Nine Very Difficult Games - Predictions?

[Snowflake Royal]

One game in and the following are on song:

URZZZZ
CountryRoyal
Snowflake Royal
Jar95
John Smith (copied CR)
Maneki Neko
Royal Bee
Hendo
Royalp_we

Fallen at the first hurdle were:
Hound - L
OMA - L
Basildon - L
Snowball - W

Very much a wisdom of the crowds answer. For Preston that's 3W, 7D, 2L. Less clear cut, but still strong on the draw and more positive overall.... which I find a little surprising... but then I am one of the two.

[Snowball]

Er... 5?

Stoke A - D
Preston H - L
Hull A - D
Norwich A - L

Brentford H - D
Bristol A - L
West Brom H - D
Boro A - L
Brum H - D

I can see one of those draws being a win maybe two, but can't pick which, so Ill just go with our usual limp to the end of the season with no promise for 2019/20

So you're predicting 5 OR 7 OR 9 points!

[Forbury Lion]

A caller to BBC Berks on Saturday made the (perhaps obvious) point. It's now an 8 game season and we have to outscore Rotherham to stay up.
Looking at the league table, that sounds about right. Ipswich are as good as down, Bolton are in trouble but it's Rotherham who look like the biggest threat to us staying up - If they put a run together and we don't respond, we're down baring any teams above us having a worse run in that us.

Goal difference may be something to consider.


30/03 Reading v Preston
30/03 Derby v Rotherham

06/04 Hull v Reading
06/04 Rotherham v Nottingham Forest

10/04 Norwich v Reading
10/04 Rotherham v Aston Villa

13/04 Reading v Brentford
13/04 Stoke v Rotherham

19/04 Bristol City v Reading
19/04 Swansea v Rotherham

22/04 Reading v West Brom
22/04 Rotherham v Birmingham

27/04 Middlesbrough v Reading
27/04 West Brom v Rotherham

05/05 Reading v Birmingham
05/05 Rotherham v Middlesbrough

[Hound]

. Knowing the fortitude of our lot we may put in a horror show of a performance.

.

Not sure thats always the case. We've actually done ok in must-win type games recently - such as Cardiff/QPR/Preston last year, Wigan/Ipswich recently.

Obvs the odd Sheff Wed/Ipswich 'horror show' of last season.

[Snowflake Royal]

Er... 5?

Stoke A - D
Preston H - L
Hull A - D
Norwich A - L

Brentford H - D
Bristol A - L
West Brom H - D
Boro A - L
Brum H - D

I can see one of those draws being a win maybe two, but can't pick which, so Ill just go with our usual limp to the end of the season with no promise for 2019/20

So you're predicting 5 OR 7 OR 9 points!

No, I predicted what I predicted, I'm not interested in emulating your arse covering.

[Norfolk Royal]

It's OK keep saying that X or Y player will be back after the international break but last time I heard most of the injury list were in intensive care on a life glug.

Does anyone have any information about whether any of the injured are actually in training?

[Snowball]

Er... 5?

Stoke A - D
Preston H - L
Hull A - D
Norwich A - L

Brentford H - D
Bristol A - L
West Brom H - D
Boro A - L
Brum H - D

I can see one of those draws being a win maybe two, but can't pick which, so Ill just go with our usual limp to the end of the season with no promise for 2019/20

So you're predicting 5 OR 7 OR 9 points!

No, I predicted what I predicted, I'm not interested in emulating your arse covering.

So you are predicting 5 Points. 4 Points from the next 8 games? Is that right?

[Snowflake Royal]

You seemed able to cope with it on pages 2 and 3, what's your problem now?

I mean, I've listed 5 draws and said 5 points. What's hard about it?

[Stranded]

So you're predicting 5 OR 7 OR 9 points!

No, I predicted what I predicted, I'm not interested in emulating your arse covering.

So you are predicting 5 Points. 4 Points from the next 8 games? Is that right?

It's not hard Snowball.

He's predicting 5 points but wouldn't be surprised if one or two games ended up being wins. However, he is not confident enough to predict those wins.

