The Bottom Half

[bobadji]

With us being a solid top half outfit this season, I haven't really paid much attention to who'll be going down. Here's 10th down to the bottom, it's extremly tight with 8 points seperating 10, who do you think will go down?

10 Sunderland 19 22
11 Stoke City 18 21
12 Blackburn 19 20
13 Burnley 19 20
14 Everton 18 19
15 Wolves 19 19
16 Wigan Athletic 18 19
17 West Ham Utd 19 18
18 Bolton 17 17
19 Hull City 19 17
20 Portsmouth 19 14

(played on the left, points on the right)

I'll go for Hull, Bolton and Wolves. I think Grant is good enough to get Pompy away from trouble in the end, but it'll be close with them and West Ham.

[MaineRoadMemories]

It's been like this for a couple of season's now. It must be mad to be in this situation as a supporter where one week you're in the bottom 3 and then 2 wins/weeks later you are in 10th looking up towards Europa.

[carl_feedthegoat]

It's been like this for a couple of season's now. It must be mad to be in this situation as a supporter where one week you're in the bottom 3 and then 2 wins/weeks later you are in 10th looking up towards Europa.

MAD AS A SUPPORTER ???? FUCKING HELL WE USED TO BE THERE ALL THE TIME!!!

[MaineRoadMemories]

It's been like this for a couple of season's now. It must be mad to be in this situation as a supporter where one week you're in the bottom 3 and then 2 wins/weeks later you are in 10th looking up towards Europa.

MAD AS A SUPPORTER ???? FUCKING HELL WE USED TO BE THERE ALL THE TIME!!!

I only remember been cut adrift in the bottom 5 with no chance of mid table safety :-)

[gillie]

With us being a solid top half outfit this season, I haven't really paid much attention to who'll be going down. Here's 10th down to the bottom, it's extremly tight with 8 points seperating 10, who do you think will go down?

10 Sunderland 19 22
11 Stoke City 18 21
12 Blackburn 19 20
13 Burnley 19 20
14 Everton 18 19
15 Wolves 19 19
16 Wigan Athletic 18 19
17 West Ham Utd 19 18
18 Bolton 17 17
19 Hull City 19 17
20 Portsmouth 19 14

(played on the left, points on the right)

I'll go for Hull, Bolton and Wolves. I think Grant is good enough to get Pompy away from trouble in the end, but it'll be close with them and West Ham.

I will go for Pompey,Hull and Bolton to go down.

[10.Goater_Legend]

Pompey, Hull and Wolves for me.

[Mark (Blue Army)]

ill say Portsmouth,Bolton and wolves to go down!!

[john68]

Cheers for pointing out the bottom half Bob. I'd not given it a look and was suprised just how open it is.

Looks like Pompey are going for the drop, Bolton going would be fun....and wouldn't Gollum be well pissed if Everton took a tumble.

[gillie]

Cheers for pointing out the bottom half Bob. I'd not given it a look and was suprised just how open it is.

Looks like Pompey are going for the drop, Bolton going would be fun....and wouldn't Gollum be well pissed if Everton took a tumble.

Everton wont go down John but it would be a sense of satisfaction if they did after Gollum trying to dick us over Lescott "Oh wait he did dick us he got 9million quid more than he should have for him".

[Colin the King]

I think from that lot, Sunderland and Everton have a lot of quality between them and will both end up in mid table. Stoke are fantastic at home so I think they'll pick up enough points there to be safe. I'd hate to see West Ham relegated and would be amazed if they did- on their day they play some of the most attractive football in the country and have some excellent players. They've had a rough run of games recently but maybe the three points yesterday will kick them into shape. Who knows, they might even do us a favour tomorrow afternoon. With players like Cole, Parker, Upson and really promising talents from the academy, they should have enough quality not only to stay but do so quite comfortably in the end.

It's less clear cut for the rest- Blackburn are a decent side on paper but leaking quite a lot of goals this season but Allardyce for all his faults is a good manager and I reckon they'll grind out crucial wins against sides around them to stay up. Burnley are so inconsistent, scoring and conceding a lot. They're probably the weakest bunch of players on paper in the league but they have character and an excellent manager- I think they'll just edge it but suffer from a dose of the Readings next season. Wigan are another team who are really inconsistent. Beating Chelsea, then shipping nine at Spurs, winning at Villa and getting thumped at home...it's impossible to know what they'll do next. They do have some really impressive players- I've been particularly impressed by Rodallega- but at times their football is a little too pretty and that could be their downfall.

I think Bolton will escape in the end- they might be in the bottom three at the moment but two wins from their two games in hand and they're up to ninth! Really illustrates how crazy the league is at the minute. I like Megson and hope they survive, and with players like Taylor, Davies and Cahill there's no reason why they can't. It's become a footballing cliché that they play rough, boring football but any time I've seen them they've been decent enough on the ball- there are certainly worse culprits.

So that leaves Wolves, Hull and Portsmouth who I think will be relegated- Wolves have plenty of endeavour and some decent players but overall, they're championship quality and when quality sides have attacked them it's shown. I think they're forever destined to be a yo-yo club along with West Brom. Hull are severely lacking in quality- take Bullard out and you just don't see where they can create anything from. They got lucky by surviving on the last day last season but I think the luck will run out on them come May. Portsmouth have some good players and Grant is a decent manager but there's no cutting edge or consistency. They might win a couple of big games at home, like against Liverpool last week, but when it counts they go missing.

