Reason to be Cheerful?

[AlFayedsChequebook]

On the way to the match last night I got into conversation with my mate about exactly how worried we should be about getting relegated.

I do not mean to underplay the situation, but after a discussion about our relegation rivals we both agreed it would take more misfortune for us to get relegated.

I believe that of all the teams in the relegation battle, Fulham have the most obvious problem - our star of last season and best attacking player was crippled at the beginning of the season and we have not been the same since. If we can get another big striker in then it would be wise to suggest that our form would improve, whether or not the new striker gets goals. Zamora did not strike that many in the league last season yet was absolutely crucial to the way we play. A similar type player will no doubt stop the rot and (hopefully) get us playing fluidly again. We have maintained our defensive rigidity so a new striker can really help us build on the poor first half of the season.

If you look at the other teams their problems seem not to be so obviously remedied:

Wolves - not a very good team with not a very good manager.
Wigan - A side that plays decent football but with a pretty poor defence and very little money to spend.
West Ham - Terrible defence, average team with a average to poor manager. If they do not spend I fancy them for the drop this year
Aston Villa - previously good side nosediving under new manager. Could be in trouble
West Brom - started well but with defensive injuries came losses. Plummeting and in real trouble.
Birmingham - Bit like us really except they have a full compliment of strikers. Unfortunately they are all crap.
Everton - see above.
Blackburn - hilarious new owners and a coach as a manager. High profile players want to leave and not happy with new owners
Blackpool - done well but are now being dragged in by the chasing pack. Will have injury problems and this will decimate their squad.
Newcastle - will probably be ok, but you never know!

I am not saying that we are safe by any means, just that we may have the most 'solvable' problem and if it is solved, we will be fine.

[White Noise]

I agree with that. We will be getting stronger and more organised as we get players back and new players in and as the squad get used to the new manager and vice versa.

A lot of the other clubs you mention are only going to deepen their problems and I think in a month or two a gap will open up between the bottom 3 or 4 and the rest that willl not be closed.

[Jimpav]

It struck me last night that we still have to play the three teams directly above us (at home), all of which are beatable.

Newcastle      20     25  -2
Blackpool       19     25  -5
Blackburn       21     25  -8
Fulham          21     22  -2

A win against these 3 would leap frog us over them, providing we can match or better their results until this point.

On the flip side we have matches against Villa, Everton, Brum, Wigan and Wolves (away) who are all below us. Realistically we would need to get at least 6 points from these matches to avoid being sucked back in.