[Archived] The Relegation Battle Aftermath

[Rovers Gals]

I make it 5/6 points wel pick up , I think mostly draws . need to keep our goal dif better than those below us .

[Mercer]

The three going down, IMO. are Rovers, Villa and Wigan.

[Mattyblue]

Villa? They gave us a hiding not so long ago.

[John]

I have not given up hope yet, however not far off doing so as our form is so bad right at the wrong time - our run in does not look great but hoping there could be a surprise result for us in there somewhere (from the games you would probably write-off).

The Birmingham game is looking pretty massive.

[Exiled in Toronto]

It's amazing the Villa fans haven't burnt the stand down. 6th last year, 100 million spent and they're below us!

[47er]

For what it's worth, my predictions for our last eight games:

Arsenal (a) - 0

Birmingham (h)- 3

Everton (a)- 1

Man City (h) - 0

Bolton (h)- 3

West Ham (a) - 0

Man Utd (h) - 1

Wolves (a)- 3

...equals 44 points, which should be enough.

Bolton at home is looking tricky and I honestly cannot see us winning at Wolves. Strangely enough, I could see us getting something from City at home. They were absolute rubbish against Chelsea (admittedly a slightly better team than we are!).

That gives us 40 which probably won't be enough.

[AlanK]

Looked at our remaining fixtures for the 1st time.

We`re going down.

[broadsword]

I'd be amazed if we beat Bolton at home, our best chance of a win is Brum, we'll get no change out of Man Utd.

If we need 9 points to stay up, then I'd say we need to beat Brum and West Ham and draw against Wolves, Bolton and Everton. West Ham would be the hardest, and not justr because they are a traditional bogey side.

[True Blue & White]

They are predicting all the final results and positions on Talksport now. Stan Collymore had us relegated in 18th on 39 points, Mark Saggers has us just surviving in 17th also on 39 points but on goal difference, and Sam Matterface puts us 15th with 41 points.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Aston Villa. They are looking really crap.

I don't think Villa will go down, I think Rovers, Wigan and Big Club.

[tony gale's mic]

Picking up one point at home to Stoke and West Ham at the start of Kean's reign are probably two of the most costly games we've had this season. The problem now is that apart from Birmingham, our other three home fixtures are against top 7 sides.

[67splitscreen]

I don't think Villa will go down, I think Rovers, Wigan and Big Club.

No WBA! have you looked at their run in:

Home: L/Pool Chelsea Villa Everton

Away: S/land Spuds Wolves Newcastle

[blue_and_white]

For what it's worth, my predictions for our last eight games:

Arsenal (a) - 0

Birmingham (h)- 3

Everton (a)- 1

Man City (h) - 0

Bolton (h)- 3

West Ham (a) - 0

Man Utd (h) - 1

Wolves (a)- 3

...equals 44 points, which should be enough.

Whats that based on exactly? I'm all for being positive and I agree its possible but do you think thats anywhere near how well we're playing at the moment?

We just equalised in the last minute in what I considered to be our easiest game in the run-in. I know there's the argument that Blackpool are better away than they are at home but recently they've been awful at both. That was a team was bang out of form, in their prior away games West Brom beat them, Wolves thrashed them, Everton put 5 past them and even a League 1 side beat them in the cup. Birmingham will provide at least as stern a test, Bolton/Wolves/West Ham will be harder, the rest will be much harder.

If we maintain our current level I could honestly only see us picking up about 3-4 more points. 1 on merit and 2-3 scraped together somehow or other.

[rovgers]

Don't know if this as been mentioned before, if Man Utd beat City in the semi final of the FA cup our game against them would need to be re-arranged but if they beat chelsea in the Champions league I can only see the game being played on the wednesday either before or after the FA cup final. Which could make nicking a point off them a bit easier.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

No WBA! have you looked at their run in:

Home: L/Pool Chelsea Villa Everton

Away: S/land Spuds Wolves Newcastle

I think Woy will turn them around, Blackpool could be one of the three as well though.

[thenodrog]

Don't know if this as been mentioned before, if Man Utd beat City in the semi final of the FA cup our game against them would need to be re-arranged but if they beat chelsea in the Champions league I can only see the game being played on the wednesday either before or after the FA cup final. Which could make nicking a point off them a bit easier.

