Championship/FL Chat 26/27

[mentalcase]

Very unlikely they will finish top 2 but if they beat Leicester it will give them impetus.
They will have to win all 6 of their remaining games to have any chance though.
Let's hope they're well out of it by the time they play us.

Let's hope we're still in it by the time we play them

[Jimstorrie]

Four games to go for the top three, and the only time any kick off at the same time is for the last set of fixtures.
Sky TV rules

[PhoenixUnited]

FFP = F**King Farcical Procedure.

Oh well - never mind. The Turkeys have realised that they voted for Christmas by mistake and are rescinding the rules so that they are only there for ignorable guidance and payment of some fee or other, representing pocket lint to Premiership teams mostly, will take care of any arising issue with ease.

The question then is - why bother?

[The Subhuman]

Southampton will only be three points behind us if they win their two games in hand although they are against Leicester and Preston.
If they win them both though, they are still in with an outside chance of top 2.

Still like my 10,000 mettes race analogy I used much earlier in the season .. Leicester break early, Ipswich go with them. We get caught in the middle of the pack somewhere at the start and have to battle to get to the front of the chasing group

. After 3000 meters Ipswich ride on Leicester's shoulder we've broken away with Southampton as the chasers, 7/8 thousand metres in we've reeled in the leaders, Southampton lost a little ground but there's a chance of a second wind

All runners are getting leggy bit it might be Southampton have a sprinters chance from a bit further back ... 2 1/2 laps to go, all to race for

[Clacton White]

Still like my 10,000 mettes race analogy I used much earlier in the season .. Leicester break early, Ipswich go with them. We get caught in the middle of the pack somewhere at the start and have to battle to get to the front of the chasing group

. After 3000 meters Ipswich ride on Leicester's shoulder we've broken away with Southampton as the chasers, 7/8 thousand metres in we've reeled in the leaders, Southampton lost a little ground but there's a chance of a second wind

All runners are getting leggy bit it might be Southampton have a sprinters chance from a bit further back ... 2 1/2 laps to go, all to race for

Well I hope Ipscum fall and break a leg or two , or a stray dog bites them , or given it's the land that time forgot...a random velociraptor .

[Cjay]

Portsmouth won promotion back to the Championship last night after 12 years and are officially League 1 Champions.

John Mousinho was appointed manager January 2023 in his first coaching role of any sort.

He lead them from 15th when he arrived to 8th including an 11 match unbeaten run.

Then this season 1st with 94 points so far with 2 games left.

Colby Bishop top scorer with 21.

Young midfielder Paddy Lane has 11 goals and 6 assists.

And tricky winger Abu Kamara has 8 goals and 10 assists.

Other familiar names include former Cardiff and Bristol City midfielder Marlon Pack.

And League 1 team of the season member ex Leeds cb Conor Shaughnessy (whose nearly 28 which should make people feel nice and ancient)

[Cjay]

Couldn't decide which was most suitable so picked them both.

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[The Subhuman]

Vardy and DH start, Ricardo on the bench

[Cjay]

Leicester go 4 points clear at the top with 3 games left after robbing WBA, now on 91 points

Ipswich are 2nd with 89.

We are next with 87.

Southampton now have a very faint chance of automatic after a late defeat to Cardiff with a win vs Leicester in the week an absolute must.

In terms of fixtures left Leicester have Southampton then Preston and Blackburn, all 3 basically have nothing to play for (apart from maybe Southampton and the very very faint automatic hopes).

Leicester could actually be promoted if we lose and they beat Southampton.

However Leicester have been very poor for ages now and shouldn't have beaten WBA so if we beat Boro and they lose to Southampton then be interesting to see how they handle the pressure.

Ipswich have the hardest fixtures arguably with Hull and Coventry who are both still chasing the playoffs, and then Huddersfield who are staring relegation in the face.

We have Boro, QPR and Southampton. Boro in a similar boat to Southampton in the sense that whilst highly unlikely they technically have a chance of the playoffs still but need a win on Monday. Win today from QPR puts them basically on there holidays (hopefully) and Southampton in all liklihood will be playoff bound by the time we play them.

All that being said it's so crazy who knows what will happen, us, Ipswich and Leicester could easily not win again and Southampton win the league.

Bonkers league.

[Jaydog]

Maths CJay, maths. 91/89/87
Now. 91-89=2
Not 4

[Cjay]

Maths CJay, maths. 91/89/87
Now. 91-89=2
Not 4

I meant 4 points clear of 3rd

[hector]

I meant 4 points clear of 3rd

[Chilli D]

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[Madron]

Leicester go 4 points clear at the top with 3 games left after robbing WBA, now on 91 points

Ipswich are 2nd with 89.

