I just noticed that 3 of our last 4 games are Norwich, Brentford and Swansea with the former two being away from home. That’s going to be fun.
It's even worse than that.......our last six are Reading (h ) 5th, Luton (a ) tough derby, Norwich (a ) 1st, Millwall (h ), Brentford (a ) 4th, Swansea (h ) 2nd. The only fairly comfortable looking match from that lot is Millwall. When you're a bit nervous in the final matches, do you really want a string of very difficult games......hmmm.
That's why we really don't have much room to play with at the moment, drop points in these next few games, the gap that could appear (if Swansea and Brentford win their games in hand) might become insurmountable with that run-in!
If we’re nervous, you would think the opposition will be as well. Not going to worry about the final six games just yet
It would be interesting to hear about a team (assuming one has ever existed in English football) chasing automatic promotion that had a similarly tough run at the end of the season but managed to come through it with flying colours, as something we could draw inspiration from, but I can’t think of one offhand. Though without looking at all the other fixtures ahead I’m assuming this means we have a relatively easy run before then so hopefully we should be clear of 3rd place after game 40 and can afford to drop a fair few points in those games?
Swansea’s game in hand is against Brentford on Wednesday. Brentford’s other game in hand is Bristol City.
Lots of football to be played before those last games. Also a run of hard fixtures can be a good thing if you keep the intensity levels up. If we keep up with putting points on the board against mediocre teams those teams at the top won’t want to be playing us. Ie if were the harder game for said team that week they may take their chances and drop points against teams around our fixture, by resting key players etc. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Perhaps on our run in during the winter months we should wear our away strip more: C&P from the upshot.
We have to play everyone twice. When we play them is irrelevant. If our last few games matter then that is because we have f*cked up against the flotsam and jetsam .
See that's our problem... A rubbish last season followed by a bland first half of this one has made us "worried" about nearly every team in the division. IF we have indeed turned that corner and confidence grows, then Swansea and Brentford will dread playing us whilst we will go out with gradually more confidence.? If we're still worried about that run-in in 6 weeks time then we not going to be top 2 anyway.???? P. S. - I do think we're on the upward slant....
I still think our depth of squad will tell as the season wears on. I think the last dozen games are really going to catch up with teams who largely play the same 11 game in game out. I think the only players we have who largely play every game are Sarr and Femenia. Others are playing most games now but have either been injured or only playing every game due to other injuries, leavers. It is the one thing Ivic did quite well which was rotating players. Hopefully many will still have gas in the tank at the end of the season. Not sure how the others at the top of the table are handling that. Norwich are probably as they have a deep squad and have also had injuries but interesting to see the depth of Swansea and Brentford squads. Personally do not think Bournemouth will be in the mix. May end up with egg on face but Wiltshire sounds like an expensive desperate punt in the similar vein to Welbeck for us last season. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
All of the top team have 13 or 14 players that have played over 1000 minutes of football this season. So not a major difference in main players used so far.
I believe having the big 6 pointers at the end could be an advantage if we can wrack up a run of wins against dross teams beforehand.
Under Joka our run in was tough also. Wigan, Brighton, Birmingham, Forest all potential banana skins. We won all those games, but the night we went to Forest and beat them 3-1 I was certain this was our chance. This season is a lot tougher, there is not much gap between the top two and the next four. Our away form is vital to keep improving, and being as hard to beat at the Vic as we are this season. We may have room to lose the odd game and we will, everyone does, but it's a mental strength of good sides to keep going till the end.
In the promotion season, the top 8 didn't change from early January until the end. The eventual top 4 split away by the last few weeks. We only got promoted on the penultimate week as we played the early kick off and Middlesbrough lost and Norwich drew that afternoon. It was tight all the way until then.
It has kept me warm through the last half of 2020 and the start of 2021. Not ready to surrender it yet.
I had a quick look at the fixtures and if we win every match between now and then, including that match we would be on 97 points with 4 to play. I'd be surprised if another team was on 85+ points by then, however as unlikely as it seems it is just about possible. Seriously we really do need to make the most of our current run of fixtures, so that the time we get to 4 remaining we have a cushion as we finish with Norwich (A), Millwall (H), Brentford (A) & Swansea (H).
It would need to be TWO other teams, too, which is only marginally more likely than the chances of us winning every game between now and then.
Whatever happens, I think this could be one where 3 teams get 90+, it's going to be very tight at the top.