Play Off Chase

[StrangelyBrown]

On 11/02/2026 at 07:04, StrangelyBrown said:

Based on needing 10 wins from the last 16; we're well on track with 2 wins out of 10 and 8 wins needed from the remaining 14.

We've only gone and given ourself some hope... We all know how this goes 😂 

8 wins needed now from 13. Still doable but we love to make things hard for ourselves.

[tdmickey3]

Almost over

[Andy Hill]

We will need to pick up a couple of surprise away wins to even have a chance.

[SNSUN]

Not over but a bit more difficult now. Of the play- off rivals:

Won: QPR, Swansea, Birmingham, Watford and Wrexham

Wrexham and Birmingham are the teams we didn't want winning there more than the others.

 

Drew: Stoke, Saints. 

 

Saints do have an extra point gained over...

 

Lost: Preston, Hull, Bristol City, Millwall, Norwich, Derby.

 

Some of our chief rivals for the play-offs lost this weekend, apart from Brum and Wrexham. If anything our result is more annoying because this was a chief weekend to capitalise on stuttering teams above us. QPR, Swansea and Watford are back in the race though. We need to beat QPR on Tuesday really.

A lot of football to be played though, but we have to be better offensively. A point gained over some though is one way to look at it. 

Edited Saturday at 18:42 by SNSUN

[wild-saint]

Average 2 points a game I’ll be enough. Win Tuesday and we are still on target

[Ted Bates Statue]

It is not over FFS. Nobody really thought we would win all our games. There are going to be speed bumps, just as Wrexham had theirs on Tuedsay. We're still in decent overall form to reach about 75 points. We just need to be there or thereabouts for now picking up wins regularly, and then turn it up for the six-pointers when it really matters during the end of season run-in. For what it's worth, I think we will get undone by injuries (some might say we already have been) and we'll end up 7th or 8th. But this is a damn sight more bearable than 21st under Still at the beginning of November.

Edited Saturday at 19:04 by Ted Bates Statue

[Baird of the land]

This week has shown teams will drop points. Hopefully saints can bounce back midweek.

could do with pompey and Charlton raking points off Wrexham in the next week too

[Football Special]

I still feel we're very much a midtable side , I think we'll finish 8th or 9th end of season 

[Harry_SFC]

20 minutes ago, Football Special said:

I still feel we're very much a midtable side , I think we'll finish 8th or 9th end of season 

I think Wrexham will hold onto that spot and we'll come up short. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

1 hour ago, Harry_SFC said:

I think Wrexham will hold onto that spot and we'll come up short. 

Ah yes. The fairytale that is Wrexham. If not for the Hollywood cash pumped into then they would still be in the National League. 

[Dr. Kucho]

I can’t decide if I want us to reach the playoffs and possibly get promoted. If we go up we have to spend big money and upgrade the majority of the squad, and I have my doubts with Sports Republic if they want to do that. And in the end it’ll all be just to try and stay up.

Besides the Championship is fun, more games and we win more. But on the other hand we’ll lose our best players and it’s harder watch Saints from abroad if we remain in the Championship.

 

[die Mannyschaft]

49 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Ah yes. The fairytale that is Wrexham. If not for the Hollywood cash pumped into then they would still be in the National League. 

Buying promotion and titles is tge name of the game these days. Saints have wasted astronomical amounts which others teams can only dream about. Saints are the reverse of Wrexham how to spend big and get no where recently.

[die Mannyschaft]

2 hours ago, Harry_SFC said:

I think Wrexham will hold onto that spot and we'll come up short. 

Saints are too inconsistent to leap frog above all teams and match Wrexham. Maybe 13 or 15 more points which won't be enough with 62 points. The way I look at it is we were definitely without doubt the worst team in championship play utterly clueless football and now improved to a 8th or 7th team. We don't have enough creative players, goal scorers or defence to win enough games. Fitness is also a major issues but that's also due to the slow possession based football that's now a major tactic.

[StrangelyBrown]

15 hours ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

We're still in decent overall form to reach about 75 points.

I'm not sure that's true. We're on course to get 69 points - Tonda is on 1.75 points per game.

[die Mannyschaft]

1 hour ago, Dr. Kucho said:

I can’t decide if I want us to reach the playoffs and possibly get promoted. If we go up we have to spend big money and upgrade the majority of the squad, and I have my doubts with Sports Republic if they want to do that. And in the end it’ll all be just to try and stay up.

Besides the Championship is fun, more games and we win more. But on the other hand we’ll lose our best players and it’s harder watch Saints from abroad if we remain in the Championship.