We are next with 87.

Southampton now have a very faint chance of automatic after a late defeat to Cardiff with a win vs Leicester in the week an absolute must.

In terms of fixtures left Leicester have Southampton then Preston and Blackburn, all 3 basically have nothing to play for (apart from maybe Southampton and the very very faint automatic hopes).

Leicester could actually be promoted if we lose and they beat Southampton.

However Leicester have been very poor for ages now and shouldn't have beaten WBA so if we beat Boro and they lose to Southampton then be interesting to see how they handle the pressure.

Ipswich have the hardest fixtures arguably with Hull and Coventry who are both still chasing the playoffs, and then Huddersfield who are staring relegation in the face.

We have Boro, QPR and Southampton. Boro in a similar boat to Southampton in the sense that whilst highly unlikely they technically have a chance of the playoffs still but need a win on Monday. Win today from QPR puts them basically on there holidays (hopefully) and Southampton in all liklihood will be playoff bound by the time we play them.

All that being said it's so crazy who knows what will happen, us, Ipswich and Leicester could easily not win again and Southampton win the league.

Bonkers league.

Ipswich fixtures against Hull Coventry looked tough a few weeks ago. Not so much now, as they can't both reach the play offs, in fact hardly likely either of them will. They play each other on Wed, and our only hope is for a Hull win to put them within 3 points of Norwich and WBA. Trouble is both those 2 play @ 3pm on saturday before the Ipswich/Hull game @ 8pm, so by the time Hull play they could be 6 points behind both, with a far inferior GD.
So ,for the Ipswich /Hull game to be competitive we really need firstly, Hull to beat Coventry on Wed and then one of Norwich/Wba not to win on Saturday.
You could swap Coventry for Hull instead , but its less likely they will be in any position to bother due to FA CUP hangover and lack of recent form.
Ipswich last game v Huddersfield could be really competitive if Udders beat Birmingham on Sat as they will be above relegation spots (assuming Wednesday lose todayL)
Lose that and they will be guaranteed to be relegated.
So still a few games to keep an eye on that will make Ipswichs run-in more diffiscult , Starting with Blackburn v Wed in an hour.

Not looking good for us and the bookies have Ipswich as solid favourites to grab a top 2 place.
Hard to disagree with them and hard to see us topping them without 3 wins.

[Madron]

Blackburn 1 Wednesday 3
All but consigned Ipswich last game will be against a side already relegated (they are 1-10).
Virtual walk over methinks

[The Subhuman]

Think the top 6 are set in stone tbh .... don't get 3 points v Boro and we're fighting for third at best I feel

5th and 6th place battle is the closest and not sure who I'd want in the playoff two leg game... West Brom form has dropped away badly though

[Cjay]

Right so.

We are back to 2nd on 90 points with +43 goal difference.

Leicester 1st with 91 points and a game in hand vs Southampton tonight and a +42 goal difference.

Ipswich in 3rd with 89 points and +32 goal difference.

Southampton in 4th with 84 and +29 goal difference.

Southampton need a win to keep any vague hope of automatic alive a bit longer.

If we do our job on Friday vs QPR they won't have much chance of catching us anyway because of goal difference, would need a 10+ swing which is unlikely to say the least.

Pressure does funny things and maybe the freedom of realistically knowing there fate will help Southampton tonight, Leicester on the other hand have looked very dodgy for a long time now and better players batter them if they perform as they did vs WBA.

Those chances come the way of Armstrong and Adams and its probably a different game tonight.

Plucky underdogs Ipswich, pressure is on for them (if we do our job).

Beat QPR on Friday then they need really to get a minimum of 4 points from Hull and Coventry away, both of whom have shown an ability to take points of the top 4 this season.

That's how it stands.

[mentalcase]

It's out of our hands if all teams win up, the games won't be easy by a long chalk, then there's the pressure.
We can still.get automatic promotion as.long as we win up.

[malcolmw]

Way I see it, we must win both remaining games. We end on 96 points.

Assume Ipswich will win final game at home to Huddersfield (maybe shouldn't as they could well still be fighting to stay up - but don't think they can get anything at Ipswich).

So we need Coventry and/or Hull to limit them to no more than 4 points.

Yikes! The old sphincter is going to be tight for a couple of weeks.

[Cjay]

Congratulations to Leicester

Poundland Pep scraped by.