Rival Watch

[Millsy]

Points matter, doesn't matter against whom.

6 pointers have a greater impact, but are more understandable and forgivable.
Points dropped against shit teams are more annoying and less forgivable.

Both shite, and we've done both. It all matters.

[andrew1957]

We need 5 wins now and even that might not be enough. Sadly think we are done for this season and probably a few more as we will now lose many of our best players in the summer and have to rebuild all over again which typically takes time.

It is getting increasingly hard to compete with the newly relegated clubs each season with large parachute payments and top players.

As I said a few days back it is 5 wins or bust. And even that might not be enough. The problem was not losing at Watford but the points we squandered at the likes of Wycombe and Coventry - plus twice against Birmingham and several other bad results. It will be very disappointing to miss out on top 6 after such a great start.

Absolutely nothing to so with those games. All about dropping 3 points with a 2 goal lead v Bournemouth and 2 with 1 goal v Barnsley.

Rivals matter, not the buggers at the other end of the table. How many times does it need to be said.

I have never heard such twaddle. It does not matter who you win the points against and by default it should be easier to beat teams nearer the bottom of the table than nearer the top. Our record against the current top 6 is not too bad at 3-2-5 with two to play. Our record against the bottom 3 is also ok at 4-1-1. Where we really slipped up was against the teams between current 9th and12th places where the results have been 1-4-3.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

On paper Barnsley have an easy run in

[Greatwesternline]

Completely bemused by who it matters where you collect your points.

Points are points.

We come out of matches against Bournemouth with 3 points, as do they. Which means the difference between us comes from the games against everyone else!


Also, while we were 2-0 up against Bournemouth, they had the control of the half, were pinging shots away, and missed an absolute sitter first half.

Our first goal came from a Semedo speculative dribble and soft foul. Resulting in a pen. The idea that we were all over them is a fabrication.

They were the better side that game for most of that match.

[Snowflake Royal]

As I said a few days back it is 5 wins or bust. And even that might not be enough. The problem was not losing at Watford but the points we squandered at the likes of Wycombe and Coventry - plus twice against Birmingham and several other bad results. It will be very disappointing to miss out on top 6 after such a great start.

Absolutely nothing to so with those games. All about dropping 3 points with a 2 goal lead v Bournemouth and 2 with 1 goal v Barnsley.

Rivals matter, not the buggers at the other end of the table. How many times does it need to be said.

I have never heard such twaddle. It does not matter who you win the points against and by default it should be easier to beat teams nearer the bottom of the table than nearer the top. Our record against the current top 6 is not too bad at 3-2-5 with two to play. Our record against the bottom 3 is also ok at 4-1-1. Where we really slipped up was against the teams between current 9th and12th places where the results have been 1-4-3.

Beat your rivals. You gain points, they are deprived of points. It's not twaddle, it's points efficiency.

It's how McDermott won the league. Beating Saints and West Ham.

If we'd beaten Bournemouth with our 2 goal lead, we'd be sixth. They'd have 3 fewer points, we'd have 3 more. A six point reversal.

To get the same change with results against lower teams, we'd need to have beaten Wycombe AND Birmingham.

Results against teams at the other end are far less important.

If Coppell's side had beaten Fulham instead of Liverpool, we wouldn't have been relegated. Same points, different position.

[andrew1957]

Absolutely nothing to so with those games. All about dropping 3 points with a 2 goal lead v Bournemouth and 2 with 1 goal v Barnsley.

Rivals matter, not the buggers at the other end of the table. How many times does it need to be said.

I have never heard such twaddle. It does not matter who you win the points against and by default it should be easier to beat teams nearer the bottom of the table than nearer the top. Our record against the current top 6 is not too bad at 3-2-5 with two to play. Our record against the bottom 3 is also ok at 4-1-1. Where we really slipped up was against the teams between current 9th and12th places where the results have been 1-4-3.

Beat your rivals. You gain points, they are deprived of points. It's not twaddle, it's points efficiency.

It's how McDermott won the league. Beating Saints and West Ham.

If we'd beaten Bournemouth with our 2 goal lead, we'd be sixth. They'd have 3 fewer points, we'd have 3 more. A six point reversal.

To get the same change with results against lower teams, we'd need to have beaten Wycombe AND Birmingham.

Results against teams at the other end are far less important.

If Coppell's side had beaten Fulham instead of Liverpool, we wouldn't have been relegated. Same points, different position.

If our record against the teams currently placed 9-12th was 4-1-3 instead of 1-4-3 we would have 6 more points and still be ahead of Barnsley and Bournemouth. It makes zero difference where the points come from.

[Snowflake Royal]

I have never heard such twaddle. It does not matter who you win the points against and by default it should be easier to beat teams nearer the bottom of the table than nearer the top. Our record against the current top 6 is not too bad at 3-2-5 with two to play. Our record against the bottom 3 is also ok at 4-1-1. Where we really slipped up was against the teams between current 9th and12th places where the results have been 1-4-3.

