Jump to content

Path to the playoffs


ariotofmyown

Recommended Posts

3 minutes ago, ariotofmyown said:

We don't look like we are winging it though. Hard to see a big downturn in form on the horizon unless we suffer a few injuries. Hopefully 2-3 good players will boost the squad to help prevent against that. 

You are right about starting the season with all our ducks in a row. That is more unrealistic than making the playoffs though!

I think our form under Rooney has been characterised by fine margins. So many of the games have been painfully tight and decided by the odd goal. 

When it’s like that, you have to anticipate things could easily change.

I think we still have work to do to consider ourselves safe. Wins like today and last week at QPR are a massive boost. Another win on Tuesday and most, if not all, will believe we’ll be fine.

Personally I wouldn’t have my eye on the play-offs for a while. I think the club has to show that things are working well and aligned on and off the pitch before we dare to dream.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Listen I said we could make the playoffs halfway through last season. We were 13 points off them at the time but I believed the arrival of Rooney would propell us up the league. I was right, we went within a point of 6th place after we beat Preston away in July. It just shows you what can be done with good form in the second half of the season. 

However as much as I'd like to believe this again, we've got far too much to do. We've been in a relegation all season and now slowly starting to pull away. We'll need another 47 points from our remaining 20 games to be sure of 6th place. It's almost impossible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Jourdan said:

I think our form under Rooney has been characterised by fine margins. So many of the games have been painfully tight and decided by the odd goal. 

When it’s like that, you have to anticipate things could easily change.

I think we still have work to do to consider ourselves safe. Wins like today and last week at QPR are a massive boost. Another win on Tuesday and most, if not all, will believe we’ll be fine.

Personally I wouldn’t have my eye on the play-offs for a while. I think the club has to show that things are working well and aligned on and off the pitch before we dare to dream.

More dreary stuff. As opposed the the massive margins when we getting thrashed up to the Wycombe game. Only the scorelines have been tight since.

There has been a consistency- hard to beat, difficult to score against and generally good to watch. What a contrast to before Rooney took sole charge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, sunnyhill60 said:

More dreary stuff. As opposed the the massive margins when we getting thrashed up to the Wycombe game. Only the scorelines have been tight since.

There has been a consistency- hard to beat, difficult to score against and generally good to watch. What a contrast to before Rooney took sole charge.

Were the Bournemouth and QPR games not tight? Were we not hanging on at the end? Did it not require a big save from Roos to earn us all three points in both games?

Was the Brentford game not tight? Did they not hit the woodwork twice?

I could go on.

The only games we were comfortable in or comprehensively outplayed the opposition in were Swansea, Birmingham and yesterday’s game.

Every other game has been tight, well contested and decided by fine margins and we haven’t been able to relax.

Even people who have had their doubts about Rooney have repeatedly praised the hard work, the organisation, the quality of the defending, so I am not really sure what you are getting at.

By all means, take a pop at my views but at least do it when it merits it. What’s dreary is having to defend my opinions relentlessly from posters like yourself who can’t discern balance from genuine negativity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sadly, playoffs are out of reach this season. I will be happy with a mid table finish after the season we’ve had.

What makes me really optimistic is how ordinary we’ve made almost every other team look this season. Especially since Cocu departed, there’s not really been a team (maybe Boro match) that’s played well against us. That’s not all luck, we’ve made teams look poor and sluggish. Even Brentford didn’t look like scoring or creating many chances.

If we can keep on building into the Summer then add some key pieces (finances allowing) the future starts to look really bright 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is far too Hap-Clappy to even take seriously!

Being one of the more sensible posters on here, and being well endowed in the common sense department, I'd much rather see us get the expected 19 points from the 21 available in February (6 wins plus a draw at Watford), and then just take it from there.

Let's keep our feet on the ground.  We don't want to look silly to any outsiders looking in!

 

?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll be happy for us to stay up this year. Assuming we do that WR will have shown enough to back him next season. He took over an absolute shambles and should not underestimate the challenge he inherited. We've fell into the trap of buying names in the past but admittedly when I look at the squad on paper it looks bang average Championship now, for that reason I'd rather more pressure is not put on WR than he already has given I think he's working with our most limited squad in years. The fact he is getting them to overperform is encouraging though.

 

 

Edited by SillyBilly
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, ariotofmyown said:

Yeah we need to score more. But we often don't look like conceding either.

This side under Rooney all season would have a v good chance of a top 6 finish. We’ve seen that in every game since he took over,  bar Rotherham. But it’s a tight league and 2 months of Cocu ball leave us needing a miracle for top 6 esp given Bielik’s position 

second half w/o Bielik yesterday show us tho that we’ll still survive even without his talent

Edited by kevinhectoring
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Wazztie16 said:

I'm going to call it. We're going to get to 6th place, that's where we'll finish. It won't be pretty, it won't be easy, it'll come down to the last 2 games. But we'll get there. 

Miracles can happen and I’ve got £20 on it at 40/1.  But you would have had more reaction to your post if we had a pig emoji with wings

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Jourdan said:

Were the Bournemouth and QPR games not tight? Were we not hanging on at the end? Did it not require a big save from Roos to earn us all three points in both games?

Was the Brentford game not tight? Did they not hit the woodwork twice?

I could go on.

No I have to disagree. We also hit the woodwork in the Brentford game. That save against Bournemouth was the only save Roos had to make, as good as a save it was. You make it sound like we're hanging on in games. We're not. Yes the scoreline is usually tight but we're comfortable. I never feel like we're going to concede a goal. That's how good Rooney has made us at the back. And considering how we were playing when Cocu was sacked and the position we were in the table, it's been a massive turnaround. I couldn't be more positive about it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Millenniumram said:

You can’t rely on clean sheets forever. 7 goals from open play is a pathetic tally

True, but it's been better since Rooney took over. I think most of those 7 have been in the last 10.

Many teams have got promoted with a tight defence and few goals. We aren't even particularly defensive either, just not yet clinical enough to usually create or finish good chances.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We'd have to go at better than automatic promotion PPG. It's impossible. 

We don't score enough, we won't keep clean sheets forever, and depending on Tuesday, could be back in real trouble without our best player available for the foreseeable future.

I hope we finish about 15th. Rooney will have done a great job of we do. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account.

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...