Nine Very Difficult Games - Predictions?

[Stranded]

We desperately needed a buffer over the bottom three going into this run of games. We don’t have it. I think we are going down as I don’t see where the wins are coming from.

My biggest concern is we have no win against the top 6 but we have already beaten Bristol City and Preston, who both could end up in there.

Bristol City with no win and 4 defeats in their last 6? They're crap mate. Calm down, we will go there and win.

Err, I think we have a good chance there. My point is not to right those 2 games off given we have already beaten them.

[John Smith]

My biggest concern is we have no win against the top 6 but we have already beaten Bristol City and Preston, who both could end up in there.

Bristol City with no win and 4 defeats in their last 6? They're crap mate. Calm down, we will go there and win.

Err, I think we have a good chance there. My point is not to right those 2 games off given we have already beaten them.

I think you're contradicting yourself now because you've been called out on something you don't understand. Are you a supporter?

[Stranded]

Bristol City with no win and 4 defeats in their last 6? They're crap mate. Calm down, we will go there and win.

Err, I think we have a good chance there. My point is not to right those 2 games off given we have already beaten them.

I think you're contradicting yourself now because you've been called out on something you don't understand. Are you a supporter?

Read what I've said. I said I am worried by our lack of points against the top 6 but we have picked up points against Bristol City and Preston who currently sit just outside.

What do you disagree with?

[Maneki Neko]

Stoke City (Away) D
PRESTON (H) W
Hull City (Away)W
Norwich (Away)L

Brentford (Home)D
Bristol City (Away)L
West Brom (Home)L
Middlesboro (Away)L
Birmingham (Home)W

[Snowball]

RELEGATION

46 GD -05 Stoke 2,000/1
43 GD -14 QPR 150/1

50 GD +05 Birmingham 25/1 (Could get a 15 Point Penalty for breaking FFP Rules)

37 GD -14 Millwall 7/2 (8/1)
36 GD -19 Wigan 7/2 (7/1)
36 GD -16 Reading 13/8 (2/1)
36 GD -20 Rotherham 11/10

29 GD -34 Bolton 1/33 (1/100)
23 GD -32 Ipswich 1/100 (1/200)

Surprised that Wigan are seen as less likely to go down (than Reading)

Surprised, too, to see Millwall seen as "safe". You can get 8-1 for them to go down
and 71-1 for the Wigan-Millwall double

Though it's unlikely, QPR's form could see them lose most of their games, so 150/1 is generous

Rotherham, ATM, look like climbing clear


To STAY UP

150/1 Ipswich
9/1 Bolton
4/7 Rotherham
1-2 Reading
1/6 Wigan (WTF?)
1/12 Millwall

[Basildon]

Stoke City (Away) L
PRESTON (H) D
Hull City (Away) D
Norwich (Away) L

Brentford (Home) W
Bristol City (Away) L
West Brom (Home) D
Middlesboro (Away) L
Birmingham (Home) D

I'm feeling very much glass half empty this morning

[Snowball]

Stoke City (Away) 1-2 WIN
PRESTON (H) 1-1 DRAW
Hull City (Away) 1-0 LOSE
Norwich (Away) 3-0 LOSE

Brentford (Home) 1-1 DRAW
Bristol City (Away) 2-0 LOSE
West Brom (Home) 1-1 DRAW
Middlesboro (Away) 0-0 DRAW
Birmingham (Home) 2-0 WIN

10 Points

I am hoping for a bounce back away to Stoke. We really need the win as our only other "obvious" chance of a win is in the last game, home to Birmingham. But that could be very high pressure, and if Birmingham get 15-20 points deducted they might need points off us in the last game.

Should we lose badly at Stoke I could see us dropping into the bottom three and staying there.

There are few optimistic draws. Preston are very good away from home ATM. (I'm praying that all runs come to an end). Someone said Brentford are mid-table dross. That is silly. They have Won 5 of their last 8 (15 points, easy top-six form) and are sixth top scorers in the league. WBA could easily come to our place and do us.

But I'm hoping for 3 points from those 3 games. Maybe one surprise win against the odds.

We might grab something at Hull who were rubbish, then brilliant, and now playing mid-table-ish with 3 wins in 8.

Lastly the game at Bristol, MIGHT yield points if the recent Bristol play us rather than the team that was racing up the table not so long ago.

In the last block, I based my predictions on the first game's result.

I'm doing the same here. I think if we lose at Stoke we will very probably go down.

But if we win, I think we will get 10 points, maybe 12 with an extra win at home

[Snowball]

Pts Tot Nobber

12 48 Country Royal
12 48 John Smith

11 47 Old Man Andrews
11 47 Jar 95
11 47 Maneki Neko

10 46 Hound
10 46 Snowball (but we need to win at Stoke)

08 44 URZZZ

07 43 Windermere Royal
07 43 Basildon

05 41 Snowflake Royal

[Gunny Fishcake]

I've said many times it will go to the last game v Brum , I predict we'll stay up by goal difference.

[Snowball]

08 44 URZZZ

07 43 Windermere Royal
07 43 Basildon

05 41 Snowflake Royal



Do you guys predict we will be relegated?

[John Smith]

What do you disagree with?

Most of what you've said to be honest. For example, "Where are Wigan, Rotherham wins coming from?"

Well Rotherham go to Swansea in a couple of weeks and could easily get something there, whereas Wigan go to Birmingham who lost to Millwall last night. Anything is possible. Is your head in the sand?

[Basildon]

08 44 URZZZ

07 43 Windermere Royal
07 43 Basildon

05 41 Snowflake Royal



Do you guys predict we will be relegated?

