Is this a potential relegation group?

[Keen Blade]

As a team this lot have got nothing in the tank…It’s as though half of them can’t play a full ninety minutes. Whether it’s physical fitness, mental fortitude or just the ability to play simple football, this group of players are seriously wanting.

And the worst of them are WILDER'S midfield players

 

[metalblade]

The championship has passed Wilder and SUFC by. We’ve got a squad full of has-beens and Blades yout that aren’t up to scratch bar Seriki in my book.

If we got promoted (yeh not likely I know) the following players/manager I’d take to the prem…

Cooper (GK #2)
Seriki (FB #2)
……..

The youth will never be up to scratch with Wilder in charge his 30year old's on loan block their progress, Soumare is getting good reviews at Stoke, Ben Slimane ditched by Wilder looked better than anything we had on the pitch, and watch Brooks flourish now he is away from Wilder and Co. Wilder only plays youth when he runs out of options unless of course it is the son-in-law. I fear Seriki, Oné, Peck and Burrows will be sold in the next window if they show enough to get other clubs interested. A few years ago we picked off the best player of other teams who were in trouble like Coventry, now we are the club in trouble needing to sell at any price or good players run their contracts down, they don't see a future at SUFC.

 

[Kenworthy’s Tash]

We currently have a largely unlikeable bunch, but I’ll think they’ll finish between 18th and 10th in the league.

Agree with that, it’s bloody hard to like any of em. They went through the motions yesterday. Most of them are journeymen who don’t care. Hope you’re right with your points prediction

 

[Working Class Hero]

It stinks of a midtable nothing season to me, the players and management aren't bad enough to be in the relegation fight group. However, a points deduction could very easily pull a midtable team in to the bottom 3.

The big worry is next season though. It's doesn't matter who's managing us, we're not going to be able to afford or attract decent players, and anyone who has a decent year this year will want out of a club in decline (and rightly so).

How we've managed to get in this situation is absolutely beyond belief. To have those three years in the Premier League after being a League One club, and not having anything at all to show for it, is almost criminal.

 

[metalblade]

It stinks of a midtable nothing season to me, the players and management aren't bad enough to be in the relegation fight group. However, a points deduction could very easily pull a midtable team in to the bottom 3.

The big worry is next season though. It's doesn't matter who's managing us, we're not going to be able to afford or attract decent players, and anyone who has a decent year this year will want out of a club in decline (and rightly so).

How we've managed to get in this situation is absolutely beyond belief. To have those three years in the Premier League after being a League One club, and not having anything at all to show for it, is almost criminal.

Absolutely.

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

I expected to loose yesterday as I would against any decent side at the moment. What is more concerning were the previous two games against teams that will probably be down at the bottom end of the table fighting relegation. Both these sides looked far better than us for large parts of those games and if we are honest we deserved nothing from the Cardiff game and at best a point from Bolton. So we should probably be sitting here now on 2 or 3 points from 5 games. So in answer to the OP yes this is a potential relegation group and throw in a points deduction it starts to become highly likely. Yes we have few injuries but it is not as if we have any game changers to come back. We will still have a slow unfit squad many of whom can't manage 90 minutes even on an occasional basis. We will still have no creative midfield players who get forward and contribute with goals and assists. We will still have a manager who will still insist it is nothing to do with tactics despite opponents regularly tweaking theirs to alter the course of games against us.

Look at the subsequent results of our previous two opponents

Cardiff lost 2-1 and 2-0 at QPR and Portsmouth

Bolton lost 4-0 at Millwall

Both are toss, and we were worse than both

 

[TJ blade]

Yes - we absolutely have the potential to get sucked into a relegation fight. For me, the main and only aim of this season is to amass enough points to stay away from the bottom five. We have a good few parallels with the Micky Adams era although I think this team has better players:

1. Selling and replacing with loans
2. A manager who is past his best
3. Unwavering faith in a couple of players who aren’t good enough / overrated (Monty, Quinn)
4. A weak centre midfield

This squad as got relegation wrote all over it!

 

[skegblade]

5th from bottom would be acceptable at the moment,if the points deduction appears we are in serious trouble

 

[Bladepicker]

Yes we are going to be in a relegation battle and, given our lack of fight and heart, I genuinely fear for us this season.

We have had a very easy start fixture wise yet are firmly planted in the bottom three for attacking stats, are below where we should be on XG and, stats aside have looked so easy to open up while once again totally falling off a cliff after 50 minutes due to lack of fitness and athleticism.

We could easily stay up because there are some absolute gross teams in this league. But blimey we are part of that dross and sadly relegation is a real possibility.

 

[dingledog]

I’m not overly optimistic. As was clear to one and all yesterday, we are in deep trouble.

 

[Bladethebrian]

We finished thirteenth last season. We sell our best three players and so as they say in the States “do the math”. I can’t see it ending well without getting some quality in the team.

 

[Nick Jansky]

My biggest concern is the state of the squad. It’s absolutely shocking, and shouldn’t be like that after the amount of money that has passed through the club over the last 6 years. Yes, we have some good individual players, but as a coherent squad it is horrible. And most of the family silver has now been sold. You can only do that once.

