The second season Syndrome.

[Forbury Lion]

Complacency, that's what it's all about.

[Behindu]

Complacency, that's what it's all about.

I don;t think we need to worry about complacency.

[Forbury Lion]

Complacency, that's what it's all about.

I don;t think we need to worry about complacency.

[Hoop Blah]

Our 'surprise package' status certainly helped us at the begining of last season and gave us the belief and momentum to do as well as we did.

.

What would be your prediction to Reading's season next season if we arent given as generous a start to the season by the Fixture List this time around?

No idea yet. Far too much will happen between now and August to even consider it.

I do think that if we lost 2-0 to 'Boro on the opening day our season might've been very different. Thankfully Shorey burst down the left after 30 minutes or so and the rest is history.

[RoyalBlue]

Our 'surprise package' status certainly helped us at the begining of last season and gave us the belief and momentum to do as well as we did.

.

What would be your prediction to Reading's season next season if we arent given as generous a start to the season by the Fixture List this time around?

I seem to remember that we didn't do that badly against many of the 'top' teams this season. What's more, at least we won't be playing Watford away!

[Stranded]

Our 'surprise package' status certainly helped us at the begining of last season and gave us the belief and momentum to do as well as we did.

.

What would be your prediction to Reading's season next season if we arent given as generous a start to the season by the Fixture List this time around?

I seem to remember that we didn't do that badly against many of the 'top' teams this season. What's more, at least we won't be playing Watford away!

Picked up 2 points from 24 against the top four teams.

If our season starts something like:

Arsenal (a)
Man U (H)
Chelsea (H)
Liverpool (a)

which though harsh is possible, it wouldn't fill you with confidence that a good start is likely.

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

Our 'surprise package' status certainly helped us at the begining of last season and gave us the belief and momentum to do as well as we did.

.

What would be your prediction to Reading's season next season if we arent given as generous a start to the season by the Fixture List this time around?

I seem to remember that we didn't do that badly against many of the 'top' teams this season. What's more, at least we won't be playing Watford away!

I dont know the answer either, so Im not trying to make any clever point. I thought we had an easy start to our first season in the Prem and that gave us confidence for the rest of the season. Just say we get given a horror show in August / Spetember (like some of our streaky runs this year) are we a team who can cope with that? My heart says 'Yes' but I was just wondering if what other people thought.

[brendywendy]

i think coppells one game at a time attitude means that we never really bow to form
as has been shown through our bouts of 5 good games and 5 bad games throughout the season, every time people started to write us off again, bubbles burst etc we just went and won a game to shut them up
eg 6-0 vs west ham

bad games dont get us down, good games donrt make us over confident.

we will be fine

i hope

[Stranded]

I agree we'll be fine but can you imagine what it'll do to us as fans seeing a fixture list where out first 8 games or so had the Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and say a trip to Spurs in.

Would almost certainly leave us near the bottom from the get go and then you're playing catch up.

[Dirk Gently]

At the Fans' Forum SC said that their objective next season, and one of teh ways they'll motivate themselves, is to prove that SSS doesn't exist.

[Behindu]

[quote="Dr Hfuhruhurr]
I dont know the answer either, so Im not trying to make any clever point. I thought we had an easy start to our first season in the Prem and that gave us confidence for the rest of the season. Just say we get given a horror show in August / Spetember (like some of our streaky runs this year) are we a team who can cope with that? My heart says 'Yes' but I was just wondering if what other people thought.[/quote]

I'd say we had a very tircky start to last season if you extend it beyond the first 4 or 5 games.

In some ways being able to pick up a few points was nice but to then hit Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and Spurs in succession (if I remember it right !) could have been killing. To have got thumped 4 or 5 times after thinking we were going to be OK might have totally knocked the stuffing out of us.

OK, we didn;t win any, but we came back strongly. Indeed whenever we have hit a bad patch we have always turned it round and it seems 4 or 5 games wihtout a win is always followed by 4 or 5 undefeated !

IMHO it all depends on Coppell maintaining the team spirit, which will be harder to do as new players come in and the Championship team is broken up.

Last season showed us we don't really need to fear anyone (bar an Arsenal at their best), but at the same time we can;t afford to take anyone for granted (excpet Sheff Utd).

