Wish I shared the optimism. Our form since beating United on 30th September six months ago has been abysmal considering who we’ve played.

That's a good and positive way of looking at it :-)

If anyone has a subscription to The Athletic, good article here about why we are still very unlikely to go down. In fact they rate the likelihood at around 3%.

[Link]

Don't think it's fair to paste the entire article but they argue that, despite our difficult fixture list, it's actually only marginally worse than Luton's, that some of our mid table opponents won't have anything to play for, that statistically our performances have improved under Glasner etc and results should eventually catch them up.

Also argues that the Oldham season was incomparable to this one.

Anyway, just an article but may offer some reassurance.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

It's a dilemma isn't it and I've felt like this previously.

My best times as a Palace fan were in the Championship, the playoff games at Wembley and so on.

Ultimately staying up just for the sake of staying up, trying to scrape together 9 or 10 wins in a season is just depressing, regardless of some of the brilliant players we've had.

Also as someone who can no longer do season tickets and just tries to get to 5/6 games a season, it's a pain getting tickets as well. Once upon a time could just rock up on matchday and get some from the box office.

We have to start showing some ambition, there's like 9 European spots this season so the suggest that we couldn't aim to scrape one of those is mad given some of the other clubs who have managed it in recent seasons.

I also really want us to try and take one of the cups seriously for once.

Failing that, may as well go down and at least hopefully have the excitement of a good season where we, ironically, try to get promoted back here.

Edited by Canterbury Palace (10 Apr 2024 1.10pm)

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Yeah but all of those clubs aren't always that consistent.

West Ham were nearly relegated before Moyes came in. Villa nearly relegated before Emery came in. City and Chelsea could yet face massive sanctions for their financial dealings. Liverpool could drop off after Klopp goes. Spurs are Spurs.

We're 14 points behind 9th and 19 points behind sixth. It's sounds a lot but we've lost 23 points from winning positions so far this season, the second most in the league.

Given how thin our squad is and the awful luck we've had losing Doucoure. Eze, Olise, Guehi etc for long periods, it's not a stretch to think that with a bit of investment and a bit more luck with injuries, we'd be a lot closer than we currently are.

I'm not saying we're ever going to challenge for the top places but finishing 7th - 9th once season isn't too mad to imagine.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Optimistic I’d say but nothing wrong with that. Would certainly be more fun than we’re having now!