THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

We are too good to go down

If Ipswich do Barnsley in the week I can see them resting players as the autos will b off the table. If they do beat Ipswich they will play full strength. They are much like we were 12 months ago (what a long 12 months it has been). As for Burton they are an odd sort but we have to just go for it. None of this bullshit of the second half today. I'm just amazed we are still not in the bottom four. That may change by next weekend but for now it's still in our hands

One of the worst things about the teams below us playing each other, is that not all of them can lose and will both either gain a point or one of them takes 3.

I can't even work out what results are best for us. We obviously don't want Cambridge beating Accrington, but then again if Accrington win, they'll be on 41 points.

Assuming we lose to Barnsley (extremely high probability), then there is going to be 3 of the bottom 4 within touching distance of us.

Is Accrington v Oxford on the final day a good thing or a bad thing? Honestly can't work it out.

Is it possible for both us and Oxford to go down? Double relegations in one season for Manning

Here's hoping we have a modern day Gareth Edds on the pitch for a final game of the season.

Also, interesting about how 3 of the 4 teams relegated to L2 that year went down and out.

20 Milton Keynes Dons 46 12 15 19 54 68 −14 51
21 Torquay United 46 12 15 19 55 79 −24 51
22 Wrexham 46 13 14 19 62 80 −18 43
23 Peterborough United 46 9 12 25 49 73 −24 39
24 Stockport County 46 6 8 32 49 98 −49 26

Yes. This. The other teams around us are absolutely shit as well.

I can't remember a League 1 as schizophrenic as this - the top has excellent quality but the bottom is unbelievably dire. The bottom 8 teams or so could all warrant relegation. There's a lot of crap in the league this year. We aren't the only ones, but we do seem to be unique in the level of doom-mongering!

At the moment, they're not though. Cambridge and Morecambe have been picking up results. Cambridge beat Peterborough away and drew with Bolton. They also beat Port Vale and Fleetwood, something we failed to do. They're last 3 games are Accrington, Burton and Forest Green. They will win at least 2 of these.

You've then got Morecambe who in their last 5 games have played Barnsley, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Wycombe and Charlton, which they have taken 7 points from. Once again, better than us against that opposition and also have an easier run in that us.

We are the only team with a game against a team in the top half of the table remaining. Oxford and Cambridge also have a game in hand.

Honestly, it looks massively bleak to me. We find ourselves in a situation where we HAVE to at least pick up a point against Barnsley on Saturday. If we lose and Cambridge draw, it's no longer in our hands. If we draw and Cambridge win, its also no longer in our hands.

We scraped results against Wycombe, Portsmouth and Derby. No reason why we can't do the same against Burnley and Burton.

However, in recent games we have played some good football but also some of the worst we've seen all season.

The team have to turn up and play with intelligence and 100% effort. Defensively, we have to be switched on for 90+ minutes. Attack-wise, our creative players have to start making good decisions (grossly absent in recent games).

I think it would be almost impossible to get a result against Burnley. I guess there is a chance Rotherham could get an extremely delayed 3 point deduction

Yep. I see what I've done there. I need to stop posting between more complicated activities...

They're both northern and share five letters, so I know you know what I was talking about.