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Settle for 3rd or aim for 2nd?


BigColin08
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I hope I'm wrong but I think 3rd is as good as we will get this season.......which is still a fantastic achievement.

 

Today was very poor but I think Rangers will just have enough mental strength and experience, two areas I think we will lack, in the run in to secure 2nd.

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A team meeting is needed for everything to be laid down for the players and management. Second is more than achievable, but we have to get our fingers out our arses and get the sharpness back. Utd and St Johnstone won't go away and Rangers are shite.

 

C'Mon tae fuck Well, intae this shite and get it done!!!

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Interestingly over the past 10 games DDee Utd have taken 20 points, St Johnstone 17 points and Motherwell 20 points. So the fact is we have played as well as or at least gained as many points as DDee U over this period.

 

However the momentum seems to be with them. After today I would rule out Hearts for 3rd. So there is a 3 way battle for 3rd and the Champoins League place.

 

Worse case scenario:

We go into the split with a 2 point lead on DDee Utd.

We go into split 1 point behind St johnstone.

 

Best case scenario:

 

We go into split with a 14 point lead over DDee Utd

We go into split with a 14 point lead over St Johnstone

 

Most realistic scenario:

 

We go into split with a 5 point lead over DDee Utd. They take 4 points from remaining 2 games and we take 1 point.

We go into split with a 5 point lead over St Johnstone. They take 4 points from next 3 games and we take 1 point.

 

5 points would be better than 0, but even 1 win over either the h**s or Hibs would and could make a big difference.

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If we lose next Saturday (and we almost certainly will), Utd will beat the pars and it's down to 5 points with us still to play Utd. Same goes for St Johnstone.

 

You would've thought an 11 point gap would be a bridge too far for anyone to catch us but I've got the fear the season will fizzle out and we'll finish 5th.(which.I would've bit your hand off at the start of the season right enough, but not now!!)

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It's always tight at the end of the season - which is, of course, why threads like this are premature.

 

I'd still rather be where we are than where Dundee Utd. or St. Johnstone are. Far too soon to be thinking about second, but also too soon to panic as St. Johnstone and Dundee Utd. will be dropping points too.

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Its going to ve very tight going into the split. My guess is:

 

Us 54 pts

St Johnstone 53 pts

Dundee Utd 50 pts

Hearts 46 pts

 

Thereafter the post split fixture list will go a long way to determining the final placings. I'd guess one OF at home and one away. Dundee United at home and either Saints/Hearts at home with the other being away. I'd be looking for Saints away and Hearts and United at home.

 

I'd guess that Hearts will finish 6th with the other 3 places up for grabs.

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Its going to ve very tight going into the split. My guess is:

 

Us 54 pts

St Johnstone 53 pts

Dundee Utd 50 pts

Hearts 46 pts

 

Thereafter the post split fixture list will go a long way to determining the final placings. I'd guess one OF at home and one away. Dundee United at home and either Saints/Hearts at home with the other being away. I'd be looking for Saints away and Hearts and United at home.

 

I'd guess that Hearts will finish 6th with the other 3 places up for grabs.

 

Overly pessimistic Dave.

 

Your scenario has us losing our last 2 games and St Johnstone winning 2 and drawing 1. I think we will take at least a point from our remaining 2 games and even 2 or 1 win. ICT will take a boost from beating Aberdeen and it would not surprise me if it was a draw midweek for St J v ICT and you would expect celtic to win at parkhead v St J next weekend. So I can only see them taking 4 points form their last 3 games which would put them on 50.

 

I think my post above will prove more accurate. Of course time will tell...........

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Any more performances like yesterday and I will fully expect us to be caught by both Dundee United and St Johnstone. Out of those two, Dundee United just shade it as our biggest threat to gaining third spot. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s looking more and more like 4th or 5th place for us.

Suddenly the Champions League theme is looking more like a pipe dream. unsure.gifnegative.gif Come on Motherwell, prove me wrong! yes.gif

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Over-reaction as usual IMO, we are still in pole position and the prize is for us to lose. Yes performances like yesterday will cost us if repeated but the reason we're so far ahead at this stage is that performances like yesterday have been few and far between. Reaction needed next week obviously but we are still the ones in control.

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The prize at present being Europa league qualifiers

 

Too many expectations of Rangers getting no Euro licence , if that happens it'll be a bonus, If we mug them for second it'll be the best season in a generation

 

Right now we're having a great season , one or two defeats do not change that

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Over-reaction as usual IMO, we are still in pole position and the prize is for us to lose. Yes performances like yesterday will cost us if repeated but the reason we're so far ahead at this stage is that performances like yesterday have been few and far between. Reaction needed next week obviously but we are still the ones in control.

 

Indeed, but we aint performed in the pressure games, and we have 7 of them on the bounce now !

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Indeed, but we aint performed in the pressure games, and we have 7 of them on the bounce now !

 

Did you miss the back to back wins over Saints when they were breathing down our necks? Or the comprehensive 3-0 victory over Hearts at Fir Park when they had the chance to move within a few points of us?

