Most of us are agreed that we don't honestly look like a promotion team.
Nor do most other sides above us though. Their form is as inconsistent as ours.
Any team that does finally put a run together could nail a play off place. That's exactly what we did from March 2019.
There's a lot of football still to be played this season. Unbelievably, despite our unconvincing season, the chance is still there.
Comparing the 2018/19 team to this mob is bordering on sacrilege. In that season we weren’t amazing in the first half of the season, but by early-November we had broken into the top six and pretty much stayed there until the end. This season it’s mid-January and we haven’t been anywhere near the playoffs apart from the beginning of the campaign.
I get that you’re trying to look for a positive reference point, but far more often when we’re rubbish in the first half of the season we don’t get promoted in the second half of the season precisely because we are rubbish.
A better comparison would be 2017/18. We went on a late run from around 10th/11th into the play offs with a game to spare. The question is whether this team is good enough to put that consistent run together. It doesn’t look likely
I think we will have a decent second half of the season but come up short, with probably too many draws, and finish 8th or 9th
If we were to finish 8th or 9th that would mean we have not had a decent second half of the season.
Most of us are agreed that we don't honestly look like a promotion team.
Nor do most other sides above us though. Their form is as inconsistent as ours.
Any team that does finally put a run together could nail a play off place. That's exactly what we did from March 2019.
There's a lot of football still to be played this season. Unbelievably, despite our unconvincing season, the chance is still there.
Comparing the 2018/19 team to this mob is bordering on sacrilege. In that season we weren’t amazing in the first half of the season, but by early-November we had broken into the top six and pretty much stayed there until the end. This season it’s mid-January and we haven’t been anywhere near the playoffs apart from the beginning of the campaign.
I get that you’re trying to look for a positive reference point, but far more often when we’re rubbish in the first half of the season we don’t get promoted in the second half of the season precisely because we are rubbish.
A better comparison would be 2017/18. We went on a late run from around 10th/11th into the play offs with a game to spare. The question is whether this team is good enough to put that consistent run together. It doesn’t look likely
I think we will have a decent second half of the season but come up short, with probably too many draws, and finish 8th or 9th
If we were to finish 8th or 9th that would mean we have not had a decent second half of the season.
We are currently 12th. If we have a very good second half of the season we will finish 6th (unlikely). If we have a decent second half of the season we will end up below that around 8th/9th
Mathematically, but hardly doubt it. I am still in my get 6 points (from the month) and everything will be alright mindset.
What did dent my hopes was when I was talking with an Arsenal fan the other day and they said there is as much chance of us getting promoted as it is for them to win the (Premier) League this year. We have sunk soo low they thought we were in League Two when I started talking to them 😔
Most of us are agreed that we don't honestly look like a promotion team.
Nor do most other sides above us though. Their form is as inconsistent as ours.
Any team that does finally put a run together could nail a play off place. That's exactly what we did from March 2019.
There's a lot of football still to be played this season. Unbelievably, despite our unconvincing season, the chance is still there.
Comparing the 2018/19 team to this mob is bordering on sacrilege. In that season we weren’t amazing in the first half of the season, but by early-November we had broken into the top six and pretty much stayed there until the end. This season it’s mid-January and we haven’t been anywhere near the playoffs apart from the beginning of the campaign.
I get that you’re trying to look for a positive reference point, but far more often when we’re rubbish in the first half of the season we don’t get promoted in the second half of the season precisely because we are rubbish.
A better comparison would be 2017/18. We went on a late run from around 10th/11th into the play offs with a game to spare. The question is whether this team is good enough to put that consistent run together. It doesn’t look likely
I think we will have a decent second half of the season but come up short, with probably too many draws, and finish 8th or 9th
If we were to finish 8th or 9th that would mean we have not had a decent second half of the season.
We are currently 12th. If we have a very good second half of the season we will finish 6th (unlikely). If we have a decent second half of the season we will end up below that around 8th/9th
I'm sorry, but my idea of decent means sufficient points to get in the play-offs.
It’s really really difficult getting a playoff possition. It seems there’s a lack of focussing, regularity and quality in the squad…and in the staff too 🤦🏻♂️.
We need a good scout to get in some top loan players
I'd like to know who our scouting network is.
I don’t think we have a scouting network at the moment, certainly not one of note.
And therein lies a big problem for us.
I am not saying we are alone in this, but I imagine LOTS of signings are made without having seen players live once they have been identified as a potential signing.
With four of the next five games at home to sides 16th or lower the opportunity is there.
