The next 5 games - a key point in our season

[Simmops]

As the title said, these next few weeks and 5 games are absolute vital to get minimum 3 wins from. We will be deep in it as we are at teams in and around us.

3 games we can win, against a poor Charlton, sure Luton have had an upturn but is winnable if we get at them and a diabolicle Huddersfield.

Then Blackburn and colins boro which are tough

Imo we can get 9 points, 6 or 7 would be good. But fail to win 1 of these and it really is squeeky bum time. If for example we lose those games, Huddersfield Nd boro have games in hand over us and are only 5 and 7 points off of us

What do you reckon?

[Sutekh]

Reading don’t need 3 wins, 1 win will likely be more than enough

[Crowbar6753]

One win should see us safe, however after today's defeat there really seems to be something not quite right. There was no fighting spirit, players not playing in their naturel positions and Bowen's whole demeanour looks like a man on borrowed time!
Yes, Brentford are a very good footballing team, but that doesn't excuse the lack of passion in any way, shape or form.

I really fear for Bowen, and anything but a win on Saturday in a tricky game against Luton and he may well be done for.

[Westwood52]

One win should see us safe, however after today's defeat there really seems to be something not quite right. There was no fighting spirit, players not playing in their naturel positions and Bowen's whole demeanour looks like a man on borrowed time!
Yes, Brentford are a very good footballing team, but that doesn't excuse the lack of passion in any way, shape or form.

I really fear for Bowen, and anything but a win on Saturday in a tricky game against Luton and he may well be done for.

May as well wait until the end of season.Who is going to come in now and transform us,this late in the season.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Just looking at our remains fixtures, wow.

Luton, Huddersfield, Charlton, Boro, Blackburn, Swansea.

Four of those teams below us and most of which are giving their fight for survival a bl00dy good go.

Could be a worry but however bad we have been of late, I can’t believe we won’t pick up at least three or four points from those.

I suspect Blackburn and Swansea will have nothing to play for by then too.

[Zip]

Yes I think we will be ok but given the amount of money spent last summer this is a poor old return. A small improvement on last season is not much to write home about.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Yes, a shame, would have been nice to have nabbed a top ten finish to give something to build on for next year, and pre covids I thought we may be on for that

I blame the covids

[Stranded]

Covid killed the momentum we looked like building, one win would see Hudds or Hull needing 11pts to get past us. It'll be alright.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

We have 4 games against sides below us (although all bar Hudds in reasonable form) and the last 2 will be against sides on the beach and we probably need a win; even 2 draws will likely be enough with our goal diff. With those games if we cannot get that we deserve to go down.

Hull, Barnsley and Stoke have particularly hard run ins it should also be noted.

[Lower West]

Be a different team on Saturday.

[Zip]

The time has come to drop Moore. He really is in poor form at the moment. Give Tom McIntyre a chance.
Bring in Pele and rest Olise.
God knows what what we do upfront. None of Puscas, Baldock or Meite look like scoring.

[Snowflake Royal]

As always, I'd really like to finish the season on a decent run to take some confidence and excitement into preseason rather than just another tired whimper of an exhalation, relieved that another shit season is over.

We can pick up a good 9 or 10 points from those remaining fixtures.

[From Despair To Where?]

The time has come to drop Moore. He really is in poor form at the moment. Give Tom McIntyre a chance.
Bring in Pele and rest Olise.
God knows what what we do upfront. None of Puscas, Baldock or Meite look like scoring.

Pele did himself no favours by letting his fitness drop significantly through lockdown. We do miss his physical presence in midfield though.

[Sutekh]

God knows what what we do upfront. None of Puscas, Baldock or Meite look like scoring.

Why can’t Reading ever develop a decent striker from the Academy? It’s the one area the club have been very poor at ever since the Academy started. Only Tyson and Henderson have really come through and that was almost 20 years ago, since then no-one if any real note has appeared. Loader looked like he might be the part in the Academy but seemed to spend any time in the first team playing in the same position as the likes of Swift, Ejaria, Olise etc.

Trying to think of who there has been since Tyson and Henderson and all I could think of was Simon Cox who did reasonably ok in the Championship but still never really got every one convinced he was the answer.

[Franconian Royal]

Really think two wins will be enough. Perhaps 4 points might even be enough.

As already said, those teams below us are the ones we NEED to and SHOULD beat.

