League One Relegation Thread

[SkyBlueElephant]

He was abject for us, couldn't buy a goal. I now think that was more to do with us than him.

We should throw the towel in and accept we aren't good enough to stay up. My worry is we'll go straight down to the Conference.

Personally in my mind I've already written you off as one of the 4 teams who will go down, I'm expecting Crawley and Colchester to join you but those two are far from done deals yet and could survive if they can a string a run of results together.

Last place, I think one from us, Scunthorpe, Notts County, Leyton Orient and Crewe. A few days ago I would have backed Notts County to go down but they've signed some decent players in McCourt, JCR and Lita who could see them safe, at the moment I'm edging towards Crewe. Garrat is a big loss as Rachubka is an awful keeper from whenever I've seen him play and losing Izpeaku was damaging too, if Ajose can't continue to bang them the goals will dry up for them again and the goals will continue to leak at the other end.

 

[jacobncfc]

Think we'll be okay now, that tonight for us was huge. We're not a great team by any stretch but our record against the other teams at the bottom is fantastic and that should see us through.

McCourt and JCR have also added some genuine creativity - really we should've beaten Fleetwood and Vale and be out of this conversation, but whatever. Having something to really play for might get some atmosphere and life back into Meadow Lane like at the back end of last season too.

Personally think it's four from the bottom six. Can't see anyone from Notts upwards failing to get past fifty points relatively comfortably.

 

[RavenBish]

The x factors are really Cov and Orient. If Orient can start playing like they look on paper then they've got a great chance obviously and no doubt Cov will benefit from Mowbray's appointment even if it's temporary. I still don't see it being 4 from 6 or 7 to be honest, the likes of Scunny, Walsall and Fleetwood would easily find themselves right bang in it if they went a couple of weeks without a result. Tranmere got themselves to a place last year where they needed like 2 wins with quite a few games left (after beating us and all but 'relegating' us ironically) and messed it up

Could easily end up like last year where you've got 3 teams deservedly going down and then 3 or 4 that are considerably better than those 3 but scrapping to avoid the last spot. I look at our team and think we'll be alright now we've *finally* added some quality going forward but no doubt Crewe are looking at the likes of Ajose, Orient with Dagnall/Mooney/Cox, Coventry...surely have some good players, Scunny with Madden, Walsall with Bradshaw/Hiwula. It's one of the problems of having such a tight division, I think certain fans rate their teams too highly, others too low and the reality is that there's a solid 9/10 teams that are pretty much the same.

 

[SkyBlueElephant]

What are the run ins like for the other teams? I'd rate ours as pretty favourable. We only have one hard (most games are hard, but this in the only one I'm fully expecting us to lose) game left in Bristol City, I'd put every other fixture in the winnable category as we've already played Swindon, MK, Preston and Sheffield Utd twice. We have some big 6 pointers remaining against Crawley, Colchester, Leyton Orient, Crewe and Notts County, with Mowbray in charge I'd fancy us in most of those games. Then we have lots of winnable games against teams like Oldham, Bradford, Fleetwood, Port Vale, Peterborough, Chesterfield and Doncaster.

 

[dedwardp]

What are the run ins like for the other teams? I'd rate ours as pretty favourable. We only have one hard (most games are hard, but this in the only one I'm fully expecting us to lose) game left in Bristol City, I'd put every other fixture in the winnable category as we've already played Swindon, MK, Preston and Sheffield Utd twice. We have some big 6 pointers remaining against Crawley, Colchester, Leyton Orient, Crewe and Notts County, with Mowbray in charge I'd fancy us in most of those games. Then we have lots of winnable games against teams like Oldham, Bradford, Fleetwood, Port Vale, Peterborough, Chesterfield and Doncaster.

We have Crawely, Yeovil and Scunthorpe to come at home, as well as the trip to the Ricoh. A couple of weeks back I was also putting Barnsley at home as a big game, but they're more likely to get promoted now haha.

Our problem is that those games are at home though, and we don't do home games. We actually look half decent on the road though, so more optimistic about the games we have at Rochdale, Chesterfield, Fleetwood, Port Vale and Gillingham than those three home games.

That said, I don't really have any optimism full stop today.

