The Relegation Battle 2023

[Reluctant Striker]

It feels odd, to me, to entirely rule out Villa. But I do think it's too far now to get properly sucked back in.

Southampton & Bournemouth would be 2 favourites right now for me, because I can't see too many match winners in big matches. Aside from James Ward-Prowse perhaps, but it's really bad if you're reliant on a midfielder to be winning the matches.

Everton, IMO, have a strong spine of the team. Pickford, Coady, Onana & DCL. Not so sure about some of the rest of them. But they need DCL to stay fit & start knocking them in again.

I sense Leeds need similar with Bamford.

Leicester have a few match winners. Last time I looked at their squad, similar for West Ham.

Wolves & Forest the least predictable of any side. The 3rd side could be one of them. But they could just as easily be the 1 that make sure it has to be at least 1 from Leeds, Leicester, Everton & West Ham.

 

[Dan+]

17 hours ago, Reluctant Striker said:

It feels odd, to me, to entirely rule out Villa. But I do think it's too far now to get properly sucked back in.

Southampton & Bournemouth would be 2 favourites right now for me, because I can't see too many match winners in big matches. Aside from James Ward-Prowse perhaps, but it's really bad if you're reliant on a midfielder to be winning the matches.

Everton, IMO, have a strong spine of the team. Pickford, Coady, Onana & DCL. Not so sure about some of the rest of them. But they need DCL to stay fit & start knocking them in again.

I sense Leeds need similar with Bamford.

Leicester have a few match winners. Last time I looked at their squad, similar for West Ham.

Wolves & Forest the least predictable of any side. The 3rd side could be one of them. But they could just as easily be the 1 that make sure it has to be at least 1 from Leeds, Leicester, Everton & West Ham.

Villa and Palace are the two borderline being in the discussion but I think you'll both be OK. Villa will be. Palace I'm unimpressed by but think there's just too many sides.

[The Palace Fan]

Forest to stay up with a score draw away to Palace on the last game of the season.

[Danny]

I post the thread last year "too early" and @Stan can't let go, but when @Lucas does it we're all good. If I had a Union I'd be taking this up with them

[Danny]

For me, staying up 

Southampton stay up, Brentford affect will keep them up.

West Ham I'm hesitant to say are too good, as I remember clearly in previous life the likes of Di Canio, Kanoute, Defoe, Cole, Carrick, Lampard, Johnson, Ferdinand etc getting sent down. But I think if they get rid of Moyes then they should stay up, the squad is good and a new manager bounce will do them some good. Someone progressive.

Wolves will finish midtable comfortably imo.

Leeds United I think Leeds will come close to the drop but I think having seen the game against Villa they just have too much quality, with Bamford back too I think they'll get more points this half of the season.

Nottingham Forest Had them as going down at the beginning of the season, but I didn't take into account the cauldron that is the City Ground, combined with them sitting deep and compact and using pace and power on the break I think they'll pick up enough points at home to stay up.

Crystal Palace I don't think they're in this tbh, will be fine, dull but fine

 

going down

Everton feel like they are dead and buried, at least they had Richarlison last season and the relegation battle was a bit of a novelty to the fans so they could get fired up for wins. Now that doesn't seem to be the case.

Bournemouth to go down, I had them as staying up beginning of the season but I don't think they have enough in them to keep up that run of wins they had and also cracks are starting to form in their management. O'Neills post match interview against us was interesting to watch. Plus they looked so tactically inept against Chelsea and United. But who knows what happens if they bring in Danjuma.

Leicester City to go down. This is my least confident prediction, I think predicting 2 sides feels easy but that third is hard. Their form is terrible, they haven't built on the good run of results before the break and they seem to be making the same mistakes over and over. Rodgers doesn't look like leaving either. The reason I'm not confident is because of Maddison.

 

 

 

[Lucas]

19 minutes ago, Danny said:

I post the thread last year "too early" and @Stan can't let go, but when @Lucas does it we're all good. If I had a Union I'd be taking this up with them

Member of the Year privaliges, sorry.

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Danny said:

I post the thread last year "too early" and @Stan can't let go, but when @Lucas does it we're all good. If I had a Union I'd be taking this up with them

Huh? This was split from the other topic and it want by me

 

[Reluctant Striker]

I have read gossip stories of at least 3 of the lead candidates being interested in Danny Ings. He isn't the main man at Villa. Looks doubtful he ever will be. Either him or Watkins always seem out of place, or a bottom half luxury on the bench. It is hoped Watkins will be ok for the next match. Jhon Duran (obviously hoping he scores twice in 1 match) is supposedly cutting short his involvement in a Columbia youth tournament. Expected to be in & around the Villa 1st team squad fairly instantly.

