Bris Vegas Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 As the title says, our away games will be key to us winning automatic promotion. So far this season, there isn't much to choose between the top five in terms of home form. Boro have taken 29 points, Derby 25, Hull 29, Brighton 26 and Burnley 26. There seems little reason as to why this will change in the next half of the season. Home form between the five gunning for autos will probably remain very consistent, and largely very good. What ultimately seperates us is the away form. Boro have taken 20 points, Derby 23, Hull 15, Brighton 18 and Burnley 15. Luckily our challengers, Boro aside, aren't particularly strong on the road and it's there where we can really pull away. Away draws are rather pointless, three away draws is the same as one win and two losses. Brighton have nine away draws and only three wins. They're unbeaten on the road, but have taken five points less than us. We have 11 away games left - Boro, Burnley, Fulham, Brentford, Wolves, QPR, Rotherham, Cardiff, Charlton, Bristol City and Brighton . in that order. Win five of those and automatic promotion will be ours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Mills Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 In my mind 10 of those we can realistically win, obviously Boro we can win but can't expect to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i-Ram Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 When did football become anymore complex than preparing to win your next game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimmu Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 19 minutes ago, i-Ram said: When did football become anymore complex than preparing to win your next game? Easy one. When people with some spare time started to have access to internet. Luckily this complixity is actually pretty fun and very far from other behaviours born at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i-Ram Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 1 hour ago, Dimmu said: Easy one. When people with some spare time started to have access to internet. Luckily this complixity is actually pretty fun and very far from other behaviours born at the same time. With respect you might have to be known as Dimmu to think that there are not better ways of spending your time on the Internet. Happy New Year buddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ketteringram Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 2 hours ago, Chris Mills said: In my mind 10 of those we can realistically win, obviously Boro we can win but can't expect to. Bookmarked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highgate Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Yes they are, and so are the home games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StockholmRam Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Hmmmm... Another key to promotion would be A) Getting Shack and Carson back fit and keeping them fit. B) Consistancy. Not falling alarmingly away like last season. Gosh im nervous for 2016. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZULU7373 Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 IMHO we'll do well to get seven points from the opening four matches of that away run (Boro, Burnley, Fulham and Brentford). A prevailing wind though and I can see us winning the last seven away games of our season. We're going up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapeTownRams Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 funnily enough I was looking at that list and thinking that we have some pretty tough away games to come....even Rotherham won't be easy.....look at what happened to Hull...... key is surely to try not to lose to any of the top 6...esp the other teams in/around the top 4... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robglosta Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 17 hours ago, Bris Vegas said: As the title says, our away games will be key to us winning automatic promotion. So far this season, there isn't much to choose between the top five in terms of home form. Boro have taken 29 points, Derby 25, Hull 29, Brighton 26 and Burnley 26. There seems little reason as to why this will change in the next half of the season. Home form between the five gunning for autos will probably remain very consistent, and largely very good. What ultimately seperates us is the away form. Boro have taken 20 points, Derby 23, Hull 15, Brighton 18 and Burnley 15. Luckily our challengers, Boro aside, aren't particularly strong on the road and it's there where we can really pull away. Away draws are rather pointless, three away draws is the same as one win and two losses. Brighton have nine away draws and only three wins. They're unbeaten on the road, but have taken five points less than us. We have 11 away games left - Boro, Burnley, Fulham, Brentford, Wolves, QPR, Rotherham, Cardiff, Charlton, Bristol City and Brighton . in that order. Win five of those and automatic promotion will be ours. I disagree entirely with that statement, particularly if you are flying at home. It is also surely dependent on how valuable that point is - does it mean two less points for a top four rival? Why would you rather lose (McClaren style) trying to force a win if the flow of the game isn't indicating that and we can take a point? Was our draw at Leeds pointless, after finding ourselves 2-1 down? You're gambling if you lose two away games on the spin and then go gung ho in the third because of the need to always win rather than draw. Of course winning is preferential, but I struggle to see why you wouldn't want to take a point back from an away game if tactically it is very finely poised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rampage Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 6 hours ago, caymanram said: funnily enough I was looking at that list and thinking that we have some pretty tough away games to come....even Rotherham won't be easy.....look at what happened to Hull...... key is surely to try not to lose to any of the top 6...esp the other teams in/around the top 4... Lose to Boro and they win their extra game, then they are seven points clear. Beat Boro and they win their extra game then we are one point behind. The old six pointer thing. Clement knows this as do we all. When we lost the away game at Burnley two years ago the chase was over. Had we won it the gap would have been down to two points not eight. Lose tomorrow and we are realistically trying for second place, barring aberrations from Boro. Clement knows this well enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddy Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 So Ramage do you think Paul will play for the draw and if we get a it of luck, nick it 0-1 playing counter attack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rampage Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 6 minutes ago, toddy said: So Ramage do you think Paul will play for the draw and if we get a it of luck, nick it 0-1 playing counter attack? Boro have been playing the same game for two years and have pretty much perfected it. The Boro fan explained it really clearly on here. They have not come across a team that can defend nearly as well as them and attack as well as them. If we go at them like we did against Hull, we have a good chance, if we can get one in their net. Attacking in bursts is the best way forward. I think that we can score a couple if we can get the lead. Downside is that a draw is fine for them but a defeat is really bad for us if we are to catch them. In the bigger picture, 92 points is the target however or wherever we get them. I think that we will try to dominate them for twenty minutes which they will not be bothered about because they think that they can defend all day. However if we score in the first twenty then it is game on and they will have to open up. Playing for a draw is unlikely to work because they tend to score a goal and then shut up shop. Aim of the game is to score first against them. Get Ince in the middle in attacks and we can score. Otherwise shoot first time from distance if a ball runs loose. Once the ball is trapped before shooting, their goalkeeper is always in position, given a chance. We have gone out with a whimper so many times up there it is time to try something different. We have to believe that we can beat them. COYR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irobinson Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 BELIEVE - but don't lose!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted January 1, 2016 Author Share Posted January 1, 2016 2 hours ago, robglosta said: I disagree entirely with that statement, particularly if you are flying at home. It is also surely dependent on how valuable that point is - does it mean two less points for a top four rival? Why would you rather lose (McClaren style) trying to force a win if the flow of the game isn't indicating that and we can take a point? Was our draw at Leeds pointless, after finding ourselves 2-1 down? You're gambling if you lose two away games on the spin and then go gung ho in the third because of the need to always win rather than draw. Of course winning is preferential, but I struggle to see why you wouldn't want to take a point back from an away game if tactically it is very finely poised. It doesn't matter that we're flying at home. All of the top five will be flying at home. Come the end of the season, the home form between the top five will all be very similar. Those who get promoted automatically will be those who win enough on the road. Drawing plenty of away games, like Brighton, hasn't done them any good has it? Bournemouth and Watford finished top two last year because they both won the most amount of away games. Middlesbrough drew too many on the road, that was the difference. Now, I understand that drawing away to a fellow top five is a good result, I'm not disputing that. But what I mean was settling for draws away from home is rather pointless when three draws is the same as one win and two defeats. I'm not saying go gung-ho, but it will be the difference. You will see come May. The top two will have the best away records. That'll be the difference. So far, we're doing a great job on the road, and five more wins away (plus 8 home wins out of 11) will see us reach 87 points. Add one or two likely draws and that'll be enough for automatic promotion. But only if we win away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rampage Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 I think that I see the Rams tiring after their exertions. Next four games are key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robglosta Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 8 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said: It doesn't matter that we're flying at home. All of the top five will be flying at home. Come the end of the season, the home form between the top five will all be very similar. Those who get promoted automatically will be those who win enough on the road. Drawing plenty of away games, like Brighton, hasn't done them any good has it? Bournemouth and Watford finished top two last year because they both won the most amount of away games. Middlesbrough drew too many on the road, that was the difference. Now, I understand that drawing away to a fellow top five is a good result, I'm not disputing that. But what I mean was settling for draws away from home is rather pointless when three draws is the same as one win and two defeats. I'm not saying go gung-ho, but it will be the difference. You will see come May. The top two will have the best away records. That'll be the difference. So far, we're doing a great job on the road, and five more wins away (plus 8 home wins out of 11) will see us reach 87 points. Add one or two likely draws and that'll be enough for automatic promotion. But only if we win away. So that's an observation, a logical one, but how does that translate to the players on the pitch and the tactics Clement employs? I have no doubt he will be trying to win every game, but there are times where an away point is perfectly acceptable, like the heavy Christmas schedule with fatigue factoring in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i-Ram Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 6 minutes ago, robglosta said: So that's an observation, a logical one, but how does that translate to the players on the pitch and the tactics Clement employs? I have no doubt he will be trying to win every game, but there are times where an away point is perfectly acceptable, like the heavy Christmas schedule with fatigue factoring in. Rob, unless you have a complete free day I would leave this one. I bet you Bris has a 10 page dossier on how to boil an egg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddy Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 2 hours ago, Rampage said: I think that I see the Rams tiring after their exertions. Next four games are key. Every team has the same schedule. A tiring schedule is only an excuse for failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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