Can we make the Playoffs?

[Ossydave]

It's so wide open.

Yeah I get the thing about closing games out completely, against a team as good as Brentford though it's not AS bad. They're a cracking team.

For this team to be in the mix still though given out injuries etc is remarkable. Dack is our best player, no questions. How many others can lose their main man and still be up there?

[MarkBRFC]

I've had a quick look through the rest of the fixtures, and have us finishing on exactly 70 points, not sure that will quite be enough for the play offs but you have to say it is progress.

Stoke - W

Swansea - D

Derby - L

Bristol City - D

Wigan - W

Barnsley - D

Leeds - D

Cardiff - L

WBA - L

Milwall - W

Reading - W

Luton - W

Of course, I'm probably well off ?

 

[Blue blood]

Games Vs Cardiff, Bristol and Millwall will help us stunt the others charge for playoff (or hand it to them.) 

Very few really hard games in there which is encouraging although there's no easy games in the championship and we struggle most when heavy favourites. 

[Amo]

Too many dropped points from winning positions. It's not going to happen. 

[booth]

On 23/02/2020 at 09:22, MarkBRFC said:

I've had a quick look through the rest of the fixtures, and have us finishing on exactly 70 points, not sure that will quite be enough for the play offs but you have to say it is progress.

Stoke - W

Swansea - D

Derby - L

Bristol City - D

Wigan - W

Barnsley - D

Leeds - D

Cardiff - L

WBA - L

Milwall - W

Reading - W

Luton - W

Of course, I'm probably well off ?

 

I was thinking we'll end with 74 points, but we'll end up getting a shock loss off one of the lower teams so 71 points.

Derby scraped into 6th place with 74 points last year.

Edited February 24, 2020 by booth

[philipl]

Every fixture we have to end season is winnable

And we could cock up the lot..

[speeeeeeedie]

2 hours ago, philipl said:

Every fixture we have to end season is winnable

And we could cock up the lot..

There are 36 points to play for. Over the 12 games Rovers need to amass 6 more points than those currently in the playoff positions and hope that the teams below don't go on a super duper run. 7 wins and a couple of draws will probably do it. I think that that will be a bridge too far despite Rovers playing well. 

The remaining fixtures are;

Home - Stoke, Swansea, Bristol City, Leeds, West Brom, Reading

Away - Derby, Wigan, Barnsley, Cardiff, Millwall, Luton

My (usually way off) predictions are;

Home - 3 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw

Away - 2 wins, 2 losses, 2 draws

18 points - 69 total - missing out by hair.

Edited February 24, 2020 by speeeeeeedie

[Bigdoggsteel]

Ya,I can't help but think we will just miss out. If we get in ,it will be some achievement

[speeeeeeedie]

On ‎23‎/‎02‎/‎2020 at 04:22, MarkBRFC said:

I've had a quick look through the rest of the fixtures, and have us finishing on exactly 70 points, not sure that will quite be enough for the play offs but you have to say it is progress.

Of course, I'm probably well off ?

I missed your post before I posted.

It looks like we have a very similar outlook. You are a tad more optimistic than I, 19 to my 18 points.

[Oldgregg86]

On 23/02/2020 at 09:22, MarkBRFC said:

I've had a quick look through the rest of the fixtures, and have us finishing on exactly 70 points, not sure that will quite be enough for the play offs but you have to say it is progress.

Stoke - W

Swansea - D

Derby - L

Bristol City - D

Wigan - W

Barnsley - D

Leeds - D

Cardiff - L

WBA - L

Milwall - W

Reading - W

Luton - W

Of course, I'm probably well off ?

 

I can see us drawing/losing to Wigan and getting beat at Luton but beating Leeds and getting a draw at West Brom. More the rovers way. Don’t forget Luton away last game of the season at a probably already relegated Luton side at there last ever game at kenilworth road and have already beaten us at Ewood, won’t be any easy game

[JHRover]

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Ya,I can't help but think we will just miss out. If we get in ,it will be some achievement

Assuming we don't go up then It's only an achievement if we harness the momentum and build on it, learning from mistakes and doing everything we can to go one better next season.

I'd hate people to equate top 6 as promotion, when it isnt. I'd hate people to think it was job done and no need to do any more.

We would need to move quickly to strengthen and go again next year aiming to get to the top 2. 

