Rival Watch

[windermereROYAL]

Strange though it may seem but I wouldn`t put it past Posh to go on a run now, I watched their game last night and at times had Bournemouth pinned back, but they do have a tough run in.

[Mr Angry]

I think Posh are in that mindset where they think they have nothing to lose now, so they might as well go out and give it everything; allied that to B'Muff's natural air of entitlement and arrogance which saw them going into that game with a high level of complacency, and they struggled as a result.

[tidus_mi2]

I think Posh are in that mindset where they think they have nothing to lose now, so they might as well go out and give it everything; allied that to B'Muff's natural air of entitlement and arrogance which saw them going into that game with a high level of complacency, and they struggled as a result.

Hopefully that means they are more focussed, smash Derby then get complacent again against us

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I didn't think Posh were going to be as bad as they have been for basically the last 2/3 months now, but I also don't think they will get out of it. I think all of Derby, Barnsley and now Posh believe they have a chance to get out of it, but not all of them will. Posh have to be better than 3 teams in order to do so, which I can't see personally.

[Stranded]

It also means survival is back in our hands now.

It was only not for the days between the Peterboro draw and the Preston win.

Interestingly* I took a look at the form table over 10 games as we are pretty much there now - well Derby are.

If the form over the last 10 games continues over the last 10/11 then the bottom 4 looks like this come end of the season.

21 Reading 37pts
22 Barnsley 35
23 Derby 34
23 Peterboro 26

Over 6 game form, Barnsley beat the drop.

Based on current form, Derby and Peterborough should go and the final place is a shoot out between us and Barnsley but we all know football is unpredictable.

It was up until last night as, if Barnsley had won all of their remaining games, before last night's draw, they would have stayed up on goal difference, so survival was in their hands, however they are now relying on us dropping points, as are Derby and Peterborough.

Barnsley will have to continue their form between now and the end of the season I think if they are going to beat the drop, which I don't think they will do. I still think Derby are the greatest threat, we could just use both themselves and Barnsley just not winning any of their next couple of games, preferably losing them. If anything, it just chalks off the games between now and the end of the season.

Yes but Barnsley winning all their games involved beating us, so it was also in our hands. It still is in ours but out of Barnsley's now.

Derby are only a threat in my mind if they can sort out their away form. On season long away form, they will only pick up 3 points away from home in their last 5 - meaning they will need 4 wins from 5 at home to get to 39. Big ask, especially as they have taken less points in the past 6 games than us.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

It was only not for the days between the Peterboro draw and the Preston win.

Interestingly* I took a look at the form table over 10 games as we are pretty much there now - well Derby are.

If the form over the last 10 games continues over the last 10/11 then the bottom 4 looks like this come end of the season.

21 Reading 37pts
22 Barnsley 35
23 Derby 34
23 Peterboro 26

Over 6 game form, Barnsley beat the drop.

Based on current form, Derby and Peterborough should go and the final place is a shoot out between us and Barnsley but we all know football is unpredictable.

It was up until last night as, if Barnsley had won all of their remaining games, before last night's draw, they would have stayed up on goal difference, so survival was in their hands, however they are now relying on us dropping points, as are Derby and Peterborough.

Barnsley will have to continue their form between now and the end of the season I think if they are going to beat the drop, which I don't think they will do. I still think Derby are the greatest threat, we could just use both themselves and Barnsley just not winning any of their next couple of games, preferably losing them. If anything, it just chalks off the games between now and the end of the season.

Yes but Barnsley winning all their games involved beating us, so it was also in our hands. It still is in ours but out of Barnsley's now.

Derby are only a threat in my mind if they can sort out their away form. On season long away form, they will only pick up 3 points away from home in their last 5 - meaning they will need 4 wins from 5 at home to get to 39. Big ask, especially as they have taken less points in the past 6 games than us.

Yeah that's what I meant when I said it was back in our hands - as in, it wasn't in anybody else's below us, I should have been more clear on that one to be fair.

It is a tough ask for any of the bottom 3, but it relies on us picking up points. We are expected to pick up 0 from our next 2 games, which would be 4 defeats on the trot. We could use picking up a point just to help our points tally or getting a win quickly, just to make sure nobody can catch us on points, even if it's just for one weekend.

[South Coast Royal]

Barnsley do have home games to come v us and Peterborough.
Otherwise their run-in and ours look similar so it is a nervy couple of months to come.