So any club who think they could let Danny Ings be the main striker.. he could just score enough to keep that someone up.

I actually do like having him in the Villa squad. I think I'd rate him moving around 50-50. Recently built a Midlands home. Supposedly happy personal life. Wanted to move up out of bottom half. But it would seem to make plenty of sense if someone made him & Villa an offer too good to refuse.

[Stan]

This is what lunch breaks are for, right?

 

Next 5 fixtures for the above teams, takes us up to end of Feb. Other teams (Palace, Villa?) may drop in by then...

Home     -	BOLD
Away      -	Italics
Also in bottom 8	underlined

 

This coming week, and weeks 24 & 25 are vital as 4 of the current 8 play each other in these rounds.

Leicester don't play any of the bottom 8, but do face 4 of the current top 7.

Wolves may have a rough couple of weeks.

Aston Villa & Man City play 3 of the sides.

Forest & Leeds face the most sides also in the bottom 8 in this run of fixtures.

[Danny]

Everton and Leicester look like they're gunna get smashed, tough set of fixtures. Plus side is you can get those out the way with and just be left with the easier matches

[Stan]

29 minutes ago, Danny said:

Everton and Leicester look like they're gunna get smashed, tough set of fixtures. Plus side is you can get those out the way with and just be left with the easier matches

Thing is, 'easier' matches become the games against teams around you. And you're down near the bottom of the table for a reason. So I don't think they are easier - probably all boils down to who wants it more on the day. For example, we play Palace, Bournemouth, Wolves, Leeds & Everton all in April (with Man City in there too). Do I see those as 'easy' fixtures? Not at all!

If anything, sometimes the pressure is off in those fixtures against the bigger sides. 

[Lucas]

Considering we have Man City, Newcastle and Spurs amongst our last 4 fixtures, we need to be as far ahead as we can because I do not want to be relying on getting a win from any of those.

There is a very high chance we will play Man Utd back to back too. The original postponed game is provisionally lined up for Tuesday Feb 7th/Wednesday 8th, assuming the FA Cup doesn't interfear so that would fit inbetween Forest away and Man U home.

[Bandito Burrito]

4 hours ago, Stan said:

This is what lunch breaks are for, right?

 

Next 5 fixtures for the above teams, takes us up to end of Feb. Other teams (Palace, Villa?) may drop in by then...

Home     -	BOLD
Away      -	Italics
Also in bottom 8	underlined

 

This coming week, and weeks 24 & 25 are vital as 4 of the current 8 play each other in these rounds.

Leicester don't play any of the bottom 8, but do face 4 of the current top 7.

Wolves may have a rough couple of weeks.

Aston Villa & Man City play 3 of the sides.

Forest & Leeds face the most sides also in the bottom 8 in this run of fixtures.

southampton are playing well, i reckon they wont be relegated

[The Palace Fan]

3 hours ago, Lucas said:

Considering we have Man City, Newcastle and Spurs amongst our last 4 fixtures, we need to be as far ahead as we can because I do not want to be relying on getting a win from any of those.

There is a very high chance we will play Man Utd back to back too. The original postponed game is provisionally lined up for Tuesday Feb 7th/Wednesday 8th, assuming the FA Cup doesn't interfear so that would fit inbetween Forest away and Man U home.

Given the size of the policing operation for both fixtures I cannot see that happening. The reason we're playing them this evening and not yourselves is because it was too short notice for a game of that magnitude. Them two teams playing each other twice in the same week would be horrendous.

[N U F C]

This is probably going to be the tightest relegation battle for a long while.

I think Leeds are in trouble, not been mentioned a great deal in this thread but I'm not sure Marsch has what it takes to drag them away from the bottom.

Also think West Ham and Wolves will stay up.

[OrangeKhrush]

forest are getting Chris Wood so they are safe

[Lucas]

On 18/01/2023 at 19:02, The Palace Fan said:

Given the size of the policing operation for both fixtures I cannot see that happening. The reason we're playing them this evening and not yourselves is because it was too short notice for a game of that magnitude. Them two teams playing each other twice in the same week would be horrendous.

Well, as I said...

 

 

[Dan+]

Not a bad thing for Leeds. It's rare that a side meets twice in a row and wins both games.

[The Palace Fan]

58 minutes ago, Lucas said:

Well, as I said...

