SNSUN

19 goals this season, not Haaland levels of prolific but he is playing in an average Swansea side. at 23 though he does seem to be a prospect that could improve further. He's out of contract in 2024 so Swansea may cash in. Apparently Obafemi has been told he's unfit by Burnley staff but I believe he is still set to move there permanently so that leaves Swansea looking for a new striker if Piroe does leave.

From the games I've seen... Forest at home. No shots on target - Forest had one and they scored from it. Forest were as bad as anything I've seen this year - we were somehow worse. Grimsby in the cup was embarrassing but a cup upset can happen (even if it was League 2 vs Prem) - whereas we've stunk out the Premier League all season so I have to go for a league defeat.

Depending on whether we need a CB in the summer (is it beyond the realms of possibility that we'll still have DCC, Lyanco, Stephens, Bednarek and Simeu even if ABK and Salisu go? DCC is the one I want to stay but maybe that's wishful thinking...) but I've been catching up on players in the Championship this season and a lot of people are rating Auston Trusty, a tall 24 year old American CB from Arsenal who has been on loan at Birmingham. Seems to be consistent and reliable and is a good age too. Depends if Arsenal want to keep him I guess. We should be one of the big fish in the Championship next season (over to you Sports Republic) so it would be nice to attract some of the bigger names that the Championship has to offer. Though I think someone like Gyorkeres is headed for the top flight, there must be a few gems we could pilfer.

Pfft I flip flop week on week who I think goes down, it's still almost impossible to say (bar us!). I think West Ham and above are safe enough. So 4 in it (as well as us). Looking at fixtures: Everton - Brighton (A), Man City (H), Wolves (A), Bournemouth (H) - Probably won't get any points from the next two but have two teams at the end who will be on the beach. POINTS - 6. Forest - Us (H), Chelsea (A), Arsenal (H), Palace (A) - 3 points from us, 3 from Palace on the beach, possibly a point at Chelsea. POINTS 7 Leeds - Man City (A), Newcastle (H), West Ham (A), Spurs (H) - Difficult to say - Nil from the next 2, possibly 4 from the last 2 games. POINTS 4. Leicester - Fulham (A), Liverpool (H), Newcastle (A), West Ham (H) - Again difficult. I think West Ham will be safe by the last two games so 3 there, and 3 at Fulham. POINTS 6. So that's Everton on 35, Forest on 37, Leeds on 34 and Leicester on 36. I've probably been overly generous points-wise and there are bound to be some surprises but that sees us go down with LEEDS and EVERTON. I'd take that with bells on. IF Everton can pick up something at Brighton, if Forest somehow don't beat us, if Leeds somehow win their last 2 or if Leicester fail to get their two wins then of course it will all change again so it's too difficult to say right now. It is very likely that, apart from us, the relegation battle will go down to the last day. What's interesting is none of the 4 play each other from now on and only Forest play us. Shit if we get 12 points, we're safe. Even 10 might do it!

I agree, and I was thinking about "How do we reset next season" before I read these posts. Everything is rotten about this club right now - yes on paper it was great that Sports Republic wanted to pump some money in to a transfer fund that had been basically sell-to-buy for years, but without any idea of what was needed. First and foremost we need to bring in a manager of experience, someone that has proven ability to get teams promoted from the Championship or has proved that they are a good Championship manager over a long period of time. Cooper would be an obvious candidate for this but I don't think he'd come here. Get the manager in place early doors and then you can think about the playing personnel. Quite frankly I'd have a team meeting, get anyone that doesn't want to be here next season to put their hands in the air and transfer list the lot. Keep the 100% committed lads then top them up with the best transfers we can feasibly afford. Get a few decent Prem loans in and bosh. That's the reset - but I can't see it happening because, as you said, we have the same people in charge that have made the shitty decisions this season. We need to be introducing the likes of Ballard, Edwards and Dibling next season though or what is even the point of the academy? The sad thing is that relegation has been coming for a few seasons and we've (probably almost) all seen it coming. - we've just bided our luck based on a couple of purple patches. The squad has been getting weaker and weaker and it has finally bitten us in the butt.

It's ok lads we've still got 5 games left, easy. Bunch of shite. We could be truly bollocksed next season.

Some good things some bad things. Draw not good enough but I enjoyed watching that.

Cheering out loud in a pub full of silence is a wondrous thing. Get in. Please don't throw it away.

Dafuq going on? CHARLY IS IMMENSE. Watching this in the pub surrounded by Arsenal fans and it is surreal.

