17/18 Promotion Charge

[TRO]

24 minutes ago, av1 said:

I'm beginning to think this aswell. 

The football has been shit since he has been here. Results haven't been great and we are currently in the midst of our second dramatic loss of form (last season between jan/feb being the other).

Bruce has shown no progress in 15 months and he's still here. I fear he still has tbe backing of the board. 

January will be a huge indicator to the boards thinking. Any transfer movement (in or out) over the next few weeks will surely mean we are stuck with him. 

being the operative word.

[omariqy]

The worry is the number of teams between us and 2nd and playoffs. Surely not all of them will have significant bad runs until now and end of the season? If they weren't before then the next two games are the biggest in this clubs recent history. 

[TRO]

12 minutes ago, omariqy said:

The worry is the number of teams between us and 2nd and playoffs. Surely not all of them will have significant bad runs until now and end of the season? If they weren't before then the next two games are the biggest in this clubs recent history. 

The best thing to do is ignore the league table for a few weeks until we have some wins, it might be worth having a sneaky glance then.....with out wins, its a very depressing place to park your eyes.

just thinking of your self preservation.

Edited December 30, 2017 by TRO

[AvfcRigo82]

7 hours ago, TRO said:

The best thing to do is ignore the league table for a few weeks until we have some wins, it might be worth having a sneaky glance then.....with out wins, its a very depressing place to park your eyes.

just thinking of your self preservation.

To be fair TRO I think enough buring of our heads in the sand has happened for too long now.

We need to take a long hard look at this table because that is the reality and the hard evidence that reveals we are rapidly failing the objectives set this season.

[Villarocker]

You would have to fancy Sheffield Utd to beat Bolton at home today and, Leeds to win away at Small Heath. If the best we do at 'Boro is get a draw that leaves us 5 points outside the play-offs, with Preston and 'Boro between us and 6th with the likes of Fulham, Ipswich and Brentford breathing down our necks.

The next fixtures will cause a few teams to falter because they are playing each other - Derby v Sheff Utd, Fulham v Ipswich, Preston v 'Boro. However, we play the in-form Bristol City. 

If we could win these next two fixtures there is a chance of us sneaking back into that 6th spot by the end of New Year's day. However, if we draw or lose them we could be upto 9 points adrift.

If we do find ourselves 9 points adrift with 20 games to go, I cannot imagine many, if any, wanting to keep our manager. 

 

Edited December 30, 2017 by villarocker

[Demitri_C]

11 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

May I ask your opinion as to why you think this will be?

I think because despite the poor December we actually are not that far from 2nd we should be much further away if you think about it.

Also as he bounced back previously when we were in this position they may give him the benefit of the doubt along with the returning terry.

I think if it becomes no win in 10 or something like that, that is only way he will be sacked.

For me of he fails to win any of the next two then he should be sacked as the recent form is pathetic. The Sheffield united game for me was completely unacceptable 

[DaveAV1]

Surely the title of this thread needs changing to, “17/18 Promotion Walk Backwards Through Treacle”

[JamesBCFC]

An interesting set of fixtures at the moment, I believe (inlcuding yesterdays game between Cardiff and PNE) 8 of the top 10 are playing each other.

A good set of results for you could see you gain on pretty much every team above you.

 

[AvfcRigo82]

30 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I think because despite the poor December we actually are not that far from 2nd we should be much further away if you think about it.

Also as he bounced back previously when we were in this position they may give him the benefit of the doubt along with the returning terry.

I think if it becomes no win in 10 or something like that, that is only way he will be sacked.

For me of he fails to win any of the next two then he should be sacked as the recent form is pathetic. The Sheffield united game for me was completely unacceptable 

To be fair Dem, he bounced back when the league will still all to play for.

We now found ourselves forgetting 1st place as that is now gone.

We are 9 points behind 2nd with only half the season left.

He's had a chance once already this season and just about muscled us into the playoffs for a few weeks but out of them again now.

He has to go now.  

[TRO]

39 minutes ago, villarocker said:

You would have to fancy Sheffield Utd to beat Bolton at home today and, Leeds to win away at Small Heath. If the best we do at 'Boro is get a draw that leaves us 5 points outside the play-offs, with Preston and 'Boro between us and 6th with the likes of Fulham, Ipswich and Brentford breathing down our necks.

The next fixtures will cause a few teams to falter because they are playing each other - Derby v Sheff Utd, Fulham v Ipswich, Preston v 'Boro. However, we play the in-form Bristol City. 

If we could win these next two fixtures there is a chance of us sneaking back into that 6th spot by the end of New Year's day. However, if we draw or lose them we could be upto 9 points adrift.

If we do find ourselves 9 points adrift with 20 games to go, I cannot imagine many, if any, wanting to keep our manager. 

 

I fear the worst to be honest.....and i don't think we will sign the right manager, when we do sack him.

just how i feel.

