Relegation is imminent

[gawthorpe_view]

The big difference tonight was so apparent even in the warm up. The height, strength and sheer ‘manliness’ of Everton and then looking at our children running around next to Sander Berge. If it wasn’t so sad to look at it might be laughable. What transpired was painfully obvious even before kick off. Sadly.

When Benson came on I though he was part of the Rosegrove Under 7s team.

[alboclaret]

Not so imminent, you'll have to wait for the end of the season.

Be well down before the end of the season.

[dandeclaret]

Current odds are 2/9 to be relegated..... or 82% likelihood.

[TsarBomba]

We’re an extremely young squad bereft of confidence. Make no mistake, we’re getting battered. You can see that on the field week after week when their heads drop.

We have to be really careful how we manage this til the end of the season, because it could very easily roll on to next.

There’s also a lot of players either out on loan or who did well for us last season and have been discarded. I can’t see the likes of Benny wanting a return to the Champ for a start.

If he’s still here in the summer then VK will have a real task blending a squad together, because there’s going to be a lot of upheaval.

[Westleigh]

When Benson came on I though he was part of the Rosegrove Under 7s team.

Did you notice the size of the Everton guy who came on at the same time?

[Kilson810]

Need to sign some men in the summer. It is incredibly boring watching this team of little boys play tippy tappy passes with zero purpose.

[gawthorpe_view]

Did you notice the size of the Everton guy who came on at the same time?

Yes!!

Man mountain, reminded me of when Crouch and Sean Wright-Philips were on the touchline waiting to come on for England.

https://images.app.goo.gl/AkcsNznQc5HYoBbL9

Pic for comparison, can't find the exact one.

[spt_claret]

There’s also a lot of players either out on loan or who did well for us last season and have been discarded. I can’t see the likes of Benny wanting a return to the Champ for a start.

I have to admit if I was Zaroury, Muric or Ekdal (less so Benson he's been injured, Ekdals been fit a few games now but still unfavoured) I'd be hacked off. Bust a gut and played well to get the club promoted and the reward for it is one start apiece for Zaroury/Ekdal and nowt for Muric. And if we go down and inevitably sell some to balance the books and some leave because they don't want to play in the Championship, only then are they suddenly asked to do it all over again.
People go on about player wages and they are paid absurdly absurdly well but you shouldn't want players who are driven by money and the best ones aren't, they're driven by competition and the desire to be the best play at the top level. A lot of lads in our team earned that chance last year and got unceremoniously cast aside. Good luck geeing them up for another promotion fight if that's what they get for it, all you'll get at that rate is players as mercenarial as our transfer strategists.

[Clive 1960]

i think when we go down we will find it hard to bounce back as the championship is getting stronger each year , yes we played well last season but that was a different team to now who are nowhere good enough to beat last seasons team..

[Cirrus_Minor]

Last season we had experience with the likes of Cork, Barnes, Rodriguez and exceptional talent loaned from other clubs with some very decent signings to get us promoted. Why we haven't signed some Premier league experience, especially in defence and midfield to get us established is beyond me. The obsession with signing young hopefuls and splashing out all the £millions on a rookie goalkeeper is crazy. Dyche must have looked at us yesterday and wondered what the hell happened to our club.

We will surely be relegated that s for sure.Thinking we will be bound to come straight back up is naive. It could be decades before we ever see this again.

[TPClaret]

Why would Dyche wonder what has happened to our club. He was heading for relegation when we sacked him. The writing was on the wall the season before as well when we just stopped up. His team of journey men were past it. That’s why we’ve had such a big rebuild

[Cooclaret]

Why would Dyche wonder what has happened to our club. He was heading for relegation when we sacked him. The writing was on the wall the season before as well when we just stopped up. His team of journey men were past it. That’s why we’ve had such a big rebuild

Dyche with this money would’ve built a decent premier league squad.