Everton have been top flight for 70 odd years. It would be immensely sweet to bring them down with us. Leicester of course have been recent trophy winners over the last ten years too so that would tickle my fancy too. Both would take the limelight of of us in the media. Forest and Leeds are "big names" but have more recently come up. I still think it's us, Forest + 1 other. I still think Leicester will get out of it. I am surprised about Bournemouth's recent resurgence but my colleague who is a fan says that O Neill has started playing more attacking football which is working. He also thanks us for loaning Stephens to them.

I've always thought Callum Davidson was a ringer for a young Neil Shipperley. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/trainer/verfuegbaretrainer/statistik/0/wettbewerb_id/alle/land_id/0/seit/0/spielklasse/alle/punkteschnitt/0-3 Available coaches listed. Zidane for me, maybe Nagelsmann at a pinch. Very worst case scenario I'd take Conte, Bielsa or Villas-Boas. Well why not aim high!

I didn't realise Moi was out of contract when I did my predictions on the squad on page 1 of this thread - we would do brilliantly well NOT to offer him a new contract in the summer, but as we have recently been known to make shite decisions, I wouldn't be surprised if we went and gave him a new 3 year contract. Positions that I think we won't upgrade in the summer will be GK (Bazunu, McCarthy, Lis), RB (Tino, Bree) and LB (Perraud, Larios et al). The entire rest of the spine will need major surgery. As fringe players go, I'd quite like to keep Djenepo. Still only 24 and quite versatile. I'd be interested to see if he could regularly deliver on that stage.

1) Aribo. Our main attacking signing in the summer and one I was looking forward to. Shite. I’d go Bazunu but it’s not his fault he’s been repeatedly shite yet keeps being picked. 2) Jones. Worst manager we’ve ever had. Sacking Ralph was right (even though it should have happened in the summer), picking Jones as his replacement was shite. 3) Too many to chose, but to out-shite a shite Forest live on TV was impressively shite. 4) The season as a whole. Shite. 5) Aribo. Genuinely was expecting good things. Shite. 6) Everyone. Bunch of shites. Overall, shite.

Sure I think we'd all agree... the sad fact is those are the players we won't have and our team will be made up of the rest of the chaff, and signings will likely be a CB whose knees have gone, a midfielder journeyman and a few youngsters from Man City's academy. We're in a state. Our next managerial appointment is a whopper.

Goodbye Prem. Been on the cards for weeks. Shit decisions all season. I'm interested in the rebuild in the summer but please God don't let it be with Selles. We need an experienced head to give us a shot. Someone that can play players in their best positions. Even the 05 side had a bit of fight.

We're not going to make 30 points are we. Been following this on SSN (whilst trying to entertain my 4 year old "teenager") and that starting line up was awful. Still, the sooner we are mathematically down the sooner we can start the prep for the Championship.

I'd quite like to get to (if not past) 30 points this season to not look completely crap. This is one of those games we have to win to do that.

Please not Selles. Gray... Wigley... we're not exactly successful appointing coaches as managers. I wish Selles the best for the future but we won't be in a position to wait to see if he'll be a good manager. We will want instant promotion which means very swiftly bringing in a new manager that knows what's what. Who? God knows. Someone that has had success getting teams promoted in recent history. What's Daniel Farke up to these days...

Our best XI (on paper and of course up for debate) of Bazunu, Livramento, ABK, Salisu, KWP, Lavia, JWP, Alcaraz, Sulemana, Armstrong, Adams would wipe the floor of the 2005 team, and arguably only Niemi and Crouch would find themselves walking into the current team. HOWEVER the problem we've had is either many of our current players have been (in some cases quite badly) injured, or in the case of Charly and Sulemana only been around for 5 minutes, and of course have been mismanaged over the course of the season. Also a few of our squad players aren't great. I've said it before, and I hate to say it because I don't think it's going to happen, but IF we did stay up then next season we actually have the makings of a very good team.... we would really only need to strengthen a couple more positions and try to improve the squad. Sadly next season I do think we'll be in the Championship and will see that first team dismantled.

Thought I posted on here, but I'll say it again. Must win of all must wins. To be out of the bottom 3 by the end of Sunday would be huge psychologically. And no, a draw is not good enough now. Will we? No i think theyll be too strong. I think West Ham are in a false position because they've had their European exploits and they still have good players. Draw at best.