[Guest av1]

57 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

An interesting set of fixtures at the moment, I believe (inlcuding yesterdays game between Cardiff and PNE) 8 of the top 10 are playing each other.

A good set of results for you could see you gain on pretty much every team above you.

 

On monday you get first hand experience of exactly how bad we are. 

 

[villa89]

13 hours ago, dappadan said:

Haha nothing mate. Just looked and Jan/Feb fixtures and 2 back to back wins will put us back in the mix. Not saying we will get them but it is what is needed now!

In the mix for what exactly? It's certainly not automatic promotion where we should be. Being in the playoffs is the bare minimum that should be achieved. But it's inevitable now that Bruce will blame injuries and try to shift the expectation to: we should be happy to be just competing for the playoff places. 

[AvfcRigo82]

26 minutes ago, TRO said:

I fear the worst to be honest.....and i don't think we will sign the right manager, when we do sack him.

just how i feel.

We just have to trust Dr Tony in making this one 3rd time lucky.

It has to be an improvement and a manager of a certain calibre that WILL get the best out of these players, that WILL not play boring trudged football and WILL get us back on track for an automatic promotion.

We all have our own choices who we would like it to be but as long as he can achieve those 3 things and build upon this next season then I don't care now who it is. 

[Eastie]

Only just seen Cardiff lost again at home last night - wheels coming off a bit for Cardiff sheff utd and villa this month but derby and Bristol city going strong - 2 wins now would put us back in the picture but 2 defeats could leave a mo8ntain to climb - sadly under Bruce I fear we will slip away - ideally wyness will act over the 12 day league break regardless of results this weekend as boro did 

[Eastie]

35 minutes ago, villa89 said:

In the mix for what exactly? It's certainly not automatic promotion where we should be. Being in the playoffs is the bare minimum that should be achieved. But it's inevitable now that Bruce will blame injuries and try to shift the expectation to: we should be happy to be just competing for the playoff places. 

Cardiff have lost 3 in a row  after another defeat last night at home - back to back wins now could well put us back in the hunt for 2nd place - however I just can’t see us winning either game 

[villa89]

53 minutes ago, Eastie said:

- back to back wins now could well put us back in the hunt for 2nd place -

That's just wishful thinking imo. We are 9 points behind second place and teams at the top of the league win alot more often than they lose. 

Barring a miracle, we are in a battle for the playoffs. Automatic promotion is a pipe dream. 

Edited December 30, 2017 by villa89

[dappadan]

1 hour ago, villa89 said:

In the mix for what exactly? It's certainly not automatic promotion where we should be. Being in the playoffs is the bare minimum that should be achieved. But it's inevitable now that Bruce will blame injuries and try to shift the expectation to: we should be happy to be just competing for the playoff places. 

See I think you are wrong IF we do win the next 2 then would gain on 2nd as we would gain on Bristol City. It is a big if to win the next 2 but we are definitely still in the hunt.

No point giving up!!  

[VILLAMARV]

Pressure is on today. Obviously a bad December so far. We failed to break 10 man Middlesbrough down at home and were lucky to come away with a point from Bristol in the reverse fixtures. We have proved unable to beat the better teams in this league in the first half of the season.

I said before the Ipswich game that 12-15 points from the next 8 games with 1 or 2 losses wouldn't be the end of the world for me. We're on 6 points so far, we have the 2 losses and we have 2 games to win to reach the minimum in that range. Something that seems to be a bit of a pattern this year imo - every time we get into a good position we start off with under - par performances leaving it all to do. I also remember saying sometime if we were 9 points off second after the Bristol City game we wouldnt be too bad off considering the injuries and fixture list.

Not that Im any sort of officionado obviously, just that 2 wins might just save it all at this point.

Like most everyone else I'll be amazed if we can do that.

[Eastie]

48 minutes ago, villa89 said:

That's just wishful thinking imo. We are 9 points behind second place and teams at the top of the league win alot more often than they lose. 

Barring a miracle, we are in a battle for the playoffs. Automatic promotion is a pipe dream. 

Derby play Ipswich away and sheff utd - tough games .

bristol city play wolves and villa .

cardiff have lost 4 of last  6 

‘sheff utd lost 4 of last 6 .

For me derby are the ones to catch - win these 2 games and the table could well tighten up considerably - lose them and we will slip away .

 Bruce is lucky to still be in a job - failure in the next 2 days will surely result in his exit 

Edited December 30, 2017 by Eastie

[villan-scott]

3 hours ago, JamesBCFC said:

An interesting set of fixtures at the moment, I believe (inlcuding yesterdays game between Cardiff and PNE) 8 of the top 10 are playing each other.

A good set of results for you could see you gain on pretty much every team above you.

 

The problem we have is that nobody believes Bruce is capable of achieving a positive result today. Especially with it being Pulis’ first game for Boro.