On Bournemouth ,they are not at their best at the moment , in part due to Lerma having had a 5 match suspension, but of course he will be back to play against us next week.
A horrible player but a key part of their midfield.

[Silver Fox]

I think Posh are in that mindset where they think they have nothing to lose now, so they might as well go out and give it everything; allied that to B'Muff's natural air of entitlement and arrogance which saw them going into that game with a high level of complacency, and they struggled as a result.

TBF they went for broke against us and we kept our first clean sheet since the last Crimean War

[Stranded]

Barnsley do have home games to come v us and Peterborough.
Otherwise their run-in and ours look similar so it is a nervy couple of months to come.

On Bournemouth ,they are not at their best at the moment , in part due to Lerma having had a 5 match suspension, but of course he will be back to play against us next week.
A horrible player but a key part of their midfield.

Saw a chart today and in terms of oppositions strength i.e. current average position - Barnsley and us have equally difficult run ins. Derby's is harder and Peterborough have the easiest.

[morganb]

On Bournemouth ,they are not at their best at the moment , in part due to Lerma having had a 5 match suspension, but of course he will be back to play against us next week.
A horrible player but a key part of their midfield.

Philip Billing picked up his 10th booking of the season and will miss the next two games which includes ours.

[Sutekh]

On Bournemouth ,they are not at their best at the moment , in part due to Lerma having had a 5 match suspension, but of course he will be back to play against us next week.
A horrible player but a key part of their midfield.

Philip Billing picked up his 10th booking of the season and will miss the next two games which includes ours.

Well that’ll be a bonus, he is rather good at this level.

[Elm Park Kid]

No team in Championship history has stayed up with less than 40 points, and the average is 47. I guess the point deductions changes the maths a bit - but you've always got to expect that one out of the three teams below us will go on a 'Fulham' run.

[Stranded]

No team in Championship history has stayed up with less than 40 points, and the average is 47. I guess the point deductions changes the maths a bit - but you've always got to expect that one out of the three teams below us will go on a 'Fulham' run.

Just need to find a way to win and stop worrying about anyone else unless they get ahead of us really.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

No team in Championship history has stayed up with less than 40 points, and the average is 47. I guess the point deductions changes the maths a bit - but you've always got to expect that one out of the three teams below us will go on a 'Fulham' run.

I think the general points total is going down though these days. You needed 44 points last season, 2 seasons before that it was 41, the only anomaly really being the season before last (19/20) needing 48. I think this season will be 41 top side.

[Hound]

Blackburn have scored 3 goals in 12 games.

Possibly a good thing we play them before the international break and have a chance to get their act together.

Brereton-Diaz still a few weeks away from fitness. Been a huge loss for them

[Silver Fox]

No team in Championship history has stayed up with less than 40 points, and the average is 47. I guess the point deductions changes the maths a bit - but you've always got to expect that one out of the three teams below us will go on a 'Fulham' run.

You can fear that but there is literally no reason to expect that, or do you expect us to do the same?

[Zip]

Blackburn have scored 3 goals in 12 games.

Possibly a good thing we play them before the international break and have a chance to get their act together.

Brereton-Diaz still a few weeks away from fitness. Been a huge loss for them

He will be in the PL next season. Very helpful he wont be fit to play us

[Pepe the Horseman]

Blackburn have scored 3 goals in 12 games.

Possibly a good thing we play them before the international break and have a chance to get their act together.

Brereton-Diaz still a few weeks away from fitness. Been a huge loss for them

Bradley Dack played for the U23s yesterday I think, so he should be back just in time to play us.

[Snowflake Royal]

No team in Championship history has stayed up with less than 40 points, and the average is 47. I guess the point deductions changes the maths a bit - but you've always got to expect that one out of the three teams below us will go on a 'Fulham' run.

You can fear that but there is literally no reason to expect that, or do you expect us to do the same?

Pretty obvious to me that we should be included as one of the teams who might.

People have been writing the teams off at the bottom for ages. Then one has a little flurry. First it was Derby would catch us, the others doomed, the Posh, now Barnsley.

At least one, probably several of us will put a streaky run on. Just who and how big.

[Hound]

Possibly a good thing we play them before the international break and have a chance to get their act together.

Brereton-Diaz still a few weeks away from fitness. Been a huge loss for them

Bradley Dack played for the U23s yesterday I think, so he should be back just in time to play us.

Hasn’t he basically been out for 2 years with much the same injury as Meite? He’ll do extremely well to get up to any sort of level this season