No need to be rude I was just stating a personal view after all it’s s fan forum. In contrast to that I have read what is posted below mine and yes I can see I was quite wrong in my assumptions. So @Lloyd I am truly sorry if I upset you Xx.
No because trying to pick results on a game by game is pretty much impossible as we saw at the weekend - do that for 11 teams over 11 games and you would come up with a different answer each time you do it. If you factor in a few shocks which games do you factor in ? I prefer to look at form of the last 5/6 games and the points gaps and just gut feel and look in a bit more detail at our games. Hence my point that 9 of the 11 are averaging a point a game recently and with 11 games to go that would suggest about 37/38 for 18th spot . I think that if WBA lose to chelsea and don't then beat Huddersfield they are as good as gone. For us, I think we will struggle to pick up anything from the 5 away and feel a W2 D2 L2 feels about right for the home games but no idea which will be won, drawn, lost. But lose the first 2 of the home games and we will be in deep trouble. Win them both and its happy days !
I would be. The longer we stay up, the more likely it is that we'll put together a squad that can win a cup. The match day experience would be miles better though.
Gutted at the time but i expect life would be more interesting in the Champ rather than battling just to survive each season in the prem and losing many more than we win. I have no ego issue about supporting a team that's not in the prem, I've done that most of my life ! However look how Hull and Sunderland are doing this season, can't take anything for granted.
Have the last three seasons been as satisfying as our promotion one, purely from a fans' point-of-view? No, probably not, although there have been some fantastic victories to savour. But I would be gutted and would be miserable all summer if we went down. It would take a huge effort to get promoted, as I think all our good players would move on, or certainly push for a move. It may not seem like it right now, but we're so, so close to becoming a really good side. We need investment in two key areas. That can be resolved in the summer transfer window. If we survive this season, I think we can really make an impact next season. If we go down, all that will be lost, and we'd have to start from scratch. It will take years just getting back to where we are right now.
Yes I would be! The owners have a plan for the growth of the club and relegation would be terrible at this stage.
I know what you're getting at UT, but it really wasn't that crazy this weekend. The only result which turned the table truly on its head was Newcastle sneaking past United (assuming WBA don't beat Chelsea away tonight). The scale of Huddersfield's win was surprising but the fact they won wasn't. And Swansea's win tallied perfectly with the form table. All in all the points probably went where the bookies thought in every case other than the Geordies .
What he said. I love the Championship: the games come thick and fast, more Tuesday night games under the lights, less media nonsense etc and so on. But it is a totally unpredictable league and hugely difficult to win promotion. In fact, I'd say a good proportion of teams tipped at the start of each season for promotion from the Championship end up getting relegated or in the bottom 3rd. Despite falling away this season, you do get the feeling we're building something here with a handful of players on loan (Djallberg, Hernandez, Penaranda etc) due to be brought in to strengthen the team to take it to the next level. Relegation would screw all of that up, someone else would reap the benefit and we'd have to go back to square one.
The problem with saying that we can invest in the summer for the better may be a red herring because as we know the Pozzos have a habit of backing out of getting a top player with no injury history as soon as a bidding challenge happens. If they continue to be stingey we will always be as good/bad as we are now.
I think that's very unfair on the club. We're just not a big club and every club our size will have the same issues. Burnley pulled out of a few deals last month because they just couldn't afford it. Richarlison is on 20k a week apparently, he'll go to a bigger club and get at least three times that a week. They've convinced Deulofeu to come here from Barcelona somehow. You don't need to throw money at it all the time.
I would be slightly miffed at going down, but mostly due to **** like Merson who will feel they have been proven right about us getting rid of managers all the time. If we go down that won’t be the reason, but the amount of ‘I told you so’s’ from I’ll informed pricks like the big eared crisp shagger will be utterly sickening.
You're right but that'll happen whenever we go down. Gracia could keep us up and stay for a decade and the numpties will still be reading to talk about Pozzo hirings and firings.