 

[valefan16]

Looking at it Yeovil look gone, Crawley and Colchester are capable of good results here and there but nothing sustained so don't seem to be able to get out of it. Orient could go either way and I don't know if they have paid players today or if they have any problems behind the scenes. Coventry have Mowbray but remains to be seen if he improves anything, the next few weeks will tell us that but its going to be hard going in there turning it around with little time (although they have had some ok results lately).

Crewe look in a bit of trouble though, seemingly shipping goals again and from listening to praise and grumble on the way back from Vale past few games sounds like they were dreadful in a couple of them, I think their run in is extremely tough too so they are probably the most likely to slide back into it. Scunny are one of them that seems to be hit and miss.

If it had to pick 4 teams right now it would be Yeovil, Crewe, Crawley and Colchester but this league is so hard to call at the moment!

 

[SkyBlueElephant]

We have Crawely, Yeovil and Scunthorpe to come at home, as well as the trip to the Ricoh. A couple of weeks back I was also putting Barnsley at home as a big game, but they're more likely to get promoted now haha.

Our problem is that those games are at home though, and we don't do home games. We actually look half decent on the road though, so more optimistic about the games we have at Rochdale, Chesterfield, Fleetwood, Port Vale and Gillingham than those three home games.

That said, I don't really have any optimism full stop today.

Not a bad set of fixture either, possibility to pick up some results. Just checked the other teams and I'd say Leyton Orient, Crewe and Notts County have the most difficult set of fixtures.

Leyton Orient last 4 fixtures include Swindon, MK and Sheffield Utd so if they aren't safe before that they could be in trouble.

 

[jamesslater01]

Our run-in looks pretty good, certainly a bit easier than a few others down near the bottom. We need at least 15 points from the final 11 games, which is doable, but I fear we'll fall short.

We've got Bristol City, Leyton Orient, Gillingham, Oldham, Notts County and Coventry at home, which is a decent set of games to achieve points in. I'd say we could get 8/9 points from those, but that'd leave us needing at least 6 points from our remaining away fixtures: Colchester, Port Vale, Crewe, Scunthorpe, Walsall and Peterborough. Given our awful away record, that'll be hard to do.

I'd be surprised if our game against Coventry on the final day doesn't have anything riding on it.

 

[Crewelad87]

All our home games are winnable Scunthorpe, Oldham, Crawley, Leyton Orient, Walsall and Bradford ,but we have some tricky away games at Sheff Utd, Bristol City, Preston, Peterborough, Chesterfield and Coventry.

Weather we stay up or go down will be based on those home games, we won't get many points on the road.

 

[Saddlerrad]

Our games in March.

Barnsley (A)
MK Dons (H)
Sheffield United (H)
Bristol City (JPT)
Chesterfield (A)

If we get more than 1-2 points I'll be amazed. We are right in the shit.

 

[SkyBlueElephant]

All our home games are winnable Scunthorpe, Oldham, Crawley, Leyton Orient, Walsall and Bradford ,but we have some tricky away games at Sheff Utd, Bristol City, Preston, Peterborough, Chesterfield and Coventry.

Weather we stay up or go down will be based on those home games, we won't get many points on the road.

You probably need about 13-14 points to be guaranteed, doable but I don't see you picking up many more than a couple of points from the away fixtures.

 

[SkyBlueElephant]

Our run-in looks pretty good, certainly a bit easier than a few others down near the bottom. We need at least 15 points from the final 11 games, which is doable, but I fear we'll fall short.

We've got Bristol City, Leyton Orient, Gillingham, Oldham, Notts County and Coventry at home, which is a decent set of games to achieve points in. I'd say we could get 8/9 points from those, but that'd leave us needing at least 6 points from our remaining away fixtures: Colchester, Port Vale, Crewe, Scunthorpe, Walsall and Peterborough. Given our awful away record, that'll be hard to do.

I'd be surprised if our game against Coventry on the final day doesn't have anything riding on it.

imo just looking at the table how it is, 49 points won't be enough this year.

 

[SF_]

The current bottom 4 in any order will go down.

 

[Bottega Don]

If we start playing Madden up front I think we have a good chance of staying up, we really look toothless at the moment and we need him in the right position to score.

 

[The Terminator]

We will still go down, I've resigned myself to it weeks ago. We can't defend for shit as a team.

