Steve Bruce - officially confirmed (as Sheffield Wednesday boss)

[Old Kodjia]

We'll have to average 0.3 more points per game than Brighton to finish above them. I can't really see that happening

I do think we should make the play offs

Yes, I agree with this.  We really needed to take 3 points last night to have a realistic chance of catching them.  This may be why the 2nd half panned out as it did.  1 - 1 wasn't a bad result for them and they are confident that we won't take 13 points more than them between now and May.  Hopefully, losing their number 2 may throw a spanner in the works a bit though 

Play offs are going to be realistic although I will absolutely hate being involved.  It is a lottery to a certain extent and imagine having to play that horrible lot from up the road?

Overall, like everyone else, I'm delighted with Bruce thus far.  He speaks well and I saw glimpses last night of improvement in performance.  Up to now we have been very workmanlike.  Last night, I thought that we looked far more than just workmanlike.  Obviously there is plenty of time for the side to improve further.

[saunders_heroes]

Never wanted him at the club but let's face it he's been like a breath of fresh air since arriving and he's turned us into something resembling a football club. I'm glad he's here.

[dave.woodhall]

Never wanted him at the club but let's face it he's been like a breath of fresh air since arriving and he's turned us into something resembling a football club. I'm glad he's here.

For me it wasn't so much not wanting him as the realisation that someone like him was exactly what was needed. High falutin' foreign coaches are all very well but for every Wenger there's a dozen Christian Grosses. Him, his abilities and with them his limitations, are exactly what we need right now.

[Nastylee]

Brighton may be going well but they don't have much in reserve and have a recent history of faltering in the second half of the season. I don't think the 2nd spot is totally out of question yet but we need to go a colossal run between now and May and hope a few slip ups occur above us. We have a strong squad at this level with just the midfield area requiring urgent surgery.

[Toronto Villa]

Never wanted him at the club but let's face it he's been like a breath of fresh air since arriving and he's turned us into something resembling a football club. I'm glad he's here.

That's just it. And to reinforce what Dave said and a few of us said at the time, he's the right manager for where we are at this moment in time. And had he been available in the summer I'm pretty sure he'd be with us from the start and we'd be sitting in the top 3. Even if we may not have purchased the same players. What has been evident over many years is that's Bruce has struggled at PL level. But let's cross that bridge when we come to it.

I don't think any position is out of that question yet though of all the teams it's unlikely Newcastle will slide out of the top two. But keep this run going, add 2 or 3 solid players in January and we will be there or very close to an automatic spot come May.

[Matt C]

A staggering 29 games still to play - we'll need quite the run but who knows.

[Brend'Watkins]

A staggering 29 games still to play - we'll need quite the run but who knows.

From last nights showing I really don't see Brighton finishing 2nd. There isn't much to them at all. They are catchable. Norwich are on a bad run, Huddersfield are slipping. This is the nature of the Championship. If Bruce can maintain the style and effort of the team we will be at least in the play offs.

[Old Kodjia]

Its fantastic that we're actually talking about 2nd place.  After Preston, just 6 games ago, relegation looked to be a bigger problem than promotion for us.

29 games to go has made me feel a bit better but we're still not climbing that table.  We've dropped places after last night and are further away from 6th spot than we were before we kicked off.

There are around 10 teams competing for the 4 play off places and after that are teams like Brentford, Ipswich & Wolves who are no pushovers.  It really is a tough division, as we've all discovered.  I have a lot more respect for the Championship than I had 12 months ago.

Sat here tonight, if somebody offered me 6th spot now, I'd take it.  I'm not the most aggressive of gamblers and I'm sure many would prefer to play out for 2nd place.   In our favour, we have the quality and depth of squad.  Maybe we should stop worrying about the table until about February or March time?  It's hard not to though, isn't it?

[mr underhill]

the trouble is you have to worry about the table because the league is so unpredictable. As you say lots of teams in the mix for the top six, including us

[Louzie0]

When I saw us drop down the table following results this afternoon I had to remind myself that we can't actually lose points once we've got them!

Onward and hopefully upward!

( & don't forget Guess The Crowd 9 for Villa v Cardiff next Saturday)

[PeterWithesShin]

By my reckoning, the last time we went 6 league games unbeaten was the start of the McLeish season when we started the season 7 unbeaten. It's taken us over 5 years to go unbeaten for 6 games again!

[paul_e]

No I actually think we need to, exactly as old k suggests, stop worrying about the table for a while.  Our form since Bruce arrived is solid but we still need to convert draws to wins better than we are doing.  We need to find a way to make pressure count in games like last night and find a way to score from nothing in games like the blues game.  We are, in my opinion, well capable of a big run of draws because what the recent games have shown is that the squad is much better than we looked earlier in the season and we really shouldn't have ever been in the trouble we were.

I've said a few times on here that I think Bruce can comfortably see us into the playoffs and I still think that's the most likely result this season but if that is the limit of what we achieve then he needs to prove himself by getting us through that final, getting back this season is essential, that's why RDM went and it's why Bruce is here.  If he doesn't deliver that it wouldn't surprise me if he's replaced because Xia seems like a ruthless bastard.

[Ads]

We're averaging 2 points a game which would put us within striking distance of the automatic spots.

[Old Kodjia]

We're averaging 2 points a game which would put us within striking distance of the automatic spots.

I was just looking at this.  With 29 games to go, 2 points a game would put us on 80 points.  Last season the table finished:

Burnley 93 points
Middlesboro 89 points
Brighton 89 points
Hull 83 points

All 4 teams won over half of their fixtures.  We'd need to win at least 20, probably 21 or 22 of the remaining 29 games to go up automatically, based on last years table.

Oh to go on a 6 game winning streak like Newcastle did.

[Ads]

We're adding quality on top of our organisation and hard work.

I don't think there's a team in the league who have as good a players as us up top, so fingers crossed last night is a sign of things to come.