Yesterday was atrocious. Yes, Brentford are a good team, but has the manager not learnt from his mistakes. Ejaria played better when he was behind the strikers, not on the wing.

An alarming stat that Dim had last night: 1 win in 2020 at home. That is tosh. Something needs to be done and quickly. Hopefully, we can gee up the players for Luton at the weekend and come away with a win. Lose it and we could end up being pulled in.

[Hound]

The time has come to drop Moore. He really is in poor form at the moment. Give Tom McIntyre a chance.
Bring in Pele and rest Olise.
God knows what what we do upfront. None of Puscas, Baldock or Meite look like scoring.

Pele did himself no favours by letting his fitness drop significantly through lockdown. We do miss his physical presence in midfield though.

yes - Pele was a key man before the lockdown. Really disappointing he wasn't back ready to go. Hopefully he is now.

Would certainly like to bring him back in if so. More solid base with him and Rino in there, alongside Swift (though he has been disappointing since restart).

[windermereROYAL]

Well did anyone here that gimp Dellor going on about Barnsley getting relegated on 55 points last night? I knew he was wrong, he also said the average points in the last 10 years finishing third bottom was 48.8 points, nonsense again, so I thought I would trawl back over the championship seasons way back from when we got promoted way back in the early noughties to check out the trends.

02/03 Sheffield Wednesday 46.
03/04 Walsall 51.
04/05 Gillingham 50
05/06 Crewe 42
06/07 Southend 42
07/08 Leicester 52
08/09 Norwich 42
09/10 Sheffield Wednesday 47
10/11 Preston 42
11/12 Portsmouth 40
12/13 Peterborough 54
13/14 Doncaster 44
14/15 Millwall 41
15/16 Charlton 40
16/17 Blackburn 51
17/18 Barnsley 41
18/19 Rotherham 40.
So a grand total of 5/17 50+ points totals, teams finishing third bottom average exactly 45 points.

[NewCorkSeth]

Well did anyone here that gimp Dellor going on about Barnsley getting relegated on 55 points last night? I knew he was wrong, he also said the average points in the last 10 years finishing third bottom was 48.8 points, nonsense again, so I thought I would trawl back over the championship seasons way back from when we got promoted way back in the early noughties to check out the trends.

02/03 Sheffield Wednesday 46.
03/04 Walsall 51.
04/05 Gillingham 50
05/06 Crewe 42
06/07 Southend 42
07/08 Leicester 52
08/09 Norwich 42
09/10 Sheffield Wednesday 47
10/11 Preston 42
11/12 Portsmouth 40
12/13 Peterborough 54
13/14 Doncaster 44
14/15 Millwall 41
15/16 Charlton 40
16/17 Blackburn 51
17/18 Barnsley 41
18/19 Rotherham 40.
So a grand total of 5/17 50+ points totals, teams finishing third bottom average exactly 45 points.

And, further to that, over just the last 10 seasons (which is what he said) the average points is 44. I reckon he must have gotten confused with average points of the teams who came 21st.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Well did anyone here that gimp Dellor going on about Barnsley getting relegated on 55 points last night? I knew he was wrong, he also said the average points in the last 10 years finishing third bottom was 48.8 points, nonsense again, so I thought I would trawl back over the championship seasons way back from when we got promoted way back in the early noughties to check out the trends.

02/03 Sheffield Wednesday 46.
03/04 Walsall 51.
04/05 Gillingham 50
05/06 Crewe 42
06/07 Southend 42
07/08 Leicester 52
08/09 Norwich 42
09/10 Sheffield Wednesday 47
10/11 Preston 42
11/12 Portsmouth 40
12/13 Peterborough 54
13/14 Doncaster 44
14/15 Millwall 41
15/16 Charlton 40
16/17 Blackburn 51
17/18 Barnsley 41
18/19 Rotherham 40.
So a grand total of 5/17 50+ points totals, teams finishing third bottom average exactly 45 points.

55 points sounds a bit high, but he's got a point that it'll be a high amount required this season. Luton are bottom and have already matched Rotherham's total from last season. Most of the lower teams have a bit of form; Huddersfield, Hull and Stoke being the exceptions. I could easily see a team on 50 points or so getting relegated this year.

Just shows how lucky we were in 17/18 and 18/19. We really were poor, but had poorer teams beneath us.

[SCIAG]

The important thing is finishing above the team who came 22nd. So Dellor botched the stats, but there was a year where it took 55 points to avoid relegation.