Play Offs

[George M]

Just. But winning 1 six pointer out of 4 isnt enough if you want to be up there.

It isn’t but if you look at the Birm/Bolton / Charlton games , the first time we could blame Hemming’s . The second run we gave away a stupid penalty , had a man sent off , then gave it away in added time. A little unlucky if a little off it

[Hoover Attack]

It was tough that we had tried to address previous centra half crises by having four of them, unfortunate , to say the least, that three of them got injured and the only one left was the 4th choice.
Let’s be fair, when we were in the relegation spots 4 months ago or so we’d have bitten your hand off to have a top half finish.
Let’s enjoy the next 12 matches and see where it gets us. There is no real pressure on us.

It's not even that it's the 4th choice centre half that's left, it's that he doesn't fit our way of playing. I like Cooper a lot and think some of the criticism he gets is undeserved. It's not his fault that he isn't good enough on the ball to play our system.

Saying there's no pressure is totally defeatist and typical of the Little Leyton Orient attitude Wellens is trying to shake off. The pressure on each of the last 4 games was immense. The pressure on tomorrows game is now even greater.

It’s not totally defeatist to say ‘no real pressure’. As you say, the pressure on each of the last 4 games was immense and it hasn’t really suited us, Wrexham apart. We’ve struggled to play at the level we know we are capable of. I think RW will try to take the pressure off the players. Of course, there is always pressure to win any match, but we need to find a way to getting back to what we are good at. RW is a great manager but I feel he could have made changes a lot lot earlier in the Charlton match, maybe the pressure is getting to him as well, which is totally understandable. Ok, we were a few minutes away from winning, which would have been a real smash & grab. Pressure is not always a good thing , it’s nothing to do with ‘little Leyton Orient’, I think it’s great we’re looking to kick that into touch.

It's nothing to do with pressure or us bottling it. Wellens has shown his teams are able to cope with pressure.

It's to do with us being unable to play our usual style of football - ball retention, playing out from the back, moving the opposition around to create spaces/overloads - when we have to play Cooper and REG at the back instead of Beckles, Happe or Simpson.

There are other factors, fatigue of certain players from the ridiculous schedule and being over worked, but I stand by the back line being the main problem. We have to change the way we play given the players we have.

[PKM]

Fair comments

[Rich Tea Wellin]

Just. But winning 1 six pointer out of 4 isnt enough if you want to be up there.

As hard as it is to take, you are right.

Against the current top 7:

Brum - played 2 lost 2 - 0 pts
Wycombe - played 1 lost 1 - 0pts
Wrexham - played 2 won 1 drawn 1 - 4pts
Stockport - played 2 won 1 lost 1 - 3pts
Huddersfield - played 1 lost 1 - 0pts
Charlton - played 2 lost 2 - 0pts
Bolton - played 2 lost 2 - 0 pts

7 points from a possible 36 is pretty awful. Yes there's lots of excuses and reasons but its the reality.

BUT, we've been great agains the rest of the league and if you can squeeze into the playoffs then anything can happen.

[Rich Tea Wellin]

It's not even that it's the 4th choice centre half that's left, it's that he doesn't fit our way of playing. I like Cooper a lot and think some of the criticism he gets is undeserved. It's not his fault that he isn't good enough on the ball to play our system.

Saying there's no pressure is totally defeatist and typical of the Little Leyton Orient attitude Wellens is trying to shake off. The pressure on each of the last 4 games was immense. The pressure on tomorrows game is now even greater.

It’s not totally defeatist to say ‘no real pressure’. As you say, the pressure on each of the last 4 games was immense and it hasn’t really suited us, Wrexham apart. We’ve struggled to play at the level we know we are capable of. I think RW will try to take the pressure off the players. Of course, there is always pressure to win any match, but we need to find a way to getting back to what we are good at. RW is a great manager but I feel he could have made changes a lot lot earlier in the Charlton match, maybe the pressure is getting to him as well, which is totally understandable. Ok, we were a few minutes away from winning, which would have been a real smash & grab. Pressure is not always a good thing , it’s nothing to do with ‘little Leyton Orient’, I think it’s great we’re looking to kick that into touch.

It's nothing to do with pressure or us bottling it. Wellens has shown his teams are able to cope with pressure.

It's to do with us being unable to play our usual style of football - ball retention, playing out from the back, moving the opposition around to create spaces/overloads - when we have to play Cooper and REG at the back instead of Beckles, Happe or Simpson.