[RVclaret]

Dyche in fact called out how tough the first season after promotion is in his pre match interview. He should know, given he was relegated the first time.

[CoolClaret]

Why would Dyche wonder what has happened to our club. He was heading for relegation when we sacked him. The writing was on the wall the season before as well when we just stopped up. His team of journey men were past it. That’s why we’ve had such a big rebuild

Team of journeymen?

[taio]

Why would Dyche wonder what has happened to our club. He was heading for relegation when we sacked him. The writing was on the wall the season before as well when we just stopped up. His team of journey men were past it. That’s why we’ve had such a big rebuild

Pope, Mee and Tarkowski certainly weren't journeymen and past it. I agree though, I can't imagine Dyche having such thoughts for one moment.

[TPClaret]

Dyche spent all his money on wages paying old journey men. Which worked well initially, but as we saw the last season and a half wasn’t working anymore.

[taio]

Dyche spent all his money on wages paying old journey men. Which worked well initially, but as we saw the last season and a half wasn’t working anymore.

His strategy worked brilliantly for us. Inevitable we would be relegated - incredible we lasted six seasons. I doubt that will be repeated.

[Garnerssoap]

Nope it’ll still be May or possibly April

[TPClaret]

Pope, Mee and Tarkowski certainly weren't journeymen and past it. I agree though, I can't imagine Dyche having such thoughts for one moment.

Agreed. There was some talent. Pope, Mee, Tarky, Collins. McNeil had gone off the boil. Cornet was always injured. But the rest Bardsley, Lennon, Crouch etc weren’t good enough and our bench was awful to say we were an established premier league team

[TPClaret]

His strategy worked brilliantly for us. Inevitable we would be relegated - incredible we lasted six seasons. I doubt that will be repeated.

Exactly it’ll never be repeated, that is why we have to try a different approach. If we get relegated VK will learn a hell of a lot. No doubt he’s a very intelligent man, who I’m convinced will be a top manager in years to come.

[Newcastleclaret93]

Dyche spent all his money on wages paying old journey men. Which worked well initially, but as we saw the last season and a half wasn’t working anymore.

Tbf you kind of have to when your budget for signing players was approx 15m a season

[taio]

Exactly it’ll never be repeated, that is why we have to try a different approach. If we get relegated VK will learn a hell of a lot. No doubt he’s a very intelligent man, who I’m convinced will be a top manager in years to come.

I'm not certain Kompany will be here next season if we get relegated. I certainly hope he is. As he's said, we are ahead of schedule thanks him and last season. He's got a lot to learn which is positive too.

[jojomk1]

Agreed. There was some talent. Pope, Mee, Tarky, Collins. McNeil had gone off the boil. Cornet was always injured. But the rest Bardsley, Lennon, Crouch etc weren’t good enough and our bench was awful to say we were an established premier league team

That Dyche side would have too strong for the current squad

[TPClaret]

I'm not certain Kompany will be here next season if we get relegated. I certainly hope he is. As he's said, we are ahead of schedule thanks him and last season. He's got a lot to learn which is positive too.

Why would he not be here. He’s invested a lot of time into this team.

[Spiral]

Hate to be optimistic and everything but we were four points adrift with eight to go when we sacked Dyche, and we came within a whisker of staying up. Now we're six with just more than half a season to go, so this ain't over yet. Loads of football to be played. Last few performances before Everton have been promising, it's just Dyche did what he always does when playing the teams around him: he won, because he's a bloody good manager and is consistent in those type of games.

[taio]

Why would he not be here. He’s invested a lot of time into this team.

There's always a chance he won't be for different reasons. Football management is so uncertain.

[TPClaret]

Hate to be optimistic and everything but we were four points adrift with eight to go when we sacked Dyche, and we came within a whisker of staying up. Now we're six with just more than half a season to go, so this ain't over yet. Loads of football to be played. Last few performances before Everton have been promising, it's just Dyche did what he always does when playing the teams around him: he won, because he's a bloody good manager and is consistent in those type of games.

