14pts away from autos, 11 pts away from play-offs.

[BalticBlade]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

When you look at the points tally required and the time left, it always seems doable. But it's easy to forget position and the amount of traffic in the way.

We would need to put perform so many teams from here on in and even at this relatively early stage, probably couldn't afford to lose many more games if we realistically wanted top 6.

And as delighted as I am with the last 2 results, we have just beaten 2 awful teams. I am not detracting from our performances however and by rights we should have scored 3 or 4 more goals.

Make no mistake though, for now the target is 50 points. December's fixtures might also bring us back down to earth again.

This is the exact point I was going to make. It's not the points difference, which is the biggest obstacle, it's the number of teams between us and play off/autos places.

It will be interesting to see where we are/how many points we have after the Stoke match. We'll be 19 games in then, the exact same point in the season when Hecky replaced Slav.

At that point we were in 16th in the league and had 23 points - eight points behind 6th and 18 points behind the autos places. We finished the season in 5th place on 75 points, five points ahead of 7th and 13 points behind the autos.

 

[Isiah]

It's a good job they went down to 10 men yesterday as before that we didn't look like scoring.

Any talk of promotion is futile. We are in a relegation scrap.

Not sure yet about talk of promotion but the fact is if their player hadn't got himself sent off we would have been one up against 11 without needing a penalty.

 

[SB_90]

this is a convosation for February if we are within 6pts - 9pts . i think we more than safe, i would guess 10th / 11th

 

[Berkshire Blade]

I'm glad I don't have the outlook of some people on this thread
When will you actually enjoy a match?

I don't think enjoying individual games necessarily tallys with where you think we will end up. enjoyed the win and how easy we made it last night but it doesn't mean I think we are on the cusp of a historic run

 

[ancientblade]

A terrible portsmouth and we created nothing until the penalty. Someone mentioned above we're moving the ball around quicker now - I haven't seen it. Thought our passing was extremely sloppy and invariably backwards.

like watching a different team from sunday yes wednesday were poor but so were portsmouth we were back to the slow tempo football last night in first half its little wonder our crowd were quiet

 

[DifferentClass]

If we so much as mek playoffs I'll tek a shit on the centre circle at the sty wearing nowt but a Barry Bannan mask.

 

[GymClassHero]

a couple of tricky fixtures up next .. let’s calm down

Yep, see where we were after these games

 

[Badger Blade]

To trot out what most players say in their interviews, we need to take each game as it comes.

We're essentially doing it handicapped having lost the opening 6 matches but hopefully having readjusted to the way Wilder operates and got some poor performances out of the way, we look to be on the up with clean sheets being the best barometer for me, having not conceded in the last three compared to the deluge of goals before that.

Chris now seems to know what his best side roughly looks like. Mee and Tanganga at the back work well together, especially now that we've gone to a back 4 and they're not having to babysit McGuinness. That's allowed us to get an extra player downfield and scoring 3 in the last 2 games is testament to it.

Bamford and Cannon looked a reasonable combo but we can interchange with all the forwards depending on the opposition and state of the game. Likewise with Brooks and Seriki, Peck and Riedewald. Having these combinations and being successful with them forms the bedrock of being in a decent position to at least get somewhere in mid-table and at least not to have to be looking over our shoulders.

Let's not kid ourselves, we're not out of the woods yet and are playing fairly basic football to get the best out of a limited side that's been cobbled together rather than carefully curated. We also haven't beaten anyone who's currently in the top half so the real test of what this lot are capable of is just around the corner.

It wasn't great last night until the red card and a better side than us would have put 5 or 6 past Pompey last night who looked like relegation fodder but we're getting the scoreboard ticking over and if we keep that going and get some decent signings in, ship some rubbish out, we could be looking upwards in a few months rather than downwards.

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

I don't think enjoying individual games necessarily tallys with where you think we will end up. enjoyed the win and how easy we made it last night but it doesn't mean I think we are on the cusp of a historic run

I meant people who are being downbeat about Sunday and last night.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Almost every team in this league is average to decent and we are one of them but there’s no Leeds, Burnley or even Sunderland level teams.
We know that success in this league is all down consistency.

The margins are so fine regards winning and losing a match and obviously luck, confidence and momentum plays a part.

Currently we’re probably a mid table table.
Lower our levels by 10% and we’ll hover close to the relegation zone.
Improve our levels by just 10% and I can see us going on a 5 or 6 match winning streak….which would pull us close to the play-offs
But we’d need to keep up the good form.

It’s unlikely but definitely possible because I think it will need lower points than normal to reach the play-offs.

 

[ATL Recs]

Not even Forest?

Forest picked up way before us

 

[PaulPeschBlade]

Got on us at 20/1 Play offs and 33/1 Promotion with B365

30 Games left it will be a very low points total for both Autos and the Play offs this year IMO

If wilder gets us going and with the players to come back i would be very surprised if we dont finish top half and wouldnt bet against a top 6 finish either 5th or 6th

That line up last night + Hamer is a top 6 side minimum

 

[Houston_Blade]

It's a good job they went down to 10 men yesterday as before that we didn't look like scoring.

Any talk of promotion is futile. We are in a relegation scrap.

We looked like scoring before he was sent off, the defender saved a header that would have gone in, you can’t look any more likely to score than that.

