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Okay, I would not stake huge sums of money on us making the play-offs but looking at the table and the remaining fixtures, they are certainly not yet unattainable.
Lots of hypotheticals here but if we win our two games in hand on 6th place Bolton (I think the top 5 are safe), we will be just 6 points behind them. Not unsurmountable.
We'd need to have a similar 6 point gain on Wycombe, 3 points on Peterborough and a net one point gain on Shrewsbury. None of those teams are in tremendous form and they all have some tricky upcoming fixtures.
Currently 20/1 to finish in the top 6 and 50/1 to win the playoffs. Why not??
It looks like we have a lot of winnable games but I'm not convinced with our away form. I think we're still to much of a work in progress to string together a run to get us there. Obviously hope I'm wrong.
I agree that mathematically the Play Offs are not yet dead but I think that realistically they are. The last two games have shown that we have a way to go before we can be really considered as capable. I think that Mousinho will be looking at using as much of his squad as possible rather than only a team with a top six finish in mind. I this we have the basis of a top six team but we will need to bring in players who will take us that bit further. This is where how the budget is going to be set is going to be crucial to any thoughts of a top six place. There is also the way that Mousinho settles on the way he wants the team to play. I think he will use the final games of this season to try out different styles and use these games for the squad to gel & understand what he wants.
Fair points for sure but I'm not sure I'd be overly happy if we start to experiment whilst a playoff shot is mathematically possible. I'd far rather we played our strongest, most trusted options and experiment when our fate is finally sealed.
GreenBlue wrote: ↑Sun Mar 12, 2023 5:36 pm
Fair points for sure but I'm not sure I'd be overly happy if we start to experiment whilst a playoff shot is mathematically possible. I'd far rather we played our strongest, most trusted options and experiment when our fate is finally sealed.
Mousinho began experimenting almost from the off as he wants to see what he's got. It'll be interesting to see whether Pack goes straight back into the starting line-up, but I guess that'll depend on results and performances. Cowley seemed to select depending solely on how a player trained -
NSRailings wrote: ↑Sun Mar 12, 2023 1:48 pm
It looks like we have a lot of winnable games but I'm not convinced with our away form. I think we're still to much of a work in progress to string together a run to get us there. Obviously hope I'm wrong.
This is pretty much how I see it too. I'd be delighted to be wrong (and if we were even 3 points closer to the play-offs I'd think we had a chance). On the plus side, if we did get in there, we'd be on such a good run that we might even win a play-off game
As far as I’m concerned the remainder of this season will be a glorified preseason like period playing real matches rather than friendlies as Moushino makes up his mind who he will keep and who not
Any ideas of playoffs are pure fantasy let’s just enjoy games where players give their best and not being judged by the efforts on the training ground
Pompey55 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 12, 2023 8:43 pm
As far as I’m concerned the remainder of this season will be a glorified preseason like period playing real matches rather than friendlies as Moushino makes up his mind who he will keep and who not
Any ideas of playoffs are pure fantasy let’s just enjoy games where players give their best and not being judged by the efforts on the training ground
"let’s just enjoy games where players give their best" Agreed
"Any ideas of playoffs are pure fantasy" Nothing wrong with a bit of fantasy in my opinion
The average points tally to achieve 6th place over the last ten years has been 72/73 .
That means we need 21/22 points from 11 games.
So let's look at the wins:
Accrington x2
Port Vale
F. Green
MK Dons
Morecombe
Wycombe
There's your 21. Add draws against Bristol Rovers and Oxford and defeat against Derby. That leaves Shrewsbury who are also gunning for the play-offs. That could be the pivotal game. Defeat against them and I think it's game over.
People say that against the sides above us we have proved that we are not a top six team. Perhaps we have only shown that we are only not a top FIVE side.
Hope springs eternal...
Said this some while ago but in my view reaching the playoffs would be a disaster. I think we are miles off being good enough to win them and even further off having a team good enough for the Championship.
We need our new manager to have as productive a pre season as possible with recruitment and training getting us ready to go from the off. A wasted month after April will not help.
So for me, forfeit a month of hope and nervousness for a better next season.
Please don't take this a critism of your views but I personally have never fully understood the argument that, in the modern game of big football money, a team is not ready for promotion.
Surely even Sheff Wed, likely champions of our division, will need to strengthen significantly to be even half competitive in the Championship. And surely a team who get promoted via the playoffs would do the same.
Yes I do look back fondly to the days when teams were built organically but sadly those days are long gone.
I hear what you say but I think we are so far off that we would need a big influx of talent , which is hard to achieve successfully in a few weeks after the playoffs. Forest may just have managed it last year but it is still touch and go.
More realistically, in the unlikely event of us reaching the playoffs, I think we would fail to progress and have less time for sorting out next season.
I am sceptical about the ‘we’ll try and get promotion when we’re ready’ strategy as sport waits for no one but from where we are now I think next season is the priority.
StMonkton wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 9:50 am
I hear what you say but I think we are so far off that we would need a big influx of talent , which is hard to achieve successfully in a few weeks after the playoffs. Forest may just have managed it last year but it is still touch and go.
More realistically, in the unlikely event of us reaching the playoffs, I think we would fail to progress and have less time for sorting out next season.
I am sceptical about the ‘we’ll try and get promotion when we’re ready’ strategy as sport waits for no one but from where we are now I think next season is the priority.
I'd argue though that the players we need to bridge the gap within our own league are of the same or similar quality to those good enough for the bottom of the championship.
If you look at the teams above us and those in the relegation scrap I the championship they are mostly not going to join a top of the championship side.
The league's are split in the wrong places these days because of the dominance of the biggest teams