 

[JHRover]

I worry more about the games at Barnsley and Wigan than the others. Those will be real battles.

Away games at Millwall, Derby and Cardiff very tough also against sides not far off us in the table.

[Bigdoggsteel]

39 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Assuming we don't go up then It's only an achievement if we harness the momentum and build on it, learning from mistakes and doing everything we can to go one better next season.

I'd hate people to equate top 6 as promotion, when it isnt. I'd hate people to think it was job done and no need to do any more.

We would need to move quickly to strengthen and go again next year aiming to get to the top 2. 

 

Oh ,no doubt. Look at Reading ,or any other number of examples. 

Losing in the play offs could either go 1 of two ways,momentum and consistency with a winning mentality,or we could be in the relegation spots come November. It's a guarantee of nothing ,ultimately. 

[philipl]

The long and short of it is we need a run of consecutive wins like we have had four times since we came up.

Any run of consecutive defeats and we are done for. In fact we can probably only afford at most two defeats out of the 12 remaining games.

Edited February 24, 2020 by philipl

[jim mk2]

Yes, we can get there but and at 5 points behind there isn't much room for error there can be no excuses in games like the next one against Stoke - its has to be 3 points.

Over to you Tony

[OldEwoodBlue]

5 minutes ago, philipl said:

The long and short of it is we need a run of consecutive wins like we have had four times since we came up.

Any run of consecutive defeats and we are done for. In fact we can probably only afford at most two defeats out of the 12 remaining games.

Agreed. We still need a minimum of 2 points per game.

8 wins and 4 defeats

7 wins, 3 draws, 2 defeats

6 wins, 6 draws.

 

Take your pick.

[MarkBRFC]

4 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

I can see us drawing/losing to Wigan and getting beat at Luton but beating Leeds and getting a draw at West Brom. More the rovers way. Don’t forget Luton away last game of the season at a probably already relegated Luton side at there last ever game at kenilworth road and have already beaten us at Ewood, won’t be any easy game

Yeah that's fair. I just think its about time we beat Wigan.

I don't think Luton are moving from Kenilworth road anytime soon though, so hoping they are already down by the time we go there if theres anything to play for.

[Mattyblue]

Yeah don’t think there’s even a spade in the ground yet...

[Exiled in Toronto]

Five points sounds a lot but all four playoff teams are catchable, and it would be unusual for one of four not to implode. 

[dallydally]

Tonight's results could hardly be better. Bring on tomorrow! ??

[K-Hod]

Tonight is classic Rovers. Home, against a team right at the bottom that we should be beating.

Nah- let’s draw.

[Adam C]

If we can’t beat Stoke at home then I think that’s the playoff dream over. Frustrating but who knows what might have been without our injury crisis. Hopefully we’ll have a platform to build on for next season. We’ll need to keep hold of the Crown Jewels (Armstrong, lenihan, Dack, Travis) and Id like us to secure Tosin and Walton for another season as well as invest in a top left back (been crying out for that position for as long as I can remember - when was the last time we had a decent left back? Olsson?) 

[simongarnerisgod]

major investment needed in the summer,left back,goalkeeper,centre back,two wingers and a striker(don`t think danny graham will be here next season),you can`t stand still in the higher levels of football,if you do then you`ll get relegated eventually

[47er]

Despite the talk fo Rovers" surging" we have actually taken 9 points from the last 18. This is not last  minute promotion-busting form. Its steady progress largely because we haven't been losing.

With Bristol City seemingly dropping like a stone, we could well finish 7th. Progress but no prize. We will be looking back in grief at the points that were there for the taking over the season but we couldn't take.

So will every other club I suppose. But the crux here is our early poor form, the manager's loyalty to his League 1 players, a long disastrous run and successive poor transfer windows.

The problems were identified, not least  by the fans, but were never adequately addressed.

For example we are so dependent on that Tosin/Linihan partnership but did anyone seriously think it would se us through an entire season?

Also,if you are going to challenge for promotion 1 striker at least needs to score regularly and 2 of our's rarely score at all and Armstrong has been wasted on the wing.

 

[philipl]

This squad is easily good enough to make the play-offs.

But not good enough to make the play-offs handicapped by dropping at least ten points because of the Manager's mistakes..

If we were good enough to do that, we'd also be good enough to go up automatically and the squad isn't that good.