Next Six Games

[tidus_mi2]

Nice one Maff

Another way to look at it is this:

11 games in and we have played

4 of the top 06 W2 D0 L2 5-4 1.5 ppg
5 of the top 09 W2 D1 L2 6-5 1.4 ppg
6 of the top 10 W3 D1 L2 11-6 1.67 ppg

And for the bottom half of the table snowers?

3-2-0

[Snowball]

We really should have got a point at Birmingham (could have won)
Threw away two points at Wednesday with an individual error in injury time,
The 0-1 loss to Derby was almost certainly down to Sa's sending off.

I know it's "swings and roundabouts" and "the luck evens out" etc etc etc
but we could easily have had 6-8 more points than we have.

IMO (I said this a while back) we are going to get a lot better yet.

If I had to bet a kidney I'd say it's between us and Derby for top spot with
Boro 3rd and (probably) Brighton, Burnley, Birmingham and Hull pressing.

Doubt there's a lot between the current top seven, and it may be the team
that does best against the other six will prevail and finish top.

Can't see many challenging for top six, none of those currently
14th and lower look to have the squads, and I expect the
current top 9 to provide all six places.

Wednesday, dunno. Don't fancy Cardiff.

Looks like two leagues to me - the top division being the top 8/9 as they are now,
the lower division starting at Forest in 14th, and just a few "floaters"
QPR, Ipswich, Fulham, Wolves with only an outside chance of coming
good and challenging for sixth.

[Snowball]

And for the bottom half of the table snowers?

Didn't look, mate. I was far more curious about our performances
against the top 6-7-8-9, and we could have won the lot!

[maffff]

And for the bottom half of the table snowers?

Didn't look, mate. I was far more curious about our performances
against the top 6-7-8-9, and we could have won the lot!

2.2ppg

[Snowball]

WIN SAT 03 OCT H Middlesbrough
WIN SAT 17 OCT H Charlton
DRAW TUE 20 OCT A Rotherham
SAT 24 OCT A Fulham ("D")
SAT 31 OCT H Brighton ("W")
TUE 3 NOV H Huddersfield ("W")

Looks like we need a win at Fulham now for me to get back on track for W5 D1

But W3 D3 every 6 for the rest of the season ought to see us home


TBF to Brighton, this "they're-not-very-good really" run is now 12 games, 28 points, so maybe they are decent after all

Losing at home to them would mean a big gap. Like Boro, I don't want to contemplate that

[Ouroboros]

Nice to see us up in 3rd and all, but it's very tight. A bad week and we could easily be down to 8th.

[Ian Royal]

Yeah. Looking like it could be particularly tough at the top this year. We've stuttered a touch and I'm a bit concerned by our injury induced unsettled team and heavy reliance on Blackman's goals.

Hopefully we find our feet a bit better again against Fulham and Brighton.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Wasn't that long ago that you were happy with the strength of the squad.

[tidus_mi2]

Brighton have done well but starting with us, all the way to new year they have a lot of tricky fixtures, at that point we'll be at 24 games and the table should have taken shape.

[Ian Royal]

Wasn't that long ago that you were happy with the strength of the squad.

On the whole I am. But Fernandez, John, Piazon and Hurtado haven't particularly impressed, whilst Sa's only scored in two games and Quinn, Bond, Ferdinand and HRK are injured.

Expectations have been significantly raised and my concern is we may fall a little short. I still think we're nailed on top 10 which is plenty good enough compared to last season.

But 1st or 2nd would be lovely.

[paultheroyal]

Yeah. Looking like it could be particularly tough at the top this year. We've stuttered a touch and I'm a bit concerned by our injury induced unsettled team and heavy reliance on Blackman's goals.

Hopefully we find our feet a bit better again against Fulham and Brighton.

Define stuttered!

[CountryRoyal]

Wasn't that long ago that you were happy with the strength of the squad.

On the whole I am. But Fernandez, John, Piazon and Hurtado haven't particularly impressed, whilst Sa's only scored in two games and Quinn, Bond, Ferdinand and HRK are injured.

Expectations have been significantly raised and my concern is we may fall a little short. I still think we're nailed on top 10 which is plenty good enough compared to last season.

