Tranmere Rovers
Targets
By Ken Camerod
November 13 2023
We still remain in dire trouble and whilst the permanent appointment of Nigel Adkin has been welcomed, we are a long way short of maintaining our league status. We have 13 points. There are 87 points left to play for and I reckon we need another 40pts to be assured of League football. That's about 13 wins. It seems a tough call.
Our remaining fixtures this month include the away trip to Sutton at the weekend, followed by a home game against Gillingham and then a tough match against Mansfield. The remaining games before Christmas see us entertaining Newport County, travelling away to Walsall and then having Swindon visit us on the Saturday before Christmas. The Gillingham, Newport and Swindon matches should see us pick up 9pts. None of those teams are playing well. If we could pick up a couple of points on the road we might enter the Christmas period with 24 points. That would mean that we would need 10 wins in the New Year to secure our league position.
January looks tough. We have high flying Notts County on New Years Day and then visit Barrow. A home game against MK Dons is followed by two successive away games at Grimsby and Swindon. I can't see us picking up more than 4 points from our fixtures that month. February looks just as daunting. Crewe(a) currently having a good season and Stockport (h) provide a couple of Cheshire derbies. Then at the end of the month we go to middle earth for our return match against the Gumps. We also have a home game against Morecambe and an away trip to Doncaster. To me that looks like another month where picking up more than 5 points will be an achievement.
By the time we face Sutton United at the start of March we will be into our last 10 games. I doubt that we will have more than 32 points. This means that we have to win 6 of those games to be safe. Now, that's not impossible, but it's going to be tough. We have to hope that we strengthen ourselves sufficiently in the January transfer window so that we have the resources to push forward.
The fact is that we are in a mess. It's not a mess that suporters have created. Our win on Saturday showed us that the team can play well, the question remains, do we have enough time to turn things around?
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13/11/2023 17:24
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Quote:Total Tranmere
The Gillingham, Newport and Swindon matches should see us pick up 9pts
That may be a *tad* optimistic.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:11:13:21:51:20 by Bored rover.
Quote:Bored rover
BTW 40 points isnt enough needs to be 50 to be secure anything sub 50 could see relegation 47 points has gone down in the past
I don’t know if 40 is a typo as the subsequent maths is looking at acquiring 50 points i.e. 32 points then winning six games.
Be a lot nearer 40 than 50
Quote:Bored rover
We either go all in back NA and spend to avoid relegation as FGR will do or we do limited loan only business relying on what we have and NA's coaching ability with the caveat we could drop. We shouldn't sign dross in the hope they come good
FGR did not spend much to avoid relegation last season...
Quote:Crazylegs CranebirdQuote:Bored rover
We either go all in back NA and spend to avoid relegation as FGR will do or we do limited loan only business relying on what we have and NA's coaching ability with the caveat we could drop. We shouldn't sign dross in the hope they come good
FGR did not spend much to avoid relegation last season...
Spent £120k on a keeper, albeit one who couldn't catch a dose, to my knowledge. That must account for a decade of Rovers's fees!
After the Christmas matches, but before New Year, Rochdale still only had 15 points and Hartlepool had risen to 21st on 18pts.
At the start of March Hartlepool were 22nd with 29 points from 35 games. Dale were 24th, having played the same number of games, but with 25pts.
Then on the final day it finished with Hartlepool on 43pts and Dale on 38. Crawley who occupied the space above Hartlepool had 46 pts.
It is far from certain that the January window will improve the team. It is possible that if Apter goes we could even be weakened. Improved results between now and January surely is essential to survival
Quote:Our form so far is so bad that any uptick will have a dramatic effect on our points tally.spralos baldini
at our current rate (23%) win ratio will will only get another 20 points putting us on 33 points so a dramatic upturn is needed.
I don’t think the Sutton game is on ifollow despite the internationals so will probably go to the game given I live down south now. That game should be an indicator as to whether the FGR win was down to poor opposition…
At least there shouldn’t be an ‘Adkins Out’ protest!!!
Quote:DevonExile
Any grounds for confidence that we will avoid the drop are fragile. Saturdays win was vital but it was against a team also struggling and with an enormous injury list. Over the last six games of those teams in the bottom eight only Grimsby has collected as few points as us. We need momentum and that has to mean getting some results away. Sutton is an ideal opportunity and has to offer one of our best chances to get 3 points on the road.
It is far from certain that the January window will improve the team. It is possible that if Apter goes we could even be weakened. Improved results between now and January surely is essential to survival
Quote:glos_white
Just checked and the game - Sutton - is scheduled to be on ifollow
That’s good thanks. , when I last looked I could only see ‘next match’ which was tonight’s.
Quote:dave-pQuote:Total Tranmere
The Gillingham, Newport and Swindon matches should see us pick up 9pts
That may be a *tad* optimistic.
Only one more win to happily eat some humble pie 😁
