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The Chase for a play-off places


plymouthram

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We definitely have the hardest run in: we play teams at home who are good away and we play teams away that are good at home. 

Blackburn have an equally difficult run in, but still not as bad as ours. If you want to put some money on a team then I would definitely fancy GR's Millwall to have a very realistic opportunity. They have 5 home games remaining and their away games are against teams who aren't dominant at home. If they get all three points against us on Saturday, I would imagine they will make the top six at someone's expense. 

I honestly think looking at our run-in that we should try and focus on getting a top half finish with a + GD and that would represent a progressive season. I think it's unrealistic to expect that we will suddenly turn into the league's best team and garner the results to get into the top six. 

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2 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

We definitely have the hardest run in: we play teams at home who are good away and we play teams away that are good at home. 

Blackburn have an equally difficult run in, but still not as bad as ours. If you want to put some money on a team then I would definitely fancy GR's Millwall to have a very realistic opportunity. They have 5 home games remaining and their away games are against teams who aren't dominant at home. If they get all three points against us on Saturday, I would imagine they will make the top six at someone's expense. 

I honestly think looking at our run-in that we should try and focus on getting a top half finish with a + GD and that would represent a progressive season. I think it's unrealistic to expect that we will suddenly turn into the league's best team and garner the results to get into the top six. 

We are (almost) the league's best team at home, though.

Reaching the playoffs would require a definite uptick in form away from home which I agree is unlikely but we did win our last away game 3-1 so maybe there's a small hope. 

It's not like any of the teams between us and 4th are remotely consistent either tbf so that makes something possible even without a dominant run-in.

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8 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

I think it's unrealistic to expect that we will suddenly turn into the league's best team and garner the results to get into the top six. 

To be fair, over the last 15 games, we're the league's second best team. We would need to improve our points-per-game ratio further though.

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3 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

To be fair, over the last 15 games, we're the league's second best team. We would need to improve our points-per-game ratio further though.

We're third, but the problem is that the teams around us are also doing well for the most part. We've got 9 games left, so let's look at the last 10 games: 

Fulham - 64 points | 19pts from last 10 games
Brentford - 60 points | 14pts from last 10 games
Forest - 60 points | 13pts from last 10 games
Preston - 56 points | 16pts from last 10 games

Bristol - 55 points | 14pts from last 10 games
Millwall - 54 points | 13pts from last 10 games
Cardiff - 54 points | 16pts from last 10 games
Blackburn - 53 points | 16pts from last 10 games
Swansea - 53 points | 11pts from last 10 games
Derby - 51 points | 17pts from last 10 games
QPR - 50 points | 15pts from last 10 games 

It's not impossible, but the fact we need to make at least a five point differential above Preston at this stage and also need to better 5 teams above us all with an easier run-in does seem like a stretch. I think a positive goal difference and a top half finish (perhaps top 10) would be a great end to the season considering. 

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10 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

We're third, but the problem is that the teams around us are also doing well for the most part. We've got 9 games left, so let's look at the last 10 games: 

Fulham - 64 points | 19pts from last 10 games
Brentford - 60 points | 14pts from last 10 games
Forest - 60 points | 13pts from last 10 games
Preston - 56 points | 16pts from last 10 games

Bristol - 55 points | 14pts from last 10 games
Millwall - 54 points | 13pts from last 10 games
Cardiff - 54 points | 16pts from last 10 games
Blackburn - 53 points | 16pts from last 10 games
Swansea - 53 points | 11pts from last 10 games
Derby - 51 points | 17pts from last 10 games
QPR - 50 points | 15pts from last 10 games 

It's not impossible, but the fact we need to make at least a five point differential above Preston at this stage and also need to better 5 teams above us all with an easier run-in does seem like a stretch. I think a positive goal difference and a top half finish (perhaps top 10) would be a great end to the season considering. 

We play Preston though; so assuming we beat them (if we don't win that then obviously nothing is happening) you can look at it that we need to make up 2 points over 8 games. Which sounds far more reasonable. 

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4 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

We play Preston though; so assuming we beat them (if we don't win that then obviously nothing is happening) you can look at it that we need to make up 2 points over 8 games. Which sounds far more reasonable. 