Had a go at the predictor tool. Was as deliberately negative about our ability to pick up points as possible within the scope of realism (i.e - not lose, lose, lose etc, although maybe that could happen....) in order to see if we could somehow survive a catastrophic end to the season. The table ended up like so: I've favoured teams around us getting wins they're unlikely to, as well as surprising draws. I have awarded us zero victories and only 5 draws (and only scoring 5 more goals) - and looking back at the table compared to the current one, I even have West Brom picking up more points than us for the remainder of the season. Only Brighton I have down as collecting fewer (this wasn't deliberate, just how it turned out). This is more than likely unrealistic, but just a test to see if we could not win another game yet somehow still survive. Our saving grace could be that so many teams around us have to play each other. They can't all win them, so either a few get cut adrift with defeats or the gap only closes a point at a time. Goal difference could be absolutely vital.
It's getting to 39 points before Easter that will save us. I know it's not seen as the ambitious positive thing to say, but a few more seasons in the Premier League finishing between 11th and 16th would be better than routinely finishing in the top four of the Championship.
We're 14/1 to go down for a reason. While the points gap is uncomfortable, the positions gap is significant. A lot of teams need to outperform us for it to even be close. Performances such as last Monday suggest we are more than good enough to ease to mid table. I'm still targeting top 10!
If West Brom go down and we stay up, anyone fancy us going back in for Gibbs? He may have seen the error of his ways by then.
I wonder if WBA will bin off Pardew in one final desperate attempt to stay up? I wouldn't be at all surprised if they have a new manager by the time we play them.
I think he did it was just his agent got payed more from West Brom than we were willing to pay him! If we were willing to pay him anything at all! Well done Gino Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Well, you didn't ask for it, you didn't want it, and you certainly didn't need it. But that didn't stop me. Here is the trademarked "Over the top David analysis of Watford" I've created a spreadsheet that considers the quality of teams, who they are playing the last x games (however many there is I can't be bothered to check) and then predicts the likely results. The trouble with football though is that you get lots of upsets - so my spreadsheets gives a chance for that - every game has a random factor added to it. Yes - if you refreshed my spreadsheet enough Watford would win the premier league (just before monkeys recreate Shakespeare) <<not this season - that is Man City's - but with a fresh start>> I've also built in home advantage based on the average over the last 4 seasons in the PL, and without going into detail this is helpful for Watford in the closing games. The spreadsheet then adds a random element to every game left, and then also predicts the likely results if the game was played 1,000 times. (shudder at the thought of watching Watford play play West Brom 1,000 times) I'm going to refine my formulas over the next couple of weeks based on historic results - but so far its not far off. The main thing is it doesn't pickup on form as i think you can never predict that, so I've created 3 versions of Watford's future - from bad form form to great form. Key points are: I am a geek and need to get a life If we have bad form (in reality our form before Gracia) - then there is a 17% chance we go down If we okay form (our form with Gracia, maybe a bit worse), then there is 2% chance we go down If we have great from there is less than a 1% chance we go down (and a 56% chance we finish in the top half) In the bad form scenario with a 17% chance of relegation it is only Huddersfield that we average more points than the opposition over 1,000 games. I think this highlights the importance of the home games we have to play - and that a lot of the teams at the bottom have to play each other. There are so many games with lower quality teams playing lower quality teams that points will get dropped. Also, as a closing note - per my predictions - Man City do appear to have sewn up the league (999 time out of 1,000), West Brom look doomed (901 times out of 1,000). and I.m the best looking guy in the UK.
I couldn't see West Brom staying up once Pardew was appointed and now I think they've had it. So that leaves 2 places.
A year older, and yet likely no wiser. Probably still demand stupid wages as well. If we have any scouting system at all we should be able to find a better all round alternative. Lets start by looking at this Tagliafico bloke at Ajax someone on here (sorry, can't remember, you know who you are) keeps suggesting.
