Play offs or Auto Promotion

[Wymsey]

With QPR and Swansea likely to get automatic promotion , it will be tough for us to achieve a play off place with Forest, Cardiff, Leeds and Watford performing well quite regularly. But if we produce performances like we did yesterday, then we got a great chance. Lets wait and see

[Legend_in_blue]

We will be in the top 6 by the end of January.

Expect the owners to spend. Spend big.

I saw nothing yesterday to suggest that the above is not possible.

We have a superb back line, one which would not look out of place in the Premiership. Put it this way, who would you rather have at CB - Stearman or Davies? A rather crude analogy, but it's a valid point. Our combined back line would set you back around £12-15 million.

I firmly believe we will finish in the playoffs. Many of the teams above us haven't found themselves in a dip of form yet and many don't have the financial resources we have come January.

Sven is playing everything down, and rightly so, lets keep plugging away at it and not raise too many eyebrows while doing it.

I'm not bothered by the 5 second air time on the football league show or SSN, let us go quietly about our business and we will sneak in through the back door.

I'm not bothered about anybody else either we need to remained focussed on ourselves and make sure we get things done in a proper, professional manner.

[Wymsey]

We will be in the top 6 by the end of January.

Expect the owners to spend. Spend big.

I saw nothing yesterday to suggest that the above is not possible.

We have a superb back line, one which would not look out of place in the Premiership. Put it this way, who would you rather have at CB - Stearman or Davies? A rather crude analogy, but it's a valid point. Our combined back line would set you back around £12-15 million.

I firmly believe we will finish in the playoffs. Many of the teams above us haven't found themselves in a dip of form yet and many don't have the financial resources we have come January.

Sven is playing everything down, and rightly so, lets keep plugging away at it and not raise too many eyebrows while doing it.

I'm not bothered by the 5 second air time on the football league show or SSN, let us go quietly about our business and we will sneak in through the back door.

I'm not bothered about anybody else either we need to remained focussed on ourselves and make sure we get things done in a proper, professional manner.

Talking about this, i was in the directors box at the Sheff Utd game and i was being nosey about what LCFC's financial director said to my Dad during their conversation. He said at one point 'wait until January, these Thai people are going to invest heavily then, more than now'. TRUE FACT.

[Trav Le Bleu]

4 points is easy to catch up at this point of the season, so the play-offs are no big ask, albeit we have to keep improving to do that. 14 points (and a huge goal difference deficit!) is something else, but certainly not impossible. That however is largely out of our hands as it would require a big dip in form for either Cardiff or QPR as both teams have only dropped 15 and 16 points respectively so far this season. So to over turn the deficit they would have to drop that many points again AND City not drop a single one. Obviously we're not yet half way through the season, but almost. It puts the task in hand into perspective.

In short, automatic promotion is practically out of our hands - we need someone else to cock up!

[Salieri]

With QPR and Swansea likely to get automatic promotion , it will be tough for us to achieve a play off place with Forest, Cardiff, Leeds and Watford performing well quite regularly. But if we produce performances like we did yesterday, then we got a great chance. Lets wait and see

Cardiff will finish above Swansea, guaranteed.

Automatic promotion is out of our reach but we'll make the Play Offs.

[evs_the_fox]

Points table since we sacked Sousa, all sides have played 8:

1 - Cardiff 19pts

2 - Leicester 17

2 - Swansea 17

4 - Derby 16

5 - Doncaster 14

5 - Portsmouth 14

7 - Leeds 13

8 - Forest 12

8 - QPR 12

10 - Burnley 11

10 - Bristol City 11

12 - Norwich 10

12 - Cov 10

12 - Barnsley 10

15 - Reading 9

15 - Ipswich 9

15 - S****horpe 9

15 - Portsmouth 9

19 - Sheff Utd 8

19 - Millwall 8

21 - Watford 7

21 - Hull 7

21 - Boro 7

24 - Preston 5

Consistency's obviously going to be key but the transformation since we got rid of that joker has been awesome and the playoffs are a very realistic target.

[Philbert Fox]

To have any realistic chance of promotion, whether it be via the play offs or in the top two, realistically we need to be sitting in the top half of the table after the Leeds game on Boxing Day.

[conradno1]

this

[tetly]

If we have 35 / 40 points come jan we will go up in second Place. We are going to spend in jan and should have a better second half of the season I think 85 points will be enough.

[shailen]

yeah agreed there, if we can get about 12-15 points from the next 6 games, we are in with a real shot! Not easy but with Sven we Believe!

[Kitchandro]

Anyone who saw us on Saturday can't deny that we are good enough to get there. If we can carry on the form since Sven took over we will be in the play-offs. It's still a difficult task but we have improved no end since Sousa left. Whether we spend in January or not, I think we have a really good chance.

