TrueBlueArmy Forums

It is clearly a three horse race, Derby, Bolton, and ourselves. Let's hope we aren't the ones to miss out. Those games in hand could be crucial.

I think one of the games in hand is Derby-Bolton so that's good news. Of course Bolton-Pompey and Pompey-Derby still to come so that's a mini-league of our own which might have a lot to say about the outcome. Maybe slightly too early to rule out say Peterbro despite their slump of late.

No team including us is going to go to the end of the season without dropping points , the trick is not to get beat by your rivals.
Can Pompey finally do it ? well from what I've seen there seems to be a resilience about our team which has been lacking in recent seasons,our last banana skin? Charlton, we rarely win there , time to change that!

Pompey's problems have usually been the alsorans rather than the promotion rivals. We thought nothing in years of yore doing Sunderland at home and then getting beaten by Morecambe away

(14-02-2024, 03:27 PM)mike hunt Wrote: [ -> ]No team including us is going to go to the end of the season without dropping points , the trick is not to get beat by your rivals.
Can Pompey finally do it ? well from what I've seen there seems to be a resilience about our team which has been lacking in recent seasons,our last banana skin? Charlton, we rarely win there , time to change that!

We won’t get a better chance. Charlton have had a massively disappointing season, how motivated will they be?

(14-02-2024, 04:40 PM)Slagger Wrote: [ -> ]

(14-02-2024, 03:27 PM)mike hunt Wrote: [ -> ]No team including us is going to go to the end of the season without dropping points , the trick is not to get beat by your rivals.
Can Pompey finally do it ? well from what I've seen there seems to be a resilience about our team which has been lacking in recent seasons,our last banana skin? Charlton, we rarely win there , time to change that!

We won’t get a better chance. Charlton have had a massively disappointing season, how motivated will they be?

The team, the club, we supporters need confidence in our team. Let others worry about us for once!

shows the horrible flaw with the play offs as they are.
Time and time again the third best team lose out to the 6th place and far worse team.
3rd place should at least get a trip to the final, to play one of the 4th/5th with the advantage of a rest.

(14-02-2024, 05:46 PM)Hammie Wrote: [ -> ]shows the horrible flaw with the play offs as they are.
Time and time again the third best team lose out to the 6th place and far worse team.
3rd place should at least get a trip to the final, to play one of the 4th/5th with the advantage of a rest.

Absolutely right.

(14-02-2024, 05:57 PM)Rocketman Wrote: [ -> ]

(14-02-2024, 05:46 PM)Hammie Wrote: [ -> ]shows the horrible flaw with the play offs as they are.
Time and time again the third best team lose out to the 6th place and far worse team.
3rd place should at least get a trip to the final, to play one of the 4th/5th with the advantage of a rest.

Absolutely right.

That's the best idea for a change in the play-off format I've seen!

Even if they still wanted to retain 6th place, maybe a triangle play-off for positions 4-6 (as you say, meeting 3rd in the final).

(14-02-2024, 03:27 PM)mike hunt Wrote: [ -> ]No team including us is going to go to the end of the season without dropping points , the trick is not to get beat by your rivals.
Can Pompey finally do it ? well from what I've seen there seems to be a resilience about our team which has been lacking in recent seasons,our last banana skin? Charlton, we rarely win there , time to change that!

Our record at Charlton is not too bad at all ... 4 wins in our last 7 games there ... it's at FP we can't beat them. 

And back to OP it's far too early to write off anyone not in the top three. Barnsley, for instance, are only 6 points behind us if they win their 2 games in hand. Certainly closer to us than we were to Plymouth at this stage of the season when we won the  League 2 title.

It looks it.

Derby coming on strong and Bolton not going away.

Is going to be close.

I was following comments by https://twitter.com/marciles during Bolton's game last night, alongside our own.

He is the Chief Sports Reporter of their local rag.

Apparently Wycombe could have (and perhaps should've) had 3 or 4 in the back of the net by half time, and Bolton were long balling it in desperation.

Iles told a tale of a team that had no creative play and resorted to raining balls into the box. The pressure worked for them in injury time and they also managed to concede a penalty by being equally reckless in their own box.

They also played a disjointed, unsettled defence and lost Charles to injury.

I don't think this style of play (which looking in the comments appears to have been going on for a while) is going to get them automatic promotion. The fans are less than convinced by the manager and his defensive selections and substitutions, so they are not a happy house. They need to get 7 points from their games in hand just to draw level with us. They then need to keep an even longer run going.

