Jump to content

Can we beat the relegation?


Cisse

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Rammy03 said:

Yes it's a shame Bielik wasn't available back then but I can confidently say we were on a downward spiral and one player, as good as he is, wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference. Cocu decided against picking Kazim Richards and opted for waghorn, so that's on him. Rooney has improved us in every sense of the word.

Cocu was convinced Bielik was a centre back, and wasn't convinced on Wisdom partnering Clarke back there, so it's easy to imagine him playing our marauding midfielder at the back

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 233
  • Created
  • Last Reply
1 hour ago, IslandExile said:

I really do not want to reopen the Cocu debate, please, please no more of that, however, I do believe in pursuing accuracy.

Kazim-Richards was not match fit. He made substitute appearances of a few minutes. When he was finally able to start, he had to be taken off towards the end of the game.

I want to add a final thought and then I am done and no looking back.

There were 3 main problems this team faced. Bielik not ready, CKR getting closer slowly and Rooney being on the pitch.

All 3 have been solved. And I don't believe you can honestly know where we would be now if Cocu had those 3 problems solved. I dread to think what might happen if Bielik is not available.

What I would note is the choice of captain. We had two regular youngsters playing last season and the start of this. Bird and Knight. Cocu opted for Bird, Rooney for Knight.  I think that is a reflection of their own character and style. The situation we find ourselves in on and off pitch now needs that never say die attitude.

Anyway. I feel fairly confident we can do it on the pitch. Off the pitch concerns me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

It’s very simple. We must do better against the sides in the bottom half or we will go down. These games will determine our season. Absolutely they will. 

Let’s be realistic. Under Rooney, we have taken 8 points from 12 against sides currently in the top half. Wonderful as it is, it’s unsustainable form. 

We still have to play Watford, Swansea, Reading, Blackburn, Stoke and Barnsley away and Norwich, Brentford, Bristol City, Boro and Luton at home. To ‘maintain this form’, we would have to get 22 points from a possible 33. How likely is that?

Whereas under Rooney, we have 8 points from 21 against teams currently in the bottom half. Maintain that form and that’s 13 points from 33 and a total of 21 points from a possible 54 v QPR, Forest, Wycombe (x2), Rotherham (x2), Sheff Wed (x2), Coventry (x2), Birmingham (x2), Millwall (x2), Preston (x2), Cardiff and Huddersfield.   Worryingly low, no?

Yes, every game counts and all points are welcome, but it’s clear that we have to find a way to get results against poor teams to balance things out, because beating two top sides in a good spell is very different to beating 6-7.

Look at how our inability to beat top teams last season was damaging to our chances of putting together a late play off charge. Our inability to beat the teams around us could be just as damaging (if not more so) in our fight for survival this time around.

We’ll revisit this in May and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

So a question for you, your not taking our results against the top teams to mean anything going forward, the the losses against the bottom as being relevant ? Another question, if we maintain our current form, do we stay up ?

Even the great Pep said the other week, your previous results are irrelevant in the climate, forget them don't matter. 
 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, BIllyD said:

So a question for you, your not taking our results against the top teams to mean anything going forward, the the losses against the bottom as being relevant ? Another question, if we maintain our current form, do we stay up ?

Even the great Pep said the other week, your previous results are irrelevant in the climate, forget them don't matter. 
 

 

If we have 54 points or more by the end of the season, I think we’ll stay up, yes.

But will we maintain current form and get there? I really do have my doubts.

To be honest, I think we’ll get around 25 points in the remaining games and finish on 47 points and it’ll be a very close call.

We are talking about Derby County in a relegation battle - why is Pep Guardiola relevant? I can’t remember Barcelona, City or Bayern ever being in such peril under him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If we have more points than three other teams, I believe we'll stay up.

54 points gets you relegated if 21 teams have more than that

40 ponts could keep you up if there are three teams with less.

It's not number if points on its own, it's how we do relative to rival teams.

I still think we'll stay up, but it'll be touch n go til the end and we'll scrape survival.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

If we have 54 points or more by the end of the season, I think we’ll stay up, yes.

But will we maintain current form and get there? I really do have my doubts.

To be honest, I think we’ll get around 25 points in the remaining games and finish on 47 points and it’ll be a very close call.

We are talking about Derby County in a relegation battle - why is Pep Guardiola relevant? I can’t remember Barcelona, City or Bayern ever being in such peril under him.

Pep being relevant because like us, he is having to work under conditions that impact the performance of players and teams. It's no coincidence that the PL is so tight, players out at short notice, COVID restrictions etc etc...Therefore as he said, it's like no other season.

14 points between us and Boro, same as what's between them and Norwich, shows how tight this league is. As always there is no stand out teams in this league, confidence and putting a run together is key. We do that and we shoot you the league regardless of who we playing, we don't and we will of course continue to struggle.

For me Jan is the most crucial month, what happens off the field will determine where we finish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If we do get relegated then do expect to get promoted straight back to the Championship.