I do think we will stay up, but after that the whole shitshow needs ripping up and we need to start assembling a squad from scratch under a new manager and recruitment team with a DoF above them. And the planning for that should be taking place now. We have an opportunity to do it with the number of poor signings on big wages disappearing out of the door at the end of the season. I hope we don’t waste it.

 

[Bladethebrian]

It stinks of a midtable nothing season to me, the players and management aren't bad enough to be in the relegation fight group. However, a points deduction could very easily pull a midtable team in to the bottom 3.

The big worry is next season though. It's doesn't matter who's managing us, we're not going to be able to afford or attract decent players, and anyone who has a decent year this year will want out of a club in decline (and rightly so).

How we've managed to get in this situation is absolutely beyond belief. To have those three years in the Premier League after being a League One club, and not having anything at all to show for it, is almost criminal.

We’ve no chance of a mid table finish. The midfield is terrible and the defence looks worse. How we can start without Seriki is astounding.

 

[blades_95]

A lot of understandably negative thoughts, but no possible solutions being suggested.

I’m not the manager mate. I genuinely don’t know what the solution is, we have such a mess of a squad that even Wilder’s admitting we have no identity.

We have to move from 4-4-2 that’s glaringly obvious. 4-3-3 would hopefully give us more protection, but I couldn’t pick you 3 CM’s that I think work well together because we have no legs in there. 5-3-2 is another option but without Seriki feels a bit pointless, and then we lose Donovan/BBD who are now our best hope of creating something. Whatever system we play it won’t change the fact that we can’t keep possession or play through the thirds, because we haven’t been able to that under Wilder for years.

It’s just a mess that I don’t see how we suddenly create an identity. We’ll probably try as few different things & stumble along, picking up the odd result.

 

[71Blade]

The 2010-11 relegation team went 14 league games without a win.

This current team isn't anywhere near that bad.

Neither is the rest of the division someone is going to give us a selles ipswich away going over soon

 

[71Blade]

I dont see any leadership we could should have lost by more yesterday we look very open very easy to play against. We look like we did in the prem out of our depth

 

[coolasanidiot]

Neither is the rest of the division someone is going to give us a selles ipswich away going over soon

I thought that was coming yesterday, but second half of first half we perked up. The second half just felt Norwich controlled it from start to finish.

Seems to me owners have gambled on selling all creative players to get cash in, with the hope Chris keeps us in division. The gamble looks a bad one. Brooks and O Hare play for us yesterday - we win. So for 14 million input they are probably risking 40 million on the value of the club if we are relegated. They are 'idiots'.

 

[Nick Jansky]

I thought that was coming yesterday, but second half of first half we perked up. The second half just felt Norwich controlled it from start to finish.

Seems to me owners have gambled on selling all creative players to get cash in, with the hope Chris keeps us in division. The gamble looks a bad one. Brooks and O Hare play for us yesterday - we win. So for 14 million input they are probably risking 40 million on the value of the club if we are relegated. They are 'idiots'.

They possibly hoped that the frees and loans brought in this summer, which will be costing a lot of money, might have been fit for purpose. The “idiots” who own the club (both oh whom have achieved far more in their lives than you or me) are not the ones who make the decisions on who we spend the budget on.

 

[BiggerBladeThanThou]

It stinks of a midtable nothing season to me, the players and management aren't bad enough to be in the relegation fight group. However, a points deduction could very easily pull a midtable team in to the bottom 3.

The big worry is next season though. It's doesn't matter who's managing us, we're not going to be able to afford or attract decent players, and anyone who has a decent year this year will want out of a club in decline (and rightly so).

How we've managed to get in this situation is absolutely beyond belief. To have those three years in the Premier League after being a League One club, and not having anything at all to show for it, is almost criminal.

The point of the whole WILDER OUT thread is the reason why we have nothing to show for it. We lacked courage when we went up in the PL.

 

[RecordBreakers]

I was thinking similar at the match today in terms of it feels a bit like the road to relegation previously.
This squad has a lot more talent than the 2010-11 version but the division has moved on and everyone is better.
I think without a points deduction we scrape enough points together to stay up - just.
However, I do think we will get a points deduction, and if it’s 12 I can’t see this group being able to get the points required.

Why will we get a points deduction?? Genuinely why? Tell me anything that we've done wrong and explain why it amounts to a points deduction, don't use Google either!

 

[Pedro's Winger]

They possibly hoped that the frees and loans brought in this summer, which will be costing a lot of money, might have been fit for purpose. The “idiots” who own the club (both oh whom have achieved far more in their lives than you or me) are not the ones who make the decisions on who we spend the budget on.

The owners are the ones ultimately responsible for the strategy and direction of the club. They choose the managers, sanction signings and sales, don't pay the previous owner, don't develop the new training ground and so on.

 

[coolasanidiot]

They possibly hoped that the frees and loans brought in this summer, which will be costing a lot of money, might have been fit for purpose. The “idiots” who own the club (both oh whom have achieved far more in their lives than you or me) are not the ones who make the decisions on who we spend the budget on.

