The Run in

[pete 371]

5 games to go 5 wins will do it. Who do we play:

Bolton last time out stuffed Cardiff but previous home game needed goal in last 5 to draw with mighty Blackpool, not an impressive home record. Have two veteran strikers a midfield that was missing the Korean guy who was impressive at Carrow Rd. I expect our midfield will dominate and another win.

Leeds in turmoil nothing unusual there. Last time out scored 3 at Wolves but again not unusual given Wolves defence. Midfield made up of 4 kids. Last at home 3-0 reverse to Blackburn. Another win on the road with Wes and the rest dominating.

Middlesboro lost last two away conceding 5. Were pretty appaling against Watford and Bournemouth don''t expect them to turn it around at Carrow Rd. Another 3 points.

Rotherham will be safe by now. Aprt from 1-0 to Brighton lost last 3 at home to Sheff Wed, Wigan and Cardiff. Must be an away win just one to go.

Fulham well its Fulham who have poor home and away all season. But its Fulham and cannot be as bullish as other games in the run in maybe we might not need to win but a win would be nice 6-0 would be good.

As long as keep our form 5 wins should be enough. Injury to Jerome could be a disaster however.

[a1canary 0]

Hmmm, I like it, even if i think it''s a tad optimistic!

Leeds is never an easy place to go, even given the two bit club they are now. If it wasn''t for their latest lurch off the pitch with the randoming sacking of their coach i''d have thought we could be on for a draw there. I have to say it''s difficult to guess where we might drop points from that lot. Bolton at home are poor and their grandads up front are going to struggle with out intense high pressing game so i can''t see us losing that. Boro will sit in and if they have Ayala back i think that''s the one where we''re most likely to drop points. Their defence was badly disrupted for their Watford game so a lot depends on if they have their first choice back 4. I also think we will - in fact feel certain - that we will slay the Fulham hoodoo. I''ve no doubt that AN has no time at all for Hoodoos!

So on reflection, i''m with you, i think we''ll win them all too :)

[lake district canary 4,830]

The next two games are going to decide it imo.  To win Bolton and Leeds away in consecutive matches is going to be one heck of an achievement, if they can do it.  Win those two and the momentum should carry us past Middsbro, Rotherham and Fulham.

[yellowarmy1966 0]

The fact is 5 wins out of 5 may still not be enough, with Watford currently behind us purely on goal difference  and with their, which on paper looks a quite reasonable run in you then begin to realise that wins alone may not be enough

[ruthers1 0]

There''s no "should" about it mate, 5 wins WOULD definitely be enough BUT we ain''t going to get them.

Let me give you an alternative and more realistic view of the last 5 opponents:

Bolton - just won away 3 zip and will be buzzing plus Lennon will be desperate to beat us after overlooking him last Summer.

Leeds - dislike us more than we dislike them and will be up for this game like they were at CR but will have the added advantage of their crowd behind them this time.

Boro - have picked up the unwanted tag of ''six-pointer bottlers'' after failing to beat Watford, Bournemouth and the like. Will be desperate in front of the Sky TV cameras again to put this right once and for all.

Rotherham - Every team want to sign off their season at home by finishing with a win in front of their own fans and they''ll be no different.

Fulham - Say no more.

I''m not saying we are going to lose all 5, far from it, what I''m saying is winning all 5 will be a very tall order indeed - and forgetting all of the above there''s the added pressure of trying to finish in the top two too.

Bournemouth look like finishing as (worthy) Champions and like Watford have an easier run-in than us so we should not be too surprised if we finish in the play-offs. A brilliant achievement nonetheless - when you consider McNumpty and Co left it until mid Jan to replace Neil Adams.

[morty 0]

Bloody hell, well done on outmiserabling Pete.

[morty 0]

We have the best away record in the entire division, so we have every chance of getting something at Bolton, Leeds and Rotheram.From what I saw of boro on the telly the other day, I don''t think we have too much to worry about there either.And its time for the Fulham bogey to end.Oh and Grabban is back for Leeds, Bradley will be raring to go for boro.

[mrs miggins 0]

1st post as well....kudos

[ruthers1 0]

Guilty as charged Morty but I''m trying to counter balance the OP''s over-optimism.

If we win the last five games it will mean we have won 8 games in a row!!

