Rival Watch

[Zip]

Yep we had enough chances we choked when it mattered. After Cardiff beat us next week we could be looking at an 8th or 9th finish. I think Parlo has to take the blame for this collapse. Poor team selections insistence on playing out from the back. Not to mention stupid subs at the wrong time.

Have we really "collapsed" though?

Or is it simply that we couldn't sustain our amazingly good start, and our form hasn't been much better than decent since those opening eight games?

Rather than being a failure, have we not just done about as well as we could have reasonably expected with this squad? Yeah, we've had some poor results. Which of the other play-off contenders hasn't?

Form has been mid table excluding the start. Just 44 points from 33 games.

Which is what I have been saying for ages.We have been at best a mid table side for the vast bulk of the season which is why I question all the talk about how much we have improved on err...being mid table last season.

[Zip]

Have we really "collapsed" though?

Or is it simply that we couldn't sustain our amazingly good start, and our form hasn't been much better than decent since those opening eight games?

Rather than being a failure, have we not just done about as well as we could have reasonably expected with this squad? Yeah, we've had some poor results. Which of the other play-off contenders hasn't?

Form has been mid table excluding the start. Just 44 points from 33 games.

Only if you ignore the good games but not the bad.

Which is 44 in 29 and puts us on about 70 over the course of a season. Which is just shy of the POs. Exactly where we are.

Sure but the good came at the start of the season and we didn’t sustain it. Just remember how we felt when we beat Blackburn 4-2. We looked like we were flying. To not make the play offs after such a flying start is very disappointing.

[Ascotexgunner]

Just need to keep plodding on now and ensure 7th which gives us somthing to build on.
Fulham will be champions next season, I'm confident of that and the team that comes down with them.....bar Sheff United, will finish in the other place. Money from parachute payments will ensure that.
FFP and the new rule changes plus a transfer embargo is gonna hurt us potentially. Will need to see where we are with contracts as well. Lot of work to be done, let's hope we can go one place better next year.

[Snowflake Royal]

Barnsley score again. Time to admit our season is over. Bournemouth playing their game in hand this week, that will be us five points out of the playoffs. Will be hard to make that up in five games.

We're still in the race. For now it's only 2 points.

Bournemouth and Barnsley are only there because they made up big ground on us. It's perfectly possible for us to pick up more points than them in the remaining games.

The pressure of holding on looking over your shoulder and chasing down are different.

If their leads extend over the next week or so then it's been a good season and we can start giving a few more players a run out. Like Southwood, Bristow, Dorsett, Nevers, Lawless, Onen etc.

[Zip]

Yep whether we make the play offs or not we need a decent end to the season.

[Snowflake Royal]

Form has been mid table excluding the start. Just 44 points from 33 games.

Only if you ignore the good games but not the bad.

Which is 44 in 29 and puts us on about 70 over the course of a season. Which is just shy of the POs. Exactly where we are.

Sure but the good came at the start of the season and we didn’t sustain it. Just remember how we felt when we beat Blackburn 4-2. We looked like we were flying. To not make the play offs after such a flying start is very disappointing.

Of course. But that doesn't change the FACT that our form over the course of most of the season HAS been better than mid-table.

[Stranded]

Form has been mid table excluding the start. Just 44 points from 33 games.

Only if you ignore the good games but not the bad.

Which is 44 in 29 and puts us on about 70 over the course of a season. Which is just shy of the POs. Exactly where we are.

Sure but the good came at the start of the season and we didn’t sustain it. Just remember how we felt when we beat Blackburn 4-2. We looked like we were flying. To not make the play offs after such a flying start is very disappointing.

Yeah but that run was unsustainable, we all knew that, as was the run of 4 straight defeats afterwards. In my mind, you can't take one extreme and ignore the other.

[Snowflake Royal]

Only if you ignore the good games but not the bad.

Which is 44 in 29 and puts us on about 70 over the course of a season. Which is just shy of the POs. Exactly where we are.

Sure but the good came at the start of the season and we didn’t sustain it. Just remember how we felt when we beat Blackburn 4-2. We looked like we were flying. To not make the play offs after such a flying start is very disappointing.

Yeah but that run was unsustainable, we all knew that, as was the run of 4 straight defeats afterwards. In my mind, you can't take one extreme and ignore the other.

Generally when you look at averaging something and removing extremes you top and tail, so absolutely right.

Keeping 4 straight defeats in the mix that come immediately after a superb start is just cutting the numbers to deliberately suit a narrative, not looking at it objectively to get an answer.

[Zip]

Well whichever way we look at it we are now very unlikely to make the play offs. We have been too reliant on Joao. That was fine when he was in good form but when he lost his way so did the team.
For me this season is a big missed opportunity.

[Lower West]

Form has been mid table excluding the start. Just 44 points from 33 games.

Only if you ignore the good games but not the bad.

Which is 44 in 29 and puts us on about 70 over the course of a season. Which is just shy of the POs. Exactly where we are.

Sure but the good came at the start of the season and we didn’t sustain it. Just remember how we felt when we beat Blackburn 4-2. We looked like we were flying. To not make the play offs after such a flying start is very disappointing.

A number of the games we were far from convincing. Blocked shots on the line. Struggled to beat a nine man Barnsley. Fine margins.

