Is the squad good enough for promotion ?

[ozzjim]

We are addressing some of our issues as we go and will make the play offs with ease in the end I think. Derby are very strong though so 2nd is beyond us I think. If we go up, we need 6 first team and in my opinion 8 be faces in total, all better than what we have.

[paul_e]

If we're promoted we'll need to sign a keeper, a centre back, a defensive midfielder, and 2 wide players as a minimum and we'd probably want 2-3 more on top of that.  That's just replacing the loans and the guys who's legs had gone at that level before we signed them.

[Toronto Villa]

We are addressing some of our issues as we go and will make the play offs with ease in the end I think. Derby are very strong though so 2nd is beyond us I think. If we go up, we need 6 first team and in my opinion 8 be faces in total, all better than what we have.

It’s 5 points Ozz and Derby’s recent run will end at some point. They won’t keep winning. We have to ensure we pick up points if they don’t and especially when they visit Villa Park.

[saunders_heroes]

We are addressing some of our issues as we go and will make the play offs with ease in the end I think. Derby are very strong though so 2nd is beyond us I think. If we go up, we need 6 first team and in my opinion 8 be faces in total, all better than what we have.

What are they, 5 points ahead with 19 games to play? We have to play them at Villa Park as well. They’re well catchable.

[Bad English]

The current top three are Wolves, Derby and Cardiff, all of whom have to come to Villa Park.  Let's see how many points we can take from those fixtures.

[ozzjim]

We are addressing some of our issues as we go and will make the play offs with ease in the end I think. Derby are very strong though so 2nd is beyond us I think. If we go up, we need 6 first team and in my opinion 8 be faces in total, all better than what we have.

It’s 5 points Ozz and Derby’s recent run will end at some point. They won’t keep winning. We have to ensure we pick up points if they don’t and especially when they visit Villa Park.

We are capable of throwing in some proper shitty results though. December, and the start of the season. I can see us having another 3-4 game winless spell. Derby I can't, they look well set up and have some good experience through the side. Cardiff will fall away further I am sure, but Derby will go up with Wolves.

[saunders_heroes]

We are addressing some of our issues as we go and will make the play offs with ease in the end I think. Derby are very strong though so 2nd is beyond us I think. If we go up, we need 6 first team and in my opinion 8 be faces in total, all better than what we have.

It’s 5 points Ozz and Derby’s recent run will end at some point. They won’t keep winning. We have to ensure we pick up points if they don’t and especially when they visit Villa Park.

We are capable of throwing in some proper shitty results though. December, and the start of the season. I can see us having another 3-4 game winless spell. Derby I can't, they look well set up and have some good experience through the side. Cardiff will fall away further I am sure, but Derby will go up with Wolves.

Well the proof will be in the pudding of course but Derby must also be capable of some shitty results because if they weren’t then they wouldn’t be just 5 points in front of us.

[Toronto Villa]

I think it’s easy to be inwardly critical but the fact that despite some very unconvincing results this season we are sitting in 4th, 5 points off second suggests either we aren’t as bad as we might think and others (maybe Wolves aside) aren’t as good we think. All teams will drop points, us and Derby very much included. Over the next 19 games we need to drop 6 less than them. It’s far from impossible.

[paul_e]

I think you're both missing the context for Derby, They had a bad start, little better than we had last season in fact.  Since the start of October they've been almost as consistent as Wolves.

They may well have another run like that but I think they're quite clearly the favourites for 2nd right now.  If they keep their form up then what we really should be aiming for is to stop the gap getting wider before we play them, if we're in touching distance then that game becomes a genuine must-win.

[brontebilly]

I think it’s easy to be inwardly critical but the fact that despite some very unconvincing results this season we are sitting in 4th, 5 points off second suggests either we aren’t as bad as we might think and others (maybe Wolves aside) aren’t as good we think. All teams will drop points, us and Derby very much included. Over the next 19 games we need to drop 6 less than them. It’s far from impossible.

Derby are capable of spending a few quid this month with Chris Martin likely to leave.

You would have to think Rowett got some assurance regarding transfers for knocking back Stoke's interest.

Cardiff got back to winning ways today but you would have to think/hope they will keep falling back to the pack.

Really should be Wolves, Derby and ourselves pushing forward until the end of the season.

Fulham on a bit of a charge of late, their manager was threatening to leave not too long ago...

[ozzjim]

I think you're both missing the context for Derby, They had a bad start, little better than we had last season in fact.  Since the start of October they've been almost as consistent as Wolves.

They may well have another run like that but I think they're quite clearly the favourites for 2nd right now.  If they keep their form up then what we really should be aiming for is to stop the gap getting wider before we play them, if we're in touching distance then that game becomes a genuine must-win.

Exactly. They have been very good for about 3 months now. They are also exceptionally good away from home, won 6 and drawn 2 of the last 8 away I think. Maybe they have had an easy run of it and they have a sticky run of fixtures to come, but they look pretty daunting form wise.

[jwarry]

I think you're both missing the context for Derby, They had a bad start, little better than we had last season in fact.  Since the start of October they've been almost as consistent as Wolves.

They may well have another run like that but I think they're quite clearly the favourites for 2nd right now.  If they keep their form up then what we really should be aiming for is to stop the gap getting wider before we play them, if we're in touching distance then that game becomes a genuine must-win.

Exactly. They have been very good for about 3 months now. They are also exceptionally good away from home, won 6 and drawn 2 of the last 8 away I think. Maybe they have had an easy run of it and they have a sticky run of fixtures to come, but they look pretty daunting form wise.

Annoying that we lost at their place as we would now be above them if we’d won. And although we didn’t play well I don’t think they were much to shout about. Our squad is better but I suspect their manager is better

[Ads]

They're exceptionally good, but beat them at Villa Park and it's down to two points difference.

In the 17 games between now and then there will be some more ebb and flow.