How on earth are we just 1 point from safety with 3 games to go?!

We had the worst start in the history of the club.

We are bottom of every stat since 1st Feb.

The middle didn't feel particularly good either apart from a couple of home wins.

It feels like Luton derby and everyone else have really picked up while we have fallen apart.

Yet despite all of that looking at the table we are 1, just 1, point from safety with 3 games to go.

It feels like we should have been relegated with a record low points total but in theory 2 draws could yet keep us up. And our final 3 games are all against teams out of sorts and 2 of them at home.

It wont happen as we are done- but just imagine if we sneaked 1 win somehow and stayed up!!

It's the worst Championship in a long, long time. Everyone is dire apart from the top 3.

That Reading points deduction, 2 years ago hit us harder than them.

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Originally Posted by Father Dougal

And our final 3 games are all against teams out of sorts and 2 of them at home.

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Are Oxford out of sorts? They’ve won three of their last six games and were narrowly beaten tonight by Leeds.

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Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman

Are Oxford out of sorts? They’ve won three of their last six games and were narrowly beaten tonight by Leeds.

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Fair enough. Still only 6 points above us..... they'll be nervous if they come here and lose.

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Originally Posted by Pedro de la Rosa

It's the worst Championship in a long, long time. Everyone is dire apart from the top 3.

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The top 3 are no great shakes. They’d all come straight back down with the Squads they have now.

One win won’t be enough but if we could beat Oxford and results go our way elsewhere it would be quite ridiculous that we’d potentially have a very good chance if we can find a win in the last two games.

Unfortunately Oxford have Gary Rowett - a completely average championship manager which means he will comfortably outwit ours and Oxford will run away 2-0 winners

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Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman

Are Oxford out of sorts? They’ve won three of their last six games and were narrowly beaten tonight by Leeds.

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Any neutral who watched both games tonight would fancy Oxford to win on Monday.

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

Any neutral who watched both games tonight would fancy Oxford to win on Monday.

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The huge difference between the teams was down to one word, “belief” - one team has it and the other doesn’t. The Championship is no great shakes this season, but you still need the right mentality to survive in it and I’d say that, more than any of the other twenty three clubs, this squad doesn’t have it collectively. You only need to look at the number of wins we’ve had to see that we lack the belief to see out games we’re in front in - I think a neutral would look at the table, see the matches we’ve got left and think we have a good chance of staying up because they’re all eminently winnable, but, after more than ninety per cent of a season watching this lot, I struggle to be that optimistic.

The table doesn’t lie: the standard of football in this division has been shocking this season.

No team, outside the top 3, has been consistently good, average or bad.

It’s just that out of 6 or 7 very poor teams near the bottom, we have been unable to pick up wins like the others have in recent weeks.

We are only 1 point behind because the other teams around us a just a smidge less shite than us.

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Originally Posted by Crisp White Lines

The table doesn’t lie: the standard of football in this division has been shocking this season.

No team, outside the top 3, has been consistently good, average or bad.

It’s just that out of 6 or 7 very poor teams near the bottom, we have been unable to pick up wins like the others have in recent weeks.

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I agree with your final comment. But the top three being consistent? Sheffield Utd had lost three on the spin before last night and only scored against us because two attempted shots deflected into the path of one of their players who couldn't really miss.
They have to be one of the worst teams to have a shot of heading into the best league in the world for many years.
We will see on Easter Monday if we can turn this around, all is not yet lost.

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Originally Posted by Pedro de la Rosa

It's the worst Championship in a long, long time. Everyone is dire apart from the top 3.

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It really is. Dreadful.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

The huge difference between the teams was down to one word, “belief” - one team has it and the other doesn’t. The Championship is no great shakes this season, but you still need the right mentality to survive in it and I’d say that, more than any of the other twenty three clubs, this squad doesn’t have it collectively. You only need to look at the number of wins we’ve had to see that we lack the belief to see out games we’re in front in - I think a neutral would look at the table, see the matches we’ve got left and think we have a good chance of staying up because they’re all eminently winnable, but, after more than ninety per cent of a season watching this lot, I struggle to be that optimistic.

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So are you now saying that the players ARE good enough technically but are not mentally strong enough?

And is optimising that ‘belief mechanism’ or maximising good old fashioned motivation down to the management (sad as it maybe)?

I think that Warnock was a master at motivating players and optimising their potential, in the Championship at least.

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Originally Posted by 19bluebirds27

That Reading points deduction, 2 years ago hit us harder than them.

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...and they'll all come straight down

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Originally Posted by Bobby Dandruff

So are you now saying that the players ARE good enough technically but are not mentally strong enough?

And is optimising that ‘belief mechanism’ or maximising good old fashioned motivation down to the management (sad as it maybe)?

I think that Warnock was a master at motivating players and optimising their potential, in the Championship at least.

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I agree.

As there is so little between teams and players in this league- the mental side and organisation is disproportionately huge.

Whereas in the Premier league as warnock showed its not enough and without real class and talent you are screwed. It's not the case in the Championship.

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Originally Posted by Father Dougal

I agree.

As there is so little between teams and players in this league- the mental side and organisation is disproportionately huge.

Whereas in the Premier league as warnock showed its not enough and without real class and talent you are screwed. It's not the case in the Championship.

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When I see the likes of Bristol, Sunderland ,Coventry,etc fighting for playoffs and Sheffield United who have been awful in 3 games I have seen them against us it is no surprise that the play off winner and 2 x automatic promoted teams are going to struggle next season

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Originally Posted by Father Dougal

I agree.

As there is so little between teams and players in this league- the mental side and organisation is disproportionately huge.

Whereas in the Premier league as warnock showed its not enough and without real class and talent you are screwed. It's not the case in the Championship.

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100% correct, how many fans walked home after the 3-0 victory over Swansea thinking we could potentially fly up a very average league if we stayed in the same midset. Have the personnel changed dramatically since mid January? No.

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Originally Posted by William Treseder

The top 3 are no great shakes. They’d all come straight back down with the Squads they have now.

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You don’t say, Nostradamus must be shitting himself with this pearler.

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Originally Posted by William Treseder

The top 3 are no great shakes. They’d all come straight back down with the Squads they have now.

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I think Leeds might improve the squad and survive, but the other two will fly down.

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

You don’t say, Nostradamus must be shitting himself with this pearler.

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:hehe:

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm starting to think we may not be very good

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Originally Posted by Bobby Dandruff

So are you now saying that the players ARE good enough technically but are not mentally strong enough?

And is optimising that ‘belief mechanism’ or maximising good old fashioned motivation down to the management (sad as it maybe)?

I think that Warnock was a master at motivating players and optimising their potential, in the Championship at least.

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Warnock was also a master at destroying a player's confidence

I don't think it would take many players to turn our lot into a middling championship club

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Originally Posted by PontBlue

I don't think it would take many players to turn our lot into a middling championship club

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The dream :hehe:

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Originally Posted by City123

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm starting to think we may not be very good

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I've had a sneaking suspicion this might be the case for a while now.