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Tetteys Jig

Now come the banker games

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So Derby came and left with a point when we should have had all three.

The thing is now, the teams we play are pretty much (bar Boro) well short on us for quality. That''s not to say it''ll be a formality, far from it. They are not mugs, they''re being paid £10k a week on average because if we aren''t on our game they will beat us.

What we now have to be is confident in our own quality. If we play like we have been playing of late, we should win the majority of these games convincingly with some to spare. If we can do this, it allows for the odd ref error or Ruddy mare, or Jerome sitter missed because by that point, we''re 2-0 up and it makes no difference to the outcome.

If you look at Watfords win against Reading, they showed how easy it can be if you just put your chances away. Somehow despite having Gomes in net, they are 3 points above us and scoring plenty.

That for me is key with these remaining games. We really need to push the boat out and play very attacking. We have the players to cause damage at this level and the only way we won''t win these remaining games is severe unluckiness after pushing forward and being caught on the counter or if we sit back too much as we''re scared of conceding.

As it stood, we had room for a draw in our plan, as win over Huddersfield and we can go second still. That room has now gone and we must be ruthless like the germans vs Brazil. At 5-0 up at half time, they could have danced about the pitch like a bunch of cocky 8 year olds but no, they were very much focussed on damaging Brazil as much as possible, kept their systems and scored two more functional goals, so much so that the Brazilians went from despondant to desparate to get something due to the embarrassment.

This is the mindset we need to be in. We know we can beat these 9 remaining sides but let''s do it to the max, on 15 mins if we are 0-0 or 1-0 especially, we need to forget that there are 75 mins left and look for the best chance of scoring, even if it''s the worst, most sweaty goal ever.

If we win our remaining 9 games, we are promoted, anything less and we just don''t know, it''s that simple now.

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Notts Forest are as good as anyone in the league since the arrival of Dougie Freedman (Stuart Pearce, rubbish manager, who would have guessed...) - having beaten both Boro and Bournemouth in recent weeks.

Norwich have shown they are more prone to losing to the "lesser" teams this season than the bigger boys.

Reading and Wigan being prime examples.

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If we have learnt anything from our time in this division over the last decade then surely it is that there are no "banker" games. I think that''s why i found Saturday so frustrating because that was a real chance to get ourselves ahead of Derby in a game where we were clearly the better side and should have won. Yes a draw is not a disaster but now we once again have absolutely no margin for error in the games coming up against so called "lesser sides."

I think Forest at home and Brighton away are certainly games that jump out as potential banana skins but the truth is that they all are. The truth is also, however, that we are well capable of winning every game we have left and that if we play reasonably well in every game we have left then we will win most of them. In a way it is perhaps to our advantage now that really we have to go all out to win every game. Draws are not really much use to us now whereas i think on Saturday Neil had the thought that a draw was not a disaster in the back of his mind with that team selection. I therefore hope we will see Hooper starting along with Jerome and Wes tomorrow night.

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Exactly, we haven''t delay with our "Banker games" as well as we could have. Most of that was under NA but hopefully AN has us right for them games. Even if we get 2-0 up in any of them, i hope we stay ruthless. At 0-0 in these games, we might have the mentality on 20 mins if a chance comes "ah well, if i miss this, there''ll inevitably be more chances to score this game. We need to see every chance in front of goal as our last chance of scoring in the match and take it.

It seems our problem at that end of the field is getting that first goal. Once we''ve got that, we''ve looked very good, probably one of the best in the league, but we''ve been perennial slow starters.

Now we are on a run of games against generally weaker opposition (noted Forest have a few decent players) or at least home advantage, we need to be seizing this initiative and not letting the opposition think they can nick something from us. The best way to do this is to take a couple of early chances, at 2-0 up on 30 minutes, we''ve been pretty comfortable at keeping the ball and playing possession and then really outclassing the opposition when the pressure is off, we just need to get to that stage more often.

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It''s a tricky situation because if we lose another game then it could mean we blow our chance of automatic promotion. We''ll probably need to play differently against different sides, eg more attacking at home to Sheff Wed, but more defensively against Forest.We''ve got to improve our strategy against teams who have something to play for (probably Forest, Boro and Rotherham), and use their desperation to our advantage, especially if we go in front. We failed to do this against Derby and let them off the hook.Against certain teams we''re going to have to be clever and grind out results instead of throwing men forward, as we have very little room for error.