Exactly more than half a season to go. I won’t give up hope until it’s mathematically over. Things can change very quickly in football. Look at Leicester at this point last season. Didn’t even look like going down

[spt_claret]

Agreed. There was some talent. Pope, Mee, Tarky, Collins. McNeil had gone off the boil. Cornet was always injured. But the rest Bardsley, Lennon, Crouch etc weren’t good enough and our bench was awful to say we were an established premier league team

Here we go again.
Crouch was here 4 months as a replacement to Vokes as backup.
Bardsley was a backup and did fine.
Lennon was a backup and did okay.
"A club like ours can't be established PL", 6 years in a row and European qualification is a reasonable foothold frankly.

People seem to want to rewrite history and forget the 2016-2020 seasons, and pretend our perpetual XI under Dyche was Crouch and Walters up top with Stephens as the midfield general.

We put a lot of money into wages for the team that got into Europe, not journeymen- the European qualification triggered various contrast clauses Garlick never expected to trigger. We put a decent chunk into players like Cornet and Weghorst to tempt them over, far from convinced Cornet was a Dyche pick and Weghorst even if targeted was certainly not targeted as a Wood replacement - it's the people who say "Dyche saw him as a head on a stick" who are the ones who thought that, they just saw on Wikipedia he's 6'6" and had never seen him play. He was a natural Rodriguez replacement/upgrade to pair with a Wood or Wood upgrade.

The wage bill for Kompanys team will not be cheap. Contract renewals in the Prem, promotion pay rises, and the sheer number of players signed. The wage bill under Dyche became a huge proportion of our budget but it took 7 years to get there. He was never backed in the transfer market like Kompany this summer.

Again I'm not wanting Kompany sacked I just find it truly staggering that people will go "ah so what" to the meekest effort at survival ever by a Championship winner, these same people confidently proclaimed we would be comfortably safe or mid table this year on the basis of our cup game against Bournemouth, but all of a sudden now it's too much to expect to win a game so just "enjoy the ride"- the ride of getting beat every game. People wanted Dyches head for a closer run fight than this after the takeover froze investment, people wanted him gone for his stubbornness yet this season you can guarantee that certain names will always start meanwhile the rest feels drawn from a hat independent of form or any obvious reason. Players who played well last season, or really grew and developed, have been abandoned for new faces some of whom have shown precious little to justify their arrival. Players who the fans built a connection with have been benched or weren't signed. And we've poured millions into a conveyor belt of wingers leaving us so overstocked that even with injuries some can't get a game, rather than balancing the team filling obvious gaps from last season or summer departures, and accept that if injuries happen maybe some of the players last year who barely got a kick like Churlinov may have to step into the breach until the first choice is fit. There's been so many bizarre and frustrating decisions since summer, we knew we were up by March, Kompany was so confident we were up in Jan that he signed Foster early, yet we've completely rebuilt a successful team, unbalanced it, and are somehow simultaneously being too stubborn in selection/reserved in substitutes, yet also rotating some players for no apparent reason.

This isn't part of the process or project or plan, there's problems that Kompany and Pace need to own up to, and if they've just accepted relegation then what message does that send both to the players who need to be up for it every game to actually develop and appreciate in value, or the fans paying money and giving time to a team that's given up? Nobody should ever be saying "just accept relegation and enjoy the ride".

[CoolClaret]

*spt_claret's post*

[John Johnson 1605]

Here we go again.
Crouch was here 4 months as a replacement to Vokes as backup.
Bardsley was a backup and did fine.
Lennon was a backup and did okay.
"A club like ours can't be established PL", 6 years in a row and European qualification is a reasonable foothold frankly.

People seem to want to rewrite history and forget the 2016-2020 seasons, and pretend our perpetual XI under Dyche was Crouch and Walters up top with Stephens as the midfield general.

