Sleep walking into relagation
Does anyone else fear we are sleep walking our way to being relagated this season?
There is always, it seems, a team that drops like a stone into the relagation spots. I'm beginning to think it will be us this season
0
Does anyone else fear we are sleep walking our way to being relagated this season?
There is always, it seems, a team that drops like a stone into the relagation spots. I'm beginning to think it will be us this season
Comments
No
The Sunderland and Shrewsbury games both had positives, along with some brutal punishment.
Trying to stay positive, it suggests we can still pick up the points we need - as long as we play more like in those games, and less like in the Accrington game. The extra rest/preparation time from a weekend off can, hopefully, benefit us.
My biggest worry is how many points we are dropping from winning positions. We aren't scoring many, or keeping them out - which doesn't suggest scraping a 1-0 is likely...
No
I would suggest the only ones sleep walking were the excitable supporters who were talking playoffs when we were playing way above our level earlier this season.
Ainsworth has always talked about 55 points as the target and this is about staying in the league.
So the answer to your question is no and to those who are panicking and suggesting changes get a grip and support the team. With that they will do ok.
'Sleep walking' is an odd turn of phrase. There was certainly nothing in the performance on Saturday to suggest the players are sleep walking. If we can cut out the silly errors we'll be fine, keep throwing games away and we'll be in trouble.
I dont think we are, but i also dont think we are as safe as some people seem to think... its defo twitchy bum time. Tbh, as like at the begginging, if we finish 5th bottom i'll be happy.
I’ve calculated we’ll get 8 points from our last 8. 52 points...will it be enough?? Not sure tbh.
I think everyone was a bit tongue in cheek about play-offs. Most people accepted staying the league was the only target this year. The idea that it was Gareth decision that we lost the good loanees in January is just ridiculous.
This must surely be a WAKE UP call to give the squad the full support of ALL supporters.
No - not sleepwalking. Wide awake, worried but confident we can do it.
Yes - everybody behind the team at Oxford.
@MBS It's a rare occurrence for a team to be relegated from this league on 52 points, though not impossible. I think Fulham were the last to be relegated from this level with 52 points back in 1994, 25 years ago.
Regardless of statistics, I would prefer not to look back 25 years and pessimisticly wonder if the same fate may befall Wycombe. I am instead looking optimistically back 20 years to the anniversary in May of the memorable occasion at Sincil Bank - 20 or so free coaches, 2500+ Wycombe fans, Paul Emblen, etc. - when survival at this level was ensured with less than 10 minutes remaining on the last day of the 1999 season. Great scenes, never to be forgotten.
Heaven above was that 20 years ago? My wife was heavily pregnant with our 1st born at the time. Memorable scenes indeed, wasn't Comanche purchased on that day by the squad?
@Uncle_T indeed that is a good memory, although I find it hard to believe it was 20yrs ago!
It was a much less hostile time as I recall (not so much social media, I suppose) because I seem to remember the Lincoln fans be very gracious to us in spite of our win consigning them to relegation.
By virtue of poor positioning of my index finger on this tiny iPhone screen, I’ve managed to switch @Uncle_T from one thumbs up to zero and then back to the two which his post thoroughly deserves!
The pockets of pessimism which have crept into both social media and to a lesser extent this forum are understandable (and I am not immune) but there have surely been extenuating circumstances over the past few weeks. We have played several top six teams and a long-standing bogey side in Accrington; suffered a debilitating virus which players probably take a couple of weeks to recover fully from; and of course the suspension of one of our paciest and most experienced players.
When the going gets tough and all that...... and I think there is still enough of that togetherness and battling spirit in the squad to get us over the line.
Now is the time to really get behind the lads and if we can get 1200-1500 to Oxford on 30 March for a game that will be played in a tremendous Cup Final atmosphere, I feel quietly confident that we
can take a giant stride towards that survival target.
Thank goodness for Micra, so often the voice of reason.
Without for a second even creeping down the "blame the manager" path some of our lesser reasoned fans go with, is there at least a small element that your manager talking about a "relegation battle" when you're as high as 11th or so isn't the best thing to hear?
I take your point but he’s often criticised for putting a gloss on things and one FB regular said ‘Why oh why can’t he just tell the truth after games’ so he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Well as Dev pointed out, the odds on us getting relegated are currently 8-1 (which is more than Blackpool incidentally who are 6-1 so someone must think something bad may be coming their way given that they are already on 53 points!).
