Play off race

[Nic81]

Just looking at the run ins of the teams in contention. I know there are no easy games in the championship, but everyone seems to have lots of tricky games with the teams around them  

West Brom have got Leeds, QPR, Burnley, Norwich, Sunderland, Bristol, Watford, Coventry

Bristol City have Middlesbrough, QPR, Sheffield United, Norwich, Burnley, Watford, West Brom, Sunderland, Leeds 

Sheffield Weds have Coventry, Burnley, Sunderland, Norwich, Sheffield United, Rovers, Boro, Watford 

Boro have Watford, Bristol City, QPR, Rovers, Leeds, Sheffield W, Norwich, Coventry 

Coventry have Sheffield W, Sunderland, Sheffield U, Burnley, West Brom, Boro

Norwich have Rovers, Sheffield W, Bristol, West Brom, Sunderland, Burnley, Boro

Watford have Boro, Bristol, West Brom, Burnley, Rovers, Sheff W

We have Norwich, Boro, Sheffield W, Sunderland, Watford, Sheff U 

After tonight’s win adding in QPR: they have Sheff U, West Brom, Boro, Leeds, Bristol, Burnley and Sunderland.

Sheff W, Bristol and QPR’s run in looks brutal. Think Boro maybe have the best run in so may take a spot  QPR and Coventry are in good form but have tough fixtures coming up. 

Who has momentum? Who do you think will make the play offs? 

Edited February 15 by Nic81

[scotchrover]

33 minutes ago, Nic81 said:

Just looking at the run ins of the teams in contention. I know there are no easy games in the championship, but everyone seems to have lots of tricky games with the teams around them  

West Brom have got Leeds, QPR, Burnley, Norwich, Sunderland, Bristol, Watford, Coventry

Bristol City have Middlesbrough, QPR, Sheffield United, Norwich, Burnley, Watford, West Brom, Sunderland, Leeds 

Sheffield Weds have Coventry, Burnley, Sunderland, Norwich, Sheffield United, Rovers, Boro, Watford 

Boro have Watford, Bristol City, QPR, Rovers, Leeds, Sheffield W, Norwich, Coventry 

Coventry have Sheffield W, Sunderland, Sheffield U, Burnley, West Brom, Boro

Norwich have Rovers, Sheffield W, Bristol, West Brom, Sunderland, Burnley, Boro

Watford have Boro, Bristol, West Brom, Burnley, Rovers, Sheff W

We have Norwich, Boro, Sheffield W, Sunderland, Watford, Sheff U 

After tonight’s win adding in QPR: they have Sheff U, West Brom, Boro, Leeds, Bristol, Burnley and Sunderland.

Sheff W, Bristol and QPR’s run in looks brutal. Think Boro maybe have the best run in so may take a spot  QPR and Coventry are in good form but have tough fixtures coming up. 

Who has momentum? Who do you think will make the play offs? 

. 

West Brom- ❌ I couldn’t believe how poor they were the other night. Mowbray loves bottling a play off spot too!
 

Bristol City- ❌ They’ll fall short playing against the teams near the top, and it’ll cost them.

Boro- ❌ Too inconsistent and I think them missing out will see Carrack leave his role. 

For me, I think we’re fighting it out against: 

Coventry- Lampard seems to have them on a roll .

Sheff Weds- They’ll be there or there abouts, unless Danny Rohl takes a leaf out of Eustace’s. Their owner’s off his trolly. 

QPR- They looked good again tonight, against Derby, and are on a decent run. 

Whilst it’s a disaster at the club behind the curtains, we can only hope that a new manager bounce and players returning will spur us on. 

[Upside Down]

5 minutes ago, scotchrover said:

. 

West Brom- ❌ I couldn’t believe how poor they were the other night. Mowbray loves bottling a play off spot too!
 

Bristol City- ❌ They’ll fall short playing against the teams near the top, and it’ll cost them.

Boro- ❌ Too inconsistent and I think them missing out will see Carrack leave his role. 

For me, I think we’re fighting it out against: 

Coventry- Lampard seems to have them on a roll .

Sheff Weds- They’ll be there or there abouts, unless Danny Rohl takes a leaf out of Eustace’s. Their owner’s off his trolly. 

QPR- They looked good again tonight, against Derby, and are on a decent run. 

Whilst it’s a disaster at the club behind the curtains, we can only hope that a new manager bounce and players returning will spur us on. 

