League one relegation watch

[valiant steve]

We all wanted a better transfer window than January 2023. We got an even worse one! 

If DM can turn this team around and get enough points to keep us up, he will have performed a miracle! 

[EricHamesis]

21 hours ago, darren1810 said:

Posted the other day. I had a peep at teams remaining fixtures. 

We have 3 guaranteed defeats Posh, Bolton, Derby . Leaves us needing to win 6 of 13.

Cheltenham have played Pompey ,Derby and Bolton twice already. Very favourable fixtures and a team giving their all.

Our demise since Northampton at home on September 16th has been shameful. Again. Two seasons running we've had hideous runs.

One person to blame for me. The owner. 

No such thing as a guaranteed defeat (or a guaranteed win).

[darren1810]

51 minutes ago, EricHamesis said:

No such thing as a guaranteed defeat (or a guaranteed win).

There is with Vale. 

We ain't got the balls to get a 3-3 @ Bolton like Charlton did. We'll meekly get thraped. It's in our DNA .

[Doha]

Derby have only lost at home once since August. So that's fun.

[MBE]

46 minutes ago, Doha said:

Derby have only lost at home once since August. So that's fun.

Coupon buster😀

[JoeB2]

Optimism post as I cannot hack the despair:

There is a route to safety for us.

We still have to play: 

Reading away

Burton away

Fleetwood home

Shrewsbury home

Exeter home

Cambridge home

 

There is a route out for us. We need 19 points from 16 games. 5 wins and a few draws. 

 

Priorities:

- sort the back line out. 1 clean sheet in 10 is absolutely horrendous. Tighten things up. Clark at RWB over Massey is a huge upgrade. We need a fairly rapid improvement in this respect. It really needs a back to basics approach. Lopata, Smith, Debrah, Yak, Lowe - there has to be a competent combination somewhere. Pick one and don't chop and change.

- Garrity back in the middle. Garrity and Chislett are our only goal threat. Having them together actually gives us some hope going forward.

- Take a punt on a free agent forward. We have no one who can hold the ball up. Just pay the going rate and pray they can plunder 5 by May. It'll cost more to go down.

- Start playing Mighten. We don't have any pace. He's the only player. Figure out a system that gets him the ball.

- Get Gore fit. We haven't seen him but he's the exact profile we're missing - energy and battle in the middle.

The point total we need is really not outlandish - it's mid-table form and would play out as 54 points over a 46 game season. Moore needs to transform a very, very poor side (the worst in the league by a considerable margin since Christmas) into a fairly competent mid-table one - which is pretty much the job DC has done at Cheltenham. Martin Paterson similarly at Burton. Harris at Cambridge. You'd assume a manager who last put up 96 points at this level could handle that - otherwise, why appoint him?

Even with how awful we've been, the Fleetwood result was the only aberration since New Year - a draw with Charlton, a very narrow loss via a penalty to the champions-elect, Fleetwood, a loss to in-form Orient with a youth team manager on a half hour's notice, a draw with top 6 Stevenage, a 1 goal loss to a very, very decent Cheltenham side under DC. Pompey, Orient, Stevenage, and Cheltenham were all in excellent form when we played them. Fleetwood and Carlisle are the only disasters since Shrews away in November. 

I don't think it's a miracle great escape job. We only have 4 games against the top 6, and one of those is Oxford who are not the same side under Buckingham that they were under Manning. We've got a load of games against mid-table teams like Wigan, Northampton, Lincoln, Cambridge, Exeter, Burton, Rovers, and Orient - teams we have taken points from under Crosby.

Moore's basically got to make us a mid-table side. He has Garrity and Clark fit very soon. Gore and Plant soon thereafter. If he tightens up the backline, we get a forward in, and these players get back in the starting lineup, we have a fixture-list which isn't overly tricky. 19 points is very doable. 

Carlisle and Fleetwood are probably gone. It's 2 more of us, Charlton, Cheltenham, Reading (watch out for more points deductions), Shrewsbury, and imo Burton. I think Cheltenham will be fine. Shrews and Burton are both pretty poor teams with some of the worst underlying numbers in the league. Nathan Jones is known for either being brilliant at Luton or truly apocalyptic everywhere else. He hasn't won yet and the atmosphere is toxic.

I know how dismal it has been recently, but we're really not down and out yet. We have to start winning games very soon at a mid-table rate, but I don't think it's overly harsh to say that is what is expected from a manager like Moore. He has key players returning, a fairly achievable points target, and a reasonable fixture list.

Very doable job, this. It will genuinely be disappointing if Moore can't put up 19 points. Into these.

Edited February 19 by JoeB2

[JoeB2]

To put it more succintly, with Garrity and Clark I think we can beat:

Burton

Fleetwood

Exeter

Shrewsbury

Cambridge

Leaving us needing probably 4 draws from the other 11 games, including Reading, Orient, Northampton, Wigan, Bristol Rovers, and Lincoln. We're nowhere near down and out.

[smithie]

7 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

Optimism post as I cannot hack the despair:

There is a route to safety for us.

We still have to play: 

Reading away

Burton away

Fleetwood home

Shrewsbury home

Exeter home

Cambridge home

 

There is a route out for us. We need 19 points from 16 games. 5 wins and a few draws. 

 

Priorities:

- sort the back line out. 1 clean sheet in 10 is absolutely horrendous. Tighten things up. Clark at RWB over Massey is a huge upgrade. We need a fairly rapid improvement in this respect. It really needs a back to basics approach. Lopata, Smith, Debrah, Yak, Lowe - there has to be a competent combination somewhere. Pick one and don't chop and change.

