Does anyone actually think we will stay up?

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

On the basis that our game plan seems to be to miss 3 chances in the first 15 minutes; concede a 25 yarder after 20; do bugger all for the next 30 minutes and then replace Basham with 20 to go, I think we are buggered.

 

[JPBrods]

Based on the performance last night, there's enough on the pitch to stay up IF we start converting chances and find a bit of form, and we've lost a shedload of games by one goal margins, so we're hardly getting spanked every week as you'd expect of a side in our position, with the worst Premier League start on record in the history of the competition.

Problem is, I'm not sure that we have adequate time to stay up now. We've completely wasted a QUARTER of the season, and say the sides above us begin picking up points to get to a typical 36 to finish 17th scenario, we need to get 35 from 28.

Last season after 28 games we had 43 points, and incidentally our 28th game was the 1-0 win against Norwich, which was the point whereby things unravelled thereafter.
So basically, to stay up, we're looking at being slightly not as good as we were when we were top four/top six european aspirations, and to have a good chance of finishing 17th, we must now play the rest of the season as a team skirting to get into the top half of the table.

I think we are going to fall agonisingly short of safety completely because we tossed away the opening ten. Even a solitary win by now would have me feeling far more confident. Last night was the moment I became about 90 per cent sure we are down.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

We're 5 points off safety with 28 to play. We know better than anyone that teams have got out of much worse spots than that (West Ham were 8 off safety with 8 to play).

It's going to be incredibly difficult but it's still possible.

The way we are playing we would be lucky to stay up if we played another 28 games and wba, Fulham and Burnley didn’t play again.

I just don’t see how we are going to score enough. We are physically unable to keep a clean sheet and no one has shown the ability to take a chance, take the game by the balls and provide the quality to impact a result.

The effort is there, but that’s it. The bare minimum is all we have at the moment.

 

[Tynemouth Blade]

i'm convinced we'll stay up. i haven't taken my meds yet though

Nurse, nurse.... another one has escaped!!!!

 

[JackSUFC]

All I hope now is that we don’t embarrass ourselves too much with the final points tally. If we can get to 20+ points that will be respectful from our current position.

 

[Kop Cat]

Having watched "highlights" from yesterday we had enough good chances to win or at the very least draw, but what worries me is that we seem to have to go behind before we start to play owt like. When we take the lead (Liverpool & Chelsea) we sit back and eventually concede.

 

[Farnboroughblade]

Yes, 100% we will stay up. It will be a hard slog, no denying it, but we'll manage it. Keep the faith.

 

[Coily]

We're 5 points off safety with 28 to play. We know better than anyone that teams have got out of much worse spots than that (West Ham were 8 off safety with 8 to play).

It's going to be incredibly difficult but it's still possible.

I'm not confident of survival, the facts of the first games are for all to see, but this is in no way over. Many on here might have given up but there is so much to play for.

As much as the failure to take our chances hurt, we at least looked threatening and should have scored 3 at the very least. They just have to keep on believing, and you know they'll come out firing next Sunday. Whether it will be enough, who knows, but they'll never give up.

 

[BettingBlade]

The Premier League is a completely different beast to any other league. This isn’t the Championship anymore where every week everyone is beating everyone.

We’ve just had two very winnable games and lost them both. We now have Leicester, Southampton and Man U coming up. I can’t see us being allowed the freedom to create as many chances in these games as we were last night.

The more I think about it, the more unacceptable it is that we’ve failed to get a single point from the last 2. Coming off the back of such a difficult run, we knew the score, we knew we had to pick up at least 4 points from the next 2 before we faced some further difficult fixtures.

People talk about how they have faith we will turn it round eventually, but when? We’re in a league with some of the best teams in the world. A league where we have to be playing to our maximum to even compete with some of them.

Based on current form, we may as well write the Leicester game off, Vardy will have a field day. There’s four teams in this division we absolutely MUST take points off and we’ve got 1.

 

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

The Premier League is a completely different beast to any other league. This isn’t the Championship anymore where every week everyone is beating everyone.

We’ve just had two very winnable games and lost them both. We now have Leicester, Southampton and Man U coming up. I can’t see us being allowed the freedom to create as many chances in these games as we were last night.

The more I think about it, the more unacceptable it is that we’ve failed to get a single point from the last 2. Coming off the back of such a difficult run, we knew the score, we knew we had to pick up at least 4 points from the next 2 before we faced some further difficult fixtures.

People talk about how they have faith we will turn it round eventually, but when? We’re in a league with some of the best teams in the world. A league where we have to be playing to our maximum to even compete with some of them.

Based on current form, we may as well write the Leicester game off, Vardy will have a field day. There’s four teams in this division we absolutely MUST take points off and we’ve got 1.

And we were lucky to get that.

 

[FTPE]

I'm massively confident still.

I've lost the "massively" part, but I am still confident.

 

[Davalon]

In 90/91 I honestly felt we would stop up even in December that season.

Call it gut feeling but plenty of Blades at the time told me they felt the same.

Sadly I don't feel that this time.

Logic suggests its unlikely whilst obviously far from impossible. Having seen our performances so far I doubt any fan believing we will stop up will do so other than with gut feeling.

Well either that or for the likes and wanting to be seen to be keeping the faith.

Sadly the evidence simply isn't there so far.

Creating chances and not taking them against a very poor West Brom team imho, isn't a particular sign of positivity. Against better opposition we'll not create those opportunities and often struggle more defensively too.

At least our goals against column is still good for a team in our position but I thought our defending in general last night was very raggy to say the least.

 

[steveM]

Will you stay up ? On paper no. Having watched you last night i didn't see a team in disarray. I didn't see a defence that looks all over the place which is a classic sign of a relegation threatened team. Norwich last year were doomed even before a ball had been kicked.
You probably lack a couple of established Premier league players to steady the ship. I don't see you as whipping boys at all.
There's plenty of spirit in your team. That was evident last night. Not winning a single game in 10 matches will probably be your achillies heel in the end though.
Some of your players and finishing last night were of championship standard. It could of course be a confidence issue

 

[Rochdaleblade]

Conceding soft goals every week is a sign of relegation. Not scoring in games is a sign of relegation. We do both.

At the minute I would settle for being Huddersfield bad, rather than Derby/Sunderland bad. Apart from Chelsea, we could have got something from every match this season, but you can't simply be unlucky every week. Barring an unlikely influx in January, I can't see us turning it around. I think I am mentally prepared for relegation, it's the hope that gets you.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

The thing about football that makes it great is that it's so unpredictable.

Things can suddenly turn good as quickly as they go bad.

Cast your mind back to July, imagine if I'd told you that we wouldn't win another match until at least December after we'd just battered Chelsea 3-0. You'd have thought I was insane.

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if we turned Leicester over next week and then went on a decent run of form.

 

[shrubbery]

How anyone could watch our performances since lockdown 1.0 and come to the conclusion that we might not get relegated is beyond me. We have been probably the worst premier league team that I have ever seen during this period bar two inexplicable performances against the inconsistent Chelsea and Totenham. We literally have a playing squad of 15-20 players of which every single one is underperforming to some degree with our best two players of the last two seasons out (Deano and Jack).

I just hope that it doesn’t become embarrassing and that Wilder doesn’t throw in the towel or get pushed.

2020. What a fucking year.