Right now, with our depleted squad and the state of our run in I would have to say yes. Really depends on when certain players can return to the team but with our luck with injuries I'd imagine most of them will most remaining games.

[URZZZZ]

08 44 URZZZ

07 43 Windermere Royal
07 43 Basildon

05 41 Snowflake Royal



Do you guys predict we will be relegated?

I think the outcome at 17:00 on Saturday 9th March relegated Wigan, I personally don't think they'll recover from that, so right now I'm inclined to think we'll be OK. Saying that I still wouldn't be surprised if Bolton overtook us, these are some scary times ahead, Wigan Bolton on Saturday will relegate the loser IMO

[Stranded]

What do you disagree with?

Most of what you've said to be honest. For example, "Where are Wigan, Rotherham wins coming from?"

Well Rotherham go to Swansea in a couple of weeks and could easily get something there, whereas Wigan go to Birmingham who lost to Millwall last night. Anything is possible. Is your head in the sand?

Right, not sure what I'm wasting my time replying her but here goes anyway.

My point, as I'm pretty sure you know, is that people are negative about our chances to pick up many more points this season given our run in. If you look at both Wigan and Rotherham's run ins they are just as hard on paper. So if you are negative about our chances to pick up points, where are teams with worse form than us going to pick up points. Would have thought that was obvious in the context.

I'm not saying they are not going to pick up points, I am sure they will and those games you pinpoint are ones where they could but we also face Brum, Bristol City, Stoke, Hull where picking up points is possible but for some to write us off by looking at our run-in in isolation is daft.

[Victor Meldrew]

By nature I am generally an optimist but , like a lot of football fans and their clubs ,when it comes to RFC I am very much a pessimist.
The pessimism at the moment is accentuated by the lack of quality (partly due to injuries) in the squad and the way that we play.

Possession football is not just about keeping the ball at the back but all over the pitch and on Tuesday night we were at our worst in that respect.
Also we are one of the few sides that passes and stands still rather than pass and move-it is such a lazy way to play football and so many of our players are just passing the buck and not taking responsibility, e.g. we play so few one-twos going forward.

If and when Oliviera gets back I could see us drawing a few games but otherwise I can't see us winning many, if any, of these last 9.
Fortunately those around us are not very good so those draws could even be enough.

[Hound]

thinking the 2 week break after Stoke is going to be absolutely massive for us.

If for example we get Rino, Oliveira, Ejaria, Bod, Baldock and possibly even Eza back, its a totally different ballgame. I don't think any of those are complete write offs for the Preston game at this stage.

If they are all still unfit by Preston, I'll be seriously worried

[John Smith]

thinking the 2 week break after Stoke is going to be absolutely massive for us.

If for example we get Rino, Oliveira, Ejaria, Bod, Baldock and possibly even Eza back, its a totally different ballgame. I don't think any of those are complete write offs for the Preston game at this stage.

If they are all still unfit by Preston, I'll be seriously worried

Do you think throwing 4 lads into the side that haven't played together before is wise? They might not even gel together. Also, I have a big issue with this myth around Ezatolahi and everyone thinking he is the answer. He's played 4 games and looked part way decent at Brentford, never played in this division before and suddenly he's the messiah.

[Hound]

thinking the 2 week break after Stoke is going to be absolutely massive for us.

If for example we get Rino, Oliveira, Ejaria, Bod, Baldock and possibly even Eza back, its a totally different ballgame. I don't think any of those are complete write offs for the Preston game at this stage.

If they are all still unfit by Preston, I'll be seriously worried

Do you think throwing 4 lads into the side that haven't played together before is wise? They might not even gel together. Also, I have a big issue with this myth around Ezatolahi and everyone thinking he is the answer. He's played 4 games and looked part way decent at Brentford, never played in this division before and suddenly he's the messiah.

Nope, and I get the point. But it does give options. And you'd certainly have an Oli instead of a Loader, and a Rino instead of East for example. Be a huge upgrade. Ejaria was on decent form and is a good option, and Baldock has his uses

I don't think it would make everything right, but would be enough of a boost to make us a much better side.

Didn't put too much emphasis on Ezatolahi, as yes only 4 games. But again a useful option, and he was decent in those 4 games

[Getthebeerens]

I think 3 wins will keep us up. Very easy to feel negative at the moment due to Rotherham getting a list minute winner against a very poor QPR and us losing to a very good Leeds side. I feel there are a lot more twists and turns ahead.

The key is getting our injured players back as quickly as possible. We look a much better side with Nelson Oliveira leading the line upfront, hopefully we can have him and Rinomhota back after the international break.

If we drop Mo Barrow on Saturday I fancy us getting some points as well.

[CountryRoyal]

If anyone can be bothered, you can calculate the end of season table by completing remaining fixtures here; https://www.worldfootball.net/table_cal ... mpionship/

1 Norwich City - 96
2 Leeds United - 95
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3 Sheffield United - 88
4 West Bromwich Albion - 84
5 Derby County - 76
6 Aston Villa - 73
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7 Middlesbrough FC - 71
8 Sheffield Wednesday - 68
9 Nottingham Forest - 67
10 Hull City - 66
11 Brentford FC - 65
12 Preston North End - 65
13 Bristol City - 63
14 Swansea City - 63
15 Stoke City - 55
16 Birmingham City - 54
17 Blackburn Rovers - 54
18 Queens Park Rangers - 50
19 Millwall FC - 47
20 Reading FC - 45
21 Wigan Athletic - 41
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22 Rotherham United - 41
23 Bolton Wanderers - 34
24 Ipswich Town - 25