Can we make the playoffs?

[Mark44]

Looking at who we have coming up i think by the end of november we could have results like:

 

Truro: L

Gosport: D

AFC Hayes: W

Bishops Cleeveland: W

Abingdon: W

Bracjnell: D

AFC Totton: L

Winchester: W

 

This would give us 25 points from 17 games, is that good enough to set us up to be there or there abouts?

[Martin]

We would need to have a very good run at some point and I think we are going to lack consistency this season. It may be considered negative but I think we should be looking for an upper mid-table finsh with the real play off push to come next season.

[Windsor Rebel]

Until we get some defenders we will struggle against anyone in this

league. Remember, Thatcham put five past us and they are below us in the league and have only scored 8 all season!

[Mr Rebel]

comfortably avoiding relegation will do for me

 

the key is to survive and then keep the majority of this squad for next season. we wont go anywhere without squad consistency over a few seasons

[brighton_rebel]

Top mid table if we get the defence sorted. I'm all for 5-4 games as long as its us scoring the 5.

[Reading Rebel]

I think if we accumulate 14 pts over the next 8 games we will be doing very well all things considered i.e. Injuries, suspensions and any new players settling into the team.

 

Looking at the league table the top 8 teams should certainly accumulate more than 24 pts and possibly 1/2 others so I would say that would leave us in around 9th or 10th position.

[Matt]

I don't see why we can't make the playoffs, but I don't think we will. No harm in a bit of optimism though.

 

I don't think 'comfortably avoiding relegation' is good enough for me this time round to be honest - we should have higher ambitions. We were poor last season, but if you take Windsor as an example, they fell into this league 3 seasons ago, finished lower mid-table (I think) in their first season, then pushed for the play-offs last season, and are doing well so far this season. I think we should be looking at a top 8 finish as being achievable as we have a much better squad and knowledge of other teams in this league.

[A Rebel and a Saint]

I think that if our defensive issues can be solved (or nearly solved) soonish we can push for the top half. After what has happened I think a top half finish would be good for us, a bit of stability would be good to build on next year.

It would be nice to make the playoffs but we will require a good consistant run of results, which at the moment I cannot see happening until some defenders are fit/back from suspension, or bought in to improve the squad. We are already at a disadvantage because of our goal difference.

[Chris]

Our squad is good enough to make the play-off's if we sort the back-line out. Trouble is there are a lot of other good teams in this division who could also easily make the play-off's

[HEAVY TRUCKER]

i think the play offs would be very nice but at the moment i cannot see us realisticly managing it, though i think we will be close, as is said else where in this thread we need to get consistency and until we get the back line sorted that is one thing we are going to lack.

[Matt]

So one month on, and we haven't done anywhere near as well as we needed to - no wins and we have Winchester at home to end November, which we surely must win. The last few results have been poor and although we've tightened up defensively, we've been lacking up front and quite poor in midfield.

 

I do think play-offs was a good ambition at the start of the season and it wasn't unreasonable to think it was possible, because at this kind of level it's possible for any club to have a decent run regardless of what happened in the prior season. Things were looking alright with those three wins in September - but clearly it's not going to be possible now, barring a superhuman effort.

 

But on the other hand I really can't see us going down - so what's the aim now? I think the key is getting a settled team together, becoming more of a solid unit and putting a string of results together sooner rather than later to boost confidence and build for next season. After all, there has been a lot of change from last season's squad and I don't think we've seen our first choice XI yet. We don't deserve to be any higher up the table, but I do feel we've been slightly unlucky with injuries to players like Evans and Brown, and Jordan's been missed the last few games too.

 

Overall I feel disappointed because it feels like there's not much to play for now, except the massive lure of the B&B Cup of course!

[Wizard( RWG )]

Have to give you 10/10 for optimism !

What ambition for a team of our history and even with our present players we ought to be thinking a bit more than save getting relegated !!

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

Well after the last 5-10 years not gettign relegated is always a welcome change.

 

Top half would be a good finish.