It aint going to happen I''m afraid - in fact I doubt any team has won their last 8 Championship games in a row - ever, let alone in the thick of a promotion/relegation fight.

I will raffle off my season ticket for the top six games in the Prem next season if it happens - it won''t unfortunately.

[morty 0]

[quote user="ruthers1"]Guilty as charged Morty but I''m trying to counter balance the OP''s over-optimism.

If we win the last five games it will mean we have won 8 games in a row!!

It aint going to happen I''m afraid - in fact I doubt any team has won their last 8 Championship games in a row - ever, let alone in the thick of a promotion/relegation fight.

I will raffle off my season ticket for the top six games in the Prem next season if it happens - it won''t unfortunately.[/quote]WWLDWWWWWWLWDDWWW

[Highland Canary 78]

We will beat Bolton.

[Herman 11,136]

Newcastle won eight of their last nine. Drew the other.

[Herman 11,136]

[quote user="Highland Canary"]We will beat Bolton.[/quote]Even with Lennon in charge?

[morty 0]

I''ll just leave this here too....

[URL=http://s869.photobucket.com/user/mortymccarthy/media/Untitled_zps3alsxvxp.jpg.html][IMG]http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab257/mortymccarthy/Untitled_zps3alsxvxp.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[FenwayFrank 2,717]

Plenty of other teams have beaten Bolton with Lennon in charge, why can''t we ? Even Blackpool got a draw there the other week.

[ruthers1 0]

All you''ve done there Morty is prove my point - a run of 6 wins in a row and halted by who? ''Mighty'' Malky''s Wigan that''s who!

Great though the run was it proves it''s impossible to keep winning games irrespective of the opposition and 8 in a row will be too much of an ask here I''m afraid.

[King Klose 0]

Bolton not an impressive home record? They''ve only lost 4 games at home all season and have only lost 1 at home since the start of October. Apart from the Top 6, this is probably the toughest away game.

[Funny old game 0]

Lots of hysteria on here tonight. If we win all 5 remaining games we will have 91 points. Only once in the past decade this was insufficient for an automatic place, last year with Burnley on 93 points. I prefer to go with an evidenced based approach rather than emotional flights of fancy, be they overly automatic or pessimistic. In all likelihood 4 wins and a defeat will be enough. If winning 5 on the bounce was that straightforward we and the other contenders for the automatics would have been doing it all season long.

Worth reviewing this post in a few weeks time.

[morty 0]

[quote user="ruthers1"]All you''ve done there Morty is prove my point - a run of 6 wins in a row and halted by who? ''Mighty'' Malky''s Wigan that''s who!

Great though the run was it proves it''s impossible to keep winning games irrespective of the opposition and 8 in a row will be too much of an ask here I''m afraid.[/quote]No I didn''t really prove your point. The point I am making is that we are in absolutely stunning form, and anything is entirely possible.

[......and Smith must score. 1,596]

[quote user="morty"].... The point I am making is that we are in absolutely stunning form, and anything is entirely possible.

[/quote]

Entirely possible that we''ll need to beat Fulham on the last day.

Oh dear....

[Lessingham Canary 108]

We will imo beat Bolton, Leeds is the one i see as being most difficult, the final 3 will be fine, so next Tuesday will be defining in where we finish.

[Horse Renoir 1]

I expect us to get about another 11 points from the next 5. Draws away at Leeds and at home to Fulham and winning the rest. 87 points might hopefully be enough, any other year it would be, that would be a decent return from these 5 games and it could still see us finishing 3rd FFS as Watford have such an easy run in

[93vintage 16]

The margins are very fine, but the chances are high that both us and Watford will drop points. Therefore we have to hope we drop fewer than them and not lose against Middlesbrough.What we need from the Boro fixture will probably depend upon where everyone is in two games time. If we beat Bolton and Leeds we can perhaps afford a draw.

[E I E I E I O 0]

This run in is so tight that we need to take it a game at a time.

Starting this weekend. We should be able to beat Bolton away this weekend.

Millwall may just do us a massive favour this weekend, they appear to be making a fight of it under the new manager and have improved to draw 2 and win 1 of their last 3 games. Millwall over the years has been a tricky ground to go to. Lets hope they can give Watford a tough game fighting for their championship lives.

