The 3 to go down

Starting this early.
 
Sadly as a Villa fan the bottom half holds more interest for me than the top half.
 
So with just over 3 weeks till the prem kicks off, my 3 to drop are.
 
Swansea
WBA
Burnley.
 
Swansea - Just think they will go, no real reason
WBA - Not to exciting in terms of manager, poor squad(ok rich coming from a Villa fan I know).
Burnley -  Dont think they will have enough to survive.

Console yourself with this Westy
http://www.myfootballfacts.com/All-TimeTopFlightPointsTable1888-89to2010-11.html
and bask in your top 5 glory.

Makes good reading.
 
Remember when we were hot on the heels of Man Utd.
Pushed them all the way in the first prem season.
 
Ah the good old days.
Least we can say we are one of 7 teams never to be relegated from the prem.

Can't see Burnley being good enough, and WBA don't seem to be trying very hard to stay up. QPR will probably throw enough money around to finish 17th and force us all to listen to how 'Arry's a genius for not getting relegated with a side that gets paid like a CL team. Fancy Leicester to stay up for some reason, so I'll say Hull for the last relegation spot.

Hull did well last season and have bought some decent players so far in the summer. Can't see them going down.

Hull: Sophomore slump + European football + some fairly pants signing means trouble for me. Plus Bruce is a fairly mediocre manager.

Leicester: Good Championship squad, not sure its PL quality. Same goes for Pearson really, wouldn't surprise me if he was the first manager to go.

West Brom: Tipped them last year. You can only beat the odds moneywise for so long.

Hull - They didn't finish the season too well and I can see their poor league form continuing into this season.
Swansea - They seem to be losing their best players. It really all depends on what Gomis can do from them.
Burnley - I don''t think they will have the stamina or the squad to last the pace. They may start off well but I can see the slump starting just before Christmas.

Hull, Leicester and Burnley to go down. (In that order, 18-20)

Swansea and West Bromwich to teeter and wobble but, ultimately, survive.

I'd be pretty convinced so far that Leicester will go. West Brom are candidates, so are Burnley and QPR. Don't think Villa or Sunderland have fixed any problems. And Palace will have to see if all the heart will keep them here or if second season syndrome strikes after they struggle to add quality.

I have no concerns for the others.

Leicester, West Brom and West Ham.

Leicester,West Brom & Villa

Hero wrote:Leicester, West Brom and West Ham.

You're such a little troll

Genuinely they could though. Fat Sam knows his style of football, trying to placate the fans with a more attacking outlook could drastically backfire.

Meh, we don't play the media reported football for the majority of the time, and we still survived last year with a huge injury list and no alternatives to cover them, nor to support from the bench. Our squad is already a lot stronger and will get stronger still, so I'm not too worried. I'd be very surprised if Reid, Tomkins and Collins were all out injured at the same time again, and even so we'll grab another centre back before the window closes. We also now finally have cover for Carroll being injured, which we had none of at the start of the season as we didn't even have Carlton

Neither will we go "attacking" either, it was used to placate the fans for now and to give the board an out at the end of the season when Sam's contract is up.

Saying all that, we generally go down when things are looking good.

That's something with West Ham too, you're always the side that looks too good to go down, then goes down.

My three to go down

QPR
Hull
Newcastle

As it stands at the moment i'd pick QPR, Burnley and Villa to go down. QPR squad needs major work at the moment, and it seems that Redknapp is struggling to get his targets. I think Burnley will be game, but lack depth. I really fear for Villa. Their signings don't inspire confidence and Lerner's not going to put his hand in his pocket. The club needs new owners desperately.

Hero wrote:That's something with West Ham too, you're always the side that looks too good to go down, then goes down.

Yup, it's how we roll. We'll be fine as long as our pre-season has a loss or two. Uncle Avram's group went unbeaten and looked really good. Then he got to know the team and his influence grew, and we died inside.

And the time before that, I still hate listing the quality of players we had. Defoe, Kanoute, Di Canio, Carrick, Cole but a few. Even the mighty Rufus Brevett and Les Ferdinand.

