The good thing about having a slim chance is it gives the players something to play for until right towards the end of the season. Feels like so often teams in 4/5 in the playoffs are too relaxed by the time they come about and can’t get themselves fully up for the fight
I think Phil Parkinson is going to be the difference between Wrexham getting promotion over Wycombe, or even us. He knows how to do it at this level, in the sense he's done it with multiple clubs... if he wasnt their Manager, I'd be more confident of beating them to second.
Tuesday will be interesting. It looks like some of our players badly need a break. They’ve pulled out a phenomenal effort to get from mid table mediocrity to promotion contenders. They’ve been relentless but the likes of TC, Berry, Small and maybe even Jones all look like they need a breather.
Let’s see how they go against Crawley, which is a really big game - as they all are now. If I was NJ I’d definitely be pushing to get Posh postponed, as others have said. I read the Everton squad had a week’s warm weather training in Dubai over the FA Cup week/weekend. If Posh is canned I wonder if the Americans would dig deep to send our lot off for some sun and r&r? Could make a huge difference to the run in.
I know at this stage every game is massive but Crawley is really a huge opportunity for us to cement a playoff place. Both Reading and Bolton have tricky games so it’s a great chance to put distance between us and those just below us. Anything less than three points will put us back in the washer.
Tuesday will be interesting. It looks like some of our players badly need a break. They’ve pulled out a phenomenal effort to get from mid table mediocrity to promotion contenders. They’ve been relentless but the likes of TC, Berry, Small and maybe even Jones all look like they need a breather.
Let’s see how they go against Crawley, which is a really big game - as they all are now. If I was NJ I’d definitely be pushing to get Posh postponed, as others have said. I read the Everton squad had a week’s warm weather training in Dubai over the FA Cup week/weekend. If Posh is canned I wonder if the Americans would dig deep to send our lot off for some sun and r&r? Could make a huge difference to the run in.
This SMT funding a trip seems unlikely when it’s been a stretch to invest in a few lightbulbs around the ground 😉😆
Tuesday will be interesting. It looks like some of our players badly need a break. They’ve pulled out a phenomenal effort to get from mid table mediocrity to promotion contenders. They’ve been relentless but the likes of TC, Berry, Small and maybe even Jones all look like they need a breather.
Let’s see how they go against Crawley, which is a really big game - as they all are now. If I was NJ I’d definitely be pushing to get Posh postponed, as others have said. I read the Everton squad had a week’s warm weather training in Dubai over the FA Cup week/weekend. If Posh is canned I wonder if the Americans would dig deep to send our lot off for some sun and r&r? Could make a huge difference to the run in.
I’m not sure we’re in a worse position in terms of fatigue than any of our rivals. This stage of the season is relentless for everyone. We have probably as many good options as any of our rivals from the bench with two or three exceptions. As attractive as a few days in the sun sounds I think it’s just as possible that it will disrupt our momentum as much as it provides a rest. I think NJ has developed a mentality among the squad and at this point I wouldn’t want to put anything in the mix that messes with that.
That’s a shame about Duff. He was my choice to take over when we sacked Appleton but he’s been a disaster at Huddersfield. They have a lot of injuries but they still haven’t scored at home in 2025 which is an incredible statistic. Even with players missing I can’t imagine a new manager doing as badly as that. I was seeing us playing them at home as a 3 point banker, wish they could have waited a few weeks as we don’t need another Bolton-style resurgence
That’s a shame about Duff. He was my choice to take over when we sacked Appleton but he’s been a disaster at Huddersfield. They have a lot of injuries but they still haven’t scored at home in 2025 which is an incredible statistic. Even with players missing I can’t imagine a new manager doing as badly as that. I was seeing us playing them at home as a 3 point banker, wish they could have waited a few weeks as we don’t need another Bolton-style resurgence
Wonder how much more they'd have needed to push the boat out to get Alfie and his goals.....? Might have made the table look a little different....
Tuesday will be interesting. It looks like some of our players badly need a break. They’ve pulled out a phenomenal effort to get from mid table mediocrity to promotion contenders. They’ve been relentless but the likes of TC, Berry, Small and maybe even Jones all look like they need a breather.
Let’s see how they go against Crawley, which is a really big game - as they all are now. If I was NJ I’d definitely be pushing to get Posh postponed, as others have said. I read the Everton squad had a week’s warm weather training in Dubai over the FA Cup week/weekend. If Posh is canned I wonder if the Americans would dig deep to send our lot off for some sun and r&r? Could make a huge difference to the run in.
Yes, hoping that yesterday, albeit was more physical, was less physically demanding than it might have been....... did NJ or one of the players allude to that post match? Or maybe I dreamt it?
I think Phil Parkinson is going to be the difference between Wrexham getting promotion over Wycombe, or even us. He knows how to do it at this level, in the sense he's done it with multiple clubs... if he wasnt their Manager, I'd be more confident of beating them to second.
