[Archived] The Relegation Thread

[Audax]

"...a nasty set of dentures", you've got a way with words, I could never come up with that, a good metaphor.

[John]

Sometimes forget we can get out of the relegation zone today with a win - would be nice to be out of the bottom 3, at least for one weekend.

[Audax]

Rovers are currently out of the drop zone with Wigan (vs. Man City, could be ugly) and QPR (at Newcastle, could be a draw, I think Sparky gets a lot of draws personally in his recent management, great gaffer nonetheless) still waiting to play Sunday and Monday, well, Wigan tends to get blown out by the big clubs, so that can almost be assumed, they won't win or draw.

Imagine that!

http://www.soccerway.com/national/england/premier-league/2011-2012/regular-season/

17. Blackburn 17 pts.

---------

18. QPR 17 pts.

19. Bolton 16 pts.

20. Wigan 15 pts.

So, Rovers goal diff is -12, QPR -16.

Nothing to be smug about.

Newcastle last time out whipped Man Yoo 3-0, so who knows? Hopefully, they can win tomorrow over QPR.

[Hughesy]

One thing is clear, the players are fighting for it!! Just hope we can add abit of midfield quality in the window.

[Mattyblue]

There really is nowt in the bottom half of the table.

Unreal that we have been so bad, yet have clambered out the relegation zone.

It will not be a 40 point season, lets just try and keep in touch.

[Amo]

Kean's lucky there's so much guff in the league this season.

[King Kenny's Magic]

Hopefully by some minor miracle we'll stay up, Venky's are bought out and then they take Coco with them. 36 points will keep us up me thinks.

[Emge]

Delighted with the win today and I cant believe the fact that we are currently 17th on the table, that is truely amazing, given our poor poor results.

Anyway, we've had some good ones recently, with 7 points from the last 4 PL-matches.

Do we stand a chance after all?

I have prepared myself for relegation for months now and anything else than that is a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge bonus from my point of view.

Steve Kean is a man I cannot stand. I really really dislike him, and we should have got rid of him a YEAR ago, the fact that he is still here is a miracle, a terrible nightmare.

But some wicked reason the owners wont sack him no matter what - so where does that leave us?

With a few more decent results now we could actually force ourselves up the table away from the relegation battle.

Will that make me accept Steve Kean and change my mind about him? NOOO WAY!!!

But I feel that I have no other choice at this point than to forget all about Steve Kean and give my support to the team and the players - obviously I cant do that at Ewood Park all the way from Norway, but I hope others who share my view can.

Steve Kean and JA has put a lot of efforts recently into painting Kean as a victim, which is absolutely ridiculous and pathetic, but the frustration needs to be pointed towards the real villains here, which is Venkys. They are the ones who can make the right or wrong decisions in this situation. They can try to save us by spending some money and by appointing more staff and the right kind of staff, most importantly a CHAIRMAN! They should also of course sack Kean and get in an actual manager, but I guess that would be too much to ask of them (??????!!!!).

I just hope there is some kind of hope somewhere along the lines here.

[Tom]

To even have a chance now is insane we should be long gone, our hope lies with Wolves, Bolton and Wigan

[John]

People forget, in 2011, Coyle had a worse results record than Kean.

[Blue blood]

Kean's lucky there's so much guff in the league this season.

This is what annoys me. A decent manager and a bit of money and I really think Rovers could have done very well this year - top 8, a cup final? It's certainly a highly inconsistent league this year with very few teams putting runs together. You only have to look at recent results - Villa beating Chelsea then giving Swansea their first away win of the season, Newcastle beating Manure 3-0, Fulham beating Arsenal, Liverpool drawing lots of games... Any team which manages a decent amount of consistency will do very well this year. It could so easily have been us.

This is both a positive and negative thing for rovers. On the positive side, as we currently see, we can't count ourselves down and out (although I'd still have us as relegation favourites). Despite what many would consider a horrendous season we're now currently not in the bottom three. We've picked up six shocking points (manure away and today being down to 10 men.) Despite the shambles on and off the pitch we're capable of picking up points and putting in the odd good shift.

On the negative side we can't really bank on any of the teams around us doing that badly either. Wigan for example picked up points against Liverpool and Chelsea and aren't a bad side. Swansea who I thought were woeful from what I've seen and look to have a really thin squad already have twenty-something points. Wolves got a suprising point today. You really are struggling to predict what's going to happen from one week to the next. I partly wonder if that's due to a decline in quality of midtable teams like Villa and Everton... Regardless it makes it a more nerve-wracking time to be a Rovers fan as predictability seems to have gone out of the window.

For what it's worth, I think QPR with a decent amount of cash behind them and Sparky in control will get clear of the danger. To me that makes it a 4 horse race with Wigan, Bolton and Wolves, and it's hard to see us having ta superior chance against any of them. I also have a sneaking suspicion that Swansea may get dragged into it, although they may have got enough points already to just see them safe.

[jim mk2]

It was our day today, just a pity we took 3 points off Fulham rather than one of our relegation rivals. If only we had drawn those games instead of lost......

Significant too that we again beat one of the footballing sides but always struggle against the battling physical sides such as Stoke etc.

I wish we didn't play so much "football". Escaping relegation is all about grit and graft - Everton's dogs of war. A scabby 1-0 win in the next match will do just fine.

