Play Off Chase

[Hodgey]

Can see Wrexham winning both home games - which means any slip ups from us next two will leave us quite a bit to do. I don’t see us winning at Wrexham but we can’t lose, I think we’ll need to rely on Hull or even Borough imploding, Millwall look solid. Hopefully when we play Cov they will have some breathing space and play poorly.

Despite the 5-0 we are still not clinical and often switch off for a goal, we’ll need to change that in this next batch of games as we play better teams who won’t let us get away with it.

[saintant]

As the remaining matches get less and less I reckon nerves will start to kick in big time because of the magnitude of what is at stake. It'll be all about which sides deal best with the pressure. We have a side with a fair few players who have experienced the run-in to the play-offs before so that may work in our favour. Right now it looks as though it's going down to the wire. It's made for an exciting season because at one stage we looked to be out of contention but we've now built up some momentum with 20 points out of 24.

[saintant]

4 hours ago, Baird of the land said:

Their last 2 games are Coventry and Middlesbrough, better hope the automatic race goes to the wire, otherwise those games become easier.

They'll likely be battling to be champions so won't ease off the gas.

[Saint Pete]

There's still around a quarter of the season to go, so a lot can happen. We're fixated on Wrexham at the moment as the team above us but it's very possible that the likes of Hull will have a poor run in that lets in someone else. The positive in this round of matches is we have slightly more breathing space versus a few of the teams below us when it was so tight before. Obviously matches against the teams around us will be crucial. We just need to focus on ourselves and keep picking up wins like we are at currently.

[SouSaint]

3 hours ago, SNSUN said:

There's also potentially the loss of players we have now if we don't go up. Scienza, Jander, THB, Charles possibly, all will have admirers over the summer and we'd be back to trying to replace them. Maybe even one two others. I wouldn't bet against SR cashing in, we know what they're like. 

None of the players you name are PL standard which shows how far off that level we are. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

All the teams will be taking points off each other, it’s far from over for everyone.

Get the popcorn out!

[Cabrone]

Feels a bit like 2 seasons ago except back then we were chasing down top 2 rather than playoffs. We went on a huge unbeaten run, got into position to break through and promptly bottled it ending up in playoffs. 

IMO 75 is the minimum and we have some tricky fixtures left. It's on a knife edge.

[die Mannyschaft]

Saints have the more difficult run in. Ipswich hull and Millwall we cant catch only on paper.  Some needs to beat Wrexham and don't think that's possible 

[ant]

It's not a scientific way to look at it, but Tonda's PPG now sits at 1.86. If that continued to the end of the season, we'd be looking at ~73 points.

Wrexham's PPG projects ~74.

There's inherent assumptions (not least that our past indicates our future), but given the tricky period around Christmas our figure tends more towards 'realistic' than 'fantasy'.

Ultimately, I guess I'm just saying it's looking close but doable. Especially with Wrexham away still to come.

[BARCELONASAINT]

Personally I think we will fall short of the top 6 places, the damage was done earlier in the season leaving us with too much ground to make up and the home game against Charlton just compounded things.

We don't have a lethal front line, Stewart we have been nursing all season to try and make sure he gets minutes (he's decent when he's available) Larin has some good attributes but he is not a lethal striker and they are who we are relying on up front. Thankfully other players are chipping in with goals but you really need your strikers at this stage of the season to be firing on all cylinders and ours are not!

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

10 hours ago, SouSaint said:

None of the players you name are PL standard which shows how far off that level we are. 

So you dont think Jander or Scienza could step up?

Disagree. Scienza has stepped up every time hes moved and Jander could easily be looked at by Bundesliga 1 clubs.

[BARCELONASAINT]

4 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

So you dont think Jander or Scienza could step up?

Disagree. Scienza has stepped up every time hes moved and Jander could easily be looked at by Bundesliga 1 clubs.

You won't find a bigger fan off Scienza than me, he is absolutely the heartbeat of this Saints side and his rise from the leagues he has come from is quite unbelievable. The gap between Premier league and Championship is huge and i do wonder if Leo could hold his own in what is a very brutal league. My one concern about his ability to step up is he is a bit lightweight. He has all the skill in the world but he gets knocked off the ball a lot (yes like Grealish he draws fouls) and his shots are often very weak.

I think he would do very well in La Liga, Italy and France.

I wouldn't deny Leo a chance to play Premier League football if not for us then someone else because his story is what every kid out there would love and it just shows kids not to give up on their dream.

[Toussaint]

25 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

So you dont think Jander or Scienza could step up?

Disagree. Scienza has stepped up every time hes moved and Jander could easily be looked at by Bundesliga 1 clubs.

Jander yes, Scienza , I really don’t think so, next week at Fulham will give us an indication. 

[die Mannyschaft]

11 hours ago, saintant said:

As the remaining matches get less and less I reckon nerves will start to kick in big time because of the magnitude of what is at stake. It'll be all about which sides deal best with the pressure. We have a side with a fair few players who have experienced the run-in to the play-offs before so that may work in our favour. Right now it looks as though it's going down to the wire. It's made for an exciting season because at one stage we looked to be out of contention but we've now built up some momentum with 20 points out of 24.

It will go down to the Preston away matches for Saints,  I reckon we would need to win that to get 6th by 1 point. Providing we win at least another 7 games 

[die Mannyschaft]

18 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

Jander yes, Scienza , I really don’t think so, next week at Fulham will give us an indication. 

We play a style of football that restrict creativity so players can really develop to max at Saints. That's why teams come in fir our best players they can see potential and how to move them on to next level.

[Willo of Whiteley]

1 hour ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

So you dont think Jander or Scienza could step up?

Disagree. Scienza has stepped up every time hes moved and Jander could easily be looked at by Bundesliga 1 clubs.

Scienza and Jander possibly.

Fellows I would legit sell. Excellent at running to the byline and doing very little with it.

[Behind Enemy Lines]

16 hours ago, pingpong said:

Those 3 points that bazunu got us on day 1 could prove to be more important than we ever realised... Key to the city if we get promoted?

You’re just being silly now Gav. You know you’d drop the key down a drain when it’s handed to you. 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

3 hours ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

You won't find a bigger fan off Scienza than me, he is absolutely the heartbeat of this Saints side and his rise from the leagues he has come from is quite unbelievable. The gap between Premier league and Championship is huge and i do wonder if Leo could hold his own in what is a very brutal league. My one concern about his ability to step up is he is a bit lightweight. He has all the skill in the world but he gets knocked off the ball a lot (yes like Grealish he draws fouls) and his shots are often very weak.

I think he would do very well in La Liga, Italy and France.

I wouldn't deny Leo a chance to play Premier League football if not for us then someone else because his story is what every kid out there would love and it just shows kids not to give up on their dream.

Fair one.

If Saints dont go up, can definitely see a promoted side going in for him at the very least.

 

[Football Special]

5 hours ago, die Mannyschaft said:

It will go down to the Preston away matches for Saints,  I reckon we would need to win that to get 6th by 1 point. Providing we win at least another 7 games 

I agree *if* we do it will go down to the last game , could be a good excuse to combine a bank holiday weekend in Blackpool with Preston away , big ticket allocation etc