Relegation watch

[DCFC1388]

I think from Luton down any team could be drawn into the relegation scrap.

Imo, us, Millwall Cardiff n Forest have enough to be safe. QPR have a goalscorer in Austin so will probably be ok, Huddersfield probably have enough too. Luton, Birmingham & Coventry are the 3 I think could end up being in trouble

[Rampage]

14 minutes ago, DCFC1388 said:

I think from Luton down any team could be drawn into the relegation scrap.

Imo, us, Millwall Cardiff n Forest have enough to be safe. QPR have a goalscorer in Austin so will probably be ok, Huddersfield probably have enough too. Luton, Birmingham & Coventry are the 3 I think could end up being in trouble

Too close to call but I pretty much agree. Next week has a few relegation derbies. We need to win these next two games.

[Sparkle]

Whilst we have had a lot of hard fought wins lately only against Swansea and Birmingham have we scored 2 or more goals so until we start doing that we will be still in it 

[MuespachRam]

3 hours ago, BuckoBeast said:

Awful night 

why.....? Bournemouth lost, next week we will be in to single figures behind them... its on.

[Ken Tram]

11 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

Give it a month, and that clearing will be a meadow!  Just a vast open space of sheer beauty!  ?

A perfect place to raise a flock for our Derby Ram.

[Abu Derby]

This will go down to the last game. 

[Rammy03]

The problem with us is that we don't score enough, we've defended really well under Rooney but when we go a goal down, it seems to knock everything out of us. This can't keep happening. Other teams down the bottom are able to fight back. We aren't.

[Spanish]

25 minutes ago, Rammy03 said:

The problem with us is that we don't score enough, we've defended really well under Rooney but when we go a goal down, it seems to knock everything out of us. This can't keep happening. Other teams down the bottom are able to fight back. We aren't.

the new guys are supposed to solve that problem that has been known for the whole of the season.  We need to take every limited chance we get.  If we don't we lose.  Pity the best chance fell to a new guy who fluffed his lines

[RamNut]

Rotherham deserve some credit.

barlaser is a tremendous free transfer signing. 

michael Smith gave us plenty of problems at Pride park. I looked him up after that. I could hardly believe he was 29 years old and i had never heard of him. he looks a good player. One of those late developers.
He’s now scored 6 goals in the last 8 games. 

crofts was another who caused us problems and he did it again.

The defending for the first goal was absolutely abysmal. 
they outran us throughout and the second goal was a perfect illustration of that as Shinnie just let Crofts go.

the third goal just summed it up. Them energetic and direct. Us totally static. 
we look a bit of a mess without Bielik. We seem to have lost our shape and organisation.
I even began to wonder whether Forsyth would be a better replacement to sit in front of the back four. 

[ziggyram59]

I thought after the win at Bristol City and with the signings we did that we would see an improvement in the team, but I think were in a relegation battle right up until the last game of the season. To lose 3-0 to Rotherham is a disaster why do we always struggle against teams at the bottom? I also feel midfield is to light weight. 

[richinspain]

4 hours ago, RamNut said:

Rotherham deserve some credit.

barlaser is a tremendous free transfer signing. 

michael Smith gave us plenty of problems at Pride park. I looked him up after that. I could hardly believe he was 29 years old and i had never heard of him. he looks a good player. One of those late developers.
He’s now scored 6 goals in the last 8 games. 

crofts was another who caused us problems and he did it again.

The defending for the first goal was absolutely abysmal. 
they outran us throughout and the second goal was a perfect illustration of that as Shinnie just let Crofts go.

the third goal just summed it up. Them energetic and direct. Us totally static. 
we look a bit of a mess without Bielik. We seem to have lost our shape and organisation.
I even began to wonder whether Forsyth would be a better replacement to sit in front of the back four. 

I thought that the second goal was Byrne's fault. Shinnie clearly pointed at him to follow Crofts in order for him to close down the man with the ball. Byrne however went towards the goal and left Shinnie in no man's land. I thought he did well to get as close as he did to Crofts.

[ramboy63]

12 hours ago, Rammy03 said:

The problem with us is that we don't score enough, we've defended really well under Rooney but when we go a goal down, it seems to knock everything out of us. This can't keep happening. Other teams down the bottom are able to fight back. We aren't.