 

SR will spend big and they have done that in past which is a big credit to them. Its just they don't get the players at correct level bd that Premier League or Championship as they don't have any football knowledge in my opinion. If SR invested in copper, concrete or wind turbines then Saints would be promoted as a wind turbine up front would knock a few goals in.

Edited 14 hours ago by die Mannyschaft

[Football Special]

1 hour ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Ah yes. The fairytale that is Wrexham. If not for the Hollywood cash pumped into then they would still be in the National League. 

Regardless of Hollywood if they do back to back promotions with Phil Parkinson from non-league to the Premier League then that would deserve a full length movie being made about them, remarkable. 

As we've more than proved money alone isn't sufficient for success, need to invest wisely in the right players and have the right people in place to do that 

Edited 13 hours ago by Football Special

[Pamplemousse]

It wouldn't surprise me if Hull dropped out, there's always a team in the top 4 or 5 that have a shocking end of the season.

[pingpong]

46 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Regardless of Hollywood if they do back to back promotions with Phil Parkinson from non-league to the Premier League then that would deserve a full length movie being made about them, remarkable. 

As we've more than proved money alone isn't sufficient for success, need to invest wisely in the right players and have the right people in place to do that 

Would that film not just be lots of visits to the bank and signing different documents, followed by some suited and booted types making some solid decisions? Not sure it would be a good movie. It's not like cool runnings is it.

[Football Special]

16 minutes ago, pingpong said:

Would that film not just be lots of visits to the bank and signing different documents, followed by some suited and booted types making some solid decisions? Not sure it would be a good movie. It's not like cool runnings is it.

Sounds so easy doesn't it , I think Parkinson deserves massive credit to be honest 

[Ted Bates Statue]

8 hours ago, StrangelyBrown said:

I'm not sure that's true. We're on course to get 69 points - Tonda is on 1.75 points per game.

Yes, think I was being a bit hopeful. There's very little leeway to drop points now as we would need to get about 9 wins from 13 and possibly draw the other 4. More likely to anticipate that others would start dropping off, but we've only gained one point over Wrexham in the last 20 matches, and after yesterday it's hard to argue against Wrexham finishing above us. 

 

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

Yes, think I was being a bit hopeful. There's very little leeway to drop points now as we would need to get about 9 wins from 13 and possibly draw the other 4. More likely to anticipate that others would start dropping off, but we've only gained one point over Wrexham in the last 20 matches, and after yesterday it's hard to argue against Wrexham finishing above us. 

 

That alone is a good example of why we are not finishing in the playoffs...The form in the first 15 games or so (Still and the 3 at the back) destroyed the season.

[Ted Bates Statue]

7 hours ago, Football Special said:

Sounds so easy doesn't it , I think Parkinson deserves massive credit to be honest 

Behind every great manager is a great backroom staff. Who is their DoF anyway and CHDAJFU?

Edited 5 hours ago by Ted Bates Statue

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

On 21/02/2026 at 17:03, StrangelyBrown said:

8 wins needed now from 13. Still doable but we love to make things hard for ourselves.

To get to the play-offs, they're going to have to show a lot more intent than they showed yesterday. They played the first half like they had all the time in the world and they didn't. Get people and the ball in the penalty area and stop passing it sideways on the half way line.

QPR will present more of a challenge and hopefully they'll be a bit more positive than Charlton, which might create more opportunities for us. We were lucky to beat them at their place, so this could be a measure as to how much we've progressed under Tonda.

[Football Special]

1 hour ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

To get to the play-offs, they're going to have to show a lot more intent than they showed yesterday. They played the first half like they had all the time in the world and they didn't. Get people and the ball in the penalty area and stop passing it sideways on the half way line.

QPR will present more of a challenge and hopefully they'll be a bit more positive than Charlton, which might create more opportunities for us. We were lucky to beat them at their place, so this could be a measure as to how much we've progressed under Tonda.

Good thing about QPR's 3-1 win at Hull is it should shred any potential complacency in the dressing room or stands, tough opposition we'll need to be at our best to win 

[Dr Who?]

Even though there are many that are not consistent, we are at the top end of having another good run, let’s see if that continues at home to QPR, then we ‘should’ beat Wednesday… then I feel another dip is due which will put pay to this up and down optimism. 

[josebaiw]

4 hours ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

Behind every great manager is a great backroom staff. Who is their DoF anyway and CHDAJFU?

Shaun Harvey. Ex-Leeds CEO and Bradford MD. Both teams went into administration with him working for them.. 😂 Also ex-EFL chief as well.