Block 524, Row 12, Seat 316. One of my favourite days. My only gripe was that a mate offered me a lift to and from Wembley for my spare ticket so I never really got to drink in the pre- and post-match atmosphere in the local pubs. Still a cracking result even if it was "only" Carlisle and we were the big spenders of League One. We also had Harding at right back (who did a great job) and Morgan suspended. I said at the time I wished we could have kept Antonio (Happy Birthday to him) but if I remember rightly Reading wanted too much money.

It was Wolves, who along with Palace, Everton and Forest have actually scored fewer goals than us. An article I found states this: "Beyond West Brom in 2005, only two other sides have escaped after being bottom at Christmas. Sunderland achieved this n the 2013/14 season as they rallied late on and actually ended up 14th. Leicester City did the same in 2014/15 as they avoided the drop and then won the title in the next season." I'd quite like to do a Leicester!

Question - if we stay up would it rank as our greatest ever escape from relegation from the Premier League? Boy we've had a few in the last 30 years. I'd say that if Selles can keep us up then this would be the greatest of great escapes, eclipsing the Merrington season and probably the Hughes/Swansea survival for me personally, based on how shit we've been all season. Have there been any great escapes I'm not aware of pre-'90 when I started supporting Saints? (One for our more mature fans!) Also, where does our Championship season in 2007-08 rank in the grand scheme of things under Pearson?

Was just trying to work this out. I know the cards are in our hands when a player has a contract but this is just IMO. Also it looks as if we're culling our double-barrelled name quota. JWP - I know some people think he'll be loyal but he's just too good and I can see Spurs or someone from London wanting him. KWP - same reason, too good for the Championship and he'll have his suitors. DCC - Croatian International, 26 so still young, pretty decent. Someone will want him and he seems out of favour here ALTHOUGH personally I'd like to keep him for the Championship as I think ABK and Salisu are gonners too and he could be our new Hooiveld. Only probably better. ABK - Too good for the Championship. Does have injury issues though so this could go either way but I think someone will take a punt on him as he was also good at Bochum and is now a German International. Salisu - Ghanaian International at the World Cup, potential, not perfect but still only 23, contract running out, he's gone. Lavia - No brainer this one. Much as I'd love to see him in the Championship keeping up his playing time (which would be our only chance to keep him - him deciding to stay to keep playing first team football, or possibly sell him with a loan back for a season) he's gone. Sulemana - I'm not sure why anyone would really want anybody from our attacking department but I do think Kamaldeen with his International experience, WC pedigree, speed and youth would want to look for football higher up somewhere else. Adams - Again hardly prolific but a Scottish International that gets a few goals and is a good passer of the ball will tickle someone's fancy lower down the Premier League echelons. But again, like DCC he's one I'd like to see us keep hold of as I think he'd lead our ascent back up to the Prem. AMN - End of loan, I can't see a world in which we'd sign him permanently although it is not completely beyond the realms of possibility. Depends if someone in the Prem wants him or whether we could even afford him. I can't see it. WALCOTT/CABALLERO - retirement. That's about it - there are players that are possibles, like Edozie or Bazunu if someone sees the potential we did but I think they'll stay for more regular football. Of course you also have those players that will want to leave because they don't want to play Championship football - maybe Orsic, Onuachu? But at 30 and nearly 29 I reckon they'll stay. Alcaraz (as I posted on another thread) I just have a good feeling he'll stay. Not sure why. Walcott and Caballero will retire. Ergo the squad would look something like (pre-signings): GK: Bazunu, McCarthy, Lis RB: Tino, Bree LB: Perraud, Larios CB: Lyanco, Bednarek, Stephens CM: Alcaraz, Diallo, Smallbone AM: Edozie, Moi, Stu, Aribo, Orsic, Djenepo, STR: AdamA, Tella, Mara, Onuachu. ...And a handful of youth. I really don't think that looks too bad if I'm anywhere near accurate. Of course you could have other players that I've had staying as leaving and vice versa but this is all IMO. Some parts need strengthening, RB if Tino isn't fit, CB for definite, CM for definite but the rest should have enough quality to put in a good season.

I'd like to see him stay and I agree with everything you say, I think he has potential, the key word though is the one I've highlighted, I just hope he stays for a season and helps us back up - Sheffield United kept Berge so it's not impossible. I do think we have more chance of keeping Charly than we do of keeping Sulemana. Charly most likely wasn't too well known outside of Argentina unless scouted whereas Sulemana is a Ghanaian International, shone at the WC (fastest player) and came from France. Obviously I'd like, to keep both but some of our players will be eyed up by the vultures left in the Prem.