Time to concentrate on overhauling Burnley

[Triggaaar]

Remembering that in the last round that Burnley play the almost certain to be already relegated Charlton for a highly likely three points, and we are away to Boro, which of the following tables would you prefer?

Brighton 88
Burnley 87
Boro 86

Boro 89
Brighton 88
Burnley 87

Boro 92
Brighton 88
Burnley 87

The first.

I'm arguing that the last table gives us our best chance of going up

I know it would be nice if 'brough weren't trying against us, but even if they were already Champions they're still going to put in some effort, and play without pressure. I'd rather need a draw against a team that was desperate than a win against a team with no pressure.

 

[JonnyComeEarly]

Im sure Vokes is now injured too for Burnley which may help, Ashley Barnes obvs still finding his shooting boots judging on last weeks game!!!

 

[pishhead]

What we ideally need is Boro to win versus Burnley Dyche to KO Karanka and call everyone in Boro child molesters, Barton to Break Adomah's legs whilst escaping punishment and then be so far ahead of us in the last game that whilst we need a win to go up they play their under 13 team against us.
Likely?
No, probably not.

 

[sparkie]

We cocentrate on beating Fulham and QPR and see where we are after the games on Tuesday night - if we have 6 points the certain thing is Burnley and Boro can't both have six!

Wise words.

Forget Burnley.

Focus on Fulham.

 

[Official Old Man]

The maths are very simple.
Our target is, and always has been, Burnley. Why? Because I do not want to go to Boro with a 'winner takes all' game. It needs to be done and dusted by Derby.
First we have to win our next 4, forget the last game at the moment.
Burnley need to drop 6 points. Birmingham A (draw?), Boro H (draw or loss?), Preston A (draw?) & QPR H (win?). If they only drop 3 points then we must win at Boro.
Boro on the other hand need to drop 8 points. But the '6 pointer' last game means they need to lose to BHA last game and lose one other (Burnley A). Not a scenario I fancy.
Either way it is still in our hands.

 

[Stato]

I think that there may a chance that we are over estimating 'Boro's recent form. Their last three games have been at home and they haven't won them easily. They are now playing away and they are not as dominant as at the Riverside. Their record away from home against the bottom teams has been poor.

They are going to Bolton on Saturday. Away against the rest of the bottom eight they have taken only 10 points from a possible 21. They will probably be okay as Bolton's points total suggests that they are significantly worse than the rest of the bottom eight. However, if we can build the pressure with a win on Friday, and with their team potentially having the Burnley game at the back of their minds, there could be an outside chance of them failing to put Bolton away. It's the type of game they have slipped up in this season.

 

[Bigtomfu]

Yes. How about 'sweep the lick'?

PEDANT... [emoji35][emoji35][emoji35]

But, ahem, yes.

 

[Bwian]

No, don't get muddled by concentrating on other teams or anything other than our 5 wins.


We need to beat Fulham.

Then there is the big danger of concentrating so much on Burnley v Middlesbrough, that we lose focus on our own match v QPR.


For now it's about nothing except beating Fulham.

Which is, no doubt, exactly what Hughton will be saying this week. His post game interview was so low key after that win at Forest, almost willing the other 2 sides to get over confident. I wasn't too keen on CH after last season's scramble for survival-it wasn't exactly inspiring but he is slowly winning me around.

 

[Triggaaar]

PEDANT... [emoji35][emoji35][emoji35]

But, ahem, yes.

To be honest, I just didn't have a clue what sweet the lick meant. I thought maybe it should be sweat the lick, but still didn't understand, so I had to google it.

 

[perseus]

I don't want Middlesbrough to have anything to play for when they play against us. That means either they go into the game four points behind both us and Burnley or four points ahead. The latter is surely the more likely of the two scenarios. With that in mind I am now firmly in team Middlesbrough and hope they win the next four games thus winning the title and rendering their final game of the season meaningless. We have a greater chance of getting the result we need if they have nothing riding on the game.

w/o wobbles, going into the last game


Burnley 92 (Burnley beat Boro)
Boro 91
Brighton 90
Albion need to win at Boro and Boro need a draw.

Boro 94 (Boro beat Burnley)
Brighton 90
Burnley 89
Albion need to win at Boro but Boro are already up.

Boro 92 (Boro and Burnley draw)
Burnley 90
Brighton 90
Albion need to win at Boro and Boro need a draw.

We will know better after the weekend whether we need Boro to win.

If Burnley drop 2 pts at Preston and we don't wobble it would be best of Boro beat Burnley.

 

[Bwian]

I don't want Middlesbrough to have anything to play for when they play against us. That means either they go into the game four points behind both us and Burnley or four points ahead. The latter is surely the more likely of the two scenarios. With that in mind I am now firmly in team Middlesbrough and hope they win the next four games thus winning the title and rendering their final game of the season meaningless. We have a greater chance of getting the result we need if they have nothing riding on the game.

I wonder how many teams have said that in previous seasons and blown it? Try and win the last 5 and we'll be fine. That's all I want-to see 100% from everybody. It's only 450 minutes to go...

 

[Bigtomfu]

To be honest, I just didn't have a clue what sweet the lick meant. I thought maybe it should be sweat the lick, but still didn't understand, so I had to google it.

It's the bit where the dojo sensai wants his star pupil to put Daniel out of the tournament thus showing no mercy.

I kind of want us to do similar and go all out to win every game.

 

[JonnyComeEarly]

That bloody 93rd min goal they scored against us last week is really p!ssing me off all over again as I keep staring at the table...!!

 

[Hungry Joe]

All interesting scenarios, but personally I'm trying not to think about any of them as it makes me logs go a bit wobbly.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Of course we have to win our own games. And with the tension we have shown in recent games, no win will be easy - whoever we play (we were SO tight in the second half v Forest). But it sure would help if Burnley lose on Tuesday and then slip up three days later at Preston (Lancs derby). Very possible scenario.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I wonder how many teams have said that in previous seasons and blown it? Try and win the last 5 and we'll be fine. That's all I want-to see 100% from everybody. It's only 450 minutes to go...

Not Southampton in 2011. Thats only one example I know but generally people want to face teams that have nothing to play for. I would much rather go into the final ten minutes of the season needing a goal against a team with nothing to play for than against a team who need to keep that goal out to win promotion/the title.

As it stands our final game could be massively important for both teams or only for us. The latter scenario helps us, if only by a little bit, to get the result we need. Of course we need to be in a position come the final day where we can take advantage of the situation so it should go without saying that we need to try and win the four games leading up to it.

 

[Driver8]

All interesting scenarios, but personally I'm trying not to think about any of them as it makes me logs go a bit wobbly.

Nothing worse than wobbly logs.

 

[Danny-Boy]

That bloody 93rd min goal they scored against us last week is really p!ssing me off all over again as I keep staring at the table...!!

If.....

 

[Icy Gull]

I think after 32 games and the 4-1 thrashing by Cardiff we were two points behind Burnley. Despite our fine run since Cardiff we haven't closed the gap on them at all. Hull were top at the time btw.

It's a fabulous mad League

 

[Triggaaar]

It's the bit where the dojo sensai wants his star pupil to put Daniel out of the tournament thus showing no mercy.

Yeah, but it's not really sweep the lick, it's sweep the leg, because that's literally what he wanted his pupil to do. People misheard what he said as sweep the lick. But I realise you're using it to mean show no mercy.