Not if you remember the other three just below Preston. You have to assume at least one of them will win and overtake Preston, meaning we have to make up 3 or 4 points on them.

That said, we play two out of those three as well. So if we win all our six pointers (!!) we only have to make up ground on Bristol City.

Easy, easy.

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3 minutes ago, AutoWindscreens said:

Not if you remember the other three just below Preston. You have to assume at least one of them will win and overtake Preston, meaning we have to make up 3 or 4 points on them.

That said, we play two out of those three as well. So if we win all our six pointers (!!) we only have to make up ground on Bristol City.

Easy, easy.

Yeah the fact that we play almost all of the teams above us in general means I think we're simply in a position that if we have a really good end of the season, we're in with a good shot. Assuming none of the teams above us match us (and no-one above them fully capitulates; Forest seeming the most likely at the moment which would be hysterical).

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3 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

Yeah the fact that we play almost all of the teams above us in general means I think we're simply in a position that if we have a really good end of the season, we're in with a good shot. Assuming none of the teams above us match us (and no-one above them fully capitulates; Forest seeming the most likely at the moment which would be hysterical).

That's a good way to put it.

Because it seems pretty daunting if you say that we have 3 six pointers PLUS games against four of the top five.

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Not sure why we're doing this to ourselves- it's the hope which kills you. Us being 5 points off makes it seem closer than it really is. The chances of us going on a run away from home and all 5 teams above us not having a decent run between now and the end of the season is slim. It only takes us to lose one away game and the rest of the pack to win and all of a sudden, it's 8 points again.

I'm looking for consistency in performances, more bite away from home, and a decent points cushion to 22nd so we don't have to worry about any points deductions.

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3 minutes ago, AutoWindscreens said:

That's a good way to put it.

Because it seems pretty daunting if you say that we have 3 six pointers PLUS games against four of the top five.

Worth noting that if Leeds keep their current form up they'll have locked up Automatic promotion by the time we play them and won't be playing for anything.

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Read an interesting fact that we are 5 points worse off than this stage last season, and with 7 to go we were 5 off the play offs last season, don't think we'll make it this year but that is a good platform for next year with a new defender and return of a fit bielik with the youngsters gaining more experience 

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1 hour ago, Ilsonram12 said:

Read an interesting fact that we are 5 points worse off than this stage last season, and with 7 to go we were 5 off the play offs last season, don't think we'll make it this year but that is a good platform for next year with a new defender and return of a fit bielik with the youngsters gaining more experience 

Didn't we benefit from some points deduction or summat, or was there just talk of it.

By the way, some of the Red Dogs are licking their chops at the prospect of playing us. Our style of play is apparently well suited to their 'hit them on the break style', and our defence has a soft underbelly. I suppose there's a grain of two of truth amongst the chaff.

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5 hours ago, Archied said:

Well it’s a no ambiguity  situation , we can’t be thinking draws we have to get out there and win games ,do that and if it’s meant to be then it’s meant to be ,if it doesn’t happen then we are looking in very decent shape going forward 

Agreed. We need to give it a go in the hope that enough of the teams currently above us in the table get the jitters. If we don't give it everything we have and that scenario plays out, we will be left cursing.

Does it suit our current development phase to be promoted this season? Probably not but you don't get to pick and choose the right time for these things to happen.

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3 minutes ago, Phoenix said:

Didn't we benefit from some points deduction or summat, or was there just talk of it.

By the way, some of the Red Dogs are licking their chops at the prospect of playing us. Our style of play is apparently well suited to their 'hit them on the break style', and our defence has a soft underbelly. I suppose there's a grain of two of truth amongst the chaff.

They only win when the opposition sees more of the ball; so there's definite truth in it.

That being said, they've only won one in five (although 3 games to improve that of course) - and the "hit them on the break" style only works if you don't concede from our attacks - and we're about as clinical as any team in the league right now.

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4 minutes ago, Squid said:

We'll finish 9th...

Mark my words.

& That will be a success.

 

No reason why we can't finish top next season.

FTFY ?

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