The season so far

[windermere_royal]

Stoke . would have been expected to win this one took a point

Chelsea. nobody would have xpected us to get anything from this, expected defeat.

Spurs, again a game we really didn`t expect to get anything from, but a poorperformance, blamed largely on the long break.


West Brom. if we want to stay up this was a game we would want to take a point from, defeat.

Newcastle. any of us would have taken a point before kick off, but ultimately disappointed not to win it.

Swansea. as above, but fortunate to come away with a point.

Liverpool, one of the so called big boys who if we take points off them would be a big bonus.

So in summary I see 3 points off our expected ponts tally at this point of the season (2 dropped against Stoke and 1 against WBA)
November will be a huge Month for us with games against teams we will be expected to take points off if we have realistic ambitions on staying in the PL.
if we are still in the bottom 3 after Villa then I feel there is no way out with a big December against some of the games giants to come.

[Arnie_Pie]

Thanks for that.

[TheRoyalJoe]

If top team in this league can't beat Stoke, why would you expect us to?

[windermere_royal]

If top team in this league can't beat Stoke, why would you expect us to?

I`m saying before the season started this was the kind of team we would be expecting to beat given their poor away record last year

[Still Hate Futcher!]

Have to say, I'm concerned with where we are so far but certainly not writing us off.

As mentioned, we've had a tough start, not helped by the extra interruptions to fixtures. The next 4 or 5 games are huge and a decent return from them could kick start our season and give us some belief. If we're still in the bottom 3 heading into December then it'll be hard to see us turning it round.

[royalsroyalsroyals92]

It doesnt matter too much about the different teams IMO, its there style of play where we are falling back.
Stoke on there day could beat anyone as some teams just arent equipped/prepared to cope with there brand of football. In my opinion, Stoke's brand of football is more towards what Reading are aiming for, but they have just refined it more and are slightly better equipped for it. Reading have struggled against this direct style an system quite a bit, probably because our defence can be quite cumbersome and slow, especially when counter attacks are involved.
We also struggle against the pack the midfield 4-5-1 style of play becaus we just dont have the midfield quality to mimmick or cope with it, and we just look lost against it.
We are somewhere inbetween the two areas at the minute, and we just dont have the necassery quality to carry off either.
I do think we will stay up - i am still believing we are just generally slow starters for momentum, but only time will tell

[chilipepper91]

Way I see it, the extra class between Championship and Premier League is showing. We're organised, we're committed, we're in most games just like last year. But we don't have that extra gear or that PL player who can make a difference between a loss and a draw, or a draw and a win.

[Big Ern]

Todays performance did nothing other than convince me we are going down. OK, anything from Liverpool away is a bonus, but the manner in which we were totally outplayed showed we do not have the quality to stay up. Unless we spend 20-30 million in January we might as well take every game as a day out and look forward to a more competitive season in the chump next year.

[windermere_royal]

and look forward to a more competitive season in the chump next year.

And playing to achieve what exactly? promotion?

[AthleticoSpizz]

and look forward to a more competitive season in the chump next year.

And playing to achieve what exactly? promotion?

we are always destined for something........ Promotion, relegation, survival scrap.............thats what makes our seasons interesting

[ManchesterRoyals]

and look forward to a more competitive season in the chump next year.

And playing to achieve what exactly? promotion?

See this is what i dont understand, were here now why not stay here spend a bit more and give are selves a fighting chance

Why go down then back up thats if we can come straight back up

And i wonder how many players have relegation clauses in there contract bet Pog has

[robbieroyal]

Trouble is we will struggle to bring in players in January if we are bottom three.

Not only that is AZ going to take a punt and pay big wages when are chances of staying up will be flagging by then.

Hate to say it but Wet Sham had the right idea. From the out set they have had the ambition to give it a go. Their squad was already decent enough and have strengthened in the right areas.

Still think they'll finish above us comfortably this year.

Personally I think it will be tough but we will be OK, other teams will be worse than us.

[windermere_royal]

If you look at the games - we have seemed a Prem team in some of them - but not in others. If you look at GD, we are about 15th with a game in hand. We needed to strengthen much more in the Summer window - but we didn't. Had we been more ruthless in the summer, given the equally bad results of some of the teams around us, we might now be lurking just under the top ten. I hope that we learn!

we didn`t learn after our last foray into the top flight , this is what is so disappointing the fact that we are making the same mistakes all over again.

[ManchesterRoyals]

If you look at the games - we have seemed a Prem team in some of them - but not in others. If you look at GD, we are about 15th with a game in hand. We needed to strengthen much more in the Summer window - but we didn't. Had we been more ruthless in the summer, given the equally bad results of some of the teams around us, we might now be lurking just under the top ten. I hope that we learn!

we didn`t learn after our last foray into the top flight , this is what is so disappointing the fact that we are making the same mistakes all over again.

This

[Libertine]

Most people think we will need about 40 points to stay up. We have played 7 so far and have 31 games remaining. Which means we would need roughly 10 wins and 7 more draws out of those 31 games. That means getting results in 17 of the remaining 31 games...over 50% of them.

[AthleticoSpizz]

so we end up relegated....so what...nobodies died

Just enjoy the ride....a ride that this time last year, we had no right to take

Still got plenty of big teams with big names to face at the Stad....happy days

[windermere_royal]

Most people think we will need about 40 points to stay up. We have played 7 so far and have 31 games remaining. Which means we would need roughly 10 wins and 7 more draws out of those 31 games. That means getting results in 17 of the remaining 31 games...over 50% of them.

12 wins will do it, not impossible

[ManchesterRoyals]

Most people think we will need about 40 points to stay up. We have played 7 so far and have 31 games remaining. Which means we would need roughly 10 wins and 7 more draws out of those 31 games. That means getting results in 17 of the remaining 31 games...over 50% of them.

And at the moment we dont look like getting 17 results do we?

[Libertine]

Most people think we will need about 40 points to stay up. We have played 7 so far and have 31 games remaining. Which means we would need roughly 10 wins and 7 more draws out of those 31 games. That means getting results in 17 of the remaining 31 games...over 50% of them.

And at the moment we dont look like getting 17 results do we?

At this point? No.

Things can change though, I know they will to some extent, but the question is will it change enough to get us to 40 points. 3 down and 37 to go...

[Libertine]

Most people think we will need about 40 points to stay up. We have played 7 so far and have 31 games remaining. Which means we would need roughly 10 wins and 7 more draws out of those 31 games. That means getting results in 17 of the remaining 31 games...over 50% of them.

12 wins will do it, not impossible

True, anything is possible. Everything comes down to levels of probability. Just stating the task at hand if we are to remain in the PL for next season...