It seems the PNE's finally dropped: Preston v Bolton 17/11/2017

[BWFC_Insane]

Two different arguments here: one, whether we have a cat in hell's chance of staying up; two, whether a draw at PNE was a good result or not.

My own negative answer to question two impacts on question one. Defensive slips cost us six points against QPR, Fulham and Sunderland; conversely, a lack of attack cost us two at Preston. Whatever Parky says in public - he's whistling a brave tune about going to Wolves on Saturday with "the same attitude" - there are clearly some games which are much more winnable, especially if we are to take the line that we are so financially hamstrung compared to others.

For me, as I said beforehand, the games against QPR, Fulham, Sunderland and Preston were ones we should be aiming to win. I'm glad we drew them rather than lost, but even in a kindish run of games we've got seven points from those last five games. That's 1.4ppg, which is better than a kick in the cock and much better than Aug/Sep's 0.18ppg, but that shit start left us with a big gap to close and not long to close it before the rich kids' reinforcements arrive in January.

As escape plans go, I'm not in favour of Lose To Good Teams, Draw With Shit Ones. If we are so far behind the competition – in points and squad quality - we *have* to maximise returns from the winnable games. Who knows, we might somehow scab a draw at Wolves - but I'd still say two points from that and Preston is a point less than we should be getting.

The form we've shown with a fully fit squad will keep us up.The problem comes with when we have key players missing.

I think in our situation any point away from home is a good result. Any home win is a great result.

We've just got to grind for every single point we can get. We were awful at Preston. But their fans will have expected a simple home win. We at the very least defied those expectations.

We're in touch and need to try our best to stay in touch till January. It will not be easy, because as I say, our squad hasn't the strength in depth required. But had we had Vela and Ameobi from the start I don't have to try very hard to make a case we'd have AT LEAST 4 extra points. Which would put us above Birmingham and out of the bottom 3. That is our aim.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Two different arguments here: one, whether we have a cat in hell's chance of staying up; two, whether a draw at PNE was a good result or not.

My own negative answer to question two impacts on question one. Defensive slips cost us six points against QPR, Fulham and Sunderland; conversely, a lack of attack cost us two at Preston. Whatever Parky says in public - he's whistling a brave tune about going to Wolves on Saturday with "the same attitude" - there are clearly some games which are much more winnable, especially if we are to take the line that we are so financially hamstrung compared to others.

For me, as I said beforehand, the games against QPR, Fulham, Sunderland and Preston were ones we should be aiming to win. I'm glad we drew them rather than lost, but even in a kindish run of games we've got seven points from those last five games. That's 1.4ppg, which is better than a kick in the cock and much better than Aug/Sep's 0.18ppg, but that shit start left us with a big gap to close and not long to close it before the rich kids' reinforcements arrive in January.

As escape plans go, I'm not in favour of Lose To Good Teams, Draw With Shit Ones. If we are so far behind the competition – in points and squad quality - we *have* to maximise returns from the winnable games. Who knows, we might somehow scab a draw at Wolves - but I'd still say two points from that and Preston is a point less than we should be getting.

The form we've shown with a fully fit squad will keep us up.The problem comes with when we have key players missing.

I think in our situation any point away from home is a good result. Any home win is a great result.

We've just got to grind for every single point we can get. We were awful at Preston. But their fans will have expected a simple home win. We at the very least defied those expectations.

We're in touch and need to try our best to stay in touch till January. It will not be easy, because as I say, our squad hasn't the strength in depth required. But had we had Vela and Ameobi from the start I don't have to try very hard to make a case we'd have AT LEAST 4 extra points. Which would put us above Birmingham and out of the bottom 3. That is our aim.

The problem is nobody ever has a fully fit squad all the time. Nobody.
Presently we've got 0.7ppg - that gives us 32 points at closing time. That gets us a boot up the arse from the landlord with the chirpy message "try the League One's Head down the road mate, they might let you in for a drink."

[BWFC_Insane]

Two different arguments here: one, whether we have a cat in hell's chance of staying up; two, whether a draw at PNE was a good result or not.

My own negative answer to question two impacts on question one. Defensive slips cost us six points against QPR, Fulham and Sunderland; conversely, a lack of attack cost us two at Preston. Whatever Parky says in public - he's whistling a brave tune about going to Wolves on Saturday with "the same attitude" - there are clearly some games which are much more winnable, especially if we are to take the line that we are so financially hamstrung compared to others.

For me, as I said beforehand, the games against QPR, Fulham, Sunderland and Preston were ones we should be aiming to win. I'm glad we drew them rather than lost, but even in a kindish run of games we've got seven points from those last five games. That's 1.4ppg, which is better than a kick in the cock and much better than Aug/Sep's 0.18ppg, but that shit start left us with a big gap to close and not long to close it before the rich kids' reinforcements arrive in January.

As escape plans go, I'm not in favour of Lose To Good Teams, Draw With Shit Ones. If we are so far behind the competition – in points and squad quality - we *have* to maximise returns from the winnable games. Who knows, we might somehow scab a draw at Wolves - but I'd still say two points from that and Preston is a point less than we should be getting.

The form we've shown with a fully fit squad will keep us up.The problem comes with when we have key players missing.

I think in our situation any point away from home is a good result. Any home win is a great result.

We've just got to grind for every single point we can get. We were awful at Preston. But their fans will have expected a simple home win. We at the very least defied those expectations.

We're in touch and need to try our best to stay in touch till January. It will not be easy, because as I say, our squad hasn't the strength in depth required. But had we had Vela and Ameobi from the start I don't have to try very hard to make a case we'd have AT LEAST 4 extra points. Which would put us above Birmingham and out of the bottom 3. That is our aim.

The problem is nobody ever has a fully fit squad all the time. Nobody.
Presently we've got 0.7ppg - that gives us 32 points at closing time. That gets us a boot up the arse from the landlord with the chirpy message "try the League One's Head down the road mate, they might let you in for a drink."

I agree that is the problem. And why we're woefully understrength for this league. However, one could envision a scenario where we'd not lost key players so early and been able to just about scrape through with a "non embargoed" window in January. The fact we lost our best players right at the start was a pisser!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I simply can't see how January is the panacea. While we're scrabbling round for an aspirin, all our (richer) rivals will be booking sessions on Harley Street.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Harley Street isn't what it's cracked up to be. 50 quid for a sick note (12 years ago)