Spot on assumption and given the fact the back 4 looked solid before last night was because they had Beilik sat in front of them,last night we looked woeful in midfield,think we will see major changes on saturday wouldnt surprise me if we go back three and bring the young lad in from man Utd

[Rammy03]

14 minutes ago, ramboy63 said:

Spot on assumption and given the fact the back 4 looked solid before last night was because they had Beilik sat in front of them,last night we looked woeful in midfield,think we will see major changes on saturday wouldnt surprise me if we go back three and bring the young lad in from man Utd

Bird just can't play that role like Bielik can. He passed backwards too much and is not strong enough off the ball to protect the back 4. People forget that when Bird played in that position last season, he had Rooney to the side of him. Get the lad from Everton to play there or change the formation.

[Jourdan]

10 minutes ago, Rammy03 said:

Bird just can't play that role like Bielik can. He passed backwards too much and is not strong enough off the ball to protect the back 4. People forget that when Bird played in that position last season, he had Rooney to the side of him. Get the lad from Everton to play there or change the formation.

I think the problem we have with Bird is that his confidence and rhythm isn’t there.

In the second half of last season, Cocu leaned on him very much. I think he missed one league game from Christmas onwards and as such he was able to find his role, grow into it, and perform consistently.

I think that is important for a young player. You only have to look at how Tomori improved with the manager’s backing and playing game after game.

This season Bird has been in and out of the side and he knows that if he has had a bad game, his head is on the chopping block. 

When you are a young player and playing in such a key position, you do need to feel trusted and you do need to be given a run in the team to build up a head of steam.

When your playing time is so erratic, that becomes so much harder to do.

[desirelines]

My main concern is that we struggle against fellow strugglers. Regularly losing those supposed “six pointers” will keep us bogged down near the relegation zone and scrapping for our lives come the end of the season. Another worry is that if we find it hard to beat teams who are League One bound, that doesn’t bode well for us next season if we do get relegated. Worrying. 

[WilkoRam]

40 minutes ago, Rammy03 said:

Bird just can't play that role like Bielik can. He passed backwards too much and is not strong enough off the ball to protect the back 4. People forget that when Bird played in that position last season, he had Rooney to the side of him. Get the lad from Everton to play there or change the formation.

Bird is a good player, composed on the ball and can actually pick out a good pass, I just think he’s suited further up the pitch not as the deep lying midfielder. 

[Rammy03]

19 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

When you are a young player and playing in such a key position, you do need to feel trusted and you do need to be given a run in the team to build up a head of steam

To be honest, I don't think now is the time to be giving young players a run in the team. We're in a scrap and we need performances. I have no problem with him playing a bit further forward but I just don't think he does the job in front of the back 4.

[Premier ram]

9 minutes ago, desirelines said:

My main concern is that we struggle against fellow strugglers. Regularly losing those supposed “six pointers” will keep us bogged down near the relegation zone and scrapping for our lives come the end of the season. Another worry is that if we find it hard to beat teams who are League One bound, that doesn’t bode well for us next season if we do get relegated. Worrying. 

Spot on mate, Saturday will be another scrap , lets hope Wayne and his staff can come up with the answers

[Rammy03]

2 minutes ago, WilkoRam said:

Bird is a good player, composed on the ball and can actually pick out a good pass, I just think he’s suited further up the pitch not as the deep lying midfielder. 

He may well grow into that role when he is more experienced and gets a bit stronger physically but right now I think his best position is further forward in central midfield where he can contribute to goals directly, like he did with Marriotts goal at Luton.

[Jourdan]

Just now, Rammy03 said:

To be honest, I don't think now is the time to be giving young players a run in the team. We're in a scrap and we need performances. I have no problem with him playing a bit further forward but I just don't think he does the job in front of the back 4.

But are we not going to have that same predicament with Baningime?

He is also young. He is also inexperienced. He is also largely untested at this level. I guess whether it’s him or Bird in that position, a leap of faith will have to be taken.

I do wonder if we might have to accept that the balance we had won’t be achieved without Bielik and focus on getting more attacking players into the game.