[Zip]

Only if you ignore the good games but not the bad.

Which is 44 in 29 and puts us on about 70 over the course of a season. Which is just shy of the POs. Exactly where we are.

Sure but the good came at the start of the season and we didn’t sustain it. Just remember how we felt when we beat Blackburn 4-2. We looked like we were flying. To not make the play offs after such a flying start is very disappointing.

A number of the games we were far from convincing. Blocked shots on the line. Struggled to beat a nine man Barnsley. Fine margins.

We were a false first If I recall we could have gone ten points clear at the top had we beaten Coventry.

[bcubed]

Well whichever way we look at it we are now very unlikely to make the play offs. We have been too reliant on Joao. That was fine when he was in good form but when he lost his way so did the team.
For me this season is a big missed opportunity.

No doubt it’s a big opportunity and it’s very disappointing to say the least

I actually think we may have a bit of a problem with Joao.
Who have we got on our books?
The guy who couldn’t miss or the guy who’s forgotten how to play football?
Given he hasn’t set the world alight anywhere else is it actually the latter?

[andrew1957]

We need 5 wins now and even that might not be enough. Sadly think we are done for this season and probably a few more as we will now lose many of our best players in the summer and have to rebuild all over again which typically takes time.

It is getting increasingly hard to compete with the newly relegated clubs each season with large parachute payments and top players.

[Zip]

Well whichever way we look at it we are now very unlikely to make the play offs. We have been too reliant on Joao. That was fine when he was in good form but when he lost his way so did the team.
For me this season is a big missed opportunity.

No doubt it’s a big opportunity and it’s very disappointing to say the least

I actually think we may have a bit of a problem with Joao.
Who have we got on our books?
The guy who couldn’t miss or the guy who’s forgotten how to play football?
Given he hasn’t set the world alight anywhere else is it actually the latter?

I really don’t know. He was so good in the first few months. That was skill not luck. Where that player has gone I just don’t know. I cannot recall any striker in our history having such an odd season.

[Hound]

Have we really "collapsed" though?

Or is it simply that we couldn't sustain our amazingly good start, and our form hasn't been much better than decent since those opening eight games?

Rather than being a failure, have we not just done about as well as we could have reasonably expected with this squad? Yeah, we've had some poor results. Which of the other play-off contenders hasn't?

Form has been mid table excluding the start. Just 44 points from 33 games.

Which is what I have been saying for ages.We have been at best a mid table side for the vast bulk of the season which is why I question all the talk about how much we have improved on err...being mid table last season.

Dunno zip - ended 14th last year didn’t we? Probably 7th this year with another load of expensive contracts off the books and value and experience added to a number of our younger players

It’s pretty good progress and is probably far better than most of us dreamed of this time last year

[Royalwaster]

Well whichever way we look at it we are now very unlikely to make the play offs. We have been too reliant on Joao. That was fine when he was in good form but when he lost his way so did the team.
For me this season is a big missed opportunity.

No doubt it’s a big opportunity and it’s very disappointing to say the least

I actually think we may have a bit of a problem with Joao.
Who have we got on our books?
The guy who couldn’t miss or the guy who’s forgotten how to play football?
Given he hasn’t set the world alight anywhere else is it actually the latter?

Just losing confidence in front of goal doesn't mean he's forgotten to play football ... many strikers have gone through similar rough patches as he has. Let's support him rather than get on his back - because we know that if his confidence returns he's got the potential to be amazing.

[Stranded]

We need 5 wins now and even that might not be enough. Sadly think we are done for this season and probably a few more as we will now lose many of our best players in the summer and have to rebuild all over again which typically takes time.

It is getting increasingly hard to compete with the newly relegated clubs each season with large parachute payments and top players.

I still think 4 could do it. After Huddersfield, Bournemouth have Norwich (who will be up with a win), Millwall and Brentford. Very possible they only get 2 or 3 points there.

So Huddersfield w, Norwich L, Millwall D, Brentford D If we go W,W,W, as we need to then we go into the last 2 level on points.

If Huddersfield can get a point in midweek, then we could be level with a win.

Lots of twists and turns yet but we are likely to finish where we are.

[tidus_mi2]

We'll just have to keep going and hope Bournemouth and/or Barnsley slip up, starting with Cardiff on Friday. Their failure to win today has pretty much ended their season so they have little to play for, maybe we can put pressure on the teams above us by at least temporarily going back into the play-offs.

[Stranded]

We'll just have to keep going and hope Bournemouth and/or Barnsley slip up, starting with Cardiff on Friday. Their failure to win today has pretty much ended their season so they have little to play for, maybe we can put pressure on the teams above us by at least temporarily going back into the play-offs.

We can only do that with a Bournemouth loss and a win.

Tuesday is a big day and we don't even kick a ball.

[tidus_mi2]

We'll just have to keep going and hope Bournemouth and/or Barnsley slip up, starting with Cardiff on Friday. Their failure to win today has pretty much ended their season so they have little to play for, maybe we can put pressure on the teams above us by at least temporarily going back into the play-offs.

We can only do that with a Bournemouth loss and a win.

Tuesday is a big day and we don't even kick a ball.

Forgot that Bournemouth play on Tuesday.