[Royal_jimmy]

Played:

Stoke City (Away) Draw (0-0) predicted 2-1 defeat

To play:
Preston (H) Draw (2-2)
Hull City (Away) Win (3-1)
Norwich (Away) Defeat (3-0)
Brentford (Home) Draw (1-1)
Bristol City (Away) Defeat (3-1)
West Brom (Home) Defeat (2-0)
Middlesboro (Away) Draw (1-1)
Birmingham (Home) Win (3-0)

9 points. Finish on 45

[paultheroyal]

A caller to BBC Berks on Saturday made the (perhaps obvious) point. It's now an 8 game season and we have to outscore Rotherham to stay up.
Looking at the league table, that sounds about right. Ipswich are as good as down, Bolton are in trouble but it's Rotherham who look like the biggest threat to us staying up - If they put a run together and we don't respond, we're down baring any teams above us having a worse run in that us.

Goal difference may be something to consider.


30/03 Reading v Preston
30/03 Derby v Rotherham

06/04 Hull v Reading
06/04 Rotherham v Nottingham Forest

10/04 Norwich v Reading
10/04 Rotherham v Aston Villa

13/04 Reading v Brentford
13/04 Stoke v Rotherham

19/04 Bristol City v Reading
19/04 Swansea v Rotherham

22/04 Reading v West Brom
22/04 Rotherham v Birmingham

27/04 Middlesbrough v Reading
27/04 West Brom v Rotherham

05/05 Reading v Birmingham
05/05 Rotherham v Middlesbrough

Good post Vaughney - will be tracking this one week in week out.

[Stranded]

Lots of rumours around that WBA are after Alex Neil - which could be good news for us if there are legs in that and it drags on for a while.

[paddy20]

Just had a close look at the remaining fixtures.
Wigan 39
Millwall 37
Reading 37
Rotheram 36
All have 8 games left except for Millwall who have 9. All have 4 home and 4 away apart from Millwall who have 5 A 4 H
Reading have - 3 games against safe teams (i.e. no chance of going up or down) 1 against promotion and 3 against play off teams. 2 of the safe teams are at home and one away.

Rotheram - 3 safe - 2 A 1 H 5 Play offs

Millwall - 3 safe 1 Relegation 2H 2A 2 Pro 3 play

Wigan - 3 S 1 Rel 2A 2H 2 prom 2 play offs
I have tried to be as realistic as possible and would predict the final points tally for the other teams as follows;
Wigan 8 points = 47pts
Millwall 10pts = 47pts
Rotheram 9pts = 45pts
This means that Reading will need as a minimum (providing we still have a slight positive goal difference) of 8 points
Our remaining games are;

H. Preston Fighting for play-offs 4 wins in their last 4 away games - Hard to see us getting anything
A. Hull Safe 2 wins 2 draws last 4 home games - Again 1 point at most
A. Nowich promotion team 4 wins in last 4 home games - no points
H. Brentford safe 1 win 3 losses last 4 away games - 3 points
A. Bristol City play offs 2 Wins 1 Draw and 1 loss in last 4 home games - no points
H. WBA play offs 3 wins 1 loss in last 4 away games - one point
A Mdboro play offs 1 Draw 1 win and 2 losses in last 4 home games never do well there 0 points
H. Birmingham safe 2 wins and 2 losses in last 4 away games 3 points a must

That gives us 8 points with a fair wind. At the moment we have a 5 goal difference compared to Rotheram
We would have to have a fair amount of luck to survive. Unfortunately without a striker and missing midfielders it will be a massive ask. With a full squad we may have just done it
I think I got the fact correct above

I think if nothing else it shows what a perilous position we are in.

[Hound]

Do we need any more prediction posts showing everyone’s fixtures to know we are in the shit and need to win some big games?

Think we can all agree on that one. Don’t think anyone is pretending otherwise

[Zip]

That looks optimistic to me.
Not too hopeful we'll beat WBA, they'll be all out for Top 6 and will have new manager in by then (prolly Jokanovic?).
We'll beat Brizzle, at Brizzle, with them all out for Top 6?
May need to win at Stoke...

They’ll be shocks along the way though, we could somehow go to Boro and get three points (again hopefully they’d have cemented their spot by then), but who knows, that’s the beauty of the championship, anything can really happen, it’s why I much prefer it to Prem games

There could be shocks. But how often do we come up with one? When was the last time we beat a good team?
The reason we don't is because this squad has so many holes and flaws for the Champ that it's a crime.
We're a team of midgets in this league, and so we then go out and sign Baldock and McNulty to long term deals?
Ajayi has scored 5 goals in the last 4 games for Rovrum. Liam Moore wants to leave, so we give him big money?
We fawn over our Academy grads, but goals/assists? That's all our opponents care about.

