Make no mistake

[Gavlar]

Boro would swap our position with theirs in a heartbeat. 7 points ahead, game in hand and better goal difference. We still have it in our hands. Cmon the blades!

 

[Katzenjammer]

They will be swapping positions if we put in many more displays like last night. With Millwall and Watford up next, I see no indication that this lead will be maintained, nevermind extended.

 

[stringjunior]

Boro would swap our position with theirs in a heartbeat. 7 points ahead, game in hand and better goal difference. We still have it in our hands. Cmon the blades!

You bio says you're an eternal pessimist

 

[Gavlar]

You bio says you're an eternal pessimist

I am, but in recovery.

 

[ChrisBlade]

They will be swapping positions if we put in many more displays like last night. With Millwall and Watford up next, I see no indication that this lead will be maintained, nevermind extended.

It doesn't need extending or maintaining. It just can't be tossed away frivolously because we panic.

To be honest, Millwall will be tough, which could make Watford tricky even though they really aren't great shakes. So current sequencing of matches is our issue, not the absolute quality of the opposition.

Equally, by the time the game arrives, Blackburn may just about be top half, but form-wise and to all intents and purposes, they are a Bristol City/Swansea/Reading neither here nor there team and have been for months. Their no draw abnormality is quickly averaging itself out...

Real tough matches we have left:

Millwall away, Burnley away, Sunderland away, West Brom home, Luton home. Let's say we take no points in four of them, but win one. We may or likely will do better, but worst case scenario.

Tough but manageable ones:

Watford home, Norwich away. Let's say we draw both. You'd have to say that is a fair target even for a misfiring Blades team.

Games we really ought to win in the normal run of events:

Blackburn away, Reading away, Huddersfield away, Birmingham away, Wigan home, Cardiff home, Bristol City home, Preston home. Eight eminently winnable games. Win 5, draw 2, lose 1. Not sparkling, but probably a fair assumption even on degrading form.

All of that still gives us 22 points and takes us to 83 points. This pretty much forces Boro into ten wins and four defeats from their fourteen games.

In other words, as long as fluctuations in our lead do not result in a complete loss of bottle or confidence, we can give several play-off chasers a leg up and still force Boro into blistering form from here to the finish line. Their run to achieve that would dwarf any stretch Fulham did last season. They have tricky away matches too. There is the odd injury and freak result. Pressure will come once they get a bit closer, but they lose one. What was melted down from ten to four points suddenly is a rather depressing seven again.

If they just have one week at any stage like Leeds did over that famous Easter break, they likely are toast. Are they really that good that they will win pretty much every match on class and form alone? Or does the Championship slog inevitably throw up three or four blips that no-one expects?

It is so clearly in our hands. Cool heads needed.

 

[Sheffsteel]

It doesn't need extending or maintaining. It just can't be tossed away frivolously because we panic.

To be honest, Millwall will be tough, which could make Watford tricky even though they really aren't great shakes. So current sequencing of matches is our issue, not the absolute quality of the opposition.

Equally, by the time the game arrives, Blackburn may just about be top half, but form-wise and to all intents and purposes, they are a Bristol City/Swansea/Reading neither here nor there team and have been for months. Their no draw abnormality is quickly averaging itself out...

Real tough matches we have left:

Millwall away, Burnley away, Sunderland away, West Brom home, Luton home. Let's say we take no points in four of them, but win one. We may or likely will do better, but worst case scenario.

Tough but manageable ones:

Watford home, Norwich away. Let's say we draw both. You'd have to say that is a fair target even for a misfiring Blades team.

Games we really ought to win in the normal run of events:

Blackburn away, Reading away, Huddersfield away, Birmingham away, Wigan home, Cardiff home, Bristol City home, Preston home. Eight eminently winnable games. Win 5, draw 2, lose 1. Not sparkling, but probably a fair assumption even on degrading form.

All of that still gives us 22 points and takes us to 83 points. This pretty much forces Boro into ten wins and four defeats from their fourteen games.

In other words, as long as fluctuations in our lead do not result in a complete loss of bottle or confidence, we can give several play-off chasers a leg up and still force Boro into blistering form from here to the finish line. Their run to achieve that would dwarf any stretch Fulham did last season. They have tricky away matches too. There is the odd injury and freak result. Pressure will come once they get a bit closer, but they lose one. What was melted down from ten to four points suddenly is a rather depressing seven again.

If they just have one week at any stage like Leeds did over that famous Easter break, they likely are toast. Are they really that good that they will win pretty much every match on class and form alone? Or does the Championship slog inevitably throw up three or four blips that no-one expects?

It is so clearly in our hands. Cool heads needed.

Good post, explains the situation well.

I've said before due to our massive lead we only need to have an average run of the mill finish of winning a few, drawing a few and losing a few, then we finish on about 84 points. Boro have won 10 of their last 12 and need to report that kind of form again to overtake us.

Let's be honest here.
If Boro end up winning 20 out of their last 24 games of the season....then they deserve to be automatically promoted.

In reality no team (not even Man City, Barcelona, Real Madrid) keep winning every game.
So for Boro to win 20 out of 24 would be seriously impressive but in reality is very unlikely, every team in history has off days or suffers bad luck at some point.

Simon Jordan has just spoke about our ownership situation on Talksport.
He said that the African owner might not appear to be who he is and his mate Trevor Birch is correctly asking further questions. He said normally if the transfer doesn't happen it would mean financial trouble however he said the takeover in reality doesn't matter because Sheffield United are going up anyway.

 

[Bookers boots]

Bad day at the office,learn from it and move on!UTB

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

So long as we learn, adapt and evolve - we'll be ok. Just.

If we keep trying to cram 5kg of shit into a 3kg bag, then yes, we'll get caught.

We need to get back to a tight, structured, disciplined midfield protecting the defence.

 

[ChrisBlade]

So long as we learn, adapt and evolve - we'll be ok. Just.

If we keep trying to cram 5kg of shit into a 3kg bag, then yes, we'll get caught.

We need to get back to a tight, structured, disciplined midfield protecting the defence.

We also may need to develop ways where we do not play into the hands of the most dangerous opponents by settling for compact, low-calibre draws. A point each in the five games I flagged as very tough would already be okay.

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

We also may need to develop ways where we do not play into the hands of the most dangerous opponents by settling for compact, low-calibre draws. A point each in the five games I flagged as very tough would already be okay.

Good point. I really enjoyed last nights game, it was open and exciting, but on reflection I might have preferred the bore draw you talk about..