I think Norwich Watford and Newcastle and Burnley are our realistic rivals as to who goes down. I rule out Southampton and Palace as I think they have enough grit and flair to finish comfortably above the bottom 4 or 5.
Newcastle you would imagine come January will strengthen sufficiently and probably have a new manager too to steer them to safety so I think it's between us and Burnley who fill the final relegation spot as it is hard to see Norwich and Watford escaping.

We are in slightly better shape points wise than Shef utds 2nd season campaign but we look a shadow of last seasons team and it is very worrying to say the least and just watching Wolves on Motd I wouldn't bet on our results improving any time soon.

Have you actually watched the game, Jonty? Or did you make that up based on the result and a highlights reel and listening to Gary Lineker?

The issue is "We had our 2 most expensive signings on the pitch, both forwards and no shots on target, means that valid questions can be asked of both of them."

James was one of our plus-players today, because he showed he was willing to dig deep and work back relentlessly when the whole team and system was misfiring.

Rodrigo was hung out to dry. That stemmed right from the back - because we played a wingback system while having no players to play wingback, that impacted the wingers ability to do their attacking job (although H was terrible, but a lot of that stems from having no help with whom he can interact), we had a midfielder in Roberts who was not linking any play with anyone and generally losing the ball or getting nowhere near it, so the Southampton 4 at the back had a very easy time just marking Rodrigo out of the game making him look irrelevant.

Bottom line was we tried a system that relies on good wingbacks to solidify the press and allow our other players to incessantly run at them and prevent the opposition from getting out, making them constantly fearful and make mistakes.

But neither Shack nor Dallas offered any of the wingback bit.

Add to it that Roberts did not connect with Klich or the defense or the wingers or with Rodrigo at all, we had only Klich holding the whole midfield on his own, and the whole Bielsa plan fell through right from the start.

Roberts may show some individual; brilliance occasionally and a great technical touch - but when you don't have a clue where to be, how to protect and use your team mates and you can't do the basics, your superb technical skills that are shown once in a game with a single shot are irrelevant.

Yes I have tried to be patient with Roberts but it is hard to argue a case for him deserving a starting place and makes you realise why the Welsh national team rarely utilise him. He needs iether selling or at least loaning out to a championship club in January in exchange for a recognised midfield player if possible.

Agree with everything you say Jonty particularly about Struijk,but don't have faith in Bielsa, he's been here for 4 seasons and defence is as dodgy as ever,no creative midfield and a non existent strike force. Just hope Spurs get a result at Newcastle or we're in the bottom 3.

We've lost our spark or teams have found us out....to be fair we have many injured good players. Back to the drawing board literally for MB who needs to be less stubborn.

3 out of bottom 4 from table this time last season went down.

I'm not sure why Struijk gets a hard time from you Jonty. He was playing cb yesterday not DM by the way. He was no worse there than any of the other CBs playing on the day. Last season our best defence was towards the end of the season with Llorente and Struijk.

comment by Outwood White (U9610)
posted 29 minutes ago
I'm not sure why Struijk gets a hard time from you Jonty. He was playing cb yesterday not DM by the way. He was no worse there than any of the other CBs playing on the day. Last season our best defence was towards the end of the season with Llorente and Struijk.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Because I thought he wasn't;t very good.

Where did I say he was playing CDM?

Well on another thread you said you didn't watch the game.

comment by Outwood White (U9610)
posted 2 minutes ago
Well on another thread you said you didn't watch the game.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Where did I say he played midfield?

Fair enough, you didn't but some on here seem to think he was playing the DM role. My point was he was no worse than Cooper or Llorente so I don't know why he was singled out for criticism.

You get worse by the day...…………….Pascal was playing out of position and every time he plays in his actual position he plays well.

Does your weird hatred of Orta stretch so far that you wont accept any of his earlier youth signings? Sad

comment by Outwood White (U9610)
posted 1 day, 1 hour ago
Fair enough, you didn't but some on here seem to think he was playing the DM role. My point was he was no worse than Cooper or Llorente so I don't know why he was singled out for criticism.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think Cooper gets enough recognition of his shortcomings, the rash cards, I think Llorente is hyped and I'm still on the fence, but I find Struijk is almost revered, maybe because of his physique, but I see someone often out of position, slow to recover and not a player that matches up with the hype.

comment by gelderd82 (U6817)
posted 23 hours, 47 minutes ago
You get worse by the day...…………….Pascal was playing out of position and every time he plays in his actual position he plays well.

Does your weird hatred of Orta stretch so far that you wont accept any of his earlier youth signings? Sad
----------------------------------------------------------------------
So is CB not his position, or are are those like Outwood saying he was playing CB wrong?