 

[Sheff de party]

I said before the season we would finish 10th and I've seen nothing to change my mind yet. If I had to higher or lower that, I would certainly go lower. We have the ability but not the cutting edge.

There is no way, under any circumstances, this team gets relegated. It cannot happen in a season this long - we are too good. I don't know what anyone is worrying about in that regard.

My other prediction is we will be around 15th until the promotion places are completely out of reach, then go on a really good run when the pressure is off.

 

[Sheff de party]

Got on us at 20/1 Play offs and 33/1 Promotion with B365

30 Games left it will be a very low points total for both Autos and the Play offs this year IMO

If wilder gets us going and with the players to come back i would be very surprised if we dont finish top half and wouldnt bet against a top 6 finish either 5th or 6th

That line up last night + Hamer is a top 6 side minimum

The line up, yes definitely. But we were rubbish until half time really. no cutting edge going forward, a lack of bite in midfield and always felt a big mistake was coming at the back. Very good after ht.

 

[Pedro's Winger]

Assuming a few draws we still need points from around half our games to get to 50 points.
Talk of anything else is daft.

 

[Mumbo]

A terrible portsmouth and we created nothing until the penalty. Someone mentioned above we're moving the ball around quicker now - I haven't seen it. Thought our passing was extremely sloppy and invariably backwards.

Eh? ……Before the pen, a certain goal was stopped illegally on the line by a hand.
Now, if we’d had a choice at that point every Blade would have taken the goal and not opted for a pen
and playing against 10 men.
Portsmouth offered zilch and I’m inclined to believe we would have extended our lead.
Hamers shot was absolute quality it goes in regardless of the sending off.
Can’t be happy with 3-0?

 

[Keen Blade]

I'm hopeful we won't be in a relegation struggle. However, we don't look like a promotion chasing team, the first 40 minutes yesterday we created nothing.

How do you know ?
I was doing my knitting,
but I had my eye on you
and you'd quite rightly nodded off after 10 minutes

 

[1066blade]

Totally doable. Apply positivity as per last two games. Believe and stop stupid mistakes.

 

[djbaldken]

Autos. No Chance
Playoffs. Highly unlikely

Mid table. Quite probable

 

[BalticBlade]

This is the exact point I was going to make. It's not the points difference, which is the biggest obstacle, it's the number of teams between us and play off/autos places.

It will be interesting to see where we are/how many points we have after the Stoke match. We'll be 19 games in then, the exact same point in the season when Hecky replaced Slav.

At that point we were in 16th in the league and had 23 points - eight points behind 6th and 18 points behind the autos places. We finished the season in 5th place on 75 points, five points ahead of 7th and 13 points behind the autos.

So we are now at exactly the same stage of the season as we were when Hecky took over the reins from Slav in 2021. We currently have one less point than we did after 19 games in 2021/22 and are two places lower in the table, but crucially we are the same number of points away from the play off places (8pts) and closer to the auto spots than we were back then. In short, Play Offs are definitely on!

 

[WorcBlade]

27 games left, Total available points = 81 + 22 points already achieved = total 103 maximum possible points..... In my humble opinion 90 point will get top two this season... Conclusion Top 2 still possible, but Playoffs more likely with 75 points

 

[ancientblade]

no chance of automatic forget that one but after the last 4 weve given ourselves an outside chance of top 6 especially if we get 4pts from the 2 games this week having said that if we win both games the rest of the league will certainly be wary of us and the wilder factor

 

[Cappy]

Since this thread was posted, we remain 14points from autos

 

[Cappy]

The progression of our Points off Playoffs and Points off Autos (2nd) through the season so far

 

[KMC-1889]

This is the exact point I was going to make. It's not the points difference, which is the biggest obstacle, it's the number of teams between us and play off/autos places.

It will be interesting to see where we are/how many points we have after the Stoke match. We'll be 19 games in then, the exact same point in the season when Hecky replaced Slav.

At that point we were in 16th in the league and had 23 points - eight points behind 6th and 18 points behind the autos places. We finished the season in 5th place on 75 points, five points ahead of 7th and 13 points behind the autos.

So if we don’t get minimum of 5th place now it’s more evidence that Hecky is a better manager than Wilder

 

[Cappy]

Happy to keep updating this if people want, as a view on a season trend

ucandomagic I can send you the data if you want to add it to your graph thread instead

 

[Rufus Smalls]

Has Graphman been made redundant ??

 

[ThirdGenBlade]

GraphMan plots against playoffs possible and playoffs certain lines, taking into account the actual teams that we are playing - so, by looking at progress towards this end of season total range, it means that other teams’ current totals and any games in hand don’t really affect the comparison.

Currently, we are 11 behind his playoffs possible schedule, 15 behind playoffs certain and 19 behind Autos - so still a steep hill to climb.

As Cappy mentions, Hecky took over from Slav on 23 points after 19 games in 2021. We beat Bristol City in Game 20 and finished 5th on 75 points. So after 20 games, we are 3 points behind Hecky in 2021. If we just matched Hecky’s results for the last 26 games we would finish on 72, with playoffs possible, but by no means certain.

I’m just looking for 50 points before I start looking up though!!

UTB & FTP!

 

[Yewsman]

Wouldn't it be ironic of we scraped into 6th and then won promotion by winning play off final. Normally we finish 3rd in league but dont get through in play offs. And last season we were 14 points ahead of Sunderland in 4th and 22 points ahead of Brizzle in 6th).