Final play off places/

[ringo_the_lion]

Middlesbrough			7	5	2	20	12		6	1	8	24	23		13	6	10	44	35		9	45
4	Luton Town	28		4	7	3	19	16		8	2	4	17	13		12	9	7	36	29		7	45
5	Watford	29		7	3	4	20	13		5	5	5	14	18		12	8	9	34	31		3	44
6	Blackburn Rovers	28		9	0	4	20	13		5	1	9	11	22		14	1	13	31	35		-4	43
7	Norwich City	28		5	4	5	19	16		7	2	5	21	15		12	6	10	40	31		9	42
8	Millwall	27		8	3	2	20	8		4	3	7	13	19		12	6	9	33	27		6	42
9	Sunderland	28		5	4	5	19	16		6	4	4	22	16		11	8	9	41	32		9	41
10	West Bromwich Albion	28		6	4	4	20	14		5	4	5	18	16		11	8	9	38	30		8	41
11	Preston North End	28		3	4	7	8	18		8	3	3	18	13		11	7	10	26	31		-5	40
12	Swansea City	28		6	2	5	20	16		4	7	4	20	22		10	9	9	40	38		2	39
13	Coventry City	28		7	4	4	19	14		3	4	6	12	17		10	8	10	31	31		0	38
14	Queens Park Rangers

 

[ringo_the_lion]

1	Burnley	28	18	8	2	55	26	29	62
2	Sheff Utd	28	17	6	5	48	24	24	57
3	Middlesbrough	29	13	6	10	44	35	9	45
4	Luton	28	12	9	7	36	29	7	45
5	Watford	29	12	8	9	34	31	3	44
6	Blackburn	28	14	1	13	31	35	-4	43
7	Norwich	28	12	6	10	40	31	9	42
8	Millwall	27	12	6	9	33	27	6	42
9	Sunderland	28	11	8	9	41	32	9	41
10	West Brom	28	11	8	9	38	30	8	41
11	Preston	28	11	7	10	26	31	-5	40
12	Swansea	28	10	9	9	40	38	2	39
13	Coventry	28	10	8	10	31	31	0	38
14	QPR	29	10	8	11	31	37	-6	38

 

[ringo_the_lion]

Fucked this up a bit but with Sheffield United and Burnley set for the top two positions so any of the next twelve teams will be battling for a play off place, leave your predictions here;
Mine are in no particular order;

Middlesbrough
Norwich
West Brom
Millwall

 

[HappyLion]

I have not the slightest idea. However I expect WBA to finish strongly with the players they have bought in. Norwich could fall to pieces as could Blackburn. We could be scoring for fun or show no improvement. The jury is out. As long as we are not in a relegation battle I am a Happy Lion

 

[Poplar Lion]

Looking at it slightly differently is what do we "need" from the next 7 games. Traditionally, 74 points will guarantee you a play off spot. Averaging just over 1.6 points per game over a season. So, after 37 games we need to be on 60 points. Going by that we need 18 points from 7 games. However, with so many teams in the mix and all taking points off each other, I reckon the tide will be quite a bit lower this season. Maybe even 66 will be enough. If this is the case then we need 11 from the next 7. So, anything over 4 wins will keep us right in the mix, anything less and we'll be dropping away.
Apologies for the statto busyness.

 

[HappyLion]

I know all games are tuff, but we have some stinkers coming up. On the plus side I guess the other teams are thinking the same. Its the price we pay for being in the most competitive league on the planet.

 

[67lions]

I’m with Happy on this one just nice to not being worried about relegation mind you if we win on Saturday I think it will give the the players a gee up and you never know what the rest of the season holds for us

 

[Life with the Lions]

I’m with Happy on this one just nice to not being worried about relegation mind you if we win on Saturday I think it will give the the players a gee up and you never know what the rest of the season holds for us

Agreed, but it’s no good taking a big scalp like Sunderland and then taking a haircut ourselves against QPR or Coventry!

Its that word again, isn’t it?

Consistency!

 

[Millwall Of Oz]

next 3 games are big - we can get 7 pts from them then it will absorb any poor results v sheff utd/burnley

 

[High Life Street 2.0]

we need a cushion for dropping down a place.

 

[HappyLion]

One thing that is on my mind. As Olly is six foot two, does that mean we will be switching to two up front and hoof ball?

