[Yiadom Dann Laurent Halilovic Swift Drinkwater Moore Baba] -- goal line
Rafael
Hoilett
Puscas

(Hoilett ahead of Rafael to receive kick off, take throw-ins to Puscas etc).

Obviously playing the off-side trap might prove challenging

[Snowflake Royal]

Set up not to get beat against the fake hoops. A clear defensive plan with an organised back 4 with the midfield going back to the start of last season please. I would bite the hand off for a 0-0. Build and tweak against posh for a win. Back to dogged defending against Fulham.
I think i would even take x3 0-0 against those teams. Not inspiring but if anything it would be worth it for the Fulham fans meltdown if they dont beat us.

Even though we are not expected to get anything from QPR and Fulham, its the belief that is missing. If we continue to look clueless on how to defend on the basics after the break and our acquisitions, we deserve to go down.

Problem is this team couldn't see out a window, so playing for a draw basically means going behind then chasing and getting picked off.

[Royal_jimmy]

Scoring a few goals but this is the worst defence I've ever seen

[Hound]

Scoring a few goals but this is the worst defence I've ever seen

Agreed tbh. I’ve not seen a defence I’ve had less confidence in possibly ever

[Simmops]

Scoring a few goals but this is the worst defence I've ever seen

Agreed tbh. I’ve not seen a defence I’ve had less confidence in possibly ever

+1

And that is any team I've seen play

[Snowflake Royal]

Scoring a few goals but this is the worst defence I've ever seen

Agreed tbh. I’ve not seen a defence I’ve had less confidence in possibly ever

I think the likes of Bodin, Hunter, Booty and Swales will be pleased to hear this, but your not far wrong.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Maybe, they never saw them Ian?

[Snowflake Royal]

Maybe, they never saw them Ian?

Don't think Hound's much younger than me, but possible.

Enjoying being the long serving old curmudgeon after listening to the likes of you talk about Death, Richardson, Friday and Hicks.

[AthleticoSpizz]

We endure


....and just keep plodding-on


...like those donkeys on the Freeview begging channels....


......”can you spare £2 a month for these poor ‘used an abused’ beasts of burdens”

“Just two pounds a month will keep them in water, bs, and chaff to eat”

etc etc

[AirRaidSiren]

This team is far to good to be in a relegation dog fight..it's about how the manager applies the correct team chosen against each opposition, a plan b if the first choice cant be rectified during a game.

He has thus far, failed. Forget the injuries, it is irrelevant. It is how you cope with that situation at the time, he again...has failed.

There are players clearly who he chooses to play, hoping to better things. It's failed. I/we saw this 12+ games before the end of last season. We stumbled and spluttered along with no real substance. Poor tactics. Poor team selection. Poor subs. He ran out of ideas. We had a team that COULD of won the damn thing. He failed.

Pauno, OUT

[Royal_jimmy]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58604851

Derby administration means only 2 sides we need to finish above.

Peterborough and 1 other. Maybe Blackpool.

[windermereROYAL]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58604851

Derby administration means only 2 sides we need to finish above.

Peterborough and 1 other. Maybe Blackpool.

Hull don`t look much.

[CountryRoyal]

It's failed. I/we saw this 12+ games before the end of last season. We stumbled and spluttered along with no real substance. Poor tactics. Poor team selection. Poor subs. He ran out of ideas. We had a team that COULD of won the damn thing. He failed.

Pauno, OUT

This is my biggest frustration. I appreciate that in the context of our performance over the last few seasons a 7th place finish was really good, but it was painfully obvious for so much of that season that we did well initially in spite of Pauno and not because of him and that we ultimately snatched failure from the jaws of success.

I can’t recall too many game changing moments where Pauno got us the win - I do remember lots of occasions where his actions or inactions were the cause of our downfall.

It was obvious then to some of us and now it’s seemingly obvious to everyone else.

[Snowflake Royal]

I do maintain that you never get the benefits of the lessons of failure if you just sack everyone every time things go badly though.

All our best managers have gone through real poor patches, and they all inherited squads and a club in a better state than we've been for years.

When rolling the dice and regularly changing continually fails, at what point do you do something different and see if someone can learn and grow?

[NathStPaul]

I do maintain that you never get the benefits of the lessons of failure if you just sack everyone every time things go badly though.

All our best managers have gone through real poor patches, and they all inherited squads and a club in a better state than we've been for years.

When rolling the dice and regularly changing continually fails, at what point do you do something different and see if someone can learn and grow?

Did Coppel go through a particularly bad spell (pre Premier League)? Sure he must have I just have absolutely no memory sadly.

[Snowflake Royal]

I do maintain that you never get the benefits of the lessons of failure if you just sack everyone every time things go badly though.

All our best managers have gone through real poor patches, and they all inherited squads and a club in a better state than we've been for years.

When rolling the dice and regularly changing continually fails, at what point do you do something different and see if someone can learn and grow?

Did Coppel go through a particularly bad spell (pre Premier League)? Sure he must have I just have absolutely no memory sadly.

Yes. A couple of poor ones, most spectacularly losing 3 games in a row 0-3 around Xmas. I remember a lot of salt on here after he said he didn't know what was wrong. We won the league the next season iirc.