Play-off/relegation watch.

[Snowflake Royal]

I think we'll be 8th to 12th. Just shy, thanks to our summer upheaval and slow start.

[Hendo]

Wouldn't be too upset with that as, in theory, gives you a good solid foundation to build on next year.

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

8th-12th - the perfect platform for all of our better players to find moves to teams in the lower half of the Championship / newly relegated to L1 with a few quid to spend / existing L1 teams who just missed out on promotion. There is rarely such a thing as linear progression.

[windermereROYAL]

9 from the play-offs 8 from the drop zone, just end the sodding season now. struggling against teams below us and still to play the 4 of the top 6 at home. wouldn`t put it past us to drop down the table significantly in the coming months.

[WestYorksRoyal]

9 from the play-offs 8 from the drop zone, just end the sodding season now. struggling against teams below us and still to play the 4 of the top 6 at home. wouldn`t put it past us to drop down the table significantly in the coming months.

Realistically it's always been about next season. And a few players will be convincing the club that they're not the answer to be in a promotion winning side.

[Sutekh]

Bradford now 6th on 49 points.

Reading now slumped to 9 points behind 6th in 11th.

Tuesday is now pretty much a must win game. Reading will be able to cut the gap to 6 points (and climb up to 9th if Stevenage (Barnsley at home) & Peterborough (Mansfield away) don’t win)

[traff]

Just not good enough for a top six finish.

After the last three away games, I really don’t see what we are trying to achieve. I am doubting the desire and belief and genuinely have no idea what the overall strategy is. There are too many square pegs being forced into the wrong holes.

Looking ahead to next season, there is very little to feel particularly positive about.

Marriott can finish, but the tactics do not suit him.
Wing is capable of moments of brilliance, but he is becoming less and less effective.
Savage should be sold before his value drops. He goes missing too often.
Despite Saturday, and Orient for that matter, JP is a top keeper at this level.
Ward will hopefully turn out to be a good signing, and D Williams has only improved in reputation through his absence.

Other than that, meh.

[stealthpapes]

Leam overall form in league - played 16 won 8 draw 4 lost 4 (1.75 ppg).

16 games left to go, so keeping the same form gives won 8 draw 4 lost 4, an additional 28 points, for a total of 71.

It just needs a minor uptick in form, away draws and home wins, and we’re hitting mid70s.

[tidus_mi2]

Looking at our next 5

Wycombe (H) - Last 6 away games read 1-4-1, they love an away draw, could see the same here.
Bolton (H) - Last 6 away, 2-2-2, but their points have come against teams in the bottom half, feel we could nick the win
Port Vale (A) - Last 6 Home, 1-1-4 but overall, 2-1-3, suggests their recent form might be a slight improvement but we really should be winning
Bradford (H) - Last 6 away, 1-0-5, overall 2-0-4, think their drop off in form has previously been noted so would hope we can get the W but always worried about Charity FC rearing it's ugly head
Luton (A) - Absolutely toughest one on here, home form is 5-1-0, conversley the exact opposite away, 0-1-5, feels like a loss on the cards.

So by my reckoning I'd have us down for 3-1-1 which isn't bad at all, what do you guys reckon?

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Looking at our next 5

Wycombe (H) - Last 6 away games read 1-4-1, they love an away draw, could see the same here.
Bolton (H) - Last 6 away, 2-2-2, but their points have come against teams in the bottom half, feel we could nick the win
Port Vale (A) - Last 6 Home, 1-1-4 but overall, 2-1-3, suggests their recent form might be a slight improvement but we really should be winning
Bradford (H) - Last 6 away, 1-0-5, overall 2-0-4, think their drop off in form has previously been noted so would hope we can get the W but always worried about Charity FC rearing it's ugly head
Luton (A) - Absolutely toughest one on here, home form is 5-1-0, conversley the exact opposite away, 0-1-5, feels like a loss on the cards.

So by my reckoning I'd have us down for 3-1-1 which isn't bad at all, what do you guys reckon?

2-1-0

[Pepe the Horseman]

Feels like we've been terrible since we beat Stockport, but somehow we're 7th, 3 points off 6th with a game in hand. Still pretty tight down to 12th, where Plymouth have suddenly appeared.

[tidus_mi2]

Looking at our next 5

Wycombe (H) - Last 6 away games read 1-4-1, they love an away draw, could see the same here.
Bolton (H) - Last 6 away, 2-2-2, but their points have come against teams in the bottom half, feel we could nick the win
Port Vale (A) - Last 6 Home, 1-1-4 but overall, 2-1-3, suggests their recent form might be a slight improvement but we really should be winning
Bradford (H) - Last 6 away, 1-0-5, overall 2-0-4, think their drop off in form has previously been noted so would hope we can get the W but always worried about Charity FC rearing it's ugly head
Luton (A) - Absolutely toughest one on here, home form is 5-1-0, conversley the exact opposite away, 0-1-5, feels like a loss on the cards.