I know it doesn't prove anything other than people with a rational (and financial interest) view of these things tend to think its quite unlikely whereas those of an irrational and emotional nature think it likely.
A point against all the clubs around/below us and a win at home to Fleetwood in the last game of the season and we'll be fine. Well, apart from our health.
I actually think the Charlton game will be the turning point, with a comeback 2-1 win although I do have the horrible feeling we may be in the relegation zone by the time we come to that
With the regards to the loanees, Morris was never going to stay - we'd have been priced out of any deal, but he was on the brink of joining Luton and subsequently did, of course, join Pompey, for a reason - they're at a level/standard he ought to be playing in future, one he wasn't ever likely to reach with us.
As for Onyedinma, only the club know all the details, but I don't believe for a minute that we wouldn't have snapped him up had all the ducks been in line - just one of those things that didn't pan out, maybe we'll succeed in summer if we're still in L1.
And who's to say Owens and Bolton weren't initially brought in with the intention of serving as direct replacements? Indeed, who's to say we won't see them excel in the remaining games - it doesn't seem too likely, especially in the case of the former, but there's always the possibility.
There are just as many 'what ifs' about the departed Saunders and CMS - fact is, they're gone, nothing we can do.
There's no doubt that Bryn and Fred have been big misses - and Randell to an extent, although he wasn't on the same level - but I'm not sure what more we could have done in the window, there are generally fewer loan players around come Jan - if you consider those already on season-long loans - and very few free agents. Obviously we used our one paid transfer for the season/two seasons on McCarthy.
The old boys probably are feeling the effects of a long season, but they're just going to have to push on - and they can, as evidenced by displays such as the Sunderland one. The late mistakes/mental lapses are what's costing us - they should, in theory, be simple to rectify. And we've got 2 weeks to do that!
I'd never have had El-Abd down as one of out "paciest" players...
(Yes, I do know. Just trying to lighten the mood again. It never works though. I'll leave it to the Wendovers of this world who seem to manage it reasonably effortlessly. God help this forum if Richie persuades the Luton forum to put a bid in for him)
The CMS situation is interesting.
If we were to stay up, most likely it'd be best if he went elsewhere.
If we were to go down, he'd most likely have more chance of starting more games!
Hopefully we don't find out for sure!
indeed @bookertease is it any surprise that his return has coincided with such a dramatic upturn in our fortunes?
I think @bookertease knew who I was referring to and it certainly wasn’t the former Shrewsbury stalwart! Or were you just playing along in some obscure and unwendoveran fashion?
@micra nope...i'm just confused now. But that is becoming common. Not sure I should be allowed a legacy vote.
@th100 brings up an interesting point in McCarthy eating up a significant amount of the player budget. Given that we already had Harriman in that position - a very decent player who now can't get a game - there may be questions to ask at the end of the season as to whether he was a luxury signing we could not afford, given the obvious constraint Gareth found himself in come the January transfer window. There are also questions that need asking about how much player budget we wasted giving Saunders a new contract then never playing him; giving CMS a new contract then barely playing him; and signing Darius Charles - a player with a history of bad injuries who wasn't even able to train in the summer after we signed him - a total waste of money.
Hopefully we'll stay up and won't need to dwell on these questions. But Gareth has to take responsibility for managing his playing budget and January's inability to replace players leaving suggest it was not well managed for the first half of the season. That has had serious consequences, leaving the squad greatly weakened - something we're reaping the rewards of now.
I would like to add that I'm fully supportive of GA and the squad.
I also certainly didn't ever think / get carried away with prospects of play-offs.
However our form is worrying. The number of dropped points from winning positions is also becoming a concern.
Runs both positive and negative can become difficult to break. I just fear we have hit a bad run of form just at the wrong time of the year.
Also, can't believe its 20 years since Lincoln. Time has flown
Get to the Oxford game if you can @Steve_Guppys_left_leg. It’ll be a cracker.
Haha snap on the wife pregnant with first born thing. He’s now a loyal supporter, glad to say
McCarthy has been the second best player this year I think, a substantial upgrade over Harriman.
Sure, the signings of Saunders and Charles haven’t worked out, but Thompson most certainly has. It would be entirely unfair to point out the signings that haven’t worked without also recognising the ones that have.