Next 5 games, massive opportunity:
Home vs 22nd
Home vs 18th
Away vs 15th
Home vs 16th
Home vs 19th
Shrewsbury, Bristol Rovers, Peterborough, Stevenage are 19th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd in the away table. Combined for 7 away wins in 46 games.
Blackpool are 20th in the home table with 2 home wins from 11.
If we are further away from the top six than we are now after that run of games then we make it very difficult for ourselves.
People talked about needing to string wins together to make it possible - well we are heading into our softest five game stretch of the season where nothing less than 10/11 points will be enough.
With four of the next five games at home to sides 16th or lower the opportunity is there.
Next 5 games, massive opportunity:
Home vs 22nd
Home vs 18th
Away vs 15th
Home vs 16th
Home vs 19th
Just had a look at the teams around us next 5 games - Barnsley, Bolton, Orient, Reading, Stockport all have at least 2 games either against each other or sides above... Only really Mansfield have as decent a run on paper. HUGE opportunity to get up there and stake a claim.
Also Huddersfield's next 5 has Bolton, Brum, Reading and Barnsley which could pull them back into a fight if they aren't careful.
With four of the next five games at home to sides 16th or lower the opportunity is there.
Next 5 games, massive opportunity:
Home vs 22nd
Home vs 18th
Away vs 15th
Home vs 16th
Home vs 19th
Shrewsbury, Bristol Rovers, Peterborough, Stevenage are 19th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd in the away table. Combined for 7 away wins in 46 games.
Blackpool are 20th in the home table with 2 home wins from 11.
If we are further away from the top six than we are now after that run of games then we make it very difficult for ourselves.
People talked about needing to string wins together to make it possible - well we are heading into our softest five game stretch of the season where nothing less than 10/11 points will be enough.
History tells us that it’s the soft games that trip us up. If we have anything about us we should be top six at the end of those five games.
Of course we have a chance. Yes we're dependant on a good window, and avoiding injuries to key players, but that applies to the teams above us too.
Barnsley may be 8 points ahead of us, but have played 2 more games. Reading are 7 points ahead of us, but have played 1 more game and may lose players in the window. If we can keep our defence fit, then we will be hard to beat and able to grind out results at the better teams.
Indeed grinding out wins has been our failing, when you look at Wrexham they've scored an incredible number of late winners to get winners. Since the 26th November they've won 6 games, all by a single goal, and in 4 of them the winner was later than the 87th minute. That's an additional 8 points they've gained from late goals
And that is exactly what we did tonight, a single goal victory, scored in the 86th minute.
Keep up our current form from last 10 games (18 points) and I think that'll get us to 73 points by end of season.
Not confident that's enough for top 6, so may need to turn some possible draws or a loss into a win. If we keep up the current form, we will be close to play offs though. It's just a big if, if we can be consistent for rest of season.
To get properly back into the playoff picture, we will need, at some point between now and the end of the season, need to go on a run of 5 or 6 consecutive wins, imo. Now would appear to be a very good opportunity to do that. With Chuks back and Ramsay returning soon, we have an almost completely fit squad (when was the last time we could say that in January?) and that run of fixtures looks very winnable. A couple of signings to boost NJ’s attacking options for those fixtures wouldn’t go amiss.
Comments
If we were to finish 8th or 9th that would mean we have not had a decent second half of the season.
What did dent my hopes was when I was talking with an Arsenal fan the other day and they said there is as much chance of us getting promoted as it is for them to win the (Premier) League this year.
We have sunk soo low they thought we were in League Two when I started talking to them 😔
I'm sorry, but my idea of decent means sufficient points to get in the play-offs.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DE9juxrgjkd/?igsh=MWRzM2NqMHl1cXZ1eQ==
Next five
Shrewsbury (H)
Bristol Rovers (H)
Blackpool (A)
Stevenage (H)
Peterborough (H)
We could be right in the mix by Valentine’s Day.
Next 5 games, massive opportunity:
Home vs 22nd
Home vs 18th
Away vs 15th
Home vs 16th
Home vs 19th
Blackpool are 20th in the home table with 2 home wins from 11.
If we are further away from the top six than we are now after that run of games then we make it very difficult for ourselves.
People talked about needing to string wins together to make it possible - well we are heading into our softest five game stretch of the season where nothing less than 10/11 points will be enough.
Also Huddersfield's next 5 has Bolton, Brum, Reading and Barnsley which could pull them back into a fight if they aren't careful.
It’s nice to actually be looking forward to matches again rather than dreading another match.
Other teams chasing a play off place are just as inconsistent as Charlton.
I still doubt we look good enough to make the play offs - but incredibly, the opportunity is still there.