 

Were these not pressure games?

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Was a potential CL place at stake then ? If your answer is No, then so is mine mate I'm afraid.

 

So what pressure game(s) apart from yesterday have we failed to perform in?

 

By my reckoning before yesterday we'd played 5 SPL games since Rangers went into admin/Champs league became available and we won 4 of them(including the 3-0 game against Hearts) and the only one we lost was away to Celtic a team who have a budget 5 times our own and who we have no right to be beating. And we only lost by one goal!

 

So I'm sorry your point won't wash with me. If these pressure games are the ones since the Champions league place became available then we've won 4 out of 6 and yesterday was the first one you could say where we didn't turn up in a game you'd hope we'd win.

 

Sorry but I just can't see your logic.

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definately over reactions. we know that we won't perform well every week and then we do have an off week all of a sudden its the end of the world. We will win some and loose some. I fully epxect us to loose next week against rangers but still think that we will finish in third place.

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Well 4 Europe, it's a Motherwell thing ....... underperforming on the big day/when the chips are down. We have a history of it, and I've seen it way too often for my own good.

 

Yesterday and 15 days ago being 2 of the more recent such occassions.

 

Dundee Utd and St Johnstone and Hearts are hitting form, and with our inability to beat the Mold Firm so evident, our run-in contains a number of crucial games.

We are in a wonderful position, one not witnessed very often, and with an 8pt advantage 3rd place is ours to throw away ........... and that I sincerely hope we do not do.

 

Well 4 Europe .............................. hopefully I'll see you in Europe, and I'll buy you a pint :drinks:

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Well 4 Europe, it's a Motherwell thing ....... underperforming on the big day/when the chips are down. We have a history of it, and I've seen it way too often for my own good.

 

Yesterday and 15 days ago being 2 of the more recent such occassions.

 

Dundee Utd and St Johnstone and Hearts are hitting form, and with our inability to beat the Mold Firm so evident, our run-in contains a number of crucial games.

We are in a wonderful position, one not witnessed very often, and with an 8pt advantage 3rd place is ours to throw away ........... and that I sincerely hope we do not do.

 

Well 4 Europe .............................. hopefully I'll see you in Europe, and I'll buy you a pint :drinks:

 

I too am sadly all too aware that we make an arse of things when we have a big chance. Doesn't always happen that way though and I just felt(not necessarily just you) some people were going a bit OTT(myself probably included) over Yesterday's performance or lack of. We've been doing pretty well ourselves lately in the league and under McCall more often than not in my opinion this team/last season's as well have risen to the occasion.

 

I'll hold you to that. :cheers:

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There'll be no 'settling' for 3rd, that is our main aim and if we manage to clinch it then that will be a fantastic achievement for us.

 

For me any slim chance we had of finishing 2nd has now gone as every result that could have went against us this weekend did go against us. With Rangers beating Celtic and their inevitable stroll in the park against us next weekend, we are not catching them so 3rd is our focus and we've got a battle on our hands to secure it because our rivals are all gaining form and momentum. Our post split meetings with United, St.Johnstone and Hearts will be absolutely crucial if we are to get 3rd place. It's going to be very, very tough, but hopefully we can pick ourselves up and rise to the challenge.

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My biggest concern is that we have not played that well for a good few weeks now. We have picked up points here & there but our performances have been in general pretty poor either for half a game or a whole game. When it comes to playing our rivals we can't afford to wait until half time & a goal down before we decide to turn up. Since Ojama's stopped scoring the team have stopped playing to their capabilities. Hopefully when we finally get all our players back from suspension we will find our form again.

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From a mathematical perspective, worst case scenario would be that St J win there game in hand and go on to win there remaining 8 fixtures. Given that the gap would be 8 points then (8x3-8= 16pts) would bring about = 2/3rd with St J.

 

So 5 wins and a draw would be the absolute most that we would have to do in the remaining 8 fixtures. Given that it is highly unlikely that St J will win all of there remaining fixtures I would think that something short of this will be enough.

 

If D Utd turn out to be the main challengers again winning all of there remaining fixtures then it is 4 wins and a draw. Remember this is worst case scenario. I would suspect that 5 wins and a draw would be enough for 2nd given the current form of Rangers. Those figures will only get better with ever pt St J and Utd drop.

 

 

Nothing has changed since last week in the sense that Motherwell can still seal third place with 5 wins and a draw. Results at the weekend could not have been worse but I don't think we need panic yet.

 

I am confident that Rangers will beat Motherwell but I am also confident that Celtic will beat St J so we can still come out of this weekend requiring one fewer win to ensure 3rd place. Remember this is worst case scenario. Should Dundee Utd win every game from now untill the end of the season they would deserve third place. They could do that however and Motherwell could still beat them to third. That's how strong our position is at the moment.

 

Well are still in the driving seat. Simple as that. Lots of twists and turns to come. I think third will be ours regardless of what happens this weekend A St J win at Celtic would be the only thing that would worry me a bit.

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