Okay, so weâve heard all about our impossible run-in, fastened our seatbelts and stuck our heads between our knees ready for a crash landing in the NPLC⦠So now what - wallow in the doom and gloom till the inevitable finally happens? Since Iâm already mixing metaphors, might as well take a trip down to the Last Chance Saloon and see whatâs really occurring. Could be a few rounds of ârun-inâ could get the hopes up again and the eyes sparkling with more than just moonshine! Already done last orders and gotta say, no easy games in the premier league and things're far from done and dusted. Glass is half full as far as I can see! Check this lot out and tell me if Iâm wrong. Run-In Round 1 QPR v Liverpool Blackburn v Sunderland Aston Villa v Bolton (postponed) Where are the points going in Round 1? Blackburn have come good of late (2 wins a loss and a draw in their last 4 games). Nothing to say they couldnât nick a point or three here though Sunderland on 37 points might fancy an opportunity to get over the safety line early. If Blackburn win theyâll open the gap to 5 to 6 points over us strugglers⦠that is unless miracles happen and we come good against Liverpool. Run-In Round 2 Sunderland v QPR Bolton v Blackburn Norwich v Wolves Liverpool v Wigan Where are the points going in Round 2? No âeasyâ games for any of us in this round. Funnily enough, Wigan are the âformâ side in the bottom five (4 draws, a win and a loss in their last six). Run-In Round 3 QPR v Arsenal Blackburn v Man United Wolves v Bolton Wigan v Stoke Where are the points going in Round 3? Again, anyoneâs guess. Canât see United rolling over against Blackburn twice in one season. Wigan are as bad as us at home but should manage a draw against Stoke. Run-In Round 4 Man United v QPR West Brom v Blackburn Bolton v Fulham Stoke v Wolves Chelsea v Wigan Where are the points going in Round 4? Is this the round where we really come unstuck? Could well be points for the others - except Wigan. Run-In Round 5 QPR v Swansea Blackburn v Liverpool Newcastle v Bolton Wolves v Arsenal Wigan v Man United Where are the points going in Round 5? If it does go tits up for us in Round 4, hereâs our chance of getting our heads above water again. Thatâs not to underrate Swans at all but one of our teams did well at their place last time. Just hope Adelâs up for it again! Run-In Round 6 West Brom v QPR Swansea v Blackburn Bolton v Tottenham (postponed) Sunderland v Wolves Arsenal v Wigan Where are the points going in Round 6? God, I hope weâve got the bit between our teeth by Round 6, cos this is our chance of making some headway⦠Run-In Round 7 QPR v Tottenham Blackburn v Norwich Bolton v Swansea Wolves v Man City Fulham v Wigan Where are the points going in Round 7? All to play for for all except Wolves in this round⦠scares the life out of me tbh! Run-In Round 8 Chelsea v QPR Tottenham v Blackburn Sunderland v Bolton Swansea v Wolves Wigan v Newcastle Where are the points going in Round 8? Please God weâre on some sort of a roll by now and are able to nick a point at the Bridge. If that were to be the case, we could be on our way to securing that 17th spot weâve been satisfying ourselves with for the best part of the last year! Run-In Round 9 QPR v Stoke Blackburn v Wigan Bolton v West Brom Wolves v Everton Where are the points going in Round 9? Not only is this the stage of any season when strugglers take scalps from better teams, this round seems to be begging for it as a grand relegation finale. Run-In Round 10 Man City v QPR Chelsea v Blackburn Stoke v Bolton Wigan v Wolves Where are the points going in Round 10? It should have been a nice little end game for Bolton and youâd think theyâd have cleared the bottom three by now. Blackburn too really BUT that all depends on if and when we clicked. Could be a point against City becomes a must for survival. With the Mancs neck and neck all year, letâs hope not eh?!! URRRssss!!
My glass is only half full after reading through that Brix,i need a top up.I'm pretty sure that there will be a few shock results between now and the end of the season,i just hope that we deliver the majority of them.This awful situation with Fabrice Muamba has not made things any clearer,goodness knows when Bolton will play again.When they do it will effect them in one of two ways,they will either have lost the desire to play with their minds on other things,or they will play their hearts out for him and be galvanised into an unstoppable force.Alas either way i feel that now we will be battling against a nationwide hope for Bolton to survive,it is going to be a surreal few weeks but we somehow have to beat a couple of the big boys.Now is the time to charge those glasses and make sure that come the end of the season,we have good reason to still have a few bottles on ice!
