Will we stay up?

Lukerz

35 will do it

buffybegood

I think Norwich and Villa are down, and the other spot is between us, Watford and Bournemouth. I did have Bournemouth taking that last spot for ages, but Watford have just dropped into the bottom 3 on my predicted final table.

Remarkably, we finish 16th

Dodger58

I'll take that Buffy :*

Hammerex

Watford lost again, this time by Southampton, good result for us again.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

I don't like relying on others in this league

However, does feel like it will be decided on who is the worst rather than who is the best

7 games to go!

yoyo

It's like no-one wants to stay up!!

Lukerz

By the time we kick off at Newcastle, even a Bournemouth home win on Wednesday would not have us in that bad a position.

Let’s say we lose to Chelsea & Bournemouth beat Newcastle.

We could end the week two points clear should Villa lose to Liverpool & Watford lose at Chelsea.

This obvs would require us to beat Newcastle away, given our horrendous away form. Plus Bournemouth to lose at Old Trafford.

We’d then have Burnley home & Norwich away to follow up. Moyes has to be targeting 7-9 points from those games. I think we can get those points, if Moyes is less conservative & more ‘go on lads’.

It could well look like this come next Sunday evening should we beat Newcastle (I’ve even added a Bournemouth win to be extra cautious, as well as a Norwich win v Brighton):

West Ham 30
Bournemouth 30
—————————
Watford 28
Aston Villa 27
Norwich 24

The reality is that we have enough fixtures against bottom half sides (five) for survival to remain in our hands. We will fully deserve to get relegated if we don't put together enough points.

Pearces_Left_Foot

Our problem is we are not scoring goals ,very difficult to win if you can’t score unless we get a penalty or an own goal I am struggling to see where the goals will come from . My hope is Bowen gets a few and Antonio find his shooting boots and maybe Fornals

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Fornals isn't a goal scorer, he hasn't scored more than 3 in the league since the 16/17 season

I agree though, we don't look like scoring which is really worrying.....and we aren't even creating many chances

Lukerz

What is Fornals? What is his role?

Fortuneseeker

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/297203/History/Pablo-Fornals

I reckon we should be expecting him to create chances for the goalscorers in our squad based on his career stats but will Mr Moyes play any?

alderz

Fornals is a deep midfield creator, IMO. He has quality one he ball and he works hard. I think he’s a perfect long term replacement for Noble. He’s definitely not a winger, and he’s not a goal scorer either.

Yeoldhammer

I think i said that when we first brought him. For Spain U21 he was playing with Ceballos in that middle interchanging and both of them controlled that midfield area.

Yeoldhammer

I still think we need to go back to the Allardyce Diamond. I feel we would benefit from this immensely.

Rice

Soucek Fornals

Bowen

Antonio Haller


I would allow Bowen and Fornals to interchange, it would allow for Soucek and Rice to do the same.

Haller will have someone to play off and vice versa with Antonio, there is a reason Haller Jovic and Rebic worked so well and playing the isolated striker was never the answer.

OutcastLondoner

alderz said:

Fornals is a deep midfield creator, IMO. He has quality one he ball and he works hard. I think he’s a perfect long term replacement for Noble. He’s definitely not a winger, and he’s not a goal scorer either.

Agreed but unfortunately, I don't remember him ever being played as a replacement to Noble.

The way he's been used, Fornals was a bad buy, maybe the worst of the summer. Not because of his performances but because we should've been buying players to support Haller or Rice.

ASLEFshrugged

At Villarreal Fornals played mostly as a central attacking midfielder in the hole behind behind the striker, since he joined us he's mostly played on the left so maybe that's why we're not seeing him at his best.

I don't see him as a "Noble replacement"

Dodger58

Looks like the BBC are sharpening their knives again ... https://bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53215371

Continuing to state the obvious and rehash the 'free stadium' view ...

ASLEFshrugged

I don't see anything that isn't accurate in that article, if we get relegated its going to cost the board more and London taxpayers (myself included) will lose even more money on the stadium than we already do.

One thought has occurred, if we get relegated and the club needs extra financing then S&G might be more likely to consider a takeover

IronHerb

There is nothing inaccurate but this was known about months ago.

alderz

IronHerb said:

There is nothing inaccurate but this was known about months ago.

But relegation is looking ever more likely, so it seems to make sense to write about it now.

Lukerz

2-0 Newcastle

Hamstew

Will be a tricky game on Sunday.

Hammerwombat

Both Newcastle and the Gooners doing us a favour this evening, but I want us to stay up on merit. If that's not too much trouble.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

All of the bottom 5 are so dismal right now.

Lukerz

3-0 Newcastle

Hamstew

4

thornburyiron

Let’s hope Newcastle are getting it out of their system and will dry up after tonight.

alderz

Hammerwombat said:

Both Newcastle and the Gooners doing us a favour this evening, but I want us to stay up on merit. If that's not too much trouble.

It’s still merit to be better than 3 other teams. Even if we’re trash and stay up, the entire league is a meritocracy

IronHerb

This Bournemouth performance is worse than ours in recent games. I believe they are down.

whupathman

Is 28 points enough to stay up this year lol