There are other factors, fatigue of certain players from the ridiculous schedule and being over worked, but I stand by the back line being the main problem. We have to change the way we play given the players we have.

Is Beckles that much more of a ball player than Reg or Coops?

[Hoover Attack]

Absolutely. He has the confidence (sometimes - like his passes - misplaced, I accept) to receive the ball under pressure and draw players in. Cooper absolutely doesn't.

[Mistadobalina]

Reg is fine with the ball based on the limited number of games I've seen him in, Cooper is average at best and worse when his confidence is shot, which it has been for a while now.

Sweeney being less capable than Currie is also an issue for this. Was decent on Saturday but he is not a particularly reliable outlet when being pressed high and increases the chances of us coughing up the ball..

[Bandy Legs]

Despite the losers claiming the season is over after an incredibly hard 4 game stretch. Our final position was always going to be decided by the next ten games.

30 points on offer against middling to poor teams. If we want it it’s there. Take 23 from those, 7 wins and 2 draws. With 2 backup games against teams who’s fate could already be sealed by the time we play. Tough but it’s incredibly tough to get into the playoffs.

This is the kind of stuff I laugh at.
"If we want it ".
We are forgetting dodgy Refs, lady luck, & everything else that has to go our way.
Had we Wanted it against Charlton & Bolton it would have made the next 10 that much easier

Agree, we weren’t good enough against those teams.

But you’re right, it’s all out of our control. Let’s blame luck if we don’t make it

Nah
I'd rather blame losing against rivals if we don't make it.
They are the ones who will have taken points off of us.
Charlton & Bolton have taken 12 points from Orient this season.
Just so we can all let that sink in.
Enough to see us clear in 2nd place
if we had wanted it

[Long slender neck]

It's not even that it's the 4th choice centre half that's left, it's that he doesn't fit our way of playing. I like Cooper a lot and think some of the criticism he gets is undeserved. It's not his fault that he isn't good enough on the ball to play our system.

Saying there's no pressure is totally defeatist and typical of the Little Leyton Orient attitude Wellens is trying to shake off. The pressure on each of the last 4 games was immense. The pressure on tomorrows game is now even greater.

It’s not totally defeatist to say ‘no real pressure’. As you say, the pressure on each of the last 4 games was immense and it hasn’t really suited us, Wrexham apart. We’ve struggled to play at the level we know we are capable of. I think RW will try to take the pressure off the players. Of course, there is always pressure to win any match, but we need to find a way to getting back to what we are good at. RW is a great manager but I feel he could have made changes a lot lot earlier in the Charlton match, maybe the pressure is getting to him as well, which is totally understandable. Ok, we were a few minutes away from winning, which would have been a real smash & grab. Pressure is not always a good thing , it’s nothing to do with ‘little Leyton Orient’, I think it’s great we’re looking to kick that into touch.

It's nothing to do with pressure or us bottling it. Wellens has shown his teams are able to cope with pressure.

It's to do with us being unable to play our usual style of football - ball retention, playing out from the back, moving the opposition around to create spaces/overloads - when we have to play Cooper and REG at the back instead of Beckles, Happe or Simpson.

There are other factors, fatigue of certain players from the ridiculous schedule and being over worked, but I stand by the back line being the main problem. We have to change the way we play given the players we have.

Nah, I think Happe/Beckles/Simpson are just stronger defenders than the current two.

[Chief crazy horse]

Just. But winning 1 six pointer out of 4 isnt enough if you want to be up there.

It isn’t but if you look at the Birm/Bolton / Charlton games , the first time we could blame Hemming’s . The second run we gave away a stupid penalty , had a man sent off , then gave it away in added time. A little unlucky if a little off it

These things George are all part of football. We can make excuses all we like but the bottom line is the last three games score zero points out of a possible nine.

[Hoover Attack]

And the 3 games immediately before that - including against auto promotion chasing, big spending Wrexham - we scored nine points out of a possible nine.

[HackneyO]

Just. But winning 1 six pointer out of 4 isnt enough if you want to be up there.

As hard as it is to take, you are right.

Against the current top 7:

Brum - played 2 lost 2 - 0 pts
Wycombe - played 1 lost 1 - 0pts
Wrexham - played 2 won 1 drawn 1 - 4pts
Stockport - played 2 won 1 lost 1 - 3pts
Huddersfield - played 1 lost 1 - 0pts
Charlton - played 2 lost 2 - 0pts
Bolton - played 2 lost 2 - 0 pts

7 points from a possible 36 is pretty awful. Yes there's lots of excuses and reasons but its the reality.

