Tough at the top - This weekend

[SwissBlade]

Looks an interesting weekend coming up.

We could go within a point of Charlton and breathing down their necks for a top of the table clash in a couple of weeks or we could be back to 7 points off and down to 4th.

So heres my run down:

Bury v BladesWe know what we have to do - win. Although a draw isn't the end of the world, I think on the current way that we're approaching games we shouldn't be looking at anything less than 3 points. Last night will really have instilled some confidence in the team, good to get a clean sheet and 3 goals from Midfield has boosted the goal scoring options.

I saw the 4-0 win over Bury at home earlier in the season and I thought we never really stepped out of 2nd gear. Bury were poor. It was a massive difference in class and felt like a friendly game. That maybe doing an injustice to Bury, but I think that they are part of the 2nd group of teams in this divsion.

Ched, Porter, Quinny, Lowton, Macca, Flynn, BT (if he's still available) will all be chomping at the bit to get some goals here, I'm hoping for another performance and a few goals.

Prediction: 1-3 Blades

Pigs v CharltonI'd like a really scrappy game, there is no right result here, but I'm confident that we can take Charlton in the next few weeks, so I'm hoping for an away win for Charlton.

Its important we put some breathing space between us and the pigs, they've got a game in hand and we need them to drop points.

I fear the physical style of the Pigs will be too much for Charlton though. Seeing them on New Years Eve v Leyton Orient, they looked a shadow of the side that beat us at the lane.

Prediction: 2-1 Pigs

Udders v Oldham
I think this will go Udders way. Again I'm not too concerned about Udders as I think they'll lose Rhodes in the JTW and will start dropping points. 0-6 away on Friday was a big result and massive for their confidence. Right now they're in the holding pattern, just waiting for Us or the Pigs to slip up.

Really can't see Oldham getting much from this, perhaps a late equaliser is all we can hope for, but in reality 2-3 goals for Udders to see this one out.

3-0 Udders

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

I see the Charlton v Wednesday match as a win win win situation for us.

Charlton win - puts us in the driving seat for 2nd
Wednesday win - stops Charlton running away with 1st
Draw - they've both dropped two points

I am hoping for a Charlton victory though.

 

[stannyblade]

I see the Charlton v Wednesday match as a win win win situation for us.

Charlton win - puts us in the driving seat for 2nd
Wednesday win - stops Charlton running away with 1st
Draw - they've both dropped two points

I am hoping for a Charlton victory though.

Draw for me. Both drop two points

Means nowt unless we beat bury though

 

[TAMUS]

Danny Green will rip the pigs a new arsehole , he shoots from anywhere even corners.

 

[WhiteHawk]

A draw would be the best result for Pigs-Charlton. As said though, we've got to win first.

 

[Coily]

Don't MK Dons deserve to be part of the conversation?

 

[SwissBlade]

Don't MK Dons deserve to be part of the conversation?

Not this weekend, because they're 4 points off us and so they can't go above us this weekend

 

[SotonBlade]

I'd love a draw between the piggies and Charlton. A win at Bury is more than possible, but it will be tough!

 

[beechblade]

I'd like it to be a win for us and am confident we can win this one, 1 nil will do and a draw for the other teams, at the top.

I still feel Wednesday and Charlton are both due a drop in form and it would be nice for there drop to come roughly now as the pace and pressure builds up. Of course we have to maintain a good run of form though ourselves.

 

[Darren]

I'd like it to be a win for us and am confident we can win this one, 1 nil will do and a draw for the other teams, at the top.

I still feel Wednesday and Charlton are both due a drop in form and it would be nice for there drop to come roughly now as the pace and pressure builds up. Of course we have to maintain a good run of form though ourselves.

There are two worrying things that suggest we might be in a slightly false position:

1. The imbalance of home and away games - 9 home left and 12 away
2. Of those 12 away games, 8 are against teams in the top half.

We will see...