They certainly did hope that - but if they had asked any one of the 20 odd thousand that go - is this wise, we would have sad NO - keep Brooks and O Hare and safety much more likely guaranteed.

 

[Nick Jansky]

They certainly did hope that - but if they had asked any one of the 20 odd thousand that go - is this wise, we would have sad NO - keep Brooks and O Hare and safety much more likely guaranteed.

So where would the money to cover the SCR shortfall have come from? Bearing in mind the rules don’t allow the owners to just put it in themselves? Sales were unavoidable, but the bigger issue is what was then brought in with the available still very decent championship budget. And that isn’t on the owners.

 

[skegblade]

They certainly did hope that - but if they had asked any one of the 20 odd thousand that go - is this wise, we would have sad NO - keep Brooks and O Hare and safety much more likely guaranteed.

The afoerementioned players will be gone in january
Writings on the wall either this season ornext aging squad and loans

 

[Deadbat]

Why will we get a points deduction?? Genuinely why? Tell me anything that we've done wrong and explain why it amounts to a points deduction, don't use Google either!

The concern for me is moving the ownership from one company to another and not going through the EFL. If they did, we might be ok, as the league will be less bothered about the Abdullah stuff.

They could have put that to bed in the interview the other day but worryingly did not.

That's why we might get a deduction I feel but nobody knows.

 

[RecordBreakers]

The concern for me is moving the ownership from one company to another and not going through the EFL. If they did, we might be ok, as the league will be less bothered about the Abdullah stuff.

They could have put that to bed in the interview the other day but worryingly did not.

That's why we might get a deduction I feel but nobody knows.

I haven't fully watched the interview just seen snippets but didn't he say something along the lines of COH was never the owner or holder of sufc or something along them lines? I'm going to have to watch in full.

 

[Cheeky Blade]

Not in any way saying we will get relegated (putting the possible points deduction to one side) but we do have some of the hallmarks of a club on the decline, and I do think this squad has a lot of parallels with our 2010-11 squad.

That squad was full of ‘solid pros’ who actually were just below average journeymen - Collins, Doyle, Simonsen, Nosworthy, Ertl, Henderson, Bogdanovic, Taylor, Yeates, Lowry etc. We’ve now built a not dissimilar squad with our many CDM’s (Jairo, Phillips, Rothwell), Choudhury, Tanganga, Campbell, Doherty, Chong. Hell we can even throw in an expensive flop striker who doesn’t look cut out for the Championship, for Evans see Cannon! We have the same lack of creativity & goals as that squad and defensively we’re not secure at all, Cooper aside.

Currently the management team don’t seem to have a clue what to do with this squad they’ve built (Wilder’s basically admitted as much today). We’re still painfully unfit and have no style of play. We can’t control games or change games and are conceding far too many chances. We have probably one player in the squad (Bamford) who can score 10+ goals - does anyone genuinely think Cannon, Campbell, Chong, BBD are going to score that many? Donovan & Oné look bright but are young to carry that burden. Our many midfielders might get 3 between them, we have very few goals in the squad.

Also, not many of this squad are going to be around next season. Those that are will get moves (Cooper, Seriki, Oné, Peck) - is a squad that doesn’t have to deal with the consequences going to be as motivated?

I’m very unsure how I see this season going, but I do think there are some major warning signs we can’t ignore. We’ve been pretty poor in all 5 games so far & are lucky to have as many points on the board as we do. We’ve also been comfortably outplayed by 2 newly promoted sides who sit in the bottom 4. A few more drab performances which see us slide down the table and how long before fans / players start to lose faith?

I think this is a massive test for Wilder & we need more from him & the coaching team than we’re getting currently. A bit of passion & 15 minute spells of huff & puff aren’t good enough - he has to find a way to get this group looking cohesive & playing to their strengths. We have to assume the board won’t be helping, and there’s a lot of points to play for before January anyway - we can’t hang our season on that.

An overreaction maybe, but interested to get people’s thoughts.

Yes.

I’d say we are relegation candidates based on the six games so far.

Wilder will stand or fall on results as all managers do. Hopefully he can nail it and we improve.

UTB.

 

[Deadbat]

I haven't fully watched the interview just seen snippets but didn't he say something along the lines of COH was never the owner or holder of sufc or something along them lines? I'm going to have to watch in full.

They aren't now. They were.

They moved us across to their new company.

This is what the EFL will look at. Suppose the only saving grace is the new company has the same directors. If they told the EFL then no issues but not sure just saying it was on the website will quite cut it!

 

[bladesmanluke]

I've said since the SCR vote passed back end of last season that it would relegate us.

 

[Sir Nick Montgomery]

Yesterday there was only 1 attacking option on the bench in Cannon. That’s not enough. We are a squad full of workmen types with very little quality or creativity. Not helped by the poor tactics. As for Wilder saying the players are tired that’s an absolute joke this early in the season. Him and his coaching staff are entirely to blame for that. Poor conditioning and tactics that see us surrender possession so cheaply meaning we are constantly chasing the ball. I think we are bang in trouble