BUT, we've been great agains the rest of the league and if you can squeeze into the playoffs then anything can happen.

Doesn’t this bode well for the rest of the games then? Despite our problems we’re only 3 off of the playoffs and Huddersfield are on a pretty average run as well. It’s not quite in our hands but it’s still very much doable.

[Chief crazy horse]

And the 3 games immediately before that - including against auto promotion chasing, big spending Wrexham - we scored nine points out of a possible nine.

So.....what's your point?

[PKM]

With the near term return of Currie, OON, Happe, Simpson plus Agyei now getting minutes in and Clare back in the side, then we should have the squad to do well in say the last 10 games.
I understand Becks could also be back before end of season, so in time for play offs!
Not sure I’ve heard how long James is out for, assume the season, anything less will be a bonus.

[Hoover Attack]

And the 3 games immediately before that - including against auto promotion chasing, big spending Wrexham - we scored nine points out of a possible nine.

So.....what's your point?

What was your point?

[Chief crazy horse]

That at a crucial part of the season as we make a challenge for promotion we lose three matches on the spin. Not good , is it.....a big set back. You just don't get it do you..

[Chief crazy horse]

...or what I should say is...you just don't 'want' to get it.

[Hoover Attack]

It isn't good, I agree.

But also, at a crucial part of the season, as we make a challenge for promotion, we also won three matches on the spin. That was good, wasn't it?

[Rich Tea Wellin]

Footballs weird isn't it? Could argue that if we got a point at bolton and Charlton, which were both possible, 5 points from those hard games would have generally be seen as a win but its 2 points more than we have.

As well as that, if we won, lost, won, lost, won, lost would it feel as big as winning 3 in a row and losing 3?

[HackneyO]

The issue is the feeling of lost momentum, now whether that’s just on us supporters, or whether the players feel it too, we need to get back to winning ways asap.

[Friend or faux]

Harold Wilson once said " a week is a long time in Politics ". I think the same to a similar extent is true of Football. Sometimes it seems an awful long time between matches. The present bad patch seems to have lasted ages. But it can all turn round very quickly. A few consecutive wins and we will look to be once again the team that will be a front runner

[Stan1972]

Lets put the season into perspective...
Forget how we have got 53 points, and who we beat/lost too in last 34 games.
3 games ago we were the inform team over the previous 10 games, not just in L1, but in EFL, we have hit a bump in the road last 3 games, but still have a very strong chance of making the play offs.

We sit 8th with 53 points from 34 games.
3 points off a play off place with 12 games to go.
We have played all the teams above us twice with the exception of last 2 games of the season v Wycombe (H) & Huddersfield (A).

Next 10 games are the important games, and will decide if we will make play offs.
This squad of players are more than good enough and 100% capable of putting a 10 game unbeaten run together, which if they do, will easily cement our play off place before we play Wycombe & Huddersfield, which could mean both games, could potentially become dead rubbers.

COYOs in RW we trust

[Chief crazy horse]

It isn't good, I agree.

But also, at a crucial part of the season, as we make a challenge for promotion, we also won three matches on the spin. That was good, wasn't it?

Of course it was. Are you intimating then, that I as a long supporting O's fan, would think any different?

[Qin]

As has been pointed out, our results against promotion rivals has been abysmal.
That tells me, we are not good enough, & we will finish around 8th to 10th.
Maybe if the new owners come in, and are loaded, we can get that extra little bit to make us a promotion team, I hope so.
If somehow we fluked promotion this season, we would almost certainly be in a relegation fight next season, where virtually all the teams would be better than us. I wouldn't like that, seeing us get beat week after week after week etc
Richie has done wonders with our budget, and I think he's the best manager we've ever had at the club.

[RedDwarf 1881]

As has been pointed out, our results against promotion rivals has been abysmal.
That tells me, we are not good enough, & we will finish around 8th to 10th.
Maybe if the new owners come in, and are loaded, we can get that extra little bit to make us a promotion team, I hope so.
If somehow we fluked promotion this season, we would almost certainly be in a relegation fight next season, where virtually all the teams would be better than us. I wouldn't like that, seeing us get beat week after week after week etc
Richie has done wonders with our budget, and I think he's the best manager we've ever had at the club.

Even if we’re only in the Championship for one season it would prove to Waltham Forest we need another site for a new stadium .