Multiple promotions but only two clubs at this level: Colchester and Bolton.
Tuesday will be interesting. It looks like some of our players badly need a break. They’ve pulled out a phenomenal effort to get from mid table mediocrity to promotion contenders. They’ve been relentless but the likes of TC, Berry, Small and maybe even Jones all look like they need a breather.
Let’s see how they go against Crawley, which is a really big game - as they all are now. If I was NJ I’d definitely be pushing to get Posh postponed, as others have said. I read the Everton squad had a week’s warm weather training in Dubai over the FA Cup week/weekend. If Posh is canned I wonder if the Americans would dig deep to send our lot off for some sun and r&r? Could make a huge difference to the run in.
Why get that match postponed when there is no midweek match either before or after?
Also, to which date would you then play it? You may find that you have a midweek match before another team on the Saturday who don’t have one. It could result in us being at a disadvantage before either the Lincoln or Cambridge matches for example.
We may have fatigue problems now because we’re playing consecutive midweek matches but come Peterborough we’ll be on a nice 1 game a week schedule. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
The recent spate of managerial sackings by teams around us (Cambridge, Wigan and Northampton aside) isn’t helping our task! Bolton are on the up and I’d expect Huddersfield to be the same now. Potentially we might have to play a rejuvenated Huddersfield team 3 times!
Huddersfield have just sacked Michael Duff. Big call from their chairman & just shows what falling out of the top 6 can do.
That’s mental! Also they’ve confirmed that an academy coach is taking over until the end of the season and so don’t have any proven name lined up which is even more nuts!
PS I also seem to have some kind of irrational dislike for Michael Duff just seeing his face annoys me 😅
It's crazy how quickly Orient have dropped out of it.
On the 18th Feb they won away at Wrexham and would've potentially had their eye on the automatics. 5 games and 5 defeats later, they're as good as out of even the play off picture.
Which could quite easily happen to us, especially as we are not scoring many goals & when we do they have come from defenders.
‘Not scoring many goal’
Have you looked at the form table for the last 10/15 games?
When posters like me express concerns that we're not scoring enough goals, we're wrong, AS IT CURRENTLY STANDS, never mind the form table, because we currently occupy the playoff places.
However we'll only be proved wrong if we're still there when the season ends, and I hope I will be, but because I believe we're too reliant on not conceding, I've predicted we won't, narrowly missing out.
You may laugh, but here's why. Last season, we scored 64 goals and finished 16th. To match that, we'd need to score another 18 from 11 and we're currently 12th in the table for goals scored after 35 games.
This is incorrect though. The reason our goals for is like it is, is because of how we started the season - where yes we were too reliant on not conceding.
If you have a look since we turned it around 18 or so games ago we are one of the leading scorers in the league with one of the best goal differences.
If we carry on as we have been since the turn around - goals are not going to be an issue.
Couldn't agree more. But I don't believe our form will continue to be so good, in much the same way as I didn't expect it to remain so bad earlier on the season. I don't have a anything to justify that now, and I didn't then, but our form changed for the better. Who saw Orients good run ending with five straight defeats?
No one's prediction is incorrect until the season ends, and like everyone else on here, I hope mine is.
Birmingham have the top spot and out of Wycombe and Wrexham for the the 2nd spot.
We really aren't going to get 9 points more than both Wrexham and Wycombe over the last 11 matches.
Stockport, Charlton and Bolton for the 4th, 5th and 6th place which will be a great 2nd half of the season for cafc and they can prove me wrong as I thought we were a 7th to 10th team back in August.
The worry for me is we have gone 3 games without scoring from open play but the positives are we have taken 7 from 9 from 3 tricky matches against teams in the top 9.
I want to see Charlton play good football on the deck and Gilbert plays at least 45 minutes and Small is as good on Tuesday as he was poor today.
I watched Wycombe earlier, they were poor! Posh completely outplayed them! I honestly don’t think Wrexham are up to much. If they lose Tuesday it’s still game on!
So you believe CAFC can accumulate 9 points more than both Wycombe and Wrexham over the next 9 games as well as getting more points than Bolton ?
I hope you're right but the inability of Berry and Docherty to take advantage of the extra space to score when TC and Small are being double marked will cost cafc vital points in this business end of the season.
It’s a funny coincidence that six years ago under Bowyer, after 35 games played, we were also 5th and also had 60 points.
The major difference is the points totals of the teams around us.
Wycombe and Wrexham have an equal number of points to Sunderland in 2019 - with Sunderland in 2019 having played one fewer game than both of them.
We finished three points above Sunderland and above Portsmouth on goal difference (by one goal).
Automatics is still doable but will likely require winning 9 of our last 11 matches and then possibly relying on goal difference swings. It’s actually in our favour that we still have to play both Wycombe and Wrexham.
It's crazy how quickly Orient have dropped out of it.
