Can we make the play offs? | Page 4 | Vital Football

Can we make the play offs?

Sincilbanks said:
We've strung together a "run of 4 or 5 wins" and it's made no appreciable difference to our league position...
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it has made an appreciable difference to the points gap between us and sixth.

crucially, we have finally put in a performance that could match or better any team above us. whether we can do that consistently in the next month is the new unknown.
 
Sincilbanks said:
We've strung together a "run of 4 or 5 wins" and it's made no appreciable difference to our league position...
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True that we are only up two places since the start of February, but we were 14 points behind the play-offs at that point and only 8 points clear of the bottom four; now we are 8 behind the play-offs and 18 clear. We have gone from being out of play-off contention to having an outside chance, and from being possibly dragged into a relegation battle to there being no worries whatsoever. We are also 7 points above the bottom half and are almost assured of a top-half finish if we beat Wigan and Bristol Robbers at home. Quite a transformation in six games.
 
Scotimp said:
True that we are only up two places since the start of February, but we were 14 points behind the play-offs at that point and only 8 points clear of the bottom four; now we are 8 behind the play-offs and 18 clear. We have gone from being out of play-off contention to having an outside chance, and from being possibly dragged into a relegation battle to there being no worries whatsoever. We are also 7 points above the bottom half and are almost assured of a top-half finish if we beat Wigan and Bristol Robbers at home. Quite a transformation in six games.
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Quite a transformation in terms of our relationship with relegation (which wasn't part of the debate) but not really much in terms of our progress towards the playoffs, despite dropping only 2 points in our last 6 games we only gained 6 points on the playoff places and still have 4 teams in front of us, and the teams who are in the bottom 2 places of the playoffs both have games in hand...
 
It has made things very interesting but as other posters have said we really need to beat Stevenage on Saturday.

Several teams above us are on dreadful runs and it is starting to look like Pompey are nailed on for the title with possibly Barnsley fancying their chances of 2nd spot.

Stevenage 7 points out of 18
Posh 5 points out of 18
Bolton 4 points out of 12
Derby 0 points out of 6

Lincoln City 16 points out of 18

So we are gaining points hand over fist on these teams the question is can we keep this run going?
 
I mean I couldn’t see it happening, and in fact there’s a bit of me would prefer to have a proper go next season just because it would be a great ride if we had a whole season in the top part of the table with all the excitement of big games and crowds rather than only coming to life in Feb/Mar.
But if we get 16 points from the next 6….,
 
No one would turn down the play-offs, even if we are not ready for promotion. The income alone from two televised semi-finals would be great to have, and a share of a 60,000 crowd at Wembley would set us up very nicely.
 
I get people’s thinking for hoping for promotion via the POs this season, but I for one would still prefer us to have a serious crack next year with a stronger squad and a better chance of staying up, rather than all the negatives I mentioned before if we did get into the POs and not get the promotion. Mind you, the other added bonus of promotion, if it was to happen, is that we have a much greater chance of keeping our best players. They may be targets for other teams but knowing that they could be playing in the Championship gives the club a much stronger hand in keeping them, saves them going to a bigger club as newbies and having to settle in, plus they are already home and comfortable with the Imps. The only downside could be money and ambition if it’s a potential Premiershite club. It’s all ‘ifs, buts and maybes’ and we are still guessing at the full potential of this team and MS. Who knows. 🤔
 
PerthImp said:
I get people’s thinking for hoping for promotion via the POs this season, but I for one would still prefer us to have a serious crack next year with a stronger squad and a better chance of staying up, rather than all the negatives I mentioned before if we did get into the POs and not get the promotion. Mind you, the other added bonus of promotion, if it was to happen, is that we have a much greater chance of keeping our best players. They may be targets for other teams but knowing that they could be playing in the Championship gives the club a much stronger hand in keeping them, saves them going to a bigger club as newbies and having to settle in, plus they are already home and comfortable with the Imps. The only downside could be money and ambition if it’s a potential Premiershite club. It’s all ‘ifs, buts and maybes’ and we are still guessing at the full potential of this team and MS. Who knows. 🤔
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Problem is, House has one year left on his deal so we'll probably have to cash in on him in the summer. McGrandles isn't our player, nor are Taylor or Mitchell. Roughan out of contract in 2025 so another one that will perhaps have to be sold. Not sure how long Erhahon has got left but he's another who'll have interest I imagine.

There's never a 'good' time to do anything in football, just gotta roll with it and see where it takes you!
 
Luke Imp said:
Problem is, House has one year left on his deal so we'll probably have to cash in on him in the summer. McGrandles isn't our player, nor are Taylor or Mitchell. Roughan out of contract in 2025 so another one that will perhaps have to be sold. Not sure how long Erhahon has got left but he's another who'll have interest I imagine.

There's never a 'good' time to do anything in football, just gotta roll with it and see where it takes you!
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Be interesting to see how the contract negotiations go. Wouldn’t surprise me if Roughan goes - looked like he might before the start of the season.
 
It's a bit of a dilemma because I can certainly see interest in Sorensen, Erhahon, Roughan and House happening. If we could reach the playoffs it might generate
enough funds to turn down offers and keep the nucleus of the side together.
However the idea of the model is to develop players and sell them on at a profit so we shall see.
 
Yes, we can. And until it's mathematically impossible I'll believe we just might pull it off.
In our Wembley play off season I seem to recall Blackpool started the season very poorly, yet they improved as the season progressed and finished the season beating us in the PO final. We've been doing the same this season and no reason we couldn't emulate it. An injury free-ish run to the end of the season would help, along with some favourable results elsewhere.
If we did manage the unthinkable🙏 and gain promotion we'd struggle but who wouldn't want to either play for or watch us in the Championship?
We won't get many chances and whilst next season would give us time to prepare an assault on promotion to the Championship we won't have the same squad and could end up having to rebuild some of the team which would slow our progression. There are no guarantees we could go up later instead of this season.
You can laugh now, fans of other clubs reading this, but this is why we follow our team and why you follow yours. You dare to dream.
 
Riiiiik said:
Yes, we can. And until it's mathematically impossible I'll believe we just might pull it off.
In our Wembley play off season I seem to recall Blackpool started the season very poorly, yet they improved as the season progressed and finished the season beating us in the PO final.
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That's an interesting comparison. It isn't quite equivalent, as Blackpool started their run three games earlier than us and were actually in the top six after 35 games played (five points behind us at that point, they finished three points ahead). Momentum is a wonderful thing and breeds confidence, especially in the closing overs of a season. And we know that teams that have been near the top all season often falter - look at Oxford, for instance, who also have to play Portsmouth and Bolton away in the next fortnight.
 
5 games ago we had no chance, we were looking down over our shoulder not upwards towards the play offs. Game by game we begin to think hellfire we could do this. A few more wins on the bounce we will all believe it’s possible. Then wham bang a couple of unlucky results and the dream is over.
It’s the hope that kills you but enjoy the ride.
 
Ruskingtony said:
It's a bit of a dilemma because I can certainly see interest in Sorensen, Erhahon, Roughan and House happening. If we could reach the playoffs it might generate
enough funds to turn down offers and keep the nucleus of the side together.
However the idea of the model is to develop players and sell them on at a profit so we shall see.
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That can't be right, our model is a complete failure with no-one ready to be sold for good money...
 
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