If they go up automatically, it will be because of our results, not theirs.

If we keep our house in order, it's a 1-2 with Derby each way for autos.

(14-02-2024, 04:40 PM)Slagger Wrote: [ -> ]

(14-02-2024, 03:27 PM)mike hunt Wrote: [ -> ]No team including us is going to go to the end of the season without dropping points , the trick is not to get beat by your rivals.
Can Pompey finally do it ? well from what I've seen there seems to be a resilience about our team which has been lacking in recent seasons,our last banana skin? Charlton, we rarely win there , time to change that!

We won’t get a better chance. Charlton have had a massively disappointing season, how motivated will they be?

When it comes to the league leaders every team in this division gets highly motivated. That’s why they say ‘it’s tough at the top’

15/8 on Pompey making the playoffs.
So pretty much treble your money if we slip up.

Pay for some playoff tickets and drown your sorrows if it wins.

(14-02-2024, 07:38 PM)simonfkwit Wrote: [ -> ]15/8 on Pompey making the playoffs.
So pretty much treble your money if we slip up.

Pay for some playoff tickets and drown your sorrows if it wins.

Ignore this post - I see what you mean :-)

(14-02-2024, 07:38 PM)simonfkwit Wrote: [ -> ]15/8 on Pompey making the playoffs.
So pretty much treble your money if we slip up.

Pay for some playoff tickets and drown your sorrows if it wins.

8-15 is the price on Betfair to lay not back,best price with the firms to be in top 6 is 1-100

I mean finish in the playoffs (ie 3rd to 6th).
Hence tripling your money if we slip up and don't make the top 2

(14-02-2024, 08:43 PM)simonfkwit Wrote: [ -> ]I mean finish in the playoffs (ie 3rd to 6th).
Hence tripling your money if we slip up and don't make the top 2

Really? I'm not sure thats right

(14-02-2024, 08:52 PM)South Coast steve Wrote: [ -> ]

(14-02-2024, 08:43 PM)simonfkwit Wrote: [ -> ]I mean finish in the playoffs (ie 3rd to 6th).
Hence tripling your money if we slip up and don't make the top 2

Really? I'm not sure thats right

Really

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/eng...e-playoffs

(14-02-2024, 08:57 PM)simonfkwit Wrote: [ -> ]

(14-02-2024, 08:52 PM)South Coast steve Wrote: [ -> ]

(14-02-2024, 08:43 PM)simonfkwit Wrote: [ -> ]I mean finish in the playoffs (ie 3rd to 6th).
Hence tripling your money if we slip up and don't make the top 2

Really? I'm not sure thats right

Really

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/eng...e-playoffs

I think it's to finish 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th excluding 1st and 2nd

I think Orient to finish in the play-offs 10/1 could be value.  8th, just 7 points off 6th.

Yes.
That's exactly what it is.
Hence tripling your money if we slip up and don't make the top 2

(14-02-2024, 09:11 PM)simonfkwit Wrote: [ -> ]Yes.
That's exactly what it is.
Hence tripling your money  if we slip up and don't make the top 2

Peterborough and stevenage shorter odds than us to make the play offs? Some thing not right there.  Have you tried putting money on at those odds?

(14-02-2024, 11:55 PM)South Coast steve Wrote: [ -> ]

(14-02-2024, 09:11 PM)simonfkwit Wrote: [ -> ]Yes.
That's exactly what it is.
Hence tripling your money  if we slip up and don't make the top 2

Peterborough and stevenage shorter odds than us to make the play offs? Some thing not right there.  Have you tried putting money on at those odds?

Sorry  I get it

It's definitely a 3 horse race.

The issue is the amount of injuries we have, whereas Bolton and Derby have very strong squads and do not have as many key injuries as we have.

Washington and Waghorn for example are expected back for Derby shortly.

If we had our strongest team available, we would go up without any issues. But we don't.

Derby and Bolton will not slow down.

We only have 13 games left, fortunately, and have a decent amount of points on the board already, so we could by hook or crook stay in the top 2. 

We need to get as many points as quickly as possible. More injuries is inevitable.

Our starting first 11  is still good enough to get results, but they won't all remain fit for the rest of the season. We need to strike while the iron is hot, which is why another win Saturday would be priceless.

A few six pointers coming up on the horizon.

They may well decide some issues.