Automatic - I wouldn't hold your breath.

[Tommy G]

I put a bet on the day aften Sven was appointed. If we finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd then I win £1,100!

[Leicester_Loyal]

I put a bet on the day aften Sven was appointed. If we finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd then I win £1,100!

We can finish 3rd, QPR will wobble

[Tommy G]

If we do then its beers on me

[Leicester_Loyal]

If we do then its beers on me

I'd rather have your sig on me

[tylesta]

Since Division One was renamed as the Championship, no side with just 8 points on the board after 10 matches has claimed automatic promotion or even a playoff place.

No side in the 3 points for a win era has been promoted after such a poor start.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but context is important and Leicester will need to keep this sort of form going for most of the rest of the season to make the Premier League.

Crowd

Matches

Date Home Score Away Crowd

06 Aug 2006 Coventry 2 - 1 Sunderland 22366

09 Aug 2006 Sunderland 0 - 1 Birmingham 26668

12 Aug 2006 Sunderland 2 - 3 Plymouth 24377

19 Aug 2006 Southend 3 - 1 Sunderland 9848

28 Aug 2006 Sunderland 2 - 0 West Brom 24242

09 Sep 2006 Derby 1 - 2 Sunderland 26502

13 Sep 2006 Leeds 0 - 3 Sunderland 23037

16 Sep 2006 Sunderland 1 - 1 Leicester 35104

23 Sep 2006 Ipswich 3 - 1 Sunderland 23311

sunderland after 9 games 2006-2007 season

10 points

final league table

1 Sunderland FC 46 15 4 4 38 18 12 3 8 38 29 29 88

2 Birmingham City FC 46 15 5 3 37 18 11 3 9 30 24 25 86

3 Derby County FC 46 13 6 4 33 19 12 3 8 29 27 16 84

4 West Bromwich Albion FC 46 14 4 5 51 24 8 6 9 30 31 26 76

5 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 46 12 5 6 33 28 10 5 8 26 28 3 76

6 Southampton FC 46 13 6 4 36 20 8 6 9 41 33 24 75

7 Preston North End FC 46 15 4 4 38 17 7 4 12 26 36 11 74

8 Stoke City FC 46 12 8 3 35 16 7 8 8 27 25 21 73

9 Sheffield Wednesday FC 46 10 6 7 38 36 10 5 8 32 30 4 71

10 Colchester United FC 46 15 4 4 46 19 5 5 13 24 37 14 69

11 Plymouth Argyle FC 46 10 8 5 36 26 7 8 8 27 36 1 67

12 Crystal Palace FC 46 12 3 8 33 22 6 8 9 26 29 8 65

13 Cardiff City FC 46 11 7 5 33 18 6 6 11 24 35 4 64

14 Ipswich Town FC 46 13 2 8 40 29 5 6 12 24 30 5 62

15 Burnley FC 46 10 6 7 35 23 5 6 12 17 26 3 57

16 Norwich City FC 46 10 5 8 29 25 6 4 13 27 46 -15 57

17 Coventry City FC 46 11 4 8 30 25 5 4 14 17 37 -15 56

18 Queens Park Rangers FC 46 9 6 8 31 29 5 5 13 23 39 -14 53

19 Leicester City FC 46 6 8 9 26 31 7 6 10 23 33 -15 53

20 Barnsley FC 46 9 4 10 27 29 6 1 16 26 56 -32 50

21 Hull City FC 46 8 3 12 33 32 5 7 11 18 35 -16 49

22 Southend United FC 46 6 6 11 29 38 4 6 13 18 42 -33 42

23 Luton Town FC 46 7 5 11 33 40 3 5 15 20 41 -28 40

24 Leeds United FC 46 10 4 9 27 30 3 3 17 19 42 -26

[CupidStunt]

With QPR and Swansea likely to get automatic promotion , it will be tough for us to achieve a play off place with Forest, Cardiff, Leeds and Watford performing well quite regularly. But if we produce performances like we did yesterday, then we got a great chance. Lets wait and see

I dont think Swansea will take 2nd spot, their away record is poor having lost 4, its their Home record if anything thats keeping them there, and FFS - 2 teams from Wales taking the top 2 spots,we cant have that

Out of the Teams above us, i cant see any of the following being there at the end of the season,Doncastor,Norwich,Cov,Leeds,Watford

You cant rule out pompey,and Burnley would be near top if it wasnt for there inability to win away from Home

For me, not much chance of Automatic promotion, but stranger things have happened, This time in 2 weeks we could be sitting up there 28 points, as beating A poor Bristol City side away,and beating a Forest side that dont travel well is easy within our capabilities