I cerrainly agree about the physical nature of the side. A lot of us were critical of the summer signings of McNulty and Baldock. Why sign two small strikers? Swift may not be small but he is lightweight. Kelly is tiny. Moore is small for a centre half. Yet we started the season with these guys as the backbone of the side. Madness.

[windermereROYAL]

They’ll be shocks along the way though, we could somehow go to Boro and get three points (again hopefully they’d have cemented their spot by then), but who knows, that’s the beauty of the championship, anything can really happen, it’s why I much prefer it to Prem games

There could be shocks. But how often do we come up with one? When was the last time we beat a good team?
The reason we don't is because this squad has so many holes and flaws for the Champ that it's a crime.
We're a team of midgets in this league, and so we then go out and sign Baldock and McNulty to long term deals?
Ajayi has scored 5 goals in the last 4 games for Rovrum. Liam Moore wants to leave, so we give him big money?
We fawn over our Academy grads, but goals/assists? That's all our opponents care about.

I cerrainly agree about the physical nature of the side. A lot of us were critical of the summer signings of McNulty and Baldock. Why sign two small strikers? Swift may not be small but he is lightweight. Kelly is tiny. Moore is small for a centre half. Yet we started the season with these guys as the backbone of the side. Madness.

We`ve never been a big bullying team have we? only have to look at Cardiff to see where it can get you.

[Zip]

There could be shocks. But how often do we come up with one? When was the last time we beat a good team?
The reason we don't is because this squad has so many holes and flaws for the Champ that it's a crime.
We're a team of midgets in this league, and so we then go out and sign Baldock and McNulty to long term deals?
Ajayi has scored 5 goals in the last 4 games for Rovrum. Liam Moore wants to leave, so we give him big money?
We fawn over our Academy grads, but goals/assists? That's all our opponents care about.

I cerrainly agree about the physical nature of the side. A lot of us were critical of the summer signings of McNulty and Baldock. Why sign two small strikers? Swift may not be small but he is lightweight. Kelly is tiny. Moore is small for a centre half. Yet we started the season with these guys as the backbone of the side. Madness.

We`ve never been a big bullying team have we? only have to look at Cardiff to see where it can get you.

The 2005/6 team wasn’t particularly big but it was streetwise and had enough physicality not to be bullied. Obviously Sonko could look after himself but even someone like Kitson knew how to deal with physical opponents. Doyle was strong and Sitwell was tough. This current squad don’t have that nous with players far too easily knocked off the ball especially our central midfielders.
Meite may lack technique but at least he has a physical edge that is so badly missing elsewhere.

[Hound]

Well yeah - we signed O Shea (6ft 3), Meyler (6ft 2), Ezatolahi (6ft 2), Walker (6ft 7), gave Meite (6ft 1?) a long contract and signed an aggressive FB in Yiadom.

This to add to first teamers Jaakkola, Moore, Ilori, Blackett, Bodvarsson who all above 6ft. From standing near Rino I’m guessing he is 6ft plus as well

As usual with Clement it wasn’t so much that he didn’t recognise the issue, it’s just that the options were either cheap and low cost or just not good enough. He certainly didn’t try to make the team ‘smaller’

[Zip]

Well yeah - we signed O Shea (6ft 3), Meyler (6ft 2), Ezatolahi (6ft 2), Walker (6ft 7), gave Meite (6ft 1?) a long contract and signed an aggressive FB in Yiadom.

This to add to first teamers Jaakkola, Moore, Ilori, Blackett, Bodvarsson who all above 6ft. From standing near Rino I’m guessing he is 6ft plus as well

As usual with Clement it wasn’t so much that he didn’t recognise the issue, it’s just that the options were either cheap and low cost or just not good enough. He certainly didn’t try to make the team ‘smaller’

Well the big players he signed have hardly played apart from Meite so nothing was solved.

[URZZZZ]

We seem to like playing weak lightweightmidfielders for a long time now, Evans, Kelly, Swift, Piazon, Quinn, Bacuna, Clement etc now East, the only time we've been successful for nearly 7 years now is the one where we had two aggressive strong players in the midfield in Williams and Joey

This is what Clement tried to rectify, unfortunately it seems like it was the right plan but the wrong man