Are we in a relegation battle?

[brucie]

It is a worrying scenario when you are on a run of losses to suggest that you "are playing well" "didn't deserve to lose" etc etc such as were the descriptions following yesterdays latest defeat. Plain fact is though that we had three quarters of the game to claw back a one goal deficit and couldn't do it.
Most of our games follow the same pattern - if we concede the first goal thats more or less it we lose. If we score first we spend the rest of the game defending, more than likely conceding a goal somewhere along the line. Occasionally (such as the Exeter win) it works but the pattern of the game was the same ie we spent all the second half camped deep in our six yard conceding a shed load of corners.
The notion of the players knowing they are better than their current form is also a fanciful one. If thats the case the why don't they wake up and play better? - the answer is because they can't of course - the squad is devoid of any quality.
If you accept all these excuses then really we should beat Rotherham on Tuesday night ie luck will go our way, the players will realise that they are in a relegation scrap. It is complete nonsense and we will most likely lose again to plunge us deeper into the mire.
The apologists,moderators and general club lackys on here will suggest that calls for a new signing will likely bankrupt the club plunging us 10 million to debt etc etc.
It is cobblers - one decent loan signing to play alongside Howe up front would have probably given us a few more points so that we could all have relaxed by now.
The current situation with the manager isn't helping either - of course Ling cannot help being ill but the apparent "mystery" and lack of information as to when he is returning isn't helping the cause.
Taylors admission that he has not even spoken to Ling seems even more bizarre. So it seems that are league status might be in the hands of Taylor and Veysey who are charged with a squad of players half of whom would probably struggle to command a place in a conference side.
All in all it is far from a satisfactory situation. Three or so wins in the next half a dozen games would of course render the whole current situation meaningless and what a boost it would be to win on Tuesday. The problem is though what happens if these wins don't come (and that is the most likely scenario).
If we are in the same situation in a months time we will really be in trouble.

[Plymouth Gull]

Brucie - we've gone behind in 14 league games this season. We've gone on to lose 8, picking up 11 points from the other 6. I don't think it's quite so clear cut as you think.

[wodger of awabia]

I.M.O. the answer lies in the goal difference column of the L2 table.

Win the next 2 games and it will be " Can we make the play offs?"

[oldpedant]

Brucie - we've gone behind in 14 league games this season. We've gone on to lose 8, picking up 11 points from the other 6. I don't think it's quite so clear cut as you think.

Conversely, we've dropped 15 points from winning positions. So it's definitely not as clear cut as you think.

[Plymouth Gull]

Indeed. That's what concerns me, the number of points we're dropping from leading. The Christmas period was terrible.

[friendlygas]

The fact is you have 17 games to go and you only need 13 points for safety. That is four wins and a draw and I will be absolutely shocked if you dont achieve that however bad your current form. A month ago I could see no way whatsoever that we could get out of the mess we were in but I would now say if we cant get the 15 points we need to stay up then we deserve to go down. You arent exactly conceding goals like we were so that is a good starting place to pick up those few wins you need.

[Dave_Pougher]

YOU ONLY POST WHEN YOUR WINNING,,, POST WHEN YOUR WINNING

[Dave]

Play nicely Dave.P friendlygas has allways been one of our best away fan posters, even during Bucklegate..

[royalgull]

Lose the next 2 or 3 games and we are for definite. We are borderline being involved mainly because the teams below us are picking up points, the abyss is staring them in the face and it's amazing how much better these teams become when the finish line is in sight.

I'm relieved we've got the points on the board, i seriously think this is our weakest squad of players since we got relegated last time around and I have very little faith in our forward players other than Rene to produce anything positive. Once we went behind yesterday I turned Gulls player off as I knew we were done for.

We have to get Rene some help so we aren't solely reliant on him so as we can get a few more wins. My gut tells me we'll be ok but we're going to be finishing a lot nearer the bottom 2 than I thought this season. i didn't think we'd be anywhere near the top 7 but I thought we'd be comfortably in the middle still. Shouldn't be surprised we lost some key players and Ling's signings this season have been so hit and miss. Defensively we're reasonably good, middle of the park we are ok then we have Rene and I seriously wouldn't care if we released everyone else from an attacking/wide player point of view at the end of the season.

[Plymouth Gull]

Agree with that second paragraph 100% Royal. Spot on.

[friendlygas]

I have wriiten on our forum that yourselves,York and Rochdale have now come onto our radar as part of a mini-league but I do not look upon this mini league as being a relegation battle rather a battle to get into mid table. As I said in a previous comment you have only to pick up 13 points to stay up and I don't really see you only winning five more games. I think you will finish safely in the 55-60 point bracket and I will be happy if we could also finish in that area. You have a very strong defence which will go in your favour in that you will be in most games to the end and generally there will be 1 goal in it and you are more than capable of beating teams in this league.