 

[SwissBlade]

There are two worrying things that suggest we might be in a slightly false position:

1. The imbalance of home and away games - 9 home left and 12 away
2. Of those 12 away games, 8 are against teams in the top half.

We will see...

Agreed. We do have a pretty good away record though and I think we're better prepared for the top teams in this division now than we were a couple of months back.

Pigs away will be the big test. We need to be competing physically too

 

[madeinsheffield]

If we keep winning games, nobody can catch us, automatic is ours, simples!

 

[beechblade]

There are two worrying things that suggest we might be in a slightly false position:

1. The imbalance of home and away games - 9 home left and 12 away
2. Of those 12 away games, 8 are against teams in the top half.

We will see...

True but we have already picked points up against some of those teams and as Swiss suggests I think we are better prepared for the other teams.

 

[Darren]

Agreed. We do have a pretty good away record though and I think we're better prepared for the top teams in this division now than we were a couple of months back.

Pigs away will be the big test. We need to be competing physically too

Actually, compared to the rest of the top 5, our away record isn't brilliant - we have the 2nd worst record.

Charlton P13 pts 29 - 2.23 PG
SUFC P11 pts 18 - 1.64 PG
SWFC P13 pts 20 - 1.54 PG
Huddersfield P13 pts 22 - 1.69 PG
MK Dons P12 P23 - 1.92 PG

Obviously, the good news is that Wednesday's away record is worse than ours

 

[SwissBlade]

Actually, compared to the rest of the top 5, our away record isn't brilliant - we have the 2nd worst record.

Charlton P13 pts 29 - 2.23 PG
SUFC P11 pts 18 - 1.64 PG
SWFC P13 pts 20 - 1.54 PG
Huddersfield P13 pts 22 - 1.69 PG
MK Dons P12 P23 - 1.92 PG

Obviously, the good news is that Wednesday's away record is worse than ours

But as you say, pigs have more home games coming up

 

[Wapping Blade]

In our remaining games we need the following average points to achieve the Championship or Automatic, based on maximums and minimums from the last 10 years:

Max Championship 2.05
Min Championship 1.43
Max Automatic 1.81
Min Automatic1.29

 

[Selly]

In our remaining games we need the following average points to achieve the Championship or Automatic, based on maximums and minimums from the last 10 years:

Max Championship 2.05
Min Championship 1.43
Max Automatic 1.81
Min Automatic1.29

I think we'll be looking at the Maxima rather than the minima this year...

 

[super_pig]

>But as you say, pigs have more home games coming up
not necessarily a positive thing if the pressure builds up in the run in though

 

[stannyblade]

In our remaining games we need the following average points to achieve the Championship or Automatic, based on maximums and minimums from the last 10 years:

Max Championship 2.05
Min Championship 1.43
Max Automatic 1.81
Min Automatic1.29

Easy then just average 3 per game and were up

 

[JohnDenver]

I'd love a draw between the piggies and Charlton.

Hmmm... If you'll excuse the momentary crudeness, I rather hope Charlton knob them senseless.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

There are two worrying things that suggest we might be in a slightly false position:

1. The imbalance of home and away games - 9 home left and 12 away
2. Of those 12 away games, 8 are against teams in the top half.

We will see...

Our next 3 league games are away, will be equal after that.

 

[diplomat]

I'm torn for the pigs game - if they win a confidence akin to winning the champo league will fall on the sty. If they draw both of them will be okay and move on with confidence. I think I want Wendy to be hapless and toothless and lose. Then when we go there there will be a tension in the air that will help us. I'd love their confidence to be dented so we can get a win there and then hopefully instill doubt in their home games for the rest of the season. So away win.

Us - away win

Huddersfield - away win

It's gonna be close from here on in.

 

[Revolution]

United have not lost at Bury in their last 8 league visits - our last defeat was in 1951-2. This is currently our joint longest unbeaten away run in league games. We have also not lost at Port Vale in our last 8 matches.

Bury have also not won at the Lane in 21 games, going back to 1925 - we really are their bogey side.