But 1st or 2nd would be lovely.

A couple of below par performances and it's gone from "someone is due a spanking" to "should at least get top 10.."? Come on now it's not that bad!

You say the new boys haven't impressed. 3 of them haven't had a proper run in the team and one of them keeps getting played out of position. Even so it's hard to impress in a team that's playing well. I'll give you the concern about Sa, more worryingly was his lack poor performance - though we knew what sort of player he was and can't imagine he fancied up north on a Tuesday night

Im happy with the squad at the moment, injuries are annoying (mostly Quinn, but don't forget HRK is leading our assist charts) is but I just want Clarke to pick a starting team and stick with it for a while.

We will have more of an idea of where we stand after Fullham, but more importantly, next weekend.

[CountryRoyal]

Yeah. Looking like it could be particularly tough at the top this year. We've stuttered a touch and I'm a bit concerned by our injury induced unsettled team and heavy reliance on Blackman's goals.

Hopefully we find our feet a bit better again against Fulham and Brighton.

Define stuttered!

I'd imagine winning every match and then drawing one.

Which I suppose is technically stuttering... Ish.

[tidus_mi2]

The last 2 performances haven't been great but we've returned 4 points, not too shabby. Why I think Brighton might fall away is they haven't been blowing teams away, not a single victory but more than a single goal, that's rarely the mark of champions.

[CountryRoyal]

The last 2 performances haven't been great but we've returned 4 points, not too shabby. Why I think Brighton might fall away is they haven't been blowing teams away, not a single victory but more than a single goal, that's rarely the mark of champions.

If was probably the worst time we could have played Rotherham as well. Listen if you win your home games and draw your away games you get promoted.

Completely agree with you about Brighton. They say it's the mark of a good team if you can win when you're playing badly, but a team that consistently plays badly isn't a good a team. By all accounts Brighton haven't played well in a lot if not most of their games, picking up narrow wins by a late goal here and there. Bristol city - the team we completely outclassed without getting out of second gear, made them look average the other night and deserved at least a point. They're also yet to play any of the top teams bar Hull, they won, but not particularly convincingly 1-0.

I'm not saying they don't necessarily deserve to be where they are, they've started fantastically and congratulations to them, but I have reservations to say the least that they have the quality to stay where they are.

I still don't even think they will make the playoffs. One bad result and they could tumble...

[JC]

The last 2 performances haven't been great but we've returned 4 points, not too shabby. Why I think Brighton might fall away is they haven't been blowing teams away, not a single victory but more than a single goal, that's rarely the mark of champions.

Nevertheless Saturdays game at Fulham now appears to assume a greater significance. If we fail to win, or worse still lose, then will doubts start to emerge just when we need to be at our best to face Brighton?

[Ian Royal]

Yeah. Looking like it could be particularly tough at the top this year. We've stuttered a touch and I'm a bit concerned by our injury induced unsettled team and heavy reliance on Blackman's goals.

Hopefully we find our feet a bit better again against Fulham and Brighton.

Define stuttered!

I'd imagine winning every match and then drawing one.

Which I suppose is technically stuttering... Ish.

Weaker performances against weaker opposition including dropping some points against one of them. We're not showing the same dominence and fluidity we were before the international break.

But all I said was 'a bit concerned' you guys read way too much into everything. Like if it isn't an unconditional declaration of confidence that we'll win the league it must mean the poster thinks the team is shit.

As for spanking someone, our performances have dropped a little and I think we've missed our chance against Rotherham and Charlton, at least for a while.

[Angry Shed Sex]

Weaker performances against weaker opposition including dropping some points against one of them.

Well then bring on Brighton - we should absolutely smash them.

[genome]

Charlton - Pathetically sat back and we had to break them down. You'll never be at your free-following best against sides who do that. It kills the game.
Rotherham - A team with players who will be desperate to prove themselves to the new manager, up north on a Tuesday night, and by all accounts they played well.

I don't think we've stuttered.

[Ian Royal]

Fair enough. I do, marginally. As always the next couple of games will tell us more.

If we beat Fulham and get a point or three out of Brighton, particularly with someone other than Blackman scoring, preferably Sa, and my proto-concerns will evaporate and I'll be very happy about it.