No not my lottery numbers. It’s the league positions of the teams we have left to play. Not the best time to be playing teams fighting for their survival.
If you were one of the teams at the bottom ,you might suggest the opposite & say its not the right time to be playing a team going for promotion .
My thoughts are that whilst some teams will be fighting and will not roll over quite so easily as their league position would suggest, a few will show exactly why they are down there and overall we'll be reyt.
I'd rather play a team that keeps you on your toes than play a team on the beach, play them off the park, fail to score and get hit with a sucker punch the only time we fall to sleep.
I think our style of play will suit playing teams who need points to stay up. They'll (hopefully) not play for a point and not be parking any buses. We'll see. Glad the Norwich one is the last game aswell.
We can afford to drop 4 more points than Reading over the last 5 games and still finish in the playoffs. Maybe even 5 as the goal differences have become very close. One game at a time.
From Reading forum, Our record against top, middle and bottom eight teams. not great against bottom 8 although still 3 to play Top 8 Norwich P10 Pts 19 Brentford P11 Pts 19 Swansea P12 Pts 19 Watford P11 Pts15 Bournemouth P12 Pts 15 Reading P11 Pts 11 Barnsley P13 Pts 11 Middle 8 Barnsley P15 Pts 37 Swansea P15 Pts 34 Norwich P15 Pts 33 Watford P14 Pts 31 Brentford P14 Pts 27 Bournemouth P14 Pts 24 Reading P15 Pts 24 Bottom 8 Norwich P16 Pts 38 Watford P16 Pts 36 Bournemouth P15 Pts 32 Reading P15 Pts 31 Brentford P15 Pts 27 Barnsley P13 Pts23 Swansea P14 Pts 22
There was a stat on another forum that showed our record against the bottom 8 averages out at around 5 points over 3 games, while our record against mid table is better than anyone else in the top 7. Points dropped against Wednesday, Derby, Blackburn and Coventry. Not sure 5 points over 3 games would be enough, would give Reading the chance to gain 4 points on us, with us still needing to play Norwich. Hopefully we can buck that particular trend.
Two weeks ago, the run-in looked easy. Now I look at it and we have not only two unpredictable local derbies with teams fighting for their lives, but also another relegation battler and the champions elect. To say I am bricking it is an understatement. Emotions like the run-in of the 1997 season.
I'm the opposite. We have a five point cushion. I'm thinking Reading will drop points tonight. We should put it to bed in our next three matches. If we don't we don't deserve it.
A year ago we had to go to Brentford and win. They were a team one win away from the premier league. if we can manage that, without DIke and Morris, I quite fancy us to get positive results in our final 5 games. I’d have taken been safe from relegation again. What an unbelievable season this has been when we are worried about making the playoffs with a five point margin in our favour.
That’s what I said last night. Out of their last 5 games, Reading have only picked up 5 points so if they were to suddenly win their last 5 and beat us to the playoffs then I’d be massively gutted but you wouldn’t really be able to say they didn’t deserve it. Without putting the kiss of death on it though, I’d be pretty damn amazed if they win all 5.
Reading have only attained 44 points in their last 33 games. They are in decline, we have nothing to worry about.
I actually think we'll get 3rd or 4th place. We've been the 3rd best team since VI took over and I've seen nothing in the last few weeks to change that.