We put a lot of money into wages for the team that got into Europe, not journeymen- the European qualification triggered various contrast clauses Garlick never expected to trigger. We put a decent chunk into players like Cornet and Weghorst to tempt them over, far from convinced Cornet was a Dyche pick and Weghorst even if targeted was certainly not targeted as a Wood replacement - it's the people who say "Dyche saw him as a head on a stick" who are the ones who thought that, they just saw on Wikipedia he's 6'6" and had never seen him play. He was a natural Rodriguez replacement/upgrade to pair with a Wood or Wood upgrade.

The wage bill for Kompanys team will not be cheap. Contract renewals in the Prem, promotion pay rises, and the sheer number of players signed. The wage bill under Dyche became a huge proportion of our budget but it took 7 years to get there. He was never backed in the transfer market like Kompany this summer.

Again I'm not wanting Kompany sacked I just find it truly staggering that people will go "ah so what" to the meekest effort at survival ever by a Championship winner, these same people confidently proclaimed we would be comfortably safe or mid table this year on the basis of our cup game against Bournemouth, but all of a sudden now it's too much to expect to win a game so just "enjoy the ride"- the ride of getting beat every game. People wanted Dyches head for a closer run fight than this after the takeover froze investment, people wanted him gone for his stubbornness yet this season you can guarantee that certain names will always start meanwhile the rest feels drawn from a hat independent of form or any obvious reason. Players who played well last season, or really grew and developed, have been abandoned for new faces some of whom have shown precious little to justify their arrival. Players who the fans built a connection with have been benched or weren't signed. And we've poured millions into a conveyor belt of wingers leaving us so overstocked that even with injuries some can't get a game, rather than balancing the team filling obvious gaps from last season or summer departures, and accept that if injuries happen maybe some of the players last year who barely got a kick like Churlinov may have to step into the breach until the first choice is fit. There's been so many bizarre and frustrating decisions since summer, we knew we were up by March, Kompany was so confident we were up in Jan that he signed Foster early, yet we've completely rebuilt a successful team, unbalanced it, and are somehow simultaneously being too stubborn in selection/reserved in substitutes, yet also rotating some players for no apparent reason.

This isn't part of the process or project or plan, there's problems that Kompany and Pace need to own up to, and if they've just accepted relegation then what message does that send both to the players who need to be up for it every game to actually develop and appreciate in value, or the fans paying money and giving time to a team that's given up? Nobody should ever be saying "just accept relegation and enjoy the ride".

Excellent post.

[Goliath]

Last season we had experience with the likes of Cork, Barnes, Rodriguez and exceptional talent loaned from other clubs with some very decent signings to get us promoted. Why we haven't signed some Premier league experience, especially in defence and midfield to get us established is beyond me. The obsession with signing young hopefuls and splashing out all the £millions on a rookie goalkeeper is crazy. Dyche must have looked at us yesterday and wondered what the hell happened to our club.

We will surely be relegated that s for sure.Thinking we will be bound to come straight back up is naive. It could be decades before we ever see this again.

Didnt we try and get Milner? Think the rumour was Brighton came in after us and changed his mind. Hed have been an excellent signing.
Barkley looks like the one we really missed out on to me. Hed have been the perfect Brownhill upgrade

[pureclaret]

I do not accept that relegation is imminent until mathamatically impossible to survive, 3 teams were rock bottom at christmas but survived, so id take that as hope we can turn it round.

I agree there needs to be some changes and hope we can bring in a couple of new faces in Jan, and perhaps a few changes in how we help /protect Goal keeper at corners.

[Newcastleclaret93]

Exactly more than half a season to go. I won’t give up hope until it’s mathematically over. Things can change very quickly in football. Look at Leicester at this point last season. Didn’t even look like going down

It’s done.

We have one of the worst managers in the league and a group of players that just don’t care.