I'm off for a top up i think... Even if we are to knick a few points off the big boys, we'll still be reallying (very) heavily on others....I dont agree that our fate is in our hands, i think we need to get a bit lucky and just hope a few teams can do us a favour.... Here's to hoping....COYR's
Nice one Brix. I agree that things are far from over....although pretty daunting!! However, one factor that can't be overlooked imo is that our rivals have games either against each other, where SOMEONE will pick up points or they play teams like Fulham, Stoke, Everton and Norwich who will have little to play for. Norwich for example look ****e now they're safe! Whilst we play a lot of teams who will be playing for something...the exceptions being WBA, Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea and you'd think we MUST get at least 9 points from those 4!! URrrrsss!!
Quite a few on our board don't think that we are safe yet.I think 36 points is going to be but whether that has affected the team is a matter of debate.I think the feeling amongst the fans is that they very much want to beat Wolves.But I don't think Wolves are your problem,it's the two B's that look as if they have life in them. As I have said before your big chance was the last six games.Qpr's owners have a lot to answer for.
Good work Brix My glass have been half full for quite some time to be honest. I'm convinced we're better suited to play the underdog role with our backs against the wall, compared to the "must-win-games", "6 pointers" etc were we have failed miserably.
Biggest chance for us it obviously to get some points and pull off some dramtic wins but realistically if there is winner in the Blackburn vs Bolton game and that team goes on streak beating rivals and pulling away from the pack, it could help. If there is a draw there and both teams then go on to win some games we will be in trouble, kick in the teeth losing that game for either side.
I hate looking at these lists - our games always look tough, but our rivals always look easy, or where they are meeting Citeh or Arsenal and the like, I see a shock result turning up for them! Prefer to shut my eyes tight and hope for the best - the Scousers we are playing tomorrow night are called Tranmere Rovers, right?!
Apologies Oslo, thought the list might help show that it ain't in the bag for the other teams either. Clearly not.
I'm down to the dregs at the bottom of the glass. Realistically, you can only judge what might happen by considering recent form and ours is just plain awful - worse than even the very poor clubs around us. Looking at the list from that perspective we are down for sure. I remain ready to reevaluate that opinion at any time but that will need to be based on performances on the pitch not speculation about the potential in our squad. See me after church on Wednesday evening.
It was a good post Brix, certainly no apologies needed! It's all down to perception isn't it? There's still 10 games to go, and one hell of a lot can happen in that time, perhaps even one or two Clubs who seem safe enough now could remotely get pulled back into the fray, and others like us go on mega runs, MH has got to pull his fingers out sooner or later!. Wolves look like they are in the worse state of us all today to me - but possibly tomorrow they will appoint a new manager who'll send them on a good run, hope not but it could happen!
Great post, Brix. Set's out well what we may have in store over the next weeks. What I wouldn't give for a win tomorrow night.
Brixton, I don't have time to read now will read later but I would like to thank you for putting this together it looks like an awful amount of work, great post.
If Blackburn beat Sunderland, who I heard on Talksport earlier are 'resting' several players for tonight's match, and then beat Bolton on Saturday our five team mini-league will become a four team mini-league. The bottom line is we HAVE to start winning, especially our home games. 3 points from the Scousers should be possible, they've had two tough games against Everton & Stoke since we last played, hopefully we'll catch them a bit tired...
Brix this is some cracking work mate and gives us lot a fair bit to chew over... Realistically we have to win in rounds 5 and 6, and if we can and we take that momentum through to round 7 I can see us getting at least a draw against Spurs. That's an extra 7 points on our current total which puts us on 29pts. I can see a shock win over one of the big sides (fingers crossed its Liverpool on Wednesday!) which would put us on 32pts, just 3pts short of survival in my opinion. That win could come at home to Stoke, and then scraping a draw or two elsewhere could see us more than safe. Okay this may be wishful thinking, but I think your post has given a few of us a much needed lift!
Looking on the bright side, at least when we lose matches now we are not giving points to the teams around us.
Very well laid out the majestic one In complete Eurovision Acclaim: Evening Jerusalem Blackburn Rovers 9 Points Bolton Wanderers 7 Points Wigan Althletic 6 points Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 points QPR 2 points
