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I was extremely disappointed on our performance against Chelsea. On reflection though it was no real surprise, recently our away performances have been awful and we are hanging in with a chance simply because at home we have great fans who have made Loftus Road a fortress and the players have suddenly stepped up a gear in given back tremendous effort in trying to secure premiership status.
I suspect the same atmosphere this Sunday though it will all depend on what happens on Wednesday night at the Reebok. I feel that Aston Villa have enough points in the locker and I cannot see Wigan not beating Wolves last game of the season. Amazingly, it could well be the lack of a point at WBA that could cost us.
The most important game this season could turn out to be Bolton V Spurs on Wednesday evening with the result probably defining where we finish. Many pros and cons in going back down to The Championship. We will still have the parachute payments and will probably keep the nucleus of the squad though the point remains we brought in some unwanted players from The Premiership and those players will find it hard to find a premiership club willing to take a gamble on their services. We must have at least a couple of players who will not want to play in The Championship.
We know from experience that getting promoted from The Championship is no easy task and early season favourites West Ham United now have to go through the lottery of the Play Offs, it’s not a given we would be automatically promoted next season.
Do we still have a chance of staying in the Premiership? I think that depends on Spurs winning at Bolton a feat they have not managed in years. If Bolton get any kind of result on Wednesday night, then we would need something from Manchester City which at this stage of the season looks extremely unlikely and I am not even convinced that if they have no chance of winning The Premiership that we will get anything from that game.
Let’s assume Bolton lose to Spurs and the incentive surely must be for Tottenham to really go for it based on the fact that leaves them a point behind Arsenal with 2 games to go for the 3rd place.
I would suspect Bolton will beat WBA at home and that leaves us with having to beat Stoke City to leave a last day decider where its Stoke v Bolton and us against Manchester City. If we can get to the final Sunday its evens stevens in my opinion as Stoke won';t want to lose at home final game of the season and if we have a any fingernails they will be gone by the final whistle. If Bolton get any kind of result v Spurs than I fear it would deflate the fans, it would deflate the players and I suspect our destiny will be decided by 4pm on Sunday.
Our season was not defined by what happened at Stamford Bridge its over 38 games that counts. We could also rue certain decisions against us but in the main it happens to all clubs in a relegation battle. In regards the sending offs, that’s been down to our bad discipline and you only argue that Shaun Derry never deserved to get sent off against Manchester United. Our away form has been poor and whilst hindsight is a wonderful thing the fact remains we probably brought in Mark Hughes 4-6 weeks too late.
I will leave my post-mortems to survival or relegation is assured but we have to learn the lessons from this season and reflect on where it went wrong. Teams like Swansea, Fulham, Norwich, Stoke and Everton have shown you can survive on different ideas and ethics.
I suspect the same atmosphere this Sunday though it will all depend on what happens on Wednesday night at the Reebok. I feel that Aston Villa have enough points in the locker and I cannot see Wigan not beating Wolves last game of the season. Amazingly, it could well be the lack of a point at WBA that could cost us.
The most important game this season could turn out to be Bolton V Spurs on Wednesday evening with the result probably defining where we finish. Many pros and cons in going back down to The Championship. We will still have the parachute payments and will probably keep the nucleus of the squad though the point remains we brought in some unwanted players from The Premiership and those players will find it hard to find a premiership club willing to take a gamble on their services. We must have at least a couple of players who will not want to play in The Championship.
We know from experience that getting promoted from The Championship is no easy task and early season favourites West Ham United now have to go through the lottery of the Play Offs, it’s not a given we would be automatically promoted next season.
Do we still have a chance of staying in the Premiership? I think that depends on Spurs winning at Bolton a feat they have not managed in years. If Bolton get any kind of result on Wednesday night, then we would need something from Manchester City which at this stage of the season looks extremely unlikely and I am not even convinced that if they have no chance of winning The Premiership that we will get anything from that game.
Let’s assume Bolton lose to Spurs and the incentive surely must be for Tottenham to really go for it based on the fact that leaves them a point behind Arsenal with 2 games to go for the 3rd place.
I would suspect Bolton will beat WBA at home and that leaves us with having to beat Stoke City to leave a last day decider where its Stoke v Bolton and us against Manchester City. If we can get to the final Sunday its evens stevens in my opinion as Stoke won';t want to lose at home final game of the season and if we have a any fingernails they will be gone by the final whistle. If Bolton get any kind of result v Spurs than I fear it would deflate the fans, it would deflate the players and I suspect our destiny will be decided by 4pm on Sunday.
Our season was not defined by what happened at Stamford Bridge its over 38 games that counts. We could also rue certain decisions against us but in the main it happens to all clubs in a relegation battle. In regards the sending offs, that’s been down to our bad discipline and you only argue that Shaun Derry never deserved to get sent off against Manchester United. Our away form has been poor and whilst hindsight is a wonderful thing the fact remains we probably brought in Mark Hughes 4-6 weeks too late.
I will leave my post-mortems to survival or relegation is assured but we have to learn the lessons from this season and reflect on where it went wrong. Teams like Swansea, Fulham, Norwich, Stoke and Everton have shown you can survive on different ideas and ethics.
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