[kentonclaret]

I do not accept that relegation is imminent until mathamatically impossible to survive, 3 teams were rock bottom at christmas but survived, so id take that as hope we can turn it round.

I agree there needs to be some changes and hope we can bring in a couple of new faces in Jan, and perhaps a few changes in how we help /protect Goal keeper at corners.

Wolves were bottom at Christmas last PL campaign but replaced Bruno Lage with Lopetegui in late November and made 5 significant signings in the January window including Cunha.
Can’t really see anything similar happening at Burnley to give the whole squad a lift and a new style of playing.

[Zenwisdom]

Liverpool put a young side out against Royale Union and lost 2 1 we do it every week not rocket science and the experience we have are passengers

[BabylonClaret]

Why would Dyche wonder what has happened to our club. He was heading for relegation when we sacked him. The writing was on the wall the season before as well when we just stopped up. His team of journey men were past it. That’s why we’ve had such a big rebuild

No. We've had a big rebuild because the previous owners stockpiled cash for a rainy day, didn't feed and water the squad properly so for the last 2 seasons it waned, decide they wanted out, got greedy and overpriced teh club, sold to a bunch of new owners who didn't have any 'real' money of their own, let the club be mortgaged to finance this and led to a relegation and asset sale.

That's why.

All this ******** about Dyche refusing to tend the squad properly or signing only journeymen is nonsense, trotted out by people with an agenda against him. We had a great season last year but Kompany has miles to go before he even gets close to what Dyche achieved for this club.

[Terry Cochrane]

I prefer the championship anyway
Our level was f we are honest

People prefer the championship for one thing. Not losing nearly every week. Nobody wants to see us outplayed outfought and outmuscled - it is just not fun to watch it put us through torture. We are stinking up the premier league this season. We need to have some fight left in is and not tamely surrender to the inevitable.

[BabylonClaret]

Dyche spent all his money on wages paying old journey men. Which worked well initially, but as we saw the last season and a half wasn’t working anymore.

Utter shite. Thre of those journeymen took the points against us yesterday.

Five of them are still with us and 4 start fairly regularly

[Hibsclaret]

We need to finish above 3 teams. Probably the 2 we have beaten and the one we should have done if the officials had done their job properly. 4th bottom is very possible.

[BabylonClaret]

Exactly it’ll never be repeated, that is why we have to try a different approach. If we get relegated VK will learn a hell of a lot. No doubt he’s a very intelligent man, who I’m convinced will be a top manager in years to come.

Yet to be convinced. He's signed a journeyman in Redmond wgi has skill and the physique for this league yet he hardly gets a look in.

At 2-0 he waits until nearly 79 mins to make a change (after the half tine one).

Whe teh change comes it is to shuffle the back line into a weirder set of personnel in the same system.

If there's intelligence and a plan i that I'm struggling to see it

[Spijed]

Exactly more than half a season to go. I won’t give up hope until it’s mathematically over. Things can change very quickly in football. Look at Leicester at this point last season. Didn’t even look like going down

If we carry on playing slow out from the back we've no chance of stopping up as it never works.

We have a chance of survival but that requires a different approach to the way we play.

[Wokingclaret]

We need to finish above 3 teams. Probably the 2 we have beaten and the one we should have done if the officials had done their job properly. 4th bottom is very possible.

Not possible unless things change big time

[JBR]

If we carry on playing slow out from the back we've no chance of stopping up as it never works.

We have a chance of survival but that requires a different approach to the way we play.

Kompany is absolutely wedded to playing it from the back even though it fails most weeks. Unbelievably frustrating.

If we played more direct we would be in games a lot more like the Sheffield Utd game.

[StayingDown4Ever]

It’s done.

We have one of the worst managers in the league and a group of players that just don’t care.

Maybe even the worst.

[Quicknick]

It all makes you wonder what would have happened to Kompany's managerial career if we'd stayed up two years ago and he'd joined us then.