Nine To Go. (5 Viewers)

[Mucca Mad Boys]

I fully agree.

And with recent results I see Bristol City as our main rivals trying to take our top 6 place. They have Norwich, Burnley and Watford when we have our harder 3 games. It doesn't get much easier for them as they then have WBA. I can't see them pulling ahead of us by much during these games as we're 2 points ahead of them and there's no sign of one of the clubs we raced past putting a good run together.

I wouldn’t want to swap position in the table and remaining games with anyone outside the top 4.

You get it.

There’s a reason the bookies still have us 5th favourites for promotion. Compared to our rivals, we have an ‘easier’ run in. Bar Sheff U away, all our hardest games are at home which is what you want rather than having to go to Sunderland, Burnley, WBA and Boro away.

Barring WBA and maybe Boro, we’re not playing teams around us so there isn’t the same ‘double jeopardy’ risk of losing and giving points to the teams around us.

As impressive as WBA’s away draws against Leeds and Burnley were, its value is less than one win. They’ve still got tough away games against Norwich, Bristol and ourselves to come and Sunderland at home. If they win all those games, fair play to them and at least they’ve done us the favour keeping Norwich and Bristol City at bay.

Derby is just one minor setback at the minute.

 

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[Mucca Mad Boys]

Tue night was a proper f*ck up. If we win that, we probably need four wins from nine. Now it's five from nine with three really tough games next. It wouldn't be a shock if it ends up being four or five wins needed from the last six, which is a lot of pressure.

This is overdoing it. WBA are playing most our playoff rivals and they can’t simultaneously win and lose to give them a buffer on us OR lose to allow Bristol and/or Norwich the chance to gain on us.

We probably need 12-14 points from the remaining 9 games to get 6th.

 

[Lamps]

You get it.

There’s a reason the bookies still have us 5th favourites for promotion. Compared to our rivals, we have an ‘easier’ run in. Bar Sheff U away, all our hardest games are at home which is what you want rather than having to go to Sunderland, Burnley, WBA and Boro away.

Barring WBA and maybe Boro, we’re not playing teams around us so there isn’t the same ‘double jeopardy’ risk of losing and giving points to the teams around us.

As impressive as WBA’s away draws against Leeds and Burnley were, its value is less than one win. They’ve still got tough away games against Norwich, Bristol and ourselves to come and Sunderland at home. If they win all those games, fair play to them and at least they’ve done us the favour keeping Norwich and Bristol City at bay.

Derby is just one minor setback at the minute.

The other point often missed out on is how quickly we caught up and then went past the teams below us. People couldn't even see us catching up with WBA.

For us to lose out it would take WBA to get at least the same amount of points as us and another club to do better than us by 2 points or more. If we get just 1 point more than WBA then 2 sides need to get past us.

 

[mmttww]

We probably need 12-14 points...

Which is four or five wins. We haven't drawn many games this season, we either win or lose, so I'm not banking on draws to get us over the line.

 

[Lamps]

This is overdoing it. WBA are playing most our playoff rivals and they can’t simultaneously win and lose to give them a buffer on us OR lose to allow Bristol and/or Norwich the chance to gain on us.

We probably need 12-14 points from the remaining 9 games to get 6th.

I have us 5 wins out of the last 9 games. That would put us on 71 points. Good chance of getting 5th from that. Our game against WBA will be important.

 

[Sick Boy]

It’ll be the 2 relegated teams or Leeds that go back up. They’re all a cut above the rest.

 

[quinn1971]

We’ve got to play 4 of the top 5, if we do get play offs then wev‘e def earned it, big statement if we win Saturday

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

I have us 5 wins out of the last 9 games. That would put us on 71 points. Good chance of getting 5th from that. Our game against WBA will be important.

Which is four or five wins. We haven't drawn many games this season, we either win or lose, so I'm not banking on draws to get us over the line.

I’m pretty relaxed about it all and don’t think we’ll lose the next 3 games anyway and feel that we’ve got one big performance in us (at least), I’ll stick my neck out and predict us to get 4 points.

Again, if we get through those games and we’re in the playoffs still, we’ve got relatively ‘easy’ away games and all the bottom 3-4 aren’t all going to turn into world beaters.

As you rightly point out @Lamps, we need 2 teams to do better than us and both Boro and Bristol have to win one more game than us. If we win 4, they need to win 5 so these teams would rather be in our shoes.

 

[Otis]

We have 3 of those to play and Sheff Utd - I think Norwich are easily beatable

You should maybe tell the Sky Blues that

 

[Travs]

Really could have done with beating Derby..... we'd have (almost) been in a position where even if we lost all of the next three, we'd still be right in the hunt.

