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Play-offs

BallyPNE

President of the Juvhel Tsoumou fan club
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Aug 8, 2019
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With 19 league games to go, how many do we think we need to win to secure a play-off spot? Or a more appropriate question would be from the 57 available, how many do we need to take?

Currently on 40 points, sitting in 10th.
 
10 wins, 5 draws. I think Wolves in 14/15 was only team in last decade or over who've got that figure or higher and made been at least 6th.

Look back at 2005. 06 and 09 and were around that figure.

It's still very do able. For me the top 4 will be WBA, Brentford, Leeds (yes they'll blow up again) and Forest in that order. The two positions below still open.

Need to win some away games though and got a very difficult schedule ahead.
 
With 19 league games to go, how many do we think we need to win to secure a play-off spot? Or a more appropriate question would be from the 57 available, how many do we need to take?

Currently on 40 points, sitting in 10th.
12 minimum based upon 7 losses takes us to 76 points which would just about squeeze us into 6th.

13 wins and 6 losses takes us to 79 points and 5th/6th.

I based the above into simple terms by leaving out draws even though we'll collect a few.

Tall order but doable if the team connect as a unit to one thing - concentration for 90+ minutes.
 
From memory we are still a lot closer to the playoffs now than Villa were at this time last year....

so a year from now we to could be getting thrashed 6 by Man City !!!......

on the specific point, there are so many teams in with a shout that it is likely the required points will be lower than normal seasons...so we probably need to pick up 4 points more than the 10 teams around us ?! especially as we remain only 6 points off 3rd..
 
Don,t think much chance at all with Maddison at posh tbh, Fergie jnr and his old man are not on great terms with N.E. plus Charlton have just completed a big takeover so there offer will easily eclipse ours unless Trev has found a few million down the back of the sofa.
 
It is still more than doable.

In previous seasons, poor starts under Neil eviscerated our chance of making up the ground on the top 6 in the second half of the season. Even going on a fantastic run of form from February last season (winning 7 of 8 was it?) we were only ever within 'touching distance'.

We'd have to have sustained automatic-promotion-levels of form for the remainder of the season just to bridge the gap that had accumulated in the first half of the season. Thank God this time round, our great start has acted as a parachute during our recent blip and prevented us from falling too far behind the top 6.

We're still right in the mix, no doubt about that. Id also take comfort from the fact that this time round I reckon there are at least 2, if not 3 of the 4 play off spots right up for grabs, when in previous seasons you could almost guarantee 3 teams would fill the play off spots before PNE, leaving us to scrap it out with 5/6 of the chasing pack for 6th spot.

I think only Fulham are a shoe-in for the play offs because of the quality and depth of their squad. I think Brentford will drop away. If we can recapture our early form, which I believe we can, there's no reason we cant finish 4th. Either way, this is our best chance since returning to this level, simply because of how compact the league is.
 
We need to go on a serious winning streak, similar to last season to have a chance.
 
Every game is a must-win.

A loser's mentality will do us no good.

Adopting a losers mentality, in any game, is not what I was advocating in my post.

My point, which I thought was rather self-evident, is that taking 4 points rather than 6 from our next 2 games will not put an end to our play off hopes this season.
 
....and got a very difficult schedule ahead.

Funnily enough, I spent 10 minutes studying the fixture list this morning and my (right or wrong) it just didn’t fill me with nervousness like it sometimes does. Just the consecutive games away WBA and Fulham on 25&29Feb really made me draw breath.
 
Funnily enough, I spent 10 minutes studying the fixture list this morning and my (right or wrong) it just didn’t fill me with nervousness like it sometimes does. Just the consecutive games away WBA and Fulham on 25&29Feb really made me draw breath.

Brentford away on final day will be very tough. Both teams could need something to make top 6 or even better in Brentford's case.
 
That's a demanding gauntlet to throw down considering our recent form.

I'd take 4.

There are no must-win games in January.
With 2 wins in 12, if you include the defeat to Norwich, I'd say these pretty much are must win games! The division may be tight at the moment but there's no garauntee it will stay like that. We need to get on a good run now an the sooner, the better or we'll simply end up having too much to do
 
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