The Now-Irrelevant 2024/25 Relegation Battle (Without Everton!)

[Delargeinho]

Look at Forest, play to similar to us but the mentality is poles apart, Nuno went in there and kept them up, finished a way behind us but he never once mentioned a relegation fight this season yet Dyche was trying to sell it to anyone that will listen...

He knows he isn`t capable of anything more than a relegation fight....

Nuno did get Wolves 7th twice. He's a better version of Dyche, but yeah also his football is also rather dull to watch. I am sure Nuno would have a better points output here this season, but also I am sure Dyche would have more points with that Forest squad than he has with Everton this season. Not having them on a CL spot surely.

It's a mix of better individual class and coaching, where I think Forest have advantages with Elanga, Hudson, Gibbs White and a quite good finisher with Wood, what is still missed here no matter the manager.

They are 2 windows ahead.

 

[ricer10]

Very few goals in the side ...tough to get points / wins.
Now is the time to switch to Broja and give him a proper run / or play him and DCL together,
I don't see us bringing in a major signing in Jan.

 

[Evertonthat]

Very few goals in the side ...tough to get points / wins.
Now is the time to switch to Broja and give him a proper run / or play him and DCL together,
I don't see us bringing in a major signing in Jan.

I think we will get a striker in January. Beto looking likely to go (possibly to Roma), and DCL will leave in the summer. That only leaves Chermiti and a buy option on Broja. A striker and a pacey right wing would give the new owners chance for a statement of intent.

 

[Gilbert..]

Nuno did get Wolves 7th twice. He's a better version of Dyche, but yeah also his football is also rather dull to watch. I am sure Nuno would have a better points output here this season, but also I am sure Dyche would have more points with that Forest squad than he has with Everton this season. Not having them on a CL spot surely.

It's a mix of better individual class and coaching, where I think Forest have advantages with Elanga, Hudson, Gibbs White and a quite good finisher with Wood, what is still missed here no matter the manager.

They are 2 windows ahead.

I think thats a good fair assessment.
3 Wins out of 17 is poor. This team and manager should be on 5/6 wins from 17. Thats not unrealistic. Puts us on 22/23 points. Again not unrealistic.

 

[HalfTimeSayers]

I think thats a good fair assessment.
3 Wins out of 17 is poor. This team and manager should be on 5/6 wins from 17. Thats not unrealistic. Puts us on 22/23 points. Again not unrealistic.

Should easily have been the case too. Throwing away those 2 certain, comfortable wins in successive matches not only robbed us of 6 points, we’d have very likely gone on to do better in subsequent games, and not had to revert to defend at all cost tactics to steady the ship. Probably a combined 20mins where we showed no game management effectively condemned the season to be another nervy drudge-fest.

Perversely, if we had have got those wins and Dyche had more credit, TFG would have much more of a points buffer to pay him off if a proper long term manager came into the market.

Those matches could have made it a completely different season and we had it in our own hands, twice.

 

[richardo675]

No chance Dyche be sacked unless lose something like 8 or 9 games in a row and look to be relegated, new owners won't want a manager change till summer at the earliest and even then may prefer to keep dyche for a season or 2 see how he does with better players anyone thinking be sacked over next few weeks are in fantasy land

 

[KMC]

Yep, three very good points but the damage was done earlier in the season. For all the jubilant talk and weirdly triumphant taunting on this thread and the SD thread we are still hovering three points above the relegation zone. There's still a huge amount of work to do.

HUGE! This team can park the bus successfully - and understandly - against the upper echelons. And everyone understands that. But can we score goals against those around us? That's the scary part.

 

[Jarvick]

Dyche is simply not getting the best from the players he has available. He trots out the same players in the same positions that often don't play to their strengths. I think we are fine with strikers for now, but we very much need a pacey winger (or two) in January that can carry the ball a bit. Left and right back must be addressed in the summer but it is not the main need in January.

There are more goals in this team than we think. Ndiaye needs to play as a 10. Broja needs to be on the pitch with DCL (or Beto or Chermiti), whether that's as a dual striker threat or on the wing. There is very little creativity with Dyche and he is creating an unnecessary relegation battle. How about try a 4-4-2 with two strikers? How about a 3-5-2 to get O'Brien on the pitch with Tark and Branthwaite and then play two wing backs? Incidentally, Chermiti will be two years into his four year deal this summer, I know he's been oft-injured, but can we now see him as a sub for 10 or 15 minutes a game please?
At a minimum, we need one good winger in January, play Broja on the right and move Ndiaye to the 10. Doucoure and Harrison to the bench.

 

[Runub]

No chance Dyche be sacked unless lose something like 8 or 9 games in a row and look to be relegated, new owners won't want a manager change till summer at the earliest and even then may prefer to keep dyche for a season or 2 see how he does with better players anyone thinking be sacked over next few weeks are in fantasy land

That is the most disturbing thing I have read this year

 

[Curtis]

The problem with a survivalist like dyche is when teams around us and below us on the table start accruing points it doesn't push him to plan for a win it makes him even more conservative which becomes a detriment when we play other teams lower in the table because they're going to be more adventurous which gives them an advantage

 

[Frenk]

A better manager and this squad finishes well above the relegation zone. They have more than shown it in the last few games.

 

[GoldenToffee]

The problem with a survivalist like dyche is when teams around us and below us on the table start accruing points it doesn't push him to plan for a win it makes him even more conservative which becomes a detriment when we play other teams lower in the table because they're going to be more adventurous which gives them an advantage

Aye, and because he's so set in his ways and only ever employs one tactic and formation, should we really be up against it later in the season and actually NEED to win games, the players will barely have had any actual competitive game time in a more progressive formation and style of play, making it harder to switch from his conservative let's not lose regardless of opposition to front foot go for the win because if we don't we're going down style of play.

 

[murphy89]

A better manager and this squad finishes well above the relegation zone. They have more than shown it in the last few games.

I’m just not sure history shows this? This squad is pretty awful. It’s worse than previous years by some distance. Why would we be comfortably above the relegation zone.

Look at the teams above us; united and West Ham. Both spent seriously large sums of money every years. West Ham around 300m net over three years (maybe more).

 

[Frenk]

I’m just not sure history shows this? This squad is pretty awful. It’s worse than previous years by some distance. Why would we be comfortably above the relegation zone.

Look at the teams above us; united and West Ham. Both spent seriously large sums of money every years. West Ham around 300m net over three years (maybe more).

No offense but I think Dyche lives off this narrative. The current squad is better than last years and the year before that in my opinion.

It’s the managers mentality that’s the problem. Going behind means he can’t stick to his game plan, but it’s more likely the players know they have nothing to loose so it’s an automatic reaction. He applies the same logic unfortunately even in games we really should be chasing down and winning. He has no other game plan.

 

[murphy89]

No offense but I think Dyche lives off this narrative. The current squad is better than last years and the year before that in my opinion.

It’s the managers mentality that’s the problem. Going behind means he can’t stick to his game plan, but it’s more likely the players know they have nothing to loose so it’s an automatic reaction. He applies the same logic unfortunately even in games we really should be chasing down and winning. He has no other game plan.

You think we’ve managed to improve the squad by selling our best players and having a positive net spend?