18. Southampton
19. Burnley
20. Leicester

Managerial appointments at Swansea (I count it as reasonably fresh with his first real season), Southampton and WBA could all be interesting and important.

Olly wrote:My three to go down

QPR
Hull
Newcastle

  

We might be bad....but you aint getting rid of us that easily...

GeordieFalcon wrote:

Olly wrote:My three to go down

QPR
Hull
Newcastle

  

We might be bad....but you aint getting rid of us that easily...

Just what I think. I've been proven to be wildly wrong all the time anyways

Fernando wrote:Leicester,West Brom & Villa

I'll have no local games to go to.

I think we will stay up. I predict 15th place.

The 3 to go down will be Burnley, Hull and Southampton.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:

Hero wrote:That's something with West Ham too, you're always the side that looks too good to go down, then goes down.

Yup, it's how we roll. We'll be fine as long as our pre-season has a loss or two. Uncle Avram's group went unbeaten and looked really good. Then he got to know the team and his influence grew, and we died inside.

And the time before that, I still hate listing the quality of players we had. Defoe, Kanoute, Di Canio, Carrick, Cole but a few. Even the mighty Rufus Brevett and Les Ferdinand.

It's just too easy to predict. Andy Carroll rumoured to be out for 2-4 months. We'll be going into the loan market for a striker unless Zarate keeps scoring in pre-season

Whats up with Carol...is it the same injury or different ones?

A new one, ankle. Nothing been fully confirmed with timescale so its all a bit guesswork.

With that injury being fully confirmed as 4 months, our chairman doing an impromptu interview on TalkSport tonight where he claimed the club wanted Ravel and would keep him whether Sam liked it or not, that none of our signings in the past two years have justified their fees and that no one bids for our players cos they are not good enough to take from us...its going to get ugly.

18. Leicester
19. West Ham
20. Burnley

Chin up, leagues terrible - will be 3 worse teams than west ham (though not to watch...)

Least your lot were worse to watch than us last year   , that doesnt happen often even when we're good. If we don't struggle we'll play decent enough stuff, if we do we won't. Which is how it goes for mid to relegation level sides generally.

I hope West Ham go down. Living in the past and a pointless team.

Palace, Swansea and Burnley.

super_realist wrote:I hope West Ham go down. Living in the past and a pointless team.

Idiot

Bite

Don't make me call you Nick, I don't wanna have to do that

I don't think anyone does

Maybe hes like Beetlejuice

West Ham will be fine i reckon.

10-13th.

I'm beginning to fear for Swansea at this rate. Looked in a precarious enough position throughout last season and so far have been surrendering their core players far too meekly for my liking. The exchange of Davies+Vorm for Sigurdsson (not a bad player but still) in particular was an uncharacteristically awful decision imo.

im going for

villa
WBA
Burnley

to go down, also think leicester and swansea will be right down there.

if west ham get rid of allaydce they may well be down there there. seen it with bolton and blackburn when they get rid of him because he doesn't play "football" the new manager comes in and tries to do with his players and fails dramatically. everybody then remembers big sam actually does a decent job

Burnley, Southampton and Hull

compelling and rich wrote:
if west ham get rid of allaydce they may well be down there there. seen it with bolton and blackburn when they get rid of him because he doesn't play "football" the new manager comes in and tries to do with his players and fails dramatically. everybody then remembers big sam actually does a decent job

I HATE this viewpoint. Means that, in theory, once Allardyce is your manager he should remain your manager until the end of time. Ignores that he has clearly not built well rounded squads, his successors have never been any good, or the timescale involved in some of these decisions.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:
if west ham get rid of allaydce they may well be down there there. seen it with bolton and blackburn when they get rid of him because he doesn't play "football" the new manager comes in and tries to do with his players and fails dramatically. everybody then remembers big sam actually does a decent job

I HATE this viewpoint. Means that, in theory, once Allardyce is your manager he should remain your manager until the end of time. Ignores that he has clearly not built well rounded squads, his successors have never been any good, or the timescale involved in some of these decisions.

no not at all, my view point is simple. sam is a brilliant manager at getting teams into and staying in the prem, something which for west ham who have only just returned to the top flight is more than enough for any sensible fan, feel your owners are clowns who think they know best in footballing terms.

his style isnt everybody's cup of tea, but ask a bolton or blackburn fan if they would take west hams position now and they would snap your hand off, the grass isnt always greener on the other side. im pretty confident that if you sack him, you'll regret it

Bolton and Blackburn weren't wrong to get rid of Allardyce, like Pulis he has a shelf life with fans and the way he plays it doesn't last long.