So by my reckoning I'd have us down for 3-1-1 which isn't bad at all, what do you guys reckon?

Well, I'm already off since I had Wycombe down as a draw.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Need to take the relegation option off this thread now; isn't happening.

[stealthpapes]

Leam overall form in league - played 18 won 9 draw 5 lost 4 (1.78 ppg).

14 games left to go, so keeping the same form gives won 7 draw 4 lost 3, an additional 25 points, for a total of 72.

Another week or two at this form and we're probably edging the play-offs. If we can improve just a small amount, who knows.

[stealthpapes]

I remember when the Posters What Know Things were telling me the table don't lie and we were in the relegation spots.

You are all morons. Utter, utter morons.

Anyway.

Looking the other way for a second, a target of 50 points requires 3 points in 14 games, so err, 1 win or 3 draws. And 10+ stinky losses. Not impossible.

Even a slump to 1 ppg gives us 14 (win 3 draw 5 lost 6, for example) and a final total of 62, the sort of mid-table position that we all sorta fear.

Current form target - 72
Big slump target - 62

What happens if we improve just a little bit?

[windermereROYAL]

We may have to accept an upper mid table finish this term, not really good enough to push for a play-off spot, the work starts in the summer to build a squad to push on from a promising season even if the performances don`t add up.

[tidus_mi2]

We may have to accept an upper mid table finish this term, not really good enough to push for a play-off spot, the work starts in the summer to build a squad to push on from a promising season even if the performances don`t add up.

Why would we have to accept upper midtable? We're 2pts off the play-offs into the final third of the season for goodness sake. We may not be playing like a top 6 team but if we shithouse our way into the top 6, we'll have still earned it.

[morganb]

It's not only our form that counts but the team around too. Yesterday we only picked up 1 point but Huddersfield lost so we're one point closer to them. Just need the teams above and around us to drop points and we could sneak in. Exeter were level with us at one point now they are 7 behind

[stealthpapes]

We may have to accept an upper mid table finish this term, not really good enough to push for a play-off spot, the work starts in the summer to build a squad to push on from a promising season even if the performances don`t add up.

Why would we have to accept upper midtable? We're 2pts off the play-offs into the final third of the season for goodness sake. We may not be playing like a top 6 team but if we shithouse our way into the top 6, we'll have still earned it.

Mid-table League 1 is dross. Teams with no structure, no drive, no talent.

We've got three standout talents in the division. Our defence is starting to take some shape. There are a few week links but it is coming together.

And we are only likely to keep on improving.

[South Coast Royal]

We may have to accept an upper mid table finish this term, not really good enough to push for a play-off spot, the work starts in the summer to build a squad to push on from a promising season even if the performances don`t add up.

Why would we have to accept upper midtable? We're 2pts off the play-offs into the final third of the season for goodness sake. We may not be playing like a top 6 team but if we shithouse our way into the top 6, we'll have still earned it.

Mid-table League 1 is dross. Teams with no structure, no drive, no talent.

We've got three standout talents in the division. Our defence is starting to take some shape. There are a few week links but it is coming together.

And we are only likely to keep on improving.

"Three standout talents" that are carrying this team and very few of the rest would get into many of the better teams in this division IMHO.
"we are only likely to keep on improving" is a great leap of faith and when taking this stance it assumes that other teams won't improve.

I admire your supreme optimism and wish I could feel the same but I believe what my eyes see and that is a team riding its luck with the "no structure" that you attribute to the other mid-table dross.

Wing has dropped off recently. Pereira may have been just very good rather than excellent and surely Marriott can't maintain his levels when we create so few chances.

I am fairly optimistic away from football but when it comes to Reading Fc am generally pessimistic so can only see us dropping points rather than gaining points in the games to come because most of our players are really not very good.

I don't think anybody can ignore the facts and the facts are that we have gained more points under Richardson than under Hunt but your assumption is that we will carry on in the same vein and make the playoffs.
My view is that we are just too far away from having a team to even just survive in the Championship so will not be disappointed if this is no more successful a season than finishing 7th again or around 8th or 9th.

Next season will show us if the manager can build a team with a clear method of playing such as having 2 wide players with pace to attack teams rather than those like Lane and Doyle who just run around a bit and seldom beat a player.

This is a very low quality Div 1 this season-there has been no Birmingham and Wrexham-so teams like Reading, Stevenage, Wycombe Peterborough, ,Barnsley and Huddersfield can think of scraping a playoff spot and it keeps the sea son interesting for us and them with none likely to stay in the Championship for long.

The signing of Marriott has been a masterstroke and the last 2 opposition sides would surely have beaten us if he had been playing for them.
To make the playoffs and especially to get promoted we need many more of our numerous signings to step up and show that they were worth signing, in particular Lane and the very well paid Ritchie.