I'd swap the Sheffield Wednesday ownership for ours any day of the week.

Can probably count us out. We don't have a manager and venkys will draw out the process of appointing a new one as long as possible to make sure we fall away.

Edited February 15 by Upside Down

[Plastics]

I think the two most likely to pip us to the post are Boro belatedly finding form at the right time after a kick up the arse any time now and Sheffield Wednesday.

 

Coventry I can see going off the boil after peaking too soon, Mowbray bottling it and Bristol just not having the players capable of staying up there. Likewise QPR. Norwich and Watford remain unpredictable

[philipl]

All the teams are much of a muchness.

I am just grateful for the 3 points buffer and hope it stays that way after this afternoon.

I don't know the other clubs' injury situation or new signings not being fit position.

We have Beck, Carter, Tronstad and Ohashi all due back before the next break plus you'd hope Kargbo and Dennis could put in 90 minutes by mid March.

So that is what was arguably the backbone of the team returning plus a faster winger and a forward who was lethal at this level three years ago.

On balance and ignoring the Venkys and trying not to have blue and white lenses, I would rather be us in 5th today than in the position of any of the others. By the way, I would add Preston to the list of contenders. They have a bit of bite about them and Heckinbottom has been there done that.

[Ricky]

The gap between 4th and 5th is the same as the gap between 5th and 18th. That probably highlights the gulf between the top 4 and the others. The only real shock out of that is Sunderland and how good they have been coupled with how bad Luton have been. 

It’s going to be a fight to the wire and I could imagine 5th and 6th could be decided on the final day of the season. I also think one of the teams outside of the playoffs could sneak in. 

On paper Boro and Norwich have decent squads and both should go close. However we are in the driving seat and could hold onto one of the spots as long as our form picks back up. It’s amazing that we are still in the mix after the run we have been on.

[onlyonejackwalker]

We have been in and around the play offs all season. I see no reason for that to stop.

Part of me feels thar the manager leaving will help refocus and energise. Good things often come from adversity.

I also feel its time the players went up a gear. We have often been poor going forward and we need goals from our strikers and attacking midfielders.

[Ricky]

36 minutes ago, onlyonejackwalker said:

We have been in and around the play offs all season. I see no reason for that to stop.

Part of me feels thar the manager leaving will help refocus and energise. Good things often come from adversity.

I also feel its time the players went up a gear. We have often been poor going forward and we need goals from our strikers and attacking midfielders.

In 2 out of the previous 3 seasons we’ve been better placed and still managed to fuck it so not sure why it would be a shock this season lol. 

[onlyonejackwalker]

8 minutes ago, Ricky said:

In 2 out of the previous 3 seasons we’ve been better placed and still managed to fuck it so not sure why it would be a shock this season lol. 

I like this group of players Ricky. The sum of the parts and all that. 

The past is the past. I cant judge this team on previous squads. Time will tell.

[philipl]

Of the 11 clubs realistically chasing 2 play off places, only Watford are on a worse run of current form than us. Quite how we have come through this to be 5th is a statistical freak show.

I will put QPR as the major threat. In terms of comprehensively out playing us when we actually turned up, only QPR and Sheffield United come into that category. The thrashing of Derby last night was more because QPR were excellent than Derby being rubbish.

[wilsdenrover]

1 hour ago, philipl said:

Of the 11 clubs realistically chasing 2 play off places, only Watford are on a worse run of current form than us. Quite how we have come through this to be 5th is a statistical freak show.

I will put QPR as the major threat. In terms of comprehensively out playing us when we actually turned up, only QPR and Sheffield United come into that category. The thrashing of Derby last night was more because QPR were excellent than Derby being rubbish.

After our run of six wins in a row we were fifth with a three point gap to seventh and an eight point gap to twelfth.

We still have a three point cushion to seventh and our lead over twelfth has only been cut to five points.

I think this shows how inconsistent most of the teams in this division are and how important that six win run may turn out to be.

Edited February 15 by wilsdenrover

[roverandout]

2 hours ago, philipl said:

Of the 11 clubs realistically chasing 2 play off places, only Watford are on a worse run of current form than us. Quite how we have come through this to be 5th is a statistical freak show.

I will put QPR as the major threat. In terms of comprehensively out playing us when we actually turned up, only QPR and Sheffield United come into that category. The thrashing of Derby last night was more because QPR were excellent than Derby being rubbish.

