The expected defeat at Man City is over and done with and we now have twelve matches only to save our season and safeguard our position in the PL. At least we kept the score semi-respectable at City, but the performance was an absolute disgrace and on that showing we look completely cream crackered.
We are back in the bottom three following results at weekend, but it remains hard to call and very tight for the 5 teams involved. Others Rovers fans seem to believe that Villa, Swansea or West Brom may get dragged down but with 29, 30 and 32 points respectively I think they are scraping the barrel. I believe it to be 3 from 5 that will go down.
Forgetting United, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea for a minute would leave us 8 fixtures against teams we would normally hope to be competitive against whether home or away. I think we need to win four of them to give ourselves an even chance of survival, but past results prove that to be highly unlikely under Kean, so we may yet have to rely on a suprise result against a bigger outfit.
I predicted last week we would get 14 points from the last 13 games so will stick with that. It is now 14 points from 12 games following the City defeat and having seen I have predicted us to beat Villa I am worrying myself now!!!
QPR have not had the immediate run of better form most expected after recruiting Hughes and also waxing a few quid, but I expect them to regroup and improve. Wolves have changed managers also, recruited from within and claimed a good point from 2-0 down at the barcodes, so I will watch with interest how they go. Bolton and Wigan are clearly just as bad as us and should be very worried for their PL futures.
Many are predicting that failure to beat Norwich will see us relegated.
Can we get some quick results against the lesser teams over the next four games in the matches Kean has again said are 'winnable'?
16 Wolves - P26 -21 - P22
17 QPR - P26 -18 - P21
18 Blackburn - P26 -22 - P21
19 Bolton - P26 -25 - P20
20 Wigan - P26 -27 - P20
3rd March - Rovers v Villa - 3 points
10th March - Wolves v Rovers - 1 point
17th March - Rovers v Sunderland - 1 point
24th March - Bolton v Rovers - 1 point
2nd April - Rovers v Man United - 0 points
7th April - WBA v Rovers - 1 point
9th April - Rovers v Liverpool - 1 point
14th April - Swansea v Rovers - 0 points
21st April - Rovers v Norwich - 3 points
28th April - Spurs v Rovers - 0 points
5th May - Rovers v Wigan - 3 points
13th May - Chelsea v Rovers - 0 points
Final Countdown - Part Two
posted on 29/2/12
Agree with others that clean sheets = prizes and also with Wild Rover than one major positive is that we still carry and retain a goal threat going forward.
The downside being that we are wide open at the back and with a new back four of Orr, Dann, Hanley and MO have little experience or cover.
Clearly it is all still to play for and we are no worse than the others, but we just do not obtain consistent results under VenKean and it is hard to predict where our points will come from.
posted on 29/2/12
Diarra, whilst undoubtedly better than the majority of our midfielders, is not a defender. As shown by N'zonzi's stint at the back at the start of the season, it's not enough to be decent in the tackle and good in the air.
Defending is mainly about positional play and I don't think M.Diarra would have been a good option.
Nonetheless, I'm surprised we didn't at least attempt to bring him in.
posted on 29/2/12
"Nonetheless, I'm surprised we didn't at least attempt to bring him in."
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I'm not,sadly. The guy used to play for Real Madrid!
Imagine Aruna Chuckle being told how much his wage demands would be, she'd laugh her head off!
posted on 29/2/12
Great article, as always OOJW.
posted on 29/2/12
Hate saying this but weve got the wost god awful defence in the premier and that will cost us long term.
posted on 29/2/12
"Hate saying this but weve got the wost god awful defence in the premier and that will cost us long term."
You are quite right star. Clean sheets urgently required and have been all season!!
Thanks DD, but this was just a recap of last weeks article as the countdown to the Championship begins....
posted on 1/3/12
I did the beeb predictor first realistically and got 14 points which equals almost certain relegation.
I then did it with blue and white tinted glasses and got to 39 and possible relegation.
It's sad that even in my hopeful heart it's hard to see past the drop.
In the past, 12 games realistic versus hope may have been a 10 or 12 point split, now it's 4...
posted on 1/3/12
To reach any conclusion, you've got to do the predictor for all the teams at the bottom, not just one. Everybody has a tough fixture list.
posted on 2/3/12
True, but I have to pretend to work at some point!
There is also the small chance that we may be one of those teams that have one of those unbelievable runs picking up unexpected points.
Not due to Kean directly but indirectly, the players just decide eff it and start to play!
posted on 2/3/12
Lots of six pointers in the mini-league at the bottom which are difficult to predict. A win for Rovers on Saturday and Villa could be drawn into the mini-league too. Rovers should have the whole squad fit - what team will Kean choose? Villa look out of sorts and will be without Bent and Keane. Let's hope for all three points.