Played 38 Won 8 Drawn 6 Lost 24 For 42 Against 82 (ouch) GDiff -40 (not the worst!) Points 30 Position 18th, ie. 8 positions higher than last season!!
Burnley 4 Spurs 2, what a result for the last game of the season and that 4th goal gave us a 1 goal better goal difference than Hull netting us the extra £800k for finishing 18th. Had we lost and remained on 27 points we would have been morally bottom with the 9 point deduction Portsmouth suffered. At least we finished with our heads held high. I managed to watch most of the game on the internet with a link from 'Eli's' Forum (thank you southamptonClaret). You couldn't help but think if we had played as well in a few more games we'd have been as safe as houses. I know there are many 'if's' but for me the 2 games against Wigan cost us our place in the Prem. The first, almost a home banker when we hadn't been defeated at the Turf and the only home loss in the first half of the season and the second at Wigan when they unfairly snatched victory in the 93rd minute. Take away those 2 points and give us 3 (instead of Wigan) for a home victory and Wigan would have gone down instead. Even 2 draws would have done it after Wigan's 8-0 trouncing by Chelsea. Bugger! Also just heard that England have slipped in the fair play league so no chance of a place in Europe even if Fulham win this week. Que sera, sera..
Relegated as expected but it still hurts. An embarrassing defeat at home to Manchester City where our "defence" went walkabout (again). A brief glimmer of hope raised at Hull but being beaten at Sunderland was the final nail in the coffin. West Ham beating Wigan enabled Liverpool to seal our fate though by all accounts the scoreline flattered the Merseysiders. Two games left and a chance to finish higher than Hull to gain a greater financial reward (£800,000 by all accounts) though with an away match at Birmingham and home against Spurs even this seems unlikely. So back to the Championship in a sound financial position. We don't have to sell but will Laws have a clear out, will Laws still be with us, what will be the odds on us bouncing back? The polls I've seen show a large majority in favour of Laws being replaced but also a willingness to back him should he still be in charge next season. The first part of next season will determine his fate.
Who said 'back where we belong"?. That's twice it has been used after promotion and it seems to be the kiss of death for us. 1 point (against Stoke) in the last 5 matches surely means we are relegated now. We lost all but one of our recent 6 pointers which never augured well and our home form has gone the way of our away form. I honestly thought we would stay up half way through the season but I also thought at the start of the season that we would be relegated but hopefully be one of those teams like West Brom that moves between the two top divisions. And so it may yet be. Brian Laws needs our support at the start of next season. He inherited a squad punching above it's weight that had also lost a lot of confidence and couldn't defend for toffee. Let's see what he can make of it on a level playing field. We have got bigger and better parachute payments, some excellent players for a Championship side and we may have a good manager if he is given a chance. Come On You Clarets!
We get beat, Bolton win and England are terrible at Twickenham and lose to Ireland. What a crap day.
3 more points but still in the drop zone. With Pompey's 9 point deduction it leaves 7 teams trying to avoid the other 2 relegation slots, the lot down the road look safe now after doing us the favour of beating Notlob (who'd have thought that we would have wanted them to win anything?). We need the 3 points today and if Wolves win at Bolton things will be looking better. Hull and Bolton for the drop would be ideal for us. The Bolton fans are getting restless as Coyle has failed to impress, they think he's Megson in disguise. Come on you Clarets!!! As an aside Wayne Bridge refused Terry's handshake, surprise, surprise.
Things
are looking grim, still on 20 points and in the relegation zone. We
seem to be defending better but not having much luck in front of goal.
We looked unsettled at the Reebok but better against Chelsea. Let's
hope it comes together today and we get revenge for those 5 goals they
put past us at the Boleyn ground. At least we're not headed for
receivership even if we are headed back to the Championship. We will be
in a very strong financial situation for a change with the parachute
payments. Anyway, that's worse case scenario, there's still a lot to
play for. Up the Clarets.
Just off to watch the 6 Nations, it makes
for an interesting diversion. Bored with the Terry fiasco, football
players have never been saints and never will be.