It's more of a freak show that if it wasn't for our drop off in form we could have been 10 points ahead of everyone else 

[Forever Blue]

PNE v Burnley on Sky in 10 mins. I’m hoping for a draw. 

PNE are still very much in the PO race, only 8 points behind us with a game in hand. 
 

 
 

 

[Forever Blue]

Also hoping Cardiff beat Bristol City in the other lunchtime KO.

[Nic81]

15 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

PNE v Burnley on Sky in 10 mins. I’m hoping for a draw. 

PNE are still very much in the PO race, only 8 points behind us with a game in hand. 
 

 
 

 

I’ll try and update the thread as we progress through the end of the season. Will be an interesting game PNE v Burnley. 

[Forever Blue]

5 minutes ago, Nic81 said:

I’ll try and update the thread as we progress through the end of the season. Will be an interesting game PNE v Burnley. 

Yeah, it’s going to change constantly. There’s about 10 teams fighting for the remaining 2 PO places. A few teams will play themselves out the reckoning in the next 5 or 6 games if they have a bad run. 

[Nic81]

5th Rovers; Norwich, Boro, Sheffield W, Sunderland, Watford, Sheffield U 

6th West Brom; Leeds, QPR, Burnley, Norwich, Sunderland, Bristol, Watford, Coventry

7th Coventry; Sunderland, Sheffield U, Burnley, West Brom, Boro

8th Bristol City; Boro, Sheffield U, Norwich, Burnley, Watford, West Brom, QPR, Sunderland, Leeds 

9th Sheffield Weds; Burnley, Sunderland, Norwich, Sheffield U, Rovers, Boro, Watford 

10th Watford; Bristol, West Brom, Burnley, Rovers, Sheff W

11th Boro; Bristol City, QPR, Rovers, Leeds, Sheffield W, Norwich, Coventry

12th Norwich; Rovers, Sheffield W, Bristol, West Brom, Sunderland, Burnley, Boro

13th QPR; Sheff U, West Brom, Boro, Leeds, Bristol, Burnley and Sunderland.

Good win for Coventry today and QPR continuing their good form. QPR have a very difficult run in though. Looking at the above and today's results, I am going to say that this week's ones to watch are Watford and Coventry. I think West Brom, Bristol and Sheff W may start to fall away. I am not commenting on Rovers...

[DE.]

Have to admit I look at our run in and think, with some momentum behind us we really do have a good chance of getting a playoff spot this season. It's Rovers under the Venky curse so I can't say I expect us to finish top six, but... it's definitely there for us. 

[Plastics]

Swansea away, Norwich at home, Derby away against a manager who knows us, Stoke away.

 

Now there's an unpredictable run of games. Could be points galore or very tough indeed

[Mattyblue]

We’ve been through week after week of Saturday/midweek games since Christmas - now one match a week till mid March (then an international break), players coming back fit/new signings getting up to speed.

Been burnt before these past few seasons getting giddy, so I’m not going to think about it too much, but on paper, well…

[Plastics]

How do people want Burnley to do against our positional rivals? Can you bring yourself to be happy with them winning (when it's not yet at a stage where we mathematically need it to reach the play offs)? Or is it Burnley lose all the way? Draws look a decent compromise when the top two keep winning. 

[Herbie6590]

On 15/02/2025 at 00:54, Upside Down said:

I'd swap the Sheffield Wednesday ownership for ours any day of the week.

Can probably count us out. We don't have a manager and venkys will draw out the process of appointing a new one as long as possible to make sure we fall away.

You wouldn’t if you lived in Sheffield…trust me…Wednesday fans have been through the mill with his antics

[Wheelton Blue]

5 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

You wouldn’t if you lived in Sheffield…trust me…Wednesday fans have been through the mill with his antics

I know a couple of Wednesday ST holders. They absolutely detest their owner.

[arbitro]

1 hour ago, Herbie6590 said:

You wouldn’t if you lived in Sheffield…trust me…Wednesday fans have been through the mill with his antics

It would be like swapping Gonorhea for Syphilis.

😂😂

[roversfan99]

2 hours ago, Plastics said:

How do people want Burnley to do against our positional rivals? Can you bring yourself to be happy with them winning (when it's not yet at a stage where we mathematically need it to reach the play offs)? Or is it Burnley lose all the way? Draws look a decent compromise when the top two keep winning. 

Same with Derby surely. Yes, it would be great if both failed to get promoted/avoid relegation. But our focus is surely on us so we need results to go in our favour.