Probably need a couple of draws or at least one win in the next three (Sunderland on saturday would be the most likely source of that win, but we'll still be underdog)

 

[mmttww]

I’m pretty relaxed about it all and don’t think we’ll lose the next 3 games anyway and feel that we’ve got one big performance in us (at least), I’ll stick my neck out and predict us to get 4 points.

Yeah, I get that. I know this league is nuts and we might go and tonk Sunderland, Sheff Utd and Burnley back to back just for the LOLs, and piss fifth place.

Just worried about losing momentum before these games, potentially struggling in all three and having to build momentum again with some pressure on us.

We're not a team that's been solidly top half or top six all season, and not a late bolter from the pack. Conscious that we need momentum at the right time.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

Yeah, I get that. I know this league is nuts and we might go and tonk Sunderland, Sheff Utd and Burnley back to back just for the LOLs, and piss fifth place.

Just worried about losing momentum before these games, potentially struggling in all three and having to build momentum again with some pressure on us.

We're not a team that's been solidly top half or top six all season, and not a late bolter from the pack. Conscious that we need momentum at the right time.

We have wrested the initiative at the perfect time in my view. The teams around us have more or less ebbed and flowed in and around where they’ve currently been. We’ve got key players (still) returning from injury and you’d think this should take us up a gear.

Taking this next game coming up, we have a good home record and a good record against Sunderland. Even with their league standing, it’s a winnable game and it’s not a fixture I expect us to lose. A draw is a good result even if we drop out of the top 6.

 

[mmttww]

Even with their league standing, it’s a winnable game and it’s not a fixture I expect us to lose.

I hear you. In my head, if we play well vs. Sunderland and get at least a draw, I'll be confident of getting over the line. If we scrape a draw playing sh*t or just p*ss the bed like Tue night, I'll be concerned.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

I hear you. In my head, if we play well vs. Sunderland and get at least a draw, I'll be confident of getting over the line. If we scrape a draw playing sh*t or just p*ss the bed like Tue night, I'll be concerned.

It’s one game, so I’m happy to give the BOD. I wonder what the reaction on this site was after Stoke battered us 4-0 back in 22/23?

 

[Macca1987]

It’s one game, so I’m happy to give the BOD. I wonder what the reaction on this site was after Stoke battered us 4-0 back in 22/23?

Said this to my mates on the way back from Derby, let's take this as our Stoke game from 2 years ago, loads of twists and turns until the end of the season, which would hopefully see us sitting in one of those play off places

 

[edgy]

We went unbeaten, amassing 13 points for 7 games - but against some poor teams - after that Stoke 0-4 reverse. I think with our next 2 games, we are going to need to replicate or better that near 2 points per game run for the final 7. It looks a bigger task than 22/23 was, to me.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

We went unbeaten, amassing 13 points for 7 games - but against some poor teams - after that Stoke 0-4 reverse. I think with our next 2 games, we are going to need to replicate or better that near 2 points per game run for the final 7. It looks a bigger task than 22/23 was, to me.

Why do you think that? We’re in a better league position now than we were back then.

On game day 37, we drew to a bottom of the table Wigan Athletic and we were 9th place. Our record from there wasn’t the most spectacular, 4-4-1 (W-D-L). That was 16 points to hit 70 points and we need 14 to match that.

Looking at the runners and riders, Middlesborough need 17 points, Bristol need 16 and anyone below that needs 18-21 points which is 6-7 wins from 9 games. 69 points may be enough to secure it.

Statistically, we’re in a much better place even if we lose the next 3 games.

 

[M&B Stand]

Anyone know what points we were on with 8 games to go the first year after relegation.

The Trollope and Carbanara collapse I like to call it

 

[quinn1971]

Few twists and turns to go yet? we were going to catch Sunderland before the derby game

 

[PUSB-We_are_going_up]

Sunderland (h) - W - 2-1
Sheffield United (a) - D - 1-1
Burnley (h) - L - 2-1
Portsmouth (h) - W - 3-2
Hull (a) - W - 2-0
West Brom (h) - D - 1-1
Plymouth (a) - W - 2-0
Luton (a) - W - 3-1
Middlesborough (h) - W - 2-1

WDLWWDWWW
20 points

 

[Grendel]

Anyone know what points we were on with 8 games to go the first year after relegation.

The Trollope and Carbanara collapse I like to call it

We beat Norwich with another 7 to go and then managed 1 more point