Beat your rivals. You gain points, they are deprived of points. It's not twaddle, it's points efficiency.

It's how McDermott won the league. Beating Saints and West Ham.

If we'd beaten Bournemouth with our 2 goal lead, we'd be sixth. They'd have 3 fewer points, we'd have 3 more. A six point reversal.

To get the same change with results against lower teams, we'd need to have beaten Wycombe AND Birmingham.

Results against teams at the other end are far less important.

If Coppell's side had beaten Fulham instead of Liverpool, we wouldn't have been relegated. Same points, different position.

If our record against the teams currently placed 9-12th was 4-1-3 instead of 1-4-3 we would have 6 more points and still be ahead of Barnsley and Bournemouth. It makes zero difference where the points come from.

Maths not your strong point.

If we beat Bournemouth we don't need to gain as many points to be above them.

[boycey]

I don’t think Bournemouth will get any points from their next 3 games.

[Stranded]

I have never heard such twaddle. It does not matter who you win the points against and by default it should be easier to beat teams nearer the bottom of the table than nearer the top. Our record against the current top 6 is not too bad at 3-2-5 with two to play. Our record against the bottom 3 is also ok at 4-1-1. Where we really slipped up was against the teams between current 9th and12th places where the results have been 1-4-3.

Beat your rivals. You gain points, they are deprived of points. It's not twaddle, it's points efficiency.

It's how McDermott won the league. Beating Saints and West Ham.

If we'd beaten Bournemouth with our 2 goal lead, we'd be sixth. They'd have 3 fewer points, we'd have 3 more. A six point reversal.

To get the same change with results against lower teams, we'd need to have beaten Wycombe AND Birmingham.

Results against teams at the other end are far less important.

If Coppell's side had beaten Fulham instead of Liverpool, we wouldn't have been relegated. Same points, different position.

If our record against the teams currently placed 9-12th was 4-1-3 instead of 1-4-3 we would have 6 more points and still be ahead of Barnsley and Bournemouth. It makes zero difference where the points come from.

They do and they don't. You could of course make the play-offs losing 10 games to the rest of the top 6, if you pick up 75 or so points from the other 36 games. That's title form of course.

Fact is every team drops points against the middling teams, so the games against rivals take on weight especially in a tight race. As Ian has said, losing a 2-0 lead at Bournemouth has meant a 5pt gap to 6th. Hold onto that win and we'd be sat here discussing what a big chance we have this weekend to open a 4pt gap.

[Stranded]

I don’t think Bournemouth will get any points from their next 3 games.

That would be lovely as long as we get 7-9pts at the same time.

[andrew1957]

Beat your rivals. You gain points, they are deprived of points. It's not twaddle, it's points efficiency.

It's how McDermott won the league. Beating Saints and West Ham.

If we'd beaten Bournemouth with our 2 goal lead, we'd be sixth. They'd have 3 fewer points, we'd have 3 more. A six point reversal.

To get the same change with results against lower teams, we'd need to have beaten Wycombe AND Birmingham.

Results against teams at the other end are far less important.

If Coppell's side had beaten Fulham instead of Liverpool, we wouldn't have been relegated. Same points, different position.

If our record against the teams currently placed 9-12th was 4-1-3 instead of 1-4-3 we would have 6 more points and still be ahead of Barnsley and Bournemouth. It makes zero difference where the points come from.

They do and they don't. You could of course make the play-offs losing 10 games to the rest of the top 6, if you pick up 75 or so points from the other 36 games. That's title form of course.

Fact is every team drops points against the middling teams, so the games against rivals take on weight especially in a tight race. As Ian has said, losing a 2-0 lead at Bournemouth has meant a 5pt gap to 6th. Hold onto that win and we'd be sat here discussing what a big chance we have this weekend to open a 4pt gap.

It only matters so much who the points are against. Taking an extreme example you could win all 12 games against the current top 6, lose all your other games and be relegated with 36 points.

[Stranded]

If our record against the teams currently placed 9-12th was 4-1-3 instead of 1-4-3 we would have 6 more points and still be ahead of Barnsley and Bournemouth. It makes zero difference where the points come from.

They do and they don't. You could of course make the play-offs losing 10 games to the rest of the top 6, if you pick up 75 or so points from the other 36 games. That's title form of course.

Fact is every team drops points against the middling teams, so the games against rivals take on weight especially in a tight race. As Ian has said, losing a 2-0 lead at Bournemouth has meant a 5pt gap to 6th. Hold onto that win and we'd be sat here discussing what a big chance we have this weekend to open a 4pt gap.

It only matters so much who the points are against. Taking an extreme example you could win all 12 games against the current top 6, lose all your other games and be relegated with 36 points.

You're essentially agreeing with my point, just not clear if you meant to.

In that example you would go down as you failed to pick up points against your rivals. The team finishing 21st may have also beaten all the top 6 and nothing else but as they beat you twice they stayed up and you dropped.

