Wednesday 4 May 2016

Play Off Permutations & Predictions Part Four

Welcome to the final part in the tetralogy of the play off predictions. In this piece I focus on Division 5, a division close to my own heart. I have tried to keep an unbiased opinion of who will make the play offs and have assumed that the top 3 of Villareal, Feyenoord and Stuttgart will stay as it is. The focus is on clubs 4th - 10th in the table. As always feel free to mock me and gloat if or when I'm wrong.

Division 5

Hertha Berlin Die Alle Dame approach the final 5 games with optimism after a recent dire run of 2 draws and 2 defeats from their last four games. Manager Mark Stewart will be looking to his key players - Demba Ba (15 goals and a 7.48 rating), Balazs Dzsudszak (17 assists) and Valentin Stocker (13 assists) to conjure up the attacking magic to inspire Berlin to the play offs. Berlin who are the divisions top scorers (and joint 2nd outside of the top flight) will be hoping they can see out the remaining games and enter the play offs suspension and injury free.
Prediction Berlin to beat Club Brugge and Zagreb, pick up draws against Rubin Kazan and Celtic and lose to Feyenoord to finish in 4th place


Balasz Dzsudzak

Sao Paolo the Tricolor with a recent 1-0-2 record will be looking to Mauricio Pinilla (13 goals) to help fire them to the play off lottery. Josh Macmillan's side face games against Bremen, Independiente, Santos, Stuttgart and Standard Liege.
Prediction The Brazilians to pick up wins against Werder Bremen Standard Liege and Santos plus draws with Independiente and Stuttgart see them pick up 11 points from 15 and finish in 5th place


Mauricio Pinilla
Santos Ian D's boys from Brazil come into the final straight on the back of a 2-0-1 record. With lowly Augsborg and FK Partizan plus Olympiacos, Sao Paolo and Anderlecht to play the Peixe will be confident in picking up enough points to make the play offs. Pablo Piatti with 12 goals, 9 assists and 7 man of the match awards will clearly be key to Ian D's promotion hopes and I'm sure he will be wrapped in cotton wool after each game.
Prediction Wins against Augsborg and FK, a draw against Olympiacos and 2 defeats will see Santos pick up 7 points and finish in 6th place (on goal difference)


Pablo Piatti
Celtic sitting in 7th place approach the last lap of games with a healthy 3-0-1 record. The Bhoys are typical off the Scottish stereotype of being stingy by boasting the meanest defence of all the highlighted clubs with just 30 goals conceded. Manager Rutts 66 will be looking to super subs Riccardo Saponara and veteran Alejandro Dominguez to inspire the hoops to play off heaven.
Prediction Wins against Rubin Kazan, and FC Twente plus draws with Flamengo and Hertha Berlin see 8 points picked up to finish in 7th place


Riccardo Saponara
Olympiacos Alex Mclean's Greek side sit just on the edge of the play off spots with a recent 1-1-1 record. Tough games against Stuttgart, Santos and Villareal plus Standard Liege and Flamengo are on the horizon. Fans of the Thrylos will be quietly optimistic, on loan goalkeeper Jimenez Roberto is the teams top performer average rating wise and Mclean who runs a well organised team will be demanding top drawer performances to secure a play off spot.
Prediction Draws with Stuttgart and Santos and a defeat to Villareal with wins against Standard Liege will result in 8 points and the Thrylos will finish in 8th place


Jimenez Roberto
Rubin Kazan are 7 points off the play offs, manager Antonio Alves is going to need star player Lucas Pratto to really excel if they are to overturn the points deficit. The forward with 14 goals and 8 man of the match awards to his name will have to add to his tally with games against Celtic, Feyenoord, Hertha Berlin, kiev and Werder Bremen approaching
Prediction the Kamni to beat Kiev and Werder Bremen, draw with Berlin and lose the other 2 to finish in 9th place

Lucas Pratto
Club Brugge Blauw Zwart like Rubin are 7 points adrift of the play offs with a recent record of 1-0-2. Manager Davy Vandendriessche has a big task in leading the Belgians to the end of season lottery. Games against Hertha Berlin and Stuttgart with Dynamo Kiev, Werder Bremen and Independiente sandwiched between them will not be easy and the Belgians do not have any noteworthy standout players to help see them through.
Prediction a win against Independiente, draw against Bremen and 3 losses see Brugge finish in 10th place

So to recap and put things in order everything stays as it currently is

4)   Hertha Berlin
5)   Sao Paolo
6)   Santos
7)   Celtic

8)   Olympiacos
9)   Rubin Kazan
10) Club Brugge

1 comment:

  1. Top article, and bonus points awarded for use of the word 'tetralogy'

    ReplyDelete