[papereyes]

Picked up 2 points from 24 against the top four teams.

Indeed. Felt much better at the time.

[Dave the rave]

Yeah, this second season thing is a load of cobblers - a soundbite.
The fact that we did well against teams of a lower standard and, although not beating them, held out against the top teams is evident in our league position. Coppell will install this next term.

The one game at a time approach works. Why would you plan for five at a time anyway?

[seahawk10]

I agree we'll be fine but can you imagine what it'll do to us as fans seeing a fixture list where out first 8 games or so had the Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and say a trip to Spurs in.

Would almost certainly leave us near the bottom from the get go and then you're playing catch up.

I don't think the schedule will make a difference. You have to play the top teams sometime. If we start off with a tough grouping to begin with it just means we will have an easier grouping later on.

[weybridgewanderer]

I think the schedule does make a difference

if you get very few points from your first half dozen game sit pile son the pressure

winning is a habit, you don't want other teams getting into that habit before you do

[Forbury Lion]

Our 'surprise package' status certainly helped us at the begining of last season and gave us the belief and momentum to do as well as we did.

.

What would be your prediction to Reading's season next season if we arent given as generous a start to the season by the Fixture List this time around?

I seem to remember that we didn't do that badly against many of the 'top' teams this season. What's more, at least we won't be playing Watford away!

Picked up 2 points from 24 against the top four teams.

If our season starts something like:

Arsenal (a)
Man U (H)
Chelsea (H)
Liverpool (a)

which though harsh is possible, it wouldn't fill you with confidence that a good start is likely.

I'd rather play Arsenal at the start of the season before they get into gear.

Man Utd are traditionally slow starters

If we get Chelsea early doors they might not yet have a new multi million pound signing to play alongside Drogba

Liverpool away will be tough, but at such an early stage of the season they won't see us as a vital game to gaurantee 3rd or 4th spot. Might also have the Eurpean Supercup as a distraction.

This season gone we gave Chelsea and Man Utd real fights to the finish, Why not the same again next season? - Our players will likely be up for it from the start.

[seahawk10]

Getting points early off top squads can be a boost as Forbury points out. And having an easy schedule to begin with and struggling could be an even bigger drag on the season as starting off against top squads with similar outcome.

It comes down to results in the end which is why I think the schedule isn't that important. Line them up and play them, Coppell will have the squad focused on the task at hand.

[dantheloyalroyal]

We've got a great chance of establishing ourselves as a mid-table Premiership side. Just because Wigan and West Ham have done poorly, looking at the statistics at the beginning at this thread, it's been blown out of proportion!

12th next season, then a slow move towards Uefa over the following 5-10 seasons!

[kingthor]

It is our job as fans to be wildly optimistic and unrealistic in our expectations. As such, in the second year of the premiership, the league is ours!

[papereyes]

Right, got all of the data in one place now. Changes in point in red, a drop = +'ve, changes in position in blue.

SSS depends on how you define it.

The most famous cases would be Wigan, West Ham and Ipswich, where top half seasons were followed by massive drops in form. (Wigan 13, 7; West Ham 14, 6; Ipswich 30, 13)

There have been a couple of other teams with similar patterns - Forest between 1994/5 and 1995/6 dropped 19 points and 6 positions, although that's complicated by 4 less games played in a season. Bradford just stayed up in 2000, but dropped 10 points from a small total to sink in their second season. Manchester City also dropped 10 points and 7 places in their second season. (I also ignored Middlesboro's points deduction and worked out the table based on their performance. ) Ipswich also dropped 9 points between the 1992/3 and 1993/4 seasons, turning midtable into a one place above relegation.

Of 22 clubs that did stay up, 7 improved on their previous seasons points performance, although this does not necessarily correlate to their position improving. No side managed to record more points in their second season but still get relegated.

These were: Blackburn 1992/93, Derby and Leicester 1996/97, Middlesboro' 1998/99, Fulham, Bolton and Blackburn 2001/02, Birmingham City 2002/03.

That leaves 15 that didn't improve their points tally but the difference in points is usually small - no more than 2 wins.


There's a bit more to come.