Rival Watch

[Snowball]

I know folks are saying we blew our chances with dumb defeats eg Coventry, Birmingham, Wycombe
but just collating the results against top 6 or top ten, tells another picture

AGAINST TOP 6

1-2 Norwich L 1-2 ? ?-?
1-2 Watford W 1-0 L 2-0
2-6 Brentford L 1-3 L 3-1
0-0 Swansea ? ?-? D 0-0
4-1 Barnsley W 3-0 D 1-1
5-5 BMTH - W 3-1 L 4-2

P10 W3 D2 L5 13-16 = 11 Points

Just 3 wins, no away wins, only one WD, and Brentford smashed us

AGAINST TOP 10

2-1 Cardiff ? ?-? W 2-1
2-3 Millwall L 1-2 D 1-1
0-3 BORO L 0-3 D 0-0

P15 W4 D4 L7 17-23 = 16 Points

Just four wins in 15 games, only one win in 9 games away, against a poor Cardiff

Four home defeats from 7 games versus the top ten


===================================================================

Nothing in the above suggests we are a top six side

If (big IF) we beat Cardiff 2-1 and Swansea 2-1
and lost at Norwich 2-0, we would end up with

P18 W6 D4 L8 21-27 = 22 Points

[royalp-we]

Just a little slice of luck needed for us tonight at both the John Smiths stadium and Hillsborough..

[Barney]

Bournemouth one up already. I think we need to face that it is close to game over. Our rivals keep winning.

[windermereROYAL]

Looking like we are 5 points adrift, no real surprise. anything less than a win Friday and it`s over I fear.

[tidus_mi2]

Huddersfield not doing us any favours, looks like Barnsley slipping up is our best bet and they have quite a favourable run in. Just gotta focus on ourselves at this point, if we catch 6th place then great.

[tidus_mi2]

oxf*rd Swansea winning too.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Best case scenario is winning 4 out of 5 but even then Barnsley would only need 8 points and Bournemouth 7 - with Barnsley's run in its game over

[Ascotexgunner]

Huddersfield not doing us any favours, looks like Barnsley slipping up is our best bet and they have quite a favourable run in. Just gotta focus on ourselves at this point, if we catch 6th place then great.

Should have expected as much from Huddersfield....absolute shite. Hope they go down.

[royalp-we]

Hudds 1 - 2 Bmouth

10 mins to go

[Jackson Corner]

Looking like we are 5 points adrift, no real surprise. anything less than a win Friday and it`s over I fear.

It’s been over for a while for me. If ever the phrase it’s not how you start it’s how you finish was more apt then that has been us this season. Everyone else are in top form whilst we are stumbling over the line.
A shame but with my glass half empty I would have taken seventh at the start of the season.

[Zip]

We could win all of our remaining games and it might not be enough. No one is doing us any favours

[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.

As I said a few days back it is 5 wins or bust. And even that might not be enough. The problem was not losing at Watford but the points we squandered at the likes of Wycombe and Coventry - plus twice against Birmingham and several other bad results. It will be very disappointing to miss out on top 6 after such a great start.

[tidus_mi2]

Getting no favours again tonight I see.

[Crowbar6753]

Bournmuff are clear now and on a great run!! no catching them now. Swansea are now getting that winning feeling back and even if we beat them it might not be enough.
I guess are only hope now is Barnsley, and i'm clinging to the hope that they may get a nose blled being in this position and this stage of the season and suffer stage fright lol...they have an easy run in on paper but that doesn't mean a thing this season.
4 wins from us and i still think we can put them under pressure.
They have Coventry, Huddersfield and Rotherham next...two Yorkshire derbies!!!! then they close with Preston away and Norwich. The last two are pretty interesing...if we can just keep in touch, Preston are super inconsistant and Norwich will be tough on the last day of the season.
Its not over till the "Fat Lady" is singing...

[windermereROYAL]

So since our defeat on Friday our 4 play-off rivals played 6 won 6 , GF 18 GA 2. not getting any favours are we? the only glimmer of hope I see is us winning on Friday then Norwich beating Bournemouth on Saturday, the gap will be 2 points then, clutching at straws really, it`s a shame really because we`ve been top 6 all season. only to fall out when the winning line is in sight.

[Royal_jimmy]

I'd put our chances of playoffs at 5% now. We have shown that we can win 4-5 games in a row with some tough opponents in there and that's our only glimmer of hope. At least if we did miraculously make them we'd be in great form although Brentford would probably beat us again. Best we just draw a line under this one. It'll be interesting to see our performance on Friday whether the players keep showing the energy in recent games.

I'm pretty pissed at our form since winning at Blackburn and I reckon Dai Yongge won't be best pleased either. We've basically been averaging the form of 14th since that win at Blackburn which was the same as last season. Yes we've played better football this season but we've lacked an end product and not really improved if you take away the new manager bounce we had. Only have ourselves to blame.

[tidus_mi2]

So since our defeat on Friday our 4 play-off rivals played 6 won 6 , GF 18 GA 2. not getting any favours are we? the only glimmer of hope I see is us winning on Friday then Norwich beating Bournemouth on Saturday, the gap will be 2 points then, clutching at straws really, it`s a shame really because we`ve been top 6 all season. only to fall out when the winning line is in sight.

That's exactly it, need to win on Friday, drop the gap to Barnsley and Bournemouth to 2pts and let them worry about getting a result at the weekend.

[Zip]

I'd put our chances of playoffs at 5% now. We have shown that we can win 4-5 games in a row with some tough opponents in there and that's our only glimmer of hope. At least if we did miraculously make them we'd be in great form although Brentford would probably beat us again. Best we just draw a line under this one. It'll be interesting to see our performance on Friday whether the players keep showing the energy in recent games.

I'm pretty pissed at our form since winning at Blackburn and I reckon Dai Yongge won't be best pleased either. We've basically been averaging the form of 14th since that win at Blackburn which was the same as last season. Yes we've played better football this season but we've lacked an end product and not really improved if you take away the new manager bounce we had. Only have ourselves to blame.

I do think our owners will be unimpressed which is why we must not fall away over the final five games. It did Bowen no favours when we finished last season so poorly. Pauno cannot afford similar in the run in.

Let’s beat Cardiff. We then have to hope Norwich do us a favour. That at least keeps the season alive.

[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.

As I said a few days back it is 5 wins or bust. And even that might not be enough. The problem was not losing at Watford but the points we squandered at the likes of Wycombe and Coventry - plus twice against Birmingham and several other bad results. It will be very disappointing to miss out on top 6 after such a great start.

Much much simpler that that.

If the scoreline had remained Bournemouth 0 Reading 2 then the table tonight would read:

6. Reading 69pts
7. Bournemouth 68pts

Said it a few times , that 2nd half collapse will cost us.

[Snowflake Royal]

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.

As I said a few days back it is 5 wins or bust. And even that might not be enough. The problem was not losing at Watford but the points we squandered at the likes of Wycombe and Coventry - plus twice against Birmingham and several other bad results. It will be very disappointing to miss out on top 6 after such a great start.

Absolutely nothing to so with those games. All about dropping 3 points with a 2 goal lead v Bournemouth and 2 with 1 goal v Barnsley.

Rivals matter,not the buggers at the other end of the table. How many times does it need to be said.