SaintBobby

It’s just as well for Fulham that they are in such a streak of red hot form. If they can continue their stunning and scintillating recent run then they should easily be able to make up that six point gap in six matches...

Actually, that's a common but largely fallacious argument. Overwhelmingly, it's about getting customers to switch brands rather than recruting wholly new ones. No one watches an advert for Pedigree Chum and rushes out and buys a dog. No one watches an advert for Andrex and thinks, "I'm going to take a dump much more regularly having seen that" Yet both of these brands have spent a lot on adverts.

I guess City don't much care about the league anymore. They've won it. May as well focus on getting other silverare alongside it.

This Fulham v Wolves match is dire.

Yeah, I've often wondered why there isn't more "science" applied to the kits. Any advantage is at the margins of course, but then football is a game of inches. Could shirts not be clingy and skin tight to make the harder to pull...or, as you say, designed to rip into shreds at the merest pinch? Does colour make a difference? Is it easier to see a pull on a striped short than a single colour shirt? etc etc

Apparently, although I didn’t know this, it’s within the laws of the game to hold someone’s shirt as long as you don’t impede his movement. Seems odd to me as impeding an opponent’s movement is presumably the whole point of pulling their shirt. Nevertheless, if an attacking player is, say, standing statically in the area and you lightly pull his shirt but it has no apparent impact on his shot or desired movement, then it’s no penalty. The ruling seems to be that Wood was able to execute his desired movement and the shirt pull by Bednarek didn’t have any impact. Seems bizarre to me, given how extreme the tug on the shirt was, but there you have it...

Pity. I think we are safe anyway and would rather Fulham stayed up than Newcastle...

I doubt we need any more points. Maybe need to pick up one more. But we are 250/1 to get relegated now.

2-2. Wet the bed.

Thank feck for that. My bed was very damp after 20 mins. Am pleased to report it is now dry as a bone. Great comeback and can breathe out a bit. Page 6 of this thread is a work of art. Needs to be preserved in perpetuity.

Errr...that is irrelevant. If the match between the two teams only impacts the finishing position of those two teams, hold it separately. If it impacts the finishing position of other teams then, as I say, it can't be held separately.

I followed that Brighton match with interest. This is because my duvet and mattress are still a little damp - although they have been drying out measurably over the last couple of days. That last match of the season - Fulham v Newcastle - is probably the decider for the last relegation slot. As an aside, with this new thing of PL matches being spread over a whole weekend, I wonder if they might end the last games of the season being played simultaneously? Obviously, all matches with implications on other matches need to be simultaneously played. But if, say, Fulham v Newcastle only impacts on who finishes 17th and 18th then maybe televise that at a different time?

You’re right - the gap would have been four points to Fulham and five points to Newcastle, with them having a game in hand. (And, I guess, a game in hand is probably worth about a point). Also, some of our remaining fixtures are at the easier end of the spectrum - hard to see how we wouldn’t pick up some points from games v Palace, WBA, Burnley and Fulham. But a Fulham win last night would probably have shifted our relegation odds into about 18/1 or maybe even 16/1. Hardly a likely outcome then, but not vanishingly unlikely either - and would have been only one bad set of results away from being right in a true relegation scrap. (Positing a loss at home to Fulham when that match happens would probably shift the odds of Saints relegation to about 9/2). We are now two steps away from a major relegation battle rather than just one, thanks to Leeds winning. I think we are now about 40/1 to go down. We possibly already have enough points to avoid the drop. 3 or 4 more points from 9 remaining games and it’s surely done & dusted? It could well end up like Project Restart, of course, and we finish up mid-table a good 12-15 points clear of relegation.

Have to admit to quite a sense of relief. Have never really thought we’d get relegated, but had Fulham won tonight, we’d have been just 4 points clear of the drop zone and also in a truly horrid run of form. Getting towards squeaky bum time (then you start speculating about, say, Fulham nabbing a win at St Mary’s in a key six pointer). I also think relegation this season would be just utterly horrific. Psychologically because we started so well and it just would feel so much worse to go down having briefly topped the table and being 300/1 shots to drop at one stage. That would hurt more than a season permanently in the bottom 4 or 5 that ends in going down. Financially we also seem a bit of a mess and relegation after a year of Covid would be grim indeed. Haven’t been wetting the bed, but there’s sure been the odd dribble or two.

That's maybe right, but I think probably just 2 or 3 more points could be enough tbh. I'd say the bottom two are down and the 3rd bottom team will quite probably be on 35 or fewer points. Obviously dont want to cut it that close though. So, bag a few points, breathe out and try a miracle in the cup!

Weird one this. Brighton aren't awful. Given where we are, I'd probably take a draw tbh. I'm looking at that seven point gap and just want the games to run out....

I'd put out the B team...what's left of it. More important matches to come...

Blessed relief. Probably the most nervous I’ve been watching such a straightforward Saints win. Pretty much slays any of those slight nerves about being dragged into a relegation battle too.

Blessed relief. Probably the most nervous I’ve been watching such a straightforward Saints win. Pretty much slays any of those slight nerves about being dragged into a relegation battle too.

Settle for that 0-0. A Fulham win and we were possibly looking at a slight browning of trousers.

It's been a grim run, but we won't get relegated.

Mike Dean. If it wasn't for that tosser, we would have won 10-9

Yeah, or something weird like KWP to left back and Valery in at right back etc. It does seem to me the most fragile part of the squad, even though both starting full backs are excellent.

I'm really just hoping we sign a full back. Pref someone comfortable playing on either flank. Bertrand and KWP are both doing great, but coverage for them is pretty damned thin (didn't we play Jack Stephens at left back in one match?) I'm a little worried at centre-back too if the apparent problems/injuries with Salisu persist.

Anyone know if we're the first club to have been top and bottom of the Premier League/First Division table in the same season? I'm trying to recall, but think we were bottom as we kicked off againt Burnley? Not totally sure on that though. Obviously, we went top after beating Newcastle. I'm not counting the "live in play" table - which fluctuates wildly over the first few games - just the table when there is no football actually in progress. I guess there must be a time when the eventual champions lost their first match heavily or the team finishing bottom won their first match convincingly? Anyway, it's an (even more) irrelevant question if we weren't actually in 20th place just before the Burnley game....