On the 18th Feb they won away at Wrexham and would've potentially had their eye on the automatics. 5 games and 5 defeats later, they're as good as out of even the play off picture.
Some posters were pointing out during Orient's excellent run that they hadn't played a top team and they had to play them all consecutively.
That’s a shame about Duff. He was my choice to take over when we sacked Appleton but he’s been a disaster at Huddersfield. They have a lot of injuries but they still haven’t scored at home in 2025 which is an incredible statistic. Even with players missing I can’t imagine a new manager doing as badly as that. I was seeing us playing them at home as a 3 point banker, wish they could have waited a few weeks as we don’t need another Bolton-style resurgence
Wonder how much more they'd have needed to push the boat out to get Alfie and his goals.....? Might have made the table look a little different....
Especially as they got in the great Freddie Ladapo instead!
That’s a shame about Duff. He was my choice to take over when we sacked Appleton but he’s been a disaster at Huddersfield. They have a lot of injuries but they still haven’t scored at home in 2025 which is an incredible statistic. Even with players missing I can’t imagine a new manager doing as badly as that. I was seeing us playing them at home as a 3 point banker, wish they could have waited a few weeks as we don’t need another Bolton-style resurgence
Wonder how much more they'd have needed to push the boat out to get Alfie and his goals.....? Might have made the table look a little different....
Especially as they got in the great Freddie Ladapo instead!
Oh no, didn't realize that, did they really...... from the sublime....... *shrugs*
That’s a shame about Duff. He was my choice to take over when we sacked Appleton but he’s been a disaster at Huddersfield. They have a lot of injuries but they still haven’t scored at home in 2025 which is an incredible statistic. Even with players missing I can’t imagine a new manager doing as badly as that. I was seeing us playing them at home as a 3 point banker, wish they could have waited a few weeks as we don’t need another Bolton-style resurgence
Wonder how much more they'd have needed to push the boat out to get Alfie and his goals.....? Might have made the table look a little different....
Especially as they got in the great Freddie Ladapo instead!
0 goals in 21 league appearances so far this season. We all know what's going to happen.
If we had won yesterday I would have thought 2nd was definitely doable, but I think it's extremely unlikely now. Need to cement our place in the playoffs and get the 2nd leg at home
That’s a shame about Duff. He was my choice to take over when we sacked Appleton but he’s been a disaster at Huddersfield. They have a lot of injuries but they still haven’t scored at home in 2025 which is an incredible statistic. Even with players missing I can’t imagine a new manager doing as badly as that. I was seeing us playing them at home as a 3 point banker, wish they could have waited a few weeks as we don’t need another Bolton-style resurgence
Wonder how much more they'd have needed to push the boat out to get Alfie and his goals.....? Might have made the table look a little different....
Especially as they got in the great Freddie Ladapo instead!
0 goals in 21 league appearances so far this season. We all know what's going to happen.
That’s a shame about Duff. He was my choice to take over when we sacked Appleton but he’s been a disaster at Huddersfield. They have a lot of injuries but they still haven’t scored at home in 2025 which is an incredible statistic. Even with players missing I can’t imagine a new manager doing as badly as that. I was seeing us playing them at home as a 3 point banker, wish they could have waited a few weeks as we don’t need another Bolton-style resurgence
Poor recent run but hardly a disaster when they have been in contention or in the play-offs over Michael Duff's tenure ?
Comments
They’ve pulled out a phenomenal effort to get from mid table mediocrity to promotion contenders. They’ve been relentless but the likes of TC, Berry, Small and maybe even Jones all look like they need a breather.
If I was NJ I’d definitely be pushing to get Posh postponed, as others have said.
I read the Everton squad had a week’s warm weather training in Dubai over the FA Cup week/weekend.
If Posh is canned I wonder if the Americans would dig deep to send our lot off for some sun and r&r? Could make a huge difference to the run in.
Also, to which date would you then play it? You may find that you have a midweek match before another team on the Saturday who don’t have one. It could result in us being at a disadvantage before either the Lincoln or Cambridge matches for example.
We may have fatigue problems now because we’re playing consecutive midweek matches but come Peterborough we’ll be on a nice 1 game a week schedule. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
No one's prediction is incorrect until the season ends, and like everyone else on here, I hope mine is.
So you believe CAFC can accumulate 9 points more than both Wycombe and Wrexham over the next 9 games as well as getting more points than Bolton ?
I hope you're right but the inability of Berry and Docherty to take advantage of the extra space to score when TC and Small are being double marked will cost cafc vital points in this business end of the season.
Looking strong for the play-offs.
The major difference is the points totals of the teams around us.
We finished three points above Sunderland and above Portsmouth on goal difference (by one goal).
Automatics is still doable but will likely require winning 9 of our last 11 matches and then possibly relying on goal difference swings. It’s actually in our favour that we still have to play both Wycombe and Wrexham.
Poor recent run but hardly a disaster when they have been in contention or in the play-offs over Michael Duff's tenure ?