Middlesborough should really win at home to Rotherham, although they took a big confidence knock last game and Rotherham are likely to be 1 or 2 wins from assuring their safety. Therefore they will be tougher to play at present than some teams sat in mid table.

Bournemouth have a tricky away game at Brighton on Friday night and know that a slip up will allow us and Watford a chance to replace them. Therefore they have added pressure in their game and Hughton as we all know will be trying to keep things tight due to the quality of the Opposition and nick a 1-0. :-) Brighton is a tough place to go at present and we only just managed 3 points their.

Lets hope at least 1 of these 3 will drop points, ideally both Borough and Watford!! Allowing ourselves to create a gap.

[YankeeCanary 0]

[quote user="ruthers1"]Guilty as charged Morty but I''m trying to counter balance the OP''s over-optimism. If we win the last five games it will mean we have won 8 games in a row!! It aint going to happen I''m afraid - in fact I doubt any team has won their last 8 Championship games in a row - ever, let alone in the thick of a promotion/relegation fight. I will raffle off my season ticket for the top six games in the Prem next season if it happens - it won''t unfortunately.[/quote]

 

Not much of a gamble on your part Ruthers. You''d stand to make money and watch us on television.  On the other hand, if you had said you will DONATE your season ticket for the top six Premiership games to some worthy cause, well now, that would have been a real statement of conviction on your part and, I suspect, you would have placed yourself in a squeaky bum position if we win the next couple of games. Care to amend your statement?

[ruthers1 0]

Yankee, my apologies, that is of course what I meant to put. Thanks for pointing it out, isn''t there a pink un pickers charity? Imagine that would be a worthy beneficiary if we manage to pull off the ''impossible'' 5 wins.

[YankeeCanary 0]

[quote user="ruthers1"]Yankee, my apologies, that is of course what I meant to put. Thanks for pointing it out, isn''t there a pink un pickers charity? Imagine that would be a worthy beneficiary if we manage to pull off the ''impossible'' 5 wins.[/quote]

 

Great stuff Ruthers! Nutty Nigel will be acknowledging your generous offer I''m sure.

[King Klose 0]

[quote user="E I E I E I O"]This run in is so tight that we need to take it a game at a time.

Starting this weekend. We should be able to beat Bolton away this weekend.

Millwall may just do us a massive favour this weekend, they appear to be making a fight of it under the new manager and have improved to draw 2 and win 1 of their last 3 games. Millwall over the years has been a tricky ground to go to. Lets hope they can give Watford a tough game fighting for their championship lives.

Middlesborough should really win at home to Rotherham, although they took a big confidence knock last game and Rotherham are likely to be 1 or 2 wins from assuring their safety. Therefore they will be tougher to play at present than some teams sat in mid table.

Bournemouth have a tricky away game at Brighton on Friday night and know that a slip up will allow us and Watford a chance to replace them. Therefore they have added pressure in their game and Hughton as we all know will be trying to keep things tight due to the quality of the Opposition and nick a 1-0. :-) Brighton is a tough place to go at present and we only just managed 3 points their.

Lets hope at least 1 of these 3 will drop points, ideally both Borough and Watford!! Allowing ourselves to create a gap.[/quote]

You expect us to take care of Bolton and Millwall and Brighton to both do is a favour? Deluded. Ours is the tougher away game of the 3.

[Canary Poirot 1]

Both Bolton and Leeds have nothing left to play for it his season. This can often very easily translate into sub par performances. I think both games are winnable. The Middlesbrough game will clearly be tough, as they will come and be compact and could easily nick a draw. Rotherham could well be safe by the the time we play them so again they could put in a below par end of season performance, however we could easily do that v Fulham and drop 2 points.

I expect a return of 11 points.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

[quote user="YankeeCanary"]

[quote user="ruthers1"]Yankee, my apologies, that is of course what I meant to put. Thanks for pointing it out, isn''t there a pink un pickers charity? Imagine that would be a worthy beneficiary if we manage to pull off the ''impossible'' 5 wins.[/quote]

 

Great stuff Ruthers! Nutty Nigel will be acknowledging your generous offer I''m sure.

[/quote]

 

Fantastic Ruthers. I''ll be counting those wins[Y]

 

But for now we''d love you to help by putting in a selection for the weekends football and a suggestion for the Norwich game. Would be great to have you on board.