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Target?

The remaining games for North End are :

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where CAPS is a home game for us.

The middle five look to be the toughest.

As it looks now, Bristol City at home is a real 6-pointer but their next 5 are : QPR nor BIR pne LEE. Top 2 for starters.

I agree with Yoowell, who observed that it will be clearer in 5 games time.
 
The results for the last 20 games (from Swansea 12 Jan) need to be :
W:14 D:4 L2 or better to be close to play-offs

After 5 games, an update:
W:3 D:2 L:0

That is within the target.

Odds at the bookies have shortened considerably...

Not much room for error though.

That is not within the target. W14, D4, L2 = 2.3 points per game. W3, D2,L0 = 2.2 points per game.
 
Just finish as high as we can. Anything else is a bonus, just a bloody shame we had all these injuries. Could have been a really promising season.
 
Just finish as high as we can. Anything else is a bonus, just a bloody shame we had all these injuries. Could have been a really promising season.
We've also thrown some stupid points away. Drew with Stoke, Bolton, Rotherham, got beat by Reading early on in season at home
 
Just enjoy the ride. This season we’ve had appalling luck with injuries and still been competitive in a fantastic league that’s full of big city clubs with high expectations. 3 away wins on the bounce at QPR , Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers plus more than matching Derby County shows how well the club is doing. This is where we want to be, dreaming about the Premier League with a chance of actually getting there. Another couple of wins and we’ll have banished any threat of relegation and really have a go at knocking over some of the top teams in the division. Starting on Wednesday against Norwich should be a good indicator of the team’s ability to do this and I can’t wait for this encounter.
 
Keep pushing as hard as we can . If we could sneak into a play off spot then pretty confident we can go all the way .We have nothing to fear playing likes of Boro and Derby
 
Tom Trybull just received his 5th booking of the season, so presume he will miss our game? Unless there has been a cut-off?

He's their anchorman so that's a boost.

On this showing, the difference between us and them is a 20+ a-season man like Pukki.
 
Tom Trybull just received his 5th booking of the season, so presume he will miss our game? Unless there has been a cut-off?

He's their anchorman so that's a boost.

On this showing, the difference between us and them is a 20+ a-season man like Pukki.
They seem to leave an awful lot of gaps at the back particularly in the wide areas. With the pace we have we should create plenty of chances.
 
Target? I'm looking at the gap between us and 8th place.. which is only 5 points (if Clem is right that Birmingham are about to be docked points).

5 points is doable, even though there are many teams to overtake (potentially including three teams who can go above us if they win their game in hand).

The gap from 8th to 6th - Well that's another matter - there would need to be a couple of serious collapses!
 
If we are to continue the charge up the table our home form must improve. Won just 1 of last 6 league games at home compared with 4 in 6 away. We can do it though with the new found fitness and confidence of players.
 
Robbo will go as we have a wage cap.
Football is a short career that could end tomorrow; why do it for (say) 10k a week when someone else will pay you more?
Plenty out there will pay him more than PNE and this is the fundamental problem.
Many of our players could earn more elsewhere.
do you blame them? I don't as it's their job and whatever you do if someone offered you say double to do the same thing how many would say no?
the only way to keep players is pay the going rate.

But I also don't blame PNE for having a wage cap. We won't have the 30,000 - 40,000 crowds that some of these teams do and we can't offer prem football like Hugill and Cunningham had when they moved. If we for example offered Robinson £15,000 - 20,000 to keep him for another season then what's to say Pearson, Browne etc won't be demanding the same thing.
 
Currently 10 points off playoffs, with 15 games to play.

I believe we have maybe a 1% shot at making the playoffs, but if we continue our good run over the next 10 games we could still be in the mix with 5 to play. For me that’s the target, keep ourselves in the mix for as long as possible. At least then the last few games will be competitive.

The biggest advantage we have is that the person who believes we can do it the most happens to be our manager

Keeping yourselves in the mix is the only thing you can hope for as a fan. It ultimately gives you something to play for. Even with how unlikely it is, having such a positive and ambitious manager means that his mentality transfers not only to the fans but more importantly to the players.
 
I've always been a big fan of the play off system. In my younger days, a team that had played 31 matches and W10 D10 L11 would have only one possible route of their division... and it wouldn't be upwards! I think it's great that teams down to perhaps 17th place can still have a sniff... even if only a faint one.
 
But I also don't blame PNE for having a wage cap. We won't have the 30,000 - 40,000 crowds that some of these teams do and we can't offer prem football like Hugill and Cunningham had when they moved. If we for example offered Robinson £15,000 - 20,000 to keep him for another season then what's to say Pearson, Browne etc won't be demanding the same thing.
We have a wage cap and it's part of our business model which is why players will move for more money.
I'm not saying it's wrong but it's seemingly very rigid and we are unlikely to smash it for anyone so it will always be difficult to keep players if there's interest even from within the Championship as we've seen before
 
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