Palace Game

[Toni_DelijeSever]

It's encouraging to see us defending well and not concede as a reward. We haven't conceded two games in a row now, first time in this season. Pretty good thing.

Anyway, I feel we missed our chance to reach top half of the table and cope with teams up front when we lost to Peterborough and Wednesday. Now it looks like it's too late. We're 16th and it should be forbidden for us to talk about promotion when we're actually pretty close to bottom teams.

[Jugs]

It's encouraging to see us defending well and not concede as a reward. We haven't conceded two games in a row now, first time in this season. Pretty good thing.

Anyway, I feel we missed our chance to reach top half of the table and cope with teams up front when we lost to Peterborough and Wednesday. Now it looks like it's too late. We're 16th and it should be forbidden for us to talk about promotion when we're actually pretty close to bottom teams.

I always felt that Peterborough away was going to present us with all kinds of problems but Wednesday at home, along with Ipswich, Barnsley and Millwall are the games that have cost us dear. There's no point dwelling on it but, particularly with the players we have returning, we must make a decent go of the rest of the season, especially our home games. The last five fixtures themselves look hellish.

[BL3]

The last five fixtures themselves look hellish.

The next five are more of a concern at the moment. We play three of the top seven teams.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Found out last night that we are the first team to stop Palace scoring at home in 9 months.

I know it's easy to say this about any game, but they really should have scored and we were very lucky to keep the clean sheet. It works both ways, of course - we've been beaten this season when the opposition have had far less.

But we shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking we completely shut Palace down yesterday, because we didn't.

[Jugs]

The last five fixtures themselves look hellish.

The next five are more of a concern at the moment. We play three of the top seven teams.

Aye, Watford away next could definitely spell an end to any hopes we have of getting into the play-offs. Vydra is on fire. I'd love a striker like that.

[Annoyed Grunt]

The last five fixtures themselves look hellish.

The next five are more of a concern at the moment. We play three of the top seven teams.

Aye, Watford away next could definitely spell an end to any hopes we have of getting into the play-offs. Vydra is on fire. I'd love a striker like that.

End any hopes? If we win, you think we could?

[Jugs]

The last five fixtures themselves look hellish.

The next five are more of a concern at the moment. We play three of the top seven teams.

Aye, Watford away next could definitely spell an end to any hopes we have of getting into the play-offs. Vydra is on fire. I'd love a striker like that.

End any hopes? If we win, you think we could?

Aye, why not? Its better to dream for the last few months than admit defeat and see the season out fairly listlessly with little to fight for - except, perhaps, the threat of relegation. Beating Watford would be a huge boost and coupled with the return of a few players, hope would radiate. I can't see us winning, though.

[Annoyed Grunt]

Personally, think the play offs are a bit beyond us.

[Jugs]

At this moment, I agree with you. But football can have a funny habit of giving you hope with one win. I guess we should also remember that Watford also have a game-in-hand.

[bedwetter2]

Bedwetter and PT both supporting the manager?

Crazy crazy times!

Indeed crazy times. The voices in my head are telling me to.

[Bruce Rioja]

I think many on here will once again have to eat humble pie over Ream, who has played well for about 5 games in a row now, but they won't.

Just talk me through the passage of play that lead to Millwall's penalty again then? He's improving, no doubt, but he's coming from a very low base and is a long, long way away from having smoke blown up his arse, that's for sure.

[boltonboris]

That N'guessen guy from Millwall battered him. I actually felt sorry for Ream at HT. it was man v boy stuff.

[SmokinFrazier]

Personally, think the play offs are a bit beyond us.

Too many teams have gone on good runs this year to say that, I think. Ipswich, Palace, Wolves, Blackburn, Cardiff, Hull, Boro and others have all gone on a good run. That seems to be the way the league is at times; teams get a couple of wins and then that momentum turns into a very good streak over 10 games or whatever.

Our season isn't over yet. It's hard to see us building that kind of momentum right now but if we get a bit of luck, bring in a bit of quality, get Holden, Wheater and Davies back, who knows? It wouldn't surprise me if we did go on a good run, like many of the teams above, and if we do, that should catapult us to the play-off spots.

[bwfcdan94]

I think the highest we can finish is fifth in fact I would like to think that is where we will still finish, we have no chance of going up though.

[bwfcdan94]

almost for got to mention this, it says in the palace programe the Nat Lofthouse died in 2001, not on that is it.

[Annoyed Grunt]

Personally, think the play offs are a bit beyond us.

Too many teams have gone on good runs this year to say that, I think. Ipswich, Palace, Wolves, Blackburn, Cardiff, Hull, Boro and others have all gone on a good run. That seems to be the way the league is at times; teams get a couple of wins and then that momentum turns into a very good streak over 10 games or whatever.

Our season isn't over yet. It's hard to see us building that kind of momentum right now but if we get a bit of luck, bring in a bit of quality, get Holden, Wheater and Davies back, who knows? It wouldn't surprise me if we did go on a good run, like many of the teams above, and if we do, that should catapult us to the play-off spots.

Thing is though, I can't see us going on one if those runs..

[Worthy4England]

Personally, think the play offs are a bit beyond us.

Too many teams have gone on good runs this year to say that, I think. Ipswich, Palace, Wolves, Blackburn, Cardiff, Hull, Boro and others have all gone on a good run. That seems to be the way the league is at times; teams get a couple of wins and then that momentum turns into a very good streak over 10 games or whatever.

Our season isn't over yet. It's hard to see us building that kind of momentum right now but if we get a bit of luck, bring in a bit of quality, get Holden, Wheater and Davies back, who knows? It wouldn't surprise me if we did go on a good run, like many of the teams above, and if we do, that should catapult us to the play-off spots.

Thing is though, I can't see us going on one if those runs..

Indeed, we ain't looking like a team that, if only we had a little more luck, would win 8 on the spin. We look like a team that with a little more luck might draw three, win three and lose two out of the next 8.

[TonyDomingos]

DSB provided the stats some time ago:

Points achieved in last decade of second-tier seasons by 1st (champs), 2nd (auto-promoted), 6th (final play-off place) & 22nd (highest relegated) teams:

2012 89-88-75-40
2011 88-84-75-42
2010 102-91-70-47
2009 90-83-74-46
2008 81-79-70-52
2007 88-86-75-42
2006 106-90-75-42
2005 94-87-73-50
2004 94-86-73-51
2003 98-92-74-46

Over 46 games, 2ppg is 92pts, which would have made you champions five of the last six seasons. 1.5ppg is 69pts, which is two whole wins shy of the remarkably stable 75-point target for the bottom play-off rung.

And the stats appear to be holding true this season - at the top, Cardiff are on just over 2ppg and Watford in sixth are on 1.7ppg. So, we probably need a minimum of 40pts from our final 18 games to get into the play offs. That's 2.2ppg for the rest of the season or something along the lines of win 12, draw 4, lose 4. We've yet to manage back-to-back wins, so the notion that we might win two out every three of our remaining games is probably fanciful. On a brighter note, we shouldn't get relegated!

[Whookam]

Any thoughts of reaching the playoffs is pie-in-the-sky thinking.

[officer_dibble]

Survival is the first box to tick. Blood some youth then.