Also Bolton may well be preparing for an FA cup final..... or demoralised after an FA cup semi final defeat by Stoke.

......... or am I clutching at similar straws to you?

[47er]

I think West Brom and Wigan will go down,and, hopefully, Brum. But I honestly believe we'll finish 17th or 18th.

If it goes down to the last game, nerves will be in shreds.

[rovgers]

Also Bolton may well be preparing for an FA cup final..... or demoralised after an FA cup semi final defeat by Stoke.

......... or am I clutching at similar straws to you?

I was thinking the same about Bolton, could I bear the bolton fans gloating about getting to the final if it meant their players had a bigger game on their minds?!

[tony gale's mic]

The absolute crux is this: We have the capability to stay up. Even under Kean, and god knows how much of an opponent of his regime I've been, we have the capability to stay up.

But right now we are in the sort of form where we WILL go down unless there's an upturn. If this was the start of the season then some kind of an upturn would be inevitable, no team bar Derby County a few years ago gets a points total which is the third of the games they played like we've done in our last 6 games. Obviously a further downturn would probably be equally inevitable because that's the way things go.

But we're so close to the end of the season we don't know if the upturn is going to be too late or not or if it will even come at all before the end. Had we had a relatively easy next fixture and it was next week, the boost in confidence following our second half performance against Blackpool might have started us on an upward trend. But playing Arsenal away in two weeks will likely negate that effect.

There's no way of predicting when the upturn might come as the smallest thing can cause it, from a stroke of luck to a refereeing decision going our way. I can't see Steve Kean inspiring it which is a big handicap, but it doesn't necessarily need him to do it. But if it comes soon, then we're probably staying up. If it waits until the end of the season then we're going down.

[roverwhelmed]

I think West Brom and Wigan will go down,and, hopefully, Brum. But I honestly believe we'll finish 17th or 18th.

If it goes down to the last game, nerves will be in shreds.

I don't think my nerves can be shredded any further!!!!

[bazza]

Don't know if this as been mentioned before, if Man Utd beat City in the semi final of the FA cup our game against them would need to be re-arranged but if they beat chelsea in the Champions league I can only see the game being played on the wednesday either before or after the FA cup final. Which could make nicking a point off them a bit easier.

Not with the shambles of a side we have under Venky's Mr Kean.

Earlier today I watched highlights of Rovers 3 Bolton 1 on videotape; season 1999/2000 (I think); Tony Parkes as caretaker manager after Kidd; second tier of the league, not the Prem; Players like Nathan Blake, Jason Wilcocks, Per Fransen, Ashley Ward, and Jason McAteer. We played proper football then. Boy we could do with Ashley Ward right now. He looked great compared to the dross we have in 2011.

Never thought I'd be saying that about AW.

Oh, and Bolton's manager was a very young-looking Sam Allardyce sporting thick brown hair and a thin moustache.

[BRFC1995]

For what it's worth, my predictions for our last eight games:

Arsenal (a) - 0

Birmingham (h)- 3

Everton (a)- 1

Man City (h) - 0

Bolton (h)- 3

West Ham (a) - 0

Man Utd (h) - 1

Wolves (a)- 3

...equals 44 points, which should be enough.

We are too open under Kean arsenal will get 5.

brum are a bogey team,1pt

Everton AWAY needs emphasising 0pts

Man city maybe a point they ain't arsenal.

Bolton only win i can see in the last 8.

wham = bogey,0pts

scum = large negative goal difference and fergie doing it for his mate allardyce

wolves AWAY, away defeats are our specialty 0 pts

38pts and down with another 5 defeats, dont see what can change under this manager to hope for better. The amount of so called easy games he has lost does murders to my confidence, if only we played WBA every week(god those wins seem years ago)

[savage8]

Aston Villa. They are looking really crap.

And what was our score at their place recently?

[Neil Weaver]

Also Bolton may well be preparing for an FA cup final..... or demoralised after an FA cup semi final defeat by Stoke.

......... or am I clutching at similar straws to you?

More straws being clutched......One less goalscorer to worry about

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

More straws being clutched......One less goalscorer to worry about

Big, big blow for Bolton. Hope the lad's fit for next season.