 

[45skiprats]

Best chance of making the play offs since we were promoted 8 games at home against teams in the top 12 will be hard but it is in OUR favour

 

[Saxon Lion]

We normally do well against the top teams and raise our game, it’s the shit teams that do us.

 

[Kryan Bing]

Seven points between twelve teams and of course, they will all be playing each other.
If we can win our game in hand (or two in some cases) we would be top of that bunch of twelve. Although it will be hard, it's ours to fuck up, and I don't think we will. Best chance we have had for ages.

I think the two week break, plus some new faces should have helped us recharge our batteries ready for a right ol' go.

 

[SEL]

One thing that is on my mind. As Olly is six foot two, does that mean we will be switching to two up front and hoof ball?

I never got the impression from his last time with us that he was a hold up type player. Clearly his strength is his pace and that is what should be utilized. Get down the wings and make sure we have support in the box to finish off.

 

[Peckham Lion]

Agreed, but it’s no good taking a big scalp like Sunderland and then taking a haircut ourselves against QPR or Coventry!

Its that word again, isn’t it?

Consistency!

There is plenty of good in beating teams like Sunderland, first and foremost we need the points to stay in this division. Every team bar the top two will lose games, it;s the nature of this league. One look at the current table will tell you that. We generally go five and six games between defeats. Pretty consistent when you take into account what we've spent and the size of our squad.

Qpr and Coventry are four points behind us, if you expect us to be beating teams like that then you're gonna have a lot of disappointing weekends. They have more wedge than us, spend more on wages and get bigger crowds. They both beaten Sheffield united, we've lost twice to them, work that one out!

The beauty of this league is everyone can beat anyone on thier day, nothing is a given.

 

[Arthur2shedsJackson]

History suggests either Burnley or Sheffield United will have a losing streak and one of the top 12 will have a winning streak. So i am going for
1 Burnley
2 Millwall
3 Sheffield United
4 Middlesbrough
5 Watford
6 Sunderland

Watford to beat Sunderland 1-0 in the play off final

 

[Saxon Lion]

History suggests either Burnley or Sheffield United will have a losing streak and one of the top 12 will have a winning streak. So i am going for
1 Burnley
2 Millwall
3 Sheffield United
4 Middlesbrough
5 Watford
6 Sunderland

Watford to beat Sunderland 1-0 in the play off final

Arthur, I think we would have had to have bought Haaland in the transfer window to achieve second place, but let’s hope you are correct.

 

[Glasglion]

On holiday in May, purposely decided to be away for a week after the 2 legs playoffs and back before the Wembley final. Who I fucking kidding .

 

[Life with the Lions]

Qpr and Coventry are four points behind us, if you expect us to be beating teams like that then you're gonna have a lot of disappointing weekends. They have more wedge than us, spend more on wages and get bigger crowds. They both beaten Sheffield united, we've lost twice to them, work that one out!

I never said anything about beating QPR and Coventry (though there’s no reason why we couldn’t!) I was talking about consistency. To beat Sunderland tomorrow the team are going to have to play very well. If we win, then you’d like to think confidence will be high going into the next two games! If we play poorly, we could very well end up losing to QPR and Coventry (hence getting a haircut), and that’s because our consistency (or lack of it) will be missing!

You say QPR and Coventry have spent more on wages and get bigger crowds than us, but what about Watford? They have Prem parachute money and I’m sure many of their players are on bigger salaries than some of our players! Watford’s home attendance is anywhere between 17,000 - 20,000 (higher than ours), yet for all that, we still beat them home and away this season!

I think the reason why Burnley and Sheffield United have run away with the league this season isn’t just about more money! It isn’t about having better players than us, either, as I’m sure both these clubs have a few average players in their first 11 (as we do), but that it’s more about each and every one of their players having a stronger mentality - wanting to give their all in each and every game and, more importantly, believing that they can win every game - regardless of who they come up against! Now, even the top two teams can’t win every match, but if their positive mentality is high every week, chances are they’re gonna win or draw more games than lose them! I don’t think our players always have that positive mentality, because if they did, we’d be getting more draws and wins than we usually do against lower opposition teams each season!

All of the above is just my own personal opinion, of course. Yours (and others) may think completely differently!