Although last night for the first time this season, we named an unchanged side

 

[Inspector Todd]

Think Orient will survive, probably by beating us in April.

 

[PUSBCCFC]

That loss for us last night have worried me a little.

Mowbray has got to get these players performing, immediately!

 

[Saddlerrad]

I think Yeovil, Crawley and Colchester are 3 from 4. It's just finding that last team and it literally could be anyone.

 

[LuSiVe]

I think Yeovil, Crawley and Colchester are 3 from 4. It's just finding that last team and it literally could be anyone.

Wow, this could be awesome from a North-South point of view
If we could lose Bristol, Swindon, MK Dons, Yeovil, Crawley, Colchester and Leyton Orient.
And gain Wigan, Blackpool, Rotherham. Shame the top of League 2 is looking a little southern!

 

[william death]

Reckon we'll be alright now. Three wins from 13 needed. We have finally added some (outfield) quality to a load of top blokes.

 

[william death]

Think Orient can get out of it too. I know things are an utter shambles behind the scenes, but I just think they have the (attacking) players to ultimately win 5 out of 13. They have shown recently they can win games fairly convincingly.

Yeovil and Colchester I think will struggle - the latter sounded woeful against us the other night in what was a must-win for them.

Crewe I think are in some difficulty - their away run-in is very tough, they can't afford many slip-ups at home and seem to be running into bad form at the wrong time. A lot rests on Ajose's shoulders.

Crawley are interesting - some great results lately, and like Orient on paper they at least have goalscorers. Think they can get out of it too.

If I had to pick right now, I'd say Yeovil, Colchester, Crewe, and... One of Orient and Crawley.

But there are still 19 teams below 50 points - that's a lot to get over the line. It isn't impossible for a team in the early/mid 40s to go on a horror run and only get a handful of points between now and the end of the season. We beat Coventry away in November to go 4th then picked up just 6 points from the next 12 games, dropping to 16th.

 

[Saddlerrad]

We are notorious for 'winless' runs under Smith, we are either very good, or very shit under him. 2 wins in 32 was our record up until October time this season. We also went on no wins in 16 the season we had Paterson/Brandy/Grigg playing upfront. We are massively capable of going on a run of no wins until the end of the season and if that happens, then we will go down. Fortunately, I think we have just enough organisation and goal threat to ensure we shouldn't let it go right to the wire for us. We have an okay 'April' on paper...but then football isn't played on paper so.

Forde Cook/Hiwula
Sawyers
Bradshaw

That's a pretty good attack for a team with one of the worst budgets in the league.

 

[dedwardp]

We just can't afford to keep throwing in performances like Tuesday night. By all accounts it was indescribably bad, and I have seen numerous very level-headed people saying that it was the worst they have seen us play in 15/20/30 years of going etc, which includes some complete horror shows in amongst that time.

It was such a must-win game for us, that to not turn up at all is deeply concerning. This season has been a complete mess and it didn't need to be. The only hope is that we have shown we're capable of picking up points and have a nice enough run in to go. In February we picked up six points, which is probably at least 4-5 more than I had expected, and last time we had a bad run and got thumped a couple of times we responded well. It's hard to be optimistic after the other night, but there will still be lots of twists and turns.

I just hope we can perform more like we did against Bristol City and less like we did against Notts County.

 

[Saddlerrad]

Were down.

 

[Bottega Don]

We're in huge trouble, big changes are seriously needed.

 

[dedwardp]

Personally think it is four from five now to be honest. Our next two games are Crawley at home and Yeovil at home, anything less than 4-6 points and we will be gone within the next ten days.

 

[MrGloverLover]

Massive 3 points for us today, at last we managed to salvage something at the end.

 

[PUSBCCFC]

Very tight down there!

 

[RavenBish]

If we stay up then I really really don't want to ever witness a team as bad as the bottom 4 must be.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Results went for us so 7 point gap heading into a horrible few games where we will do well to get a single point. 9 points to go to probable safety, so close yet so far.

We were still pretty poor today, 15 minutes after half time aside we looked like a team ready to go down. We just create nothing and those who thought losing Uche (and thanks Uche, Donny, Watford, Mr Agent, warming that bench must be doing your career wonders!) wasn't going to effect us will probably be having a rethink. Can't underestimate the loss of Garratt either, despite the clean sheet today.