12th January 2003: It's not over
yet, but there's no room for error. Below, I outline our escape route,
but first a few words about United. It's my opinion that we saw the
2003 Champions yesterday. United are starting to get back to their
efficient, clinical best and approached the game with utter professionalism
and never looked like they wouldn't win. OK, we gifted them the equaliser
and maybe the doubts would have surfaced had we held out a bit longer,
but I still think they would have won easily. The way they controlled
the game in the second half was excellent - not as a footballing spectacle,
but as a tactical exercise. It reminds me of the Arsenal of the late
eighties! In contrast, Arsenal looked vulnerable on Boxing Day, and
while they won the game, they were fortunate.
And so to the Great Escape (you can start whistling if you like!)
The magic number is 40 points, although 38 or 39 may do it this season
given the low points totals so far. So in simple terms, Albion need
eight wins from sixteen games. Looking down the fixture list, I think
we MUST win the following games: Charlton (H), Bolton (H), Fulham
(A), West Ham (H), Birmingham (A), Sunderland (A). That's six. One
win from either Spurs or Newcastle at home leaves another two or three
points to find, with the following as possibles - Leeds (A), Everton
(H), Middlesbrough (A), Blackburn (A).
Yes it will be hard and you can see why no pundits are predicting
us to get out of it. But only us Albion fans have seen the performances
we have been producing week in week out that have deserved more that
we've got. It's down to the players to convert those chances, it's
down to Lady Luck to start shining on us and it's down to us, the
supporters, to keep up our role as the twelfth man.
It's perm three from six as far as relegation is concerned. Blues
are panic-buying because they know they're in trouble with their injury
problems. Fulham are on a downward spiral and haven't got a ground.
Sunderland are probably the worst side in the division, with Bolton
a close second. West Ham have some quality players but can't win at
home. We're in the thick of it, we're in touch with the rest - let's
make it at least go to the wire.
And if we do go down, we'll come back. Remember, we played host to
the best English side of recent years on Saturday - the Dingles were
at Walsall. You choose.
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