[CityFanFromRome]

I just hope WHU won't go down. I'd like for Wolves, Bolton and Blackburn to go down, but of these probably only Wolves will.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I think from that lot, Sunderland and Everton have a lot of quality between them and will both end up in mid table. Stoke are fantastic at home so I think they'll pick up enough points there to be safe. I'd hate to see West Ham relegated and would be amazed if they did- on their day they play some of the most attractive football in the country and have some excellent players. They've had a rough run of games recently but maybe the three points yesterday will kick them into shape. Who knows, they might even do us a favour tomorrow afternoon. With players like Cole, Parker, Upson and really promising talents from the academy, they should have enough quality not only to stay but do so quite comfortably in the end.

It's less clear cut for the rest- Blackburn are a decent side on paper but leaking quite a lot of goals this season but Allardyce for all his faults is a good manager and I reckon they'll grind out crucial wins against sides around them to stay up. Burnley are so inconsistent, scoring and conceding a lot. They're probably the weakest bunch of players on paper in the league but they have character and an excellent manager- I think they'll just edge it but suffer from a dose of the Readings next season. Wigan are another team who are really inconsistent. Beating Chelsea, then shipping nine at Spurs, winning at Villa and getting thumped at home...it's impossible to know what they'll do next. They do have some really impressive players- I've been particularly impressed by Rodallega- but at times their football is a little too pretty and that could be their downfall.

I think Bolton will escape in the end- they might be in the bottom three at the moment but two wins from their two games in hand and they're up to ninth! Really illustrates how crazy the league is at the minute. I like Megson and hope they survive, and with players like Taylor, Davies and Cahill there's no reason why they can't. It's become a footballing cliché that they play rough, boring football but any time I've seen them they've been decent enough on the ball- there are certainly worse culprits.

So that leaves Wolves, Hull and Portsmouth who I think will be relegated- Wolves have plenty of endeavour and some decent players but overall, they're championship quality and when quality sides have attacked them it's shown. I think they're forever destined to be a yo-yo club along with West Brom. Hull are severely lacking in quality- take Bullard out and you just don't see where they can create anything from. They got lucky by surviving on the last day last season but I think the luck will run out on them come May. Portsmouth have some good players and Grant is a decent manager but there's no cutting edge or consistency. They might win a couple of big games at home, like against Liverpool last week, but when it counts they go missing.

as always, pretty much what I was thinking EXCEPT I don't think Wolves will go down. They are pretty decent side imo. McCarthy isn't really top flight manager though. In fact, they could do worse than offer Hughes ticket back to game.

[Alex Sapphire]

for me Pompey are "doomed", Burnley are dropping a bit like a stone after a decent start and Brown doesn't have the protection of a good start that made last season just safe. Hull down

[Alex Sapphire]

for me Pompey are "doomed", Burnley are dropping a bit like a stone after a decent start and Brown doesn't have the protection of a good start that made last season just safe. Hull down

[mcfc1632]

For me - I hope justice will prevail

On a Saturday you win away at Spurs and the Scum get beat at home

Then a couple of days later you are away again and drop your entire team of outfield players to cave into the scum and allow them to rest some players - absolute disgrace

All right thinking football fans must want Wolves to be relegated - bet we see a strong team tonight!!

[Crossie]

I HOPE Bolton go down, cant fucking stand them. Along with Pompey and Hull.

[Mase]

I HOPE Bolton go down, cant fucking stand them. Along with Pompey and Hull.

Saved me typing it mate.

[simon12]

Hull Notlob and Wolves for me. My choice would be Wigan Notlob Burnblack if you could vote.

[walmai]

With us being a solid top half outfit this season, I haven't really paid much attention to who'll be going down. Here's 10th down to the bottom, it's extremly tight with 8 points seperating 10, who do you think will go down?

I'll go for Hull, Bolton and Wolves. I think Grant is good enough to get Pompy away from trouble in the end, but it'll be close with them and West Ham.

Interestingly, some teams had great starts but have faded very badly. Sunderland have lost as many games as West Ham (and not won in 9). Stoke have not won now since October and have developped a total inability to see out a 1-0 to a victory. Everton's defence is causing Moyes all kind of trouble, despite his having strengthened it in parts. And they're the teams that you'd expect to be OK. I'd lump Blackburn in there too, despite their having a fairly barren front-line.

For me any two of the following teams could follow Portsmouth:

Bolton
WHU
Wigan
Burnley
Hull.

Portsmouth will not get out of the bottom three. They are transfer-embargoed and losing their best to either ACN or the vultures in the top half who need a reserve keeper or centre half.

Bolton have sharp enough elbows to stay up, but I sense (despite the standard victory over us recently) that there are real fault-lines between Megson - the fans - the players and they have only smatterings of quality in their sqaud (Cahill and Jussi are not having great seasons).

West Ham's injury problems are still the main problem for our otherwise minimal squad. However, we've got each and every relegation contender at home (bar Burnley in the 2nd half of the season), so, if we go down, we deserve it frankly. Parker will drag us up the table, assisted by Cole (when he gets back to fitness), Collison, Behrami and Franco. Not a vintage West Ham side, but we should hopefully shade other teams.

Wigan have the most inconsistent team in the Premiership but I think they have the strength to play themselves out of trouble.

Hull maybe don't. I think that they were very lucky to survive last season and that they have no funds to strengthen in the window. There's insufficient quality in their side and, frankly, not enough grit either.

Burnley's away form is dire. But I think that they will win enough games at home to just squeak through.

I predict

18 Bolton
19 Hull
20 Portsmouth

(but 18th could go to any team 13th or below if injuries and bad form take a grip).

[King Kev]

I just want Wolves to go down. Any team that throws a game like they did at the swamp doesn't deserve to be in the top tier.

A sound stuffing by us today to send them on their way will make me very happy.