Gulls fall out of play-off places

ohtobeatplainmoor, you say I can't contemplate us failing to reach the play-offs failure to do so, will be seem by many fans as a complete disaster and you can be sure Bucks head will be called for as we will hear the same arguments, about all the resources he has had, over many managers before him.

My view has always been that until we can't win the league or reach the play-offs mathematically, then I will always keep alive the hopes and stay positive.I do think it is sometimes dangerous, to look at games in hand and who we have to play in our run up to the end of the season, my mother always said you can't count your chickens before they are hatched and how true is that.

I think we have all been guilty of believing that games in hands were points on the board and we have all seen in seasons past, that we have failed to win the points and the games in hand counted for nothing in the end. I would rather we were level in games played with all the other teams at the top, then we really would know where we are in the league and what we need to do.

It is still possible to win all the games in hand and beat Burton both home and away and the table would look so much better then, but as you say other teams around us and starting to hit good form and we now need to hit top gear ourselves. Lets hope our new striker can find the goals we are looking for and play his part in making the games in hand into real points on the board.

But he hasn't failed?! Why look to something that hasn't happened?

The run in will be, I think, exciting. We ought to qualify for the playoffs. If you look at our remaining games, set out in the first table (A) below, only 5 of them are against teams currently in the top 10 and 5 of them are against teams currently in the bottom 5. The average position of the team we have to face is just above 14th.
With 19 to go if we can reproduce the form of our last 19 games, who knows what is possible? What we must avoid however is the last 19 game form of last season. Table B sets out the comparisons.
It all starts (hopefully) on Tuesday. We could do with a good result and performance. Let us hope that we end his season riding a crest of a wave rather than the slump of 07/08 that still sticks in the minds of many. But look at the fixtures and the last 5 games will be huge

All of tonight's other BSP matches have now been called off, so a win will move us from 6th back up to second.

It appears very tight but there is a great disparity in games played.

As I see it, we are in quite a similar situation to last season, with an impressive run followed by a mid-season hiccup.

However, I believe that the two seasons present different scenarios and different problems.

The post-Christmas part of last season became clogged up with cup fixtures and players in the regular team needed a break, but the remainder of the squad was not strong enough when called upon to push clear again in the League.

This year, the "reserve" part of the squad is immeasurably better and stronger and there is little difference in quality between those who play regularly and those who fill in occasionally.

Herein lies the problem. At the moment, Mr Buckle does not seem to know which is his best team, best formation and best tactics. I personally don't believe that you can be successful by constantly switching between 4-4-2 for home matches and 4-5-1 away. The players become confused and the long ball game is the result.

In Champions League and other European matches, 4-5-1 works OK because opponents sit back cagily and do not press for possession all the time. At our level, it's a more blood and thunder affair and you have to have quicker support to help the players who are in the team to score the goals.

Mr Buckle must surely also realise by now that Carlisle and Sills are totally off their game at the moment and need a rest. He seems to be afraid to do anything about this, but last night's game was crying out for a speedy and clever winger (which we had in the second half) and either a clinical finisher (Benyon) or a forward with pace (Green), which we didn't.

Calls for him to be dismissed are plainly ridiculous, and yet the whole season could now rest on him grasping the nettle and making the changes which will bring back the goals and thus restore confidence, not only for the players but also the fans.

Back down to 6th again.