- Garrity back in the middle. Garrity and Chislett are our only goal threat. Having them together actually gives us some threat going forward.

- Take a punt on a free agent forward. We have no one who can hold the ball up. Just pay the going rate and pray they can plunder 5 by May. 

- Start playing Mighten. We don't have any pace. He's the only player. Figure out a system that gets him the ball.

- Get Gore fit. We haven't seen him but he's the exact profile we're missing - energy and battle in the middle.

The point total we need is really not outlandish - it's mid-table form and would play out as 54 points over a 46 game season. Moore needs to transform a very, very poor side (the worst in the league by a considerable margin since Christmas) into a fairly competent mid-table one - which is pretty much the job DC has done at Cheltenham. Martin Paterson similarly at Burton. Harris at Cambridge. You'd assume a manager who last put up 96 points at this level could handle that - otherwise, why appoint him?

Even with how awful we've been, the Fleetwood result was the only aberration since New Year - a draw with Charlton, a very narrow loss via a penalty to the champions-elect, Fleetwood, a loss to in-form Orient with a youth team manager on a half hour's notice, a draw with top 6 Stevenage, a 1 goal loss to a very, very decent Cheltenham side under DC. Fleetwood and Carlisle are the only disasters since Shrews away in November. 

I don't think it's a miracle great escape job. We only have 4 games against the top 6, and one of those is Oxford who are not the same side under Buckingham that they were under Manning. We've got a load of games against mid-table teams like Wigan, Northampton, Lincoln, Cambridge, Exeter, Burton, Rovers, and Orient - teams we have taken points from under Crosby.

Moore's basically got to make us a mid-table side. He has Garrity and Clark fit very soon. Gore and Plant soon thereafter. If he tightens up the backline, we get a forward in, and these players get back in the starting lineup, we have a fixture-list which isn't overly tricky. 19 points is very doable.

Carlisle and Fleetwood are probably gone. It's 2 more of us, Charlton, Cheltenham, Reading (watch out for more points deductions), Shrewsbury, and imo Burton. I think Cheltenham will be fine. Shrews and Burton are both pretty poor teams with some of the worst underlying numbers in the league. Nathan Jones is known for either being brilliant at Luton or truly apocalyptic everywhere else. 

I know how dismal it has been recently, but we're really not down and out yet. We have to start winning games very soon at a mid-table rate, but I don't think it's overly harsh to say that is what is expected from a manager like Moore. He has key players returning and a reasonable fixture list.

Very doable job, this. It will genuinely be disappointing if Moore can't put up 19 points. Into these.

Thank the Lord someone can offer something other than unrelenting misery and pessimism. 

There's a long long way to go yet. 

   

[JoeB2]

2 minutes ago, smithie said:

Thank the Lord someone can offer something other than unrelenting misery and pessimism. 

There's a long long way to go yet. 

   

I think it's very understandable when we've won 3 in 22, been pretty crap for over a year, have no functioning strikers, and failed to beat any of our relegation rivals. I certainly felt the same Saturday night.

However, if Moore can tighten up the defence then we've got a really decent chance. 5 wins.

Edited February 19 by JoeB2

[Guest]

Safety is achievable with the right attitude heart and effort but will not be achieved if players play like they did sat after taking the lead .

You do not take the lead then say arrogantly to the opposition we are good enough keep you out rest of the game by standing off and moving back ten yards all we did was eventually create a terrible overall last 60 minute performance where only in injury time we passed it on the floor to one another .

[Guest]

So in no particular order we have .

 

Lincoln Fleetwood Bristol Rovers Wycombe Oxford Cambridge Shrewsbury Exeter 

 

Derby Peterborough Bolton Leyton Orient Reading Northampton Burton Albion Wigan 

So thats 16 games left all winnable with right set up 

Our corners seem like they are improving in terms of imagination into creating goalscoring chances .

But ultimately its the players Moore selects from here on in which will determine what league we are in .

It's not as though many senior players haven't had chance to show what they can do, they have had numerous chances,(too many in my opinion I don't care if your a good trainer or tow the line you have to play like losing is never a option ) and wore the shirt enough to judge whether moving forwards ,they should continue there being selected. 

I see nothing in them 16 teams, what cannot be beaten with selecting the right players not players who throw themselves on to the floor when all had to do was stand there and block the shot players who would die for our football club and like Moore was saying pre match v Cheltenham not give a inch to the other side, well Darren some of our players continually give leg ups to other sides, inch they give them a mile  REMOVE them from team and get them GONE if survival is the aim I wouldn't trust them bring the balls out for training .

 

 

Open your eyes fella and deal with culprits .

UTV 

 

Edited February 19 by Devine intervention

[1]

mark my words, we'll stay up. just about.

[ollyandpatch]

Absolutely no chance of stopping up in fact unless we win either tomorrow or Saturday then I would expect Carol to start making plans/budget for league 2.

Oh and Connor Ripley does not deserve back to back relegations.

99% of our clueless fans (me included) warned and screamed and shouted that we were sleep walking back to league 2 but nobody listened !!!

 

[TJHValiant]

1 minute ago, ollyandpatch said:

Absolutely no chance of stopping up in fact unless we win either tomorrow or Saturday then I would expect Carol to start making plans/budget for league 2.

Carol started making plans for a league 2 budget last July. The league 2 team is on the pitch, right now. 

[Howjy04]

15 minutes ago, 1 said:

mark my words, we'll stay up. just about.

 

15 minutes ago, 1 said:

mark my words, we'll stay up. just about.

I think we’ll get enough points from home games.Any points from away games will be a bonus.