After getting over
the shock of
OC's departure I'll now give my thoughts on the matter. Piers Morgan
called him a Judas but I think that is unfair to Judas, at least he
felt remorse and hanged himself. Is he such a great loss? 5
points out of 27 in the last 9 games and 18 goals conceded. One point
away so far in the season. Managers have been sacked for less. Let's
move on with Brian Laws and hope justice is done, ie. we stay up and
Bolton go down. Man U have got their revenge but by all accounts we
made them fight for it. The match at the Reebok should be interesting,
look out for the best anti OC banner!
Almost
half way into the season and what a mixed bag of results. On balance
much better than hoped for, however some of our (defensive)
performances have left a lot to be desired and we should be doing
better. We are conceding far too many goals, mostly away and losing
games we should be picking up points in, ie. B******d Rovers, Wigan and
West Ham. Portsmouth will be a crucial game and we should get our first
away win, but will we???
Losing (at Pompey) after completely dominating the first half,
missing good chances and conceding soft goals, it's becoming a habit
and a worrying one. Our last 2 games away against lower placed teams
should have netted us some points, if not a win. There are still a lot
of games to go but these were effectively 6 pointers. It's stating the
obvious but we need to be sharper up front and tighter at the back.
We're only 4 points above the drop zone with 2 difficult home games
followed by 2 more 6 pointers as we hit the half way stage on Boxing
Day. Come on you Clarets!
Two solid
draws and only conceded 2 goals, much better.
Arsenal were lucky to get a point too, a bit like when Villa came to
Turf Moor. Pity Spurs didn't beat Wolves and Liverpool Portsmouth as
we're still too close to the bottom. Now it's the 2 six pointers, first
against the well rested Wolves side (naughty that Mick!) then the other
Wanderers on Boxing Day.
RESULTS (The Clarets' score first)
DATE Home/Away
OPPONENTS
SCORE
POINTS
15/08/09 Away v
Stoke City
0-2
0
18/08/09 Home v
Manchester United
1-0
3
23/08/09 Home v
Everton
1-0
6
29/08/09 Away v
Chelsea
0-3
6
12/09/09 Away v
Liverpool
0-4
6
19/09/09 Home v
Sunderland
3-1
9
26/09/09 Away v
Tottenham Hotspur
0-5
9
03/10/09 Home v
Birmingham City
2-1
12
17/10/09 Away v
Blackburn Rovers
2-3
12
24/10/09 Home v
Wigan Athletic
1-3
12
31/10/09 Home v
Hull City
2-0
15
07/11/09 Away v
Manchester City
3-3
16
21/11/09 Home v
Aston Villa
1-1
17
28/11/09 Away v
West Ham United
3-5
17
05/12/09 Away v
Portsmouth
0-2
17
12/12/09 Home v
Fulham
1-1
18
16/12/09 Home v
Arsenal
1-1
19
20/12/09 Away v
Wolverhampton Wanderers
0-2
19
26/12/09 Home v
Bolton Wanderers
1-1
20
28/12/09 Away v
Everton
0-2
20
16/01/10 Away v
Manchester United
0-3
20
26/01/10 Away v
Bolton Wanderers
0-1
20
30/01/10 Home v
Chelsea
1-2
20
06/02/10 Home v
West Ham United
2-1
23
09/02/10 Away v
Fulham
0-3
23
21/02/10 Away v
Aston Villa
2-5
23
27/02/10 Home v
Portsmouth
1-2
23
06/03/10 Away v
Arsenal
1-3
23
10/03/10 Home v
Stoke City
1-1
24
13/03/10 Home v
Wolverhampton Wanderers
1-2
24
20/03/10 Away v
Wigan Athletic
0-1
24
28/03/10 Home v
Blackburn Rovers
0-1
24
03/04/10 Home v
Manchester City
1-6
24
10/04/10 Away v
Hull City
4-1
27
17/04/10 Away v
Sunderland
1-2
27
24/04/10 Home v
Liverpool
0-4
27
01/05/10 Away v
Birmingham City
1-2
27
09/05/10 Home v
Tottenham Hotspur
4-2
30