[DE.]

Fulham could still get dragged into the relegation battle IMO. Jol has not managed to get it right there, yet, and there have been rumours of player unrest.

I agree with Blue Blood though that it's probably going to be a four horse race. I also think, Man City and Spurs aside, the top teams are all weaker this year than in previous years and cannot be guaranteed to take points off our relegation rivals (of course, that works for us too... as we saw in the Arsenal, Liverpool & Man Utd games).

[thenodrog]

It was our day today, just a pity we took 3 points off Fulham rather than one of our relegation rivals. If only we had drawn those games instead of lost......

Significant too that we again beat one of the footballing sides but always struggle against the battling physical sides such as Stoke etc.

I wish we didn't play so much "football". Escaping relegation is all about grit and graft - Everton's dogs of war. A scabby 1-0 win in the next match will do just fine.

Kean's tactic of constantly filling all 5 places in midfield with creative players has cost us big time. If we are to do better then imo much depends on successfully employing both N'Zonzi and Petrovic in the middle of the park in the way Jones and N'Zonzi were so successful last spring.

[Audax]

I agree with Blue Blood though that it's probably going to be a four horse race. I also think, Man City and Spurs aside, ...

Spurs have drawn at Swansea and today, did draw the Wolves. Without that draw from the Wolves, Rovers actually have a better goal differential, Wolves -14, Rovers -12 so that would have bolted us up to 16th, if the Wolves had lost, still, Wolves getting only a point vs. 3 has to be some sort of blessing. Afterall, upsets do happen, remember last season, Wolves actually defeated some of the big clubs, Man Utd. etc. So those things happen.

Can't help but thinking QPR getting a bump from Hughes as manager might draw the Magpies nudging us back down. http://www.soccerway.com/national/england/premier-league/2011-2012/regular-season/

For the moment QPR are down in this area and maybe they will move mid-table in a matter of weeks.

West Brom with 3 straight losses, other clubs could in fact stall at points in the season and get back in the mire.

[Tom]

QPR started really well at Newcastle but toon back in the game now, could go either way this one but I think QPR will get something

Edit Toon 1-0 Best goal ever

[philipl]

Great to see QPR losing although I do not think they will go down.

The avoiding relegation crunch for us is winning a bunch of away games where we have lost the corresponding game at Ewood- Everton, WBA, Wolves, Bolton.

Unlike Sam, Kean has made a habit of losing the crunch games against clubs around us in the bottom half. Sam made damned sure of getting 3 points from those games but Ken gets taken to the cleaners by the likes of Coyle, Hodgson, McCarthy, Moyes.

[rovers11]

Great to see QPR losing although I do not think they will go down.

The avoiding relegation crunch for us is winning a bunch of away games where we have lost the corresponding game at Ewood- Everton, WBA, Wolves, Bolton.

Unlike Sam, Kean has made a habit of losing the crunch games against clubs around us in the bottom half. Sam made damned sure of getting 3 points from those games but Ken gets taken to the cleaners by the likes of Coyle, Hodgson, McCarthy, Moyes.

Don't rule out Swansea and West Brom being dragged into this. Also, there is always one team that looks safe at Xmas and goes down. One promoted team usually goes down - dont think it will be qpr or norwich. Swansea have had a great season but are only six points clear of us. Must be a worry for them.

[John]

I agree, looks likely others will get dragged into it.

[jim mk2]

The avoiding relegation crunch for us is winning a bunch of away games where we have lost the corresponding game at Ewood- Everton, WBA, Wolves, Bolton.

Unlike Sam, Kean has made a habit of losing the crunch games against clubs around us in the bottom half. Sam made damned sure of getting 3 points from those games

Those 4 home defeats could well send us down in May - even draws in those matches would have made a big difference to the table.

Don't bring Sam into the debate - it upsets his detractors.

[Waggy76]

Don't rule out Swansea and West Brom being dragged into this. Also, there is always one team that looks safe at Xmas and goes down. One promoted team usually goes down - dont think it will be qpr or norwich. Swansea have had a great season but are only six points clear of us. Must be a worry for them.

I think Swansea could easily do a Blackpool ......Hopefully Newcastel can win , but QPR will splash the cash so I suspect with Sparky will escape quite easily ..

[Doug]

Never thought I'd say it but well done Newcastle.

[Tom]

Woohoo still above the drop zone, if Wigan lose tomorrow it could give us some belief going int o next week above the dotted line.

These are the fixtures next week

Saturday, 21 January 2012

Norwich v Chelsea, 12:45

Everton v Blackburn, 15:00

Fulham v Newcastle, 15:00

QPR v Wigan, 15:00

Stoke v West Brom, 15:00

Sunderland v Swansea, 15:00

Wolverhampton v Aston Villa, 15:00

Bolton v Liverpool, 17:30

Fail to get something at Everton and either Wigan or QPR would leaprog us with Wolves and Bolton both at home

[philipl]

Could have done without Swansea beating Arsenal.

[LeChuck]

Absolutely no chance that Swansea or Norwich will be dragged into the relegation zone, both are far too organised and will easily gather enough points to be safe will before May.

West Brom might get sucked in if they have a bad run, but otherwise I think it's three from four (assuming Hughes + money guarantees QPR survival).