No-one is saying that you can't pick up points elsewhere to overhaul another side but it is often a better outlook to look at the results against your nearest rivals. The Bournemouth head to head clearly reflects that.

Yes, the games v 9-12 saw us drop a few too many points but if Bournemouth hadn't failed to take a single point off Wednesday, we'd be in an evem worse position now in the play-off race.

[Zip]

We need 5 wins now and even that might not be enough. Sadly think we are done for this season and probably a few more as we will now lose many of our best players in the summer and have to rebuild all over again which typically takes time.

It is getting increasingly hard to compete with the newly relegated clubs each season with large parachute payments and top players.

As I said a few days back it is 5 wins or bust. And even that might not be enough. The problem was not losing at Watford but the points we squandered at the likes of Wycombe and Coventry - plus twice against Birmingham and several other bad results. It will be very disappointing to miss out on top 6 after such a great start.

Absolutely nothing to so with those games. All about dropping 3 points with a 2 goal lead v Bournemouth and 2 with 1 goal v Barnsley.

Rivals matter,not the buggers at the other end of the table. How many times does it need to be said.

What? Of course the defeats to Wycombe, Brum etc matter. Not just for the obvious loss of points, but stalling of momentum, loss of confidence etc.

[Hound]

We need 5 wins now and even that might not be enough. Sadly think we are done for this season and probably a few more as we will now lose many of our best players in the summer and have to rebuild all over again which typically takes time.

It is getting increasingly hard to compete with the newly relegated clubs each season with large parachute payments and top players.

As I said a few days back it is 5 wins or bust. And even that might not be enough. The problem was not losing at Watford but the points we squandered at the likes of Wycombe and Coventry - plus twice against Birmingham and several other bad results. It will be very disappointing to miss out on top 6 after such a great start.

Absolutely nothing to so with those games. All about dropping 3 points with a 2 goal lead v Bournemouth and 2 with 1 goal v Barnsley.

Rivals matter,not the buggers at the other end of the table. How many times does it need to be said.

Very strange comment. If we’d beaten Brum twice we’d still be ahead of Bournemouth

If you were forced to pinpoint 1 game which mattered then yes that’d be it, but we’d have expected to lose that before the game - we should have put away Brum *2, Wycombe, sheff weds away, Preston home and away without any trouble - change just two of those to wins and we’re still in pole position

[Zip]

As I said a few days back it is 5 wins or bust. And even that might not be enough. The problem was not losing at Watford but the points we squandered at the likes of Wycombe and Coventry - plus twice against Birmingham and several other bad results. It will be very disappointing to miss out on top 6 after such a great start.

Absolutely nothing to so with those games. All about dropping 3 points with a 2 goal lead v Bournemouth and 2 with 1 goal v Barnsley.

Rivals matter,not the buggers at the other end of the table. How many times does it need to be said.

Very strange comment. If we’d beaten Brum twice we’d still be ahead of Bournemouth

If you were forced to pinpoint 1 game which mattered then yes that’d be it, but we’d have expected to lose that before the game - we should have put away Brum *2, Wycombe, sheff weds away, Preston home and away without any trouble - change just two of those to wins and we’re still in pole position

Brum at home was the turning point for me. The manner of the defeat, injuries to key forwards etc. A horrible evening. We then had to rely on Baldock for key games like Norwich, Brentford and Swansea.

[Snowflake Royal]

But we were 2 against Bournemouth and it's one game. You want a oxf*rd up, that's it.

No games are guaranteed points and most the clubs at the top have dropped points against the middle and bottom.

You want a key factor it's a six point reversal in one game from a 2-0 head start in one half.

[Hound]

Don’t disagree it was a huge game and as said of you were to pinpoint 1 game that might be it (though leaning towards zip and Brum home)

But you can’t say it was absolutely nothing to do with the crap results against the bottom teams - because it clearly was

[Zip]

But we were 2 against Bournemouth and it's one game. You want a oxf*rd up, that's it.

No games are guaranteed points and most the clubs at the top have dropped points against the middle and bottom.

You want a key factor it's a six point reversal in one game from a 2-0 head start in one half.

I think it goes beyond the one game. That Brum defeat was so damaging. Joao hasn’t really performed since than bar Huddersfield. Not convinced Yaks has fully recovered from the injury that night.
It was the start of Joao’s confidence going down the drain.

I’d also say it’s about expectations. We know Bournemouth are strong at this level. Brum were in dreadful form when we played them. To lose to a very poor side who were down to ten men and missing a penalty was very painful.

[Hound]

And it’s easily forgotten but we we actually bloody good in that first half vs Bournemouth. Showed we could play well against a strong team

That Brum game was a disaster start to finish

[Zip]

And it’s easily forgotten but we we actually bloody good in that first half vs Bournemouth. Showed we could play well against a strong team

That Brum game was a disaster start to finish

Yep. We barely managed to get out of our own half in the early stages of the Brum game. I know you went that night. That was the one game I didn’t attend. So glad I missed it because I would have been very peeved on the drive home.