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I''m confident we can get 9 victories especially the away games where teams will have to attack City. Home games should be won Forest and Middlesboro are not the force away from home others at home are certs for victories.

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[quote user="pete"]I''m confident we can get 9 victories especially the away games where teams will have to attack City. Home games should be won Forest and Middlesboro are not the force away from home others at home are certs for victories.[/quote]

Nobody wins 9 games in a row in this league.

We are likely to be comfortable against the better teams but struggle to break down the teams we are expected to beat.

We are also not cute enough. Derby wasted time and went to ground as often as they could on Saturday and suckered the ref into awarding free kicks that weren''t. They got away with the ''foul'' on Ruddy and an undeserved point was their reward.

Like it or not, the really successful teams intimidate opponents and officials. We made no complaint when the Derby goal was scored nor have we made a big thing about it afterwards. We also need to show our displeasure to the ref in no uncertain terms and pressure them into ''fairer'' action or different outcomes that what we get.

Wigan was a banker game but Scott Carson (in particular) and the rest of the team were wasting time from the 8th minute. The crowd knew it, the teams knew it and the benches knew it but there was only one card issued for it. Even Malky was laughing and kicking the ball away.

We are too ''nice'' and nice guys don''t win. Like them or not, managers like Mourinho & Fergie highlight mistakes and a persecution complex off the pitch and their players try and influence the officials when the game is on. Referees must have in the back of their mind the possibility they will attract bad publicity if they get something ''wrong''. It was no co-incidence there were no penalties awarded to away teams at Old Trafford for all those years.

We have a sell-out, partisan crown every home game and some wonderful players but we are not getting the results we should be.

I keep hearing about our ''bad luck'' after Saturday but you make your own luck in life. The last nine games could be worth a fortune and vital to keeping the squad together and moving the club forward again at a unique time.

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Are there really "banker" games where NCFC are concerned?.....on paper we have a favourable run in but our margin for error is so slight that even one or two more slips may cost us the top 2.

I haven''t liked the look of the double away header of Bolton and Leeds in the space of 4 days for a while.

I have a feeling our chances of the auto places could fall away somewhere around those two.

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Not sure about bankers Jimmy but totally agree we need to win 9 games.

Before the Derby game, I calculated we needed to win 8 to be assured of promotion and, win 8 + draw one to be champions.

Basically need 8 wins from the remaining 9 games now.

Skill & talent isn''t the problem. Luck, refereeing decisions & possible injuries are. I also agree we lack "mongrel" - we need "nice" guys like Howson & Hoolahan kicking lumps out of people.

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Absolutely no banker games in this league where Norwich are concerned. Wigan springs to mind.

I certainly hope AN and the players are not thinking there are any ''BANKERS''. If they are then we will struggle to make the play offs. Tonight is a tough tough game but with the right attitude and application we should win the match.

I''m hoping for a sound professional victory tonight to prove to the other teams around us that we are still well and truly in this and up for the fight.

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No game is really a banker at this stage, we just need to somehow go

unbeaten over the next 9 games ie produce an 11 game unbeaten run.Five wins and four draws might be enough, six wins and three draws would

give us a good chance, but seven wins and two draws ought to seal it. A win against Middlesbrough obviously would help, especially if we won 5 or 6.A loss probably ''relegates'' us to playoffs and would effectively mean we needed at least 6 wins instead of 5 to have any chance at all.

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Really wish Bournemouth would go back to fcuking up, it seemed they''d blown it but they''ve found a second wind from somewhere!

Agreed, the Boro match will be vital.

Watford look very handy going forward but I still don''t trust their defence. I think they will lose about 3 more this season.

Derby will scrap on but have some tough games coming up and I don''t think they are that quality a side really when tested against real talent. We had them on the ropes in both games this season and I can see Boro and co doing the same to them.

I think out of the 5 of us, there will be three that break away from the other two. We just have to be one of the three and then poke our noses over the line at the end!

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