Unlike Stoke however Bolton and Blackburn didn't make a good appointment after Allardyce left.

cant say im convinced hughes is a great appointment either if im honest, time will tell

the difference was bolton and blackburn got managers in trying to play attacking football, just like those clowns at west ham will. not realising that having a defensively solid team is one of the most important aspects for any club to stay in the prem. the managers coming will have there hands tied at what they need to do and the team suffers for it

lets face it allardyce has done a lot more in football than sullivan and gold have. remind me where birmingham are now? oh yeah they sold them down the river

compelling and rich wrote:

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:
if west ham get rid of allaydce they may well be down there there. seen it with bolton and blackburn when they get rid of him because he doesn't play "football" the new manager comes in and tries to do with his players and fails dramatically. everybody then remembers big sam actually does a decent job

I HATE this viewpoint. Means that, in theory, once Allardyce is your manager he should remain your manager until the end of time. Ignores that he has clearly not built well rounded squads, his successors have never been any good, or the timescale involved in some of these decisions.

no not at all, my view point is simple. sam is a brilliant manager at getting teams into and staying in the prem, something which for west ham who have only just returned to the top flight is more than enough for any sensible fan, feel your owners are clowns who think they know best in footballing terms.

his style isnt everybody's cup of tea, but ask a bolton or blackburn fan if they would take west hams position now and they would snap your hand off, the grass isnt always greener on the other side. im pretty confident that if you sack him, you'll regret it

I don't really care if he goes or stays at the moment based on his past work, its the atmosphere at the club and his negligent transfers, as well as his favourites in the squad, that worry me. He's pretty well paid, got to discuss his future with the board rather than a decision being made on the back of nothing, and doesnt have it too bad with our owners really. Sullivan is a knob, and speaks a little too much, but hes not completely out of hand and they support him.

The style thing is the least of my concerns, its something that he'll get bashed with however we play.

He won't get sacked due to performances, it'll be due to the poison atmosphere he has created.

Manager done more in football than owners shock!

After leaving Bolton they hired...Sammy Lee. Still, not relegated for 4 or 5 years.

After sacking at the Toon they hired Keegan and finished in 12th. The season after Keegan left and they hired Joe Kinnear, before he got ill and Shearer came in. Thats when they were relegated. Ownership barmy times.

Blackburn? Steve Kean. Kept them up that year then got relegated in his own full season. Lets not ignore the mental ownership and complete lack of investment here either.

Its not exactly a glowing list of recruitment prospects.

your pretty near my point there dolph, stupid owners take over sack alladyce not long after they get relegated. should be a warning to west ham fans and i really dont think alladyce is the only one causing the poisonous atmosphere when your lot are constantly gobbing off to the media, just what you need as a manager

i also think there are a lot of stupid west hams fans that jumped on the this isnt west hams way of playing football rubbish, as in my life time ive never known west ham to be particularly brilliant to watch, you wont be when your losing more often than not

think they all must have very good memories of the 60's side   

You wouldnt understand. We've always had a desire and always attempted to do a certain way. Its not about achieving it, so much, as the intent. We were soft as Poopie and lost a lot cos of it, but we tried it. We played nice players like Rio, Carrick, Lampard and Cole even though they gave us no steel. We had those ridiculous games like the 5-4 with Bradford. Its not about winning. Its not something we've "jumped on" it is something every West Ham fan will get told and will talk about as they grow up.

And they don't gob off too much, really. Sullivan made one call which was stupid, but hes not particularly insulting. And he backs him with money for players, although not huge, still some. He brought in Nolan when we were relegated etc. I'm not a big Sullivan fan, but hes not the Venkys and hes not Ashley in that period.

And the 60's side isn't the one they'd be thinking of or harking back to. Its the lads in the 80s