Oddly, though, United have played at Bury 4 times in the League cup since it began - and lost every single time!

 

[Darren]

United have not lost at Bury in their last 8 league visits - our last defeat was in 1951-2. This is currently our joint longest unbeaten away run in league games. We have also not lost at Port Vale in our last 8 matches.

Bury have also not won at the Lane in 21 games, going back to 1925 - we really are their bogey side.

Oddly, though, United have played at Bury 4 times in the League cup since it began - and lost every single time!

When we won in the second round tie at the Lane in 06-07, that brought to an end 4 consecutive League Cup tie defeats against Bury (albeit the last 2 were on aggregate and included a 2-1 win at the Lane in 1995-96). I reckon that must be our record losing run against one club in the LC.

---------- Post added at 09:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:48 AM ----------

I'm torn for the pigs game - if they win a confidence akin to winning the champo league will fall on the sty. If they draw both of them will be okay and move on with confidence. I think I want Wendy to be hapless and toothless and lose. Then when we go there there will be a tension in the air that will help us. I'd love their confidence to be dented so we can get a win there and then hopefully instill doubt in their home games for the rest of the season. So away win.

Us - away win

Huddersfield - away win

It's gonna be close from here on in.

If we win at Bury a draw in the SWFC-Charlton game must be best for us - that would put us only 2 points behind Charlton with a chance to go top if we win there next weekend and 3 points ahead of Wednesday with a much better goal difference, thus negating their game in hand.

 

[Houso]

A Charlton win would be very useful in that it would hurt the pigs home form.

I can see the following though:
Us at Bury - home win
Pigs v Chartlton - home win
Hudders - home win

This may be my natural pessimism seeping through to temper any optimism, but I do think we'll have to settle for the Playoffs; pray to Ganesha that we grab third place and that Jordan Rhodes is sold this January.

 

[Darren]

A Charlton win would be very useful in that it would hurt the pigs home form.

I can see the following though:
Us at Bury - home win
Pigs v Chartlton - home win
Hudders - home win

This may be my natural pessimism seeping through to temper any optimism, but I do think we'll have to settle for the Playoffs; pray to Ganesha that we grab third place and that Jordan Rhodes is sold this January.

But both our main rivals dropping points must be better than only one doing so - or put it this way, a draw sees our rivals losing a total of 4 points; a win for Wednesday is only a loss of 3.

I think we will have too much for Bury and am going to (perhaps stupidly) stick by my start of the season prediction that we will finish as champions

 

[Houso]

But both our main rivals dropping points must be better than only one doing so - or put it this way, a draw sees our rivals losing a total of 4 points; a win for Wednesday is only a loss of 3.

I think we will have too much for Bury and am going to (perhaps stupidly) stick by my start of the season prediction that we will finish as champions

Which is fair enough, but a loss after a run of excellent form (see Hudders) often leads to a severe dip. Wednesday's home form is out of this world and I'd prefer to see them have good stumble to balance our stream of upcoming tricky away fixtures. Not least our trip to S6.

 

[Revolution]

When we won in the second round tie at the Lane in 06-07, that brought to an end 4 consecutive League Cup tie defeats against Bury (albeit the last 2 were on aggregate and included a 2-1 win at the Lane in 1995-96). I reckon that must be our record losing run against one club in the LC.

Arsenal have knocked us out the last 4 times we have met as well - 1972-3, 1981-2, 2007-8 and 2008-9.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Message from a Bury fan who works at our place;

"We generally manage approx 2,200 home fans (mostly old men with mufflers) so I fear we might be a little out-sung tomorrow. Go easy on us and keep it in single figures will you?"

 

[Grecian2000]

"We generally manage approx 2,200 home fans (mostly old men with mufflers)

What does Len Fairclough use as a muffler these days?

On the results front, would love to see the Pigs lose at home tomorrow. A win for us would thus consolidate our second spot. Quite happy for us and Charlton to pull away at the top. Second place would be a very satisfactory outcome to the season.