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Play Off Permutations & Predictions Part One

Hertha Berlin manager Mark Stewart fresh from a Friday night hangover and sitting at his work desk for the rest of the day gives us his insight... and probably useless and incorrect predictions on the race for the play offs in divisions 2 to 5.




Having been in work since 6am, I thought I have two options with today being a quiet bank holiday. I can stare at the wall all day or analyse Soccer Manager and write a piece. As my side Hertha are almost confirmed a play off spot I thought I would do the latter and give my low down from divisions two to five

In this part of the blog I cover Division 2, with the sides from 3rd to 11th in Division 2. Hope you enjoy the read, feel free to mock my predictions if I get your teams results horribly wrong.

Division 2

A close battle in this division sees just 6 points separate 3rd and 10th position, any of them are capable of finishing in a play off spot with Dortmund, Napoli and Schalke all looking nailed on for automatic promotion.

Spartak Moskva sit in 4th place and come into the final 5 games on the back of 2 wins. They face a daunting away trip to Napoli, followed by 3 winnable games against Monchengladbach, Sunderland and Galatasaray, before a final away day trip to my fellow German side Wolfsburg. Manager Simon Houston will be hoping that striker Yura Movsisan can continue his excellent scoring record to see the Russians safely into the lottery games.

Prediction Spartak to lose to Napoli and draw Monchengladbach before 3 successive wins see them through to finish in 5th place

AS Roma currently occupy 5th spot and enter the final 5 games on the back of 3 wins and a draw. They face 4 sides mid table and below which must have manager Neil Frankland rubbing his hands with glee, with the biggest threat of dropping points being against Schalke in the penultimate game of the season. Roma fans will no doubt be praying that Edin Dzeko with 13 goals and Adem Ljajic with 12 assists can add to their impressive tallies to see Giallorossi to possible glory

Prediction Roma to go unbeaten in the final 5 winning 4 of their games and only dropping points to Schalke which I predict a draw, To finish in 4th place

Wolfsburg The German club sitting in 6th spot go into the final straight on a mixed bag of results with their last 3 games yielding 1 win, 1 draw and a defeat. Manager Mattias Wernersson will be relying on star midfielder Ivan Rakitic and world class striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to see his club through, they face a tough away game to Monchengladbach followed by 3 games against relegation threatened sides, culminating in a final day showdown with Spartak Moskva

Prediction The Wolves to pick up 3 wins, a draw  to Monchengladbach and defeat to Spartak. They take the last spot in the play offs and finish in 7th place

PSG The French side occupy 7th position and are entering the final straight on the back of a nightmare run that has seen them pick up just one point from their last five games. Manager Gary Naylor will be looking to get a marked improvement from his all star team and will be hoping the ageing superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic can continue his excellent season  and help the club to the play offs. Four of the last five games look winnable on paper with teams nestled from 12th to 16th place before a mouth watering final home match against Schalke.

Prediction PSG to go the final 5 games unbeaten beating Boca, Sporting and Loco Moscow and drawing Monchengladbach and Schalke to finish in 6th place (on goal difference)

Everton sitting in 8th spot approach the run in on the back of a good win against PSG and 2 draws. They face 20th place Athletic Club before games high flying Napoli and Monchengladbach and relegation contenders Sunderland and Galatasaray.

Prediction Manager David Inglis must be looking at an absolute minimum of 9 points from these games and I predict they will pick up 10 but still fall agonisingly short by a point and finish in 8th place

Newcastle  Oran Robsons Geordies sit in 9th spot and head into the final descent on the back of 2 draws and a win. They face mid table Zenit, champions elect Dortmund before finishing off with games against Boca Juniors, Benfica and Sporting CP.

Prediction Newcastle to lose to Dortmund, beat Zenit, Boca and Sporting but drop crucial points to Benfica in a draw and finish in 9th place

Monchengladbach Die Fohlen sit in 10th spot having picked up 2 wins and a draw in their previous 3 games. They face a tough final 5 games, playing four of the top eight. Manager Aleks Polonczyk will have to get maximum effort out of his players for every game to sneak a play off spot.

Prediction Die Fohlen without any outstanding players as such to struggle. Picking up 3 draws against Wolfsburg, Everton and Zenit and losing to Dortmund and Spartak Moskva. That's 3 points and they drop below 10th place Spurs into 11th place

Tottenham Spurs come into the final straight with a 1-1-1 record in their last 3 games and they still have the SMFA Shield to contest. Manager David the Fox Piero will be hoping his star studded side can see the campaign out in style and will be looking to talismanic players Ozil and Vidal to provide the spark of magic the Londoners crave.

Prediction Spurs face champions elect Dortmund at home before Boca, Benfica, Sporting CP and Loko Moskva. I predict 5 games unbeaten with 3 wins and 2 draws against Dortmund and Boca, this sees Spurs fall short and finish on 61 points in 10th place

So just to recap and put things in order the final table points wise as i predict is below.

4)     AS Roma

5)    Spartak Mokva

6)    PSG

7     Wolfsburg

8     Everton

9     Newcastle

10  Tottenham

11  Monchengladbach