will we make play offs

[weybridgewanderer]

So we are in the middle of a run of games against the top sides

we have now played Swansea, cardiff and QPR both home and away.

Who believes we make the play offs?

[Jackson Corner]

No will do well to finish in the top ten move on.

[RobRoyal]

We can probably maintain the possibility for most of the rest of the season, but realistically I think we can all name 6 sides quite a lot better than us this season. We look about right at 8th - 10th.

We're short on goal-threat, and without making a serious bash at strengthening in that respect after the departure of Sigurdsson it was always going to be a struggle.

[Schards#2]

No

Midtable mediocrity

[roadrunner]

We can probably maintain the possibility for most of the rest of the season, but realistically I think we can all name 6 sides quite a lot better than us this season. We look about right at 8th - 10th.

We're short on goal-threat, and without making a serious bash at strengthening in that respect after the departure of Sigurdsson it was always going to be a struggle.

Summed up perfectly.

[andrew1957]

If we win 7 of the next 11 games we have a chance but anything less and we are most likely out of it.

We need a long winning run - say 4 or 5 games in a row to really give us a chance. We did it last season with 8 wins in 10 games so anything is possible.

[brendywendy]

wheres the maybe option?!

we look a little lightweight, with an occasional soft underbelly.
we look like we struggle to break teams down who dont come to play.
we look shy of goals if shane loses form
we look slow and ponderous at the back,and prone to individual mistakes.

it depends if we lose key personal to injury/illness/suspension.
and if we manage to go on a good run after this little run of harder games.

i was very disheartened by friday- but looking back, and watching the game again. we were half decent against the leagues best(by a mile) team, could/should really have gone in at the break at 1-0 up, and from there the second half looks a little different with QPR unable to just wait to pick us off on the break.
add that to getting a deserved draw, and being a refs decision/watch away from a win at cardiff. and im not sure we are as bad as is thought. sure we are no QPR/forest/cardiff/swansea/, but we are surely in there with the millwalls, leicesters, leeds, etc for the last couple of PO spaces.

id say it was 60-40 at present that we get in the playoffs, i would be not surprised or disheartened by a 12-7 th place finish, a 2nd place finish would amaze me totally, but isnt totally out of the question.


(thats 60 against, 40 for by the way)

[brendywendy]

No midtable mediocrity

wow- what a turn around!

[super darren caskey]

Yes we will

[anR]

I think it will probably be mathemtically possible on the final game with two or three other results needed to go our way, much like 04/05, but no, I don't think we'll make it.

[brendywendy]

tbf im easily pleased, i would be happy every season as long as we are able to make the playoffs on the final day

[weybridgewanderer]

id say it was 60-40 at present that we get in the playoffs

you are a yes then

[brendywendy]

no- already edited.

and anyway the numbers merely reflect what i think are the cold hard odds.
that could still mean in my heart i think they will do it in glorious but unlikely fashion

[Top Flight]

I can't see us finishing above: QPR, Norwich, Cardiff, Swansea, Forest, Leeds or Watford this season. They are all in great form and look stronger than us at the moment.

If McDermott can tweak things a bit in the summer and if Manset proves to be the new Doyle or Kitson then anything is possible next year.

[facaldaqui]

Will be difficult. QPR have enough of a lead to grind out promotion. Forest and Leicester seem to me unstoppably progressive. The rest, I think, will falter, but whether they'll falter enough, I don't know. I thought we looked tired against QPR--would have more confidence if we looked sharp.

It's a shame, because this was a good year to challenge. Next year it looks like we'll have more big clubs coming up, following the Norwich/Leeds/Millwall pattern: and none of the clubs coming down will be in the sort of crisis Pompey were. Just hope the likes of Villa don't come down. And Boro must revive sooner or later too. Erk.

[PEARCEY]

Not now. No. I think Norwich will beat us at a time where we can't afford to lose any more ground. It does look like mid-table for us.

[Double T]

InMyOpinion, 1 in 4 chance we will make it - i reckon it will be between us, leeds, leicester and watford scrapping for 6th place.

[Royalwaster]

Can't see happening - as already said, the teams above us all look in very good form, and the teams such as Hull, Leicester and even Ipswich seem to be just getting into form while we seem to be a bit hit and miss at the moment - just right for mid-table. Norwich away is probably a crunch game - we lose it, we'll never make up the ground. We win it and we could go on from there. I think Milwall and Watford will fall away ...

[handbags_harris]

Almost certainly not. A big change in the emphasis of attack from the end of last season to now, wholly down to the sale of Sigurdsson and the inability to find any other player within the ranks to fill his role sufficiently with the subsequent knock-on effect of playing two central midfielders who's defensive battling, harrying qualities massively outweigh their attacking, creative passing abilities, means we are currently too one-dimensional and, whilst not easily stifled, can be more easily defended against. Couple that with what is currently a single pronged attack with the likes of Church and Hunt woefully out of form (did Church ever have form?) and Manset not yet ready to take on the world, and you begin to realise that we are short in too many areas where it is required to be able to make a concerted effort for the playoffs.

Dependent on what we do in the summer, who we bring in and who we let go, maybe, just maybe we could make a better fist of it, but this season our susceptibility in defence and for long periods of the season inability to score enough goals even when they were presented on a plate, will probaby cost us.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

We can probably maintain the possibility for most of the rest of the season, but realistically I think we can all name 6 sides quite a lot better than us this season. We look about right at 8th - 10th.

We're short on goal-threat, and without making a serious bash at strengthening in that respect after the departure of Sigurdsson it was always going to be a struggle.

Summed up perfectly.

Id say thats about right. outside chance. we are decent champ side and have enough about us to win more than we lose, but the standard this year is def above average for this level. any other year we might make top 6. odds on a top 6 are about 5/1 for me