I would expect some of our illustrious academy players to play. This means that a lot of these youngsters will get bullied week to week. This is why Chorley won. They are grown men playing against kids. They will counter their lack of ability compared to the kids by using physicality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Warwick Ram said:

If we do get relegated then do expect to get promoted straight back to the Championship.

I would expect some of our illustrious academy players to play. This means that a lot of these youngsters will get bullied week to week. This is why Chorley won. They are grown men playing against kids. They will counter their lack of ability compared to the kids by using physicality.

1 hour ago, Warwick Ram said:

I don’t think many of us are under any illusions that it will be walk in the park. There are far too many examples of other “big” clubs that have struggled to come to terms with league 1.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 19/01/2021 at 21:26, LeedsCityRam said:

I see it slightly differently unfortunately.

We've proved we can eke results against the top sides - it looks impressive on paper but the reality is its just 3 points. Bizarrely our record against the top 6 (W3, D2, L2) is better than our record against the entire rest of the division (W2, D5, L10) & that has got to change substantially for us to stay up.

5-2-3 & a hard-working midfield worked a treat tonight against ambitious opponents but more often than not, we'll be pressed to within an inch of our lives (particularly Bielik). I've seen little evidence that Rooney is able to put a team out to combat a high press, to repeatedly threaten teams who don't give us space or change the pattern of games in which we're second best or go behind. Add to that the habit of losing results late on against teams around us (and the advantage they get from these '6 pointers') means I'm still struggling to identify 3 teams worse than us.

 

 

On 19/01/2021 at 21:42, Zag zig said:

Usually like some of your posts so I’m not going to squabble. Yes it worked tonight because of more space, yes we need to play through a press better but I’ll come back to you after the next 6 games with my glass half full now ??

So @LeedsCityRam are you with me now buddy ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Zag zig said:

 

So @LeedsCityRam are you with me now buddy ?

Haha, between your post & my glowing mid term report on Rooney elsewhere, I'm eating a lot of humble pie at the minute!!

You were spot on ? Happy to admit I probably over-reacted after Rotherham & taken as an 18 game sample, I've been pleasantly surprised by how quickly Rooney has picked up the pitch of this job & how well the side have reacted. Its been a superb effort to date & yes, I think we'll beat relegation. Always had a target of 55 points in my head (lowest total never to have been relegated from this level) - 6 wins away now with 15 to play, which I think we will manage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, LeedsCityRam said:

Haha, between your post & my glowing mid term report on Rooney elsewhere, I'm eating a lot of humble pie at the minute!!

You were spot on ? Happy to admit I probably over-reacted after Rotherham & taken as an 18 game sample, I've been pleasantly surprised by how quickly Rooney has picked up the pitch of this job & how well the side have reacted. Its been a superb effort to date & yes, I think we'll beat relegation. Always had a target of 55 points in my head (lowest total never to have been relegated from this level) - 6 wins away now with 15 to play, which I think we will manage.

We now have 6 points out of the 33 points that I said we would get from 18 games so we now need 27 from 15 games if I am to be right. Do I think that we can do it. I most certainly do. If we can deforest on Friday then 24 from 14 would be needed.

We have taken 18 points from the last 24. Amazing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, LeedsCityRam said:

Haha, between your post & my glowing mid term report on Rooney elsewhere, I'm eating a lot of humble pie at the minute!!

You were spot on ? Happy to admit I probably over-reacted after Rotherham & taken as an 18 game sample, I've been pleasantly surprised by how quickly Rooney has picked up the pitch of this job & how well the side have reacted. Its been a superb effort to date & yes, I think we'll beat relegation. Always had a target of 55 points in my head (lowest total never to have been relegated from this level) - 6 wins away now with 15 to play, which I think we will manage.

No worries mate, I just felt this thread was full of unnecessary doom and gloom when the signs were there that Rooney was moulding us into a more efficient unit. Wasn’t calling you out, it was good you responded and I did say I’d come back to you, easy to say but I’d have done so either way.

Tbh I thought Cocu, much as I liked him was taking us down. Rooney much as I disliked the media circus around him and questioned his somewhat “shoe-in” to management; he soon started to disprove my doubts. Organisation of fairly decent players was vital from when he took over and we have kept making incremental steps, from tightening up the defence, to work on set pieces; that’s what I could see, with still a few pieces still missing. I’m pretty sure most of the objective wrist slashers can see it now, this thread was far too negative after one defeat, embarrassingly so with many thinking only a takeover would save us. Don’t get me wrong, I get frustrated in games, yet bigger picture, we still had half a season left and Rooney was slowly raising our standards game by game.

f.w.i.w I also believe we still need quality additions chiefly up front to really challenge over a full season and therefore greater financial backing, but as an early convert, there’s not much I don’t like about Wayne Rooney’s Derby County right now and I’m glad so many are more supportive. Rooney just needs time, the same as he did after Wednesday and Rotherham defeats, not the odd knee jerk when things don’t go to plan.

My glass is nearly full, my positivity levels brimming, if things fall into place, Wayne’s turning us into promotion contenders, most likely next season but my tea leaves are less clear on that ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...