 

 

Greater Manchester Police in the mud.

[Stan]

On 20/01/2023 at 17:04, Lucas said:

Well, as I said...

 

 

 

On 20/01/2023 at 17:40, Dan said:

Not a bad thing for Leeds. It's rare that a side meets twice in a row and wins both games.

 

On 20/01/2023 at 18:03, The Palace Fan said:

Greater Manchester Police in the mud.

As unlikely as it is, if Man Utd or Leeds need a replay in the FA Cup, the re-arranged game for 8th Feb may still not happen...

https://www.premierleague.com/news/3035302

[Lucas]

We are fucked. Absolutely, well and truly fucked. Can't be losing to Forest. They are such a limited team. Lost or drawn so many winnable games now I just want to hammer 6 inch nails into my ears everytime I hear results haven't reflected performances.

We have been unlucky for sure but we are where we are because we have a coach whose extremely limited in what he does. We have great widemen and yet we play so narrow is just one classic example.

I'm disillusioned with it all. There is no connect there. It's got nasty amongst the fans and the club's shat on all the progress they made the last 4 years.

A reminder that the board sacked Bielsa around this time last year because they were shit scared of relegation. Bielsa had 3 years credit in the bank, built everything for them and carried on with an injury ravaged squad regardless, using kids as we ignored to back him. When he went, we were 2pts ahead of 18th.

Marsch has nothing in the bank, a far stronger squad with few injuries and one year on having spent significantly, we are in a worse position with absolutely no identity.

I will absolutely die on the hill that Bielsa would have found a way to keep us up and I can guarantee with the investment in the team we've had since, he'd have got far more out these players than Marsch.

Anyway, that's the past now. This is the present. The aptly named 'Yank Lampard' with 2 wins in our last 17, is taking us to the Championship unless we pull the plug on this joker and roll the dice.

[RandoEFC+]

9 hours ago, Lucas said:

'Yank Lampard'

Poor Frank .

Obviously feeling a lot more bullish from our perspective after this weekend. I think Southampton and Bournemouth are absolutely hopeless and will be gone a couple of weeks before the season ends. I was hoping that Forest would be the third team to have a really poor run and sink quite a bit. I still don't rate them but they seem to have had just enough of the shit they've thrown at the wall in the transfer market stick for them and have caught a few teams at just the right time in my opinion which has seen them rack up a decent points tally.

I think the third spot will go down to the last day again. Wolves I think will dip again despite their recent results because they're so poor at scoring goals. Everton have a lot to prove. Forest may well still be in the mix. Leeds I think will sack Marsch and benefit from a new manager bounce before the season's out but still be very much in the mix. I'd be surprised if West Ham actually dropped with the players they have and a manager who knows how to grind out enough points but they can't be ruled out.

Leicester will be fine and while Aston Villa are a bit average they've got points in the bank. Some people have touted Palace to fall back. I can see them maybe finishing 15thish behind whichever team or two I've mentioned of the relegation candidates manage to drag themselves out the best but I think seeing them slip to anything close to 18th place would be a major shock.

[The Palace Fan]

I think this could be the closest relegation battle in a long time. Every team has strengthened in January now that Everton have found a very experienced manager.

I don't think we're out of it. We have Brighton, Brentford and Liverpool coming up and then the likes of Arsenal, Man City and Spurs the following month. All whilst being six points above the relegation zone.

I think our squad has enough individual quality to stay up but this season needs to be a wake up call to the board that one very good transfer window every five years isn't a sustainable business model.

[Lucas]

1 hour ago, RandoEFC said:

I think Southampton and Bournemouth are absolutely hopeless and will be gone a couple of weeks before the season ends.

Bournemouth will go for sure.

Saints for me is all about how long they keep Nathan Jones, the longer he stays, I think they do drop.

Unlike yourselves with Dyche, with them it feels like they always made the wrong choice and particularly after his comments at the weekend, it feels like only a matter of time before he goes to me.

The third will almost certainly be us unless we change manager and can find a bit of a bounce. I think on paper, we have arguably the better attacking options than most around us, but scoring is a real issue right now, lost Rodrigo at a bad time really, and it's not in our nature to shithouse wins and keep clean sheets. We are incapable.

Forest just annoy me. They are such a limited side. They rarely troubled us yesterday. But they have a great keeper now and defensively they have tightened up, and that seems to be what drags you out these situations normally.

[Devil]

Wonder what odds on Manchester City were at the start of the day.