Rival Watch

[windermereROYAL]

We can`t get back into the play-offs on Friday but we can tell the teams that are already there we aren`t going away. especially with Bournemouth at Norwich next Saturday.

EDIT, we can get back into the top 6 if Bournemouth lose at Huddersfield.

[Snowball]

Well whichever way we look at it we are now very unlikely to make the play offs. We have been too reliant on Joao. That was fine when he was in good form but when he lost his way so did the team.
For me this season is a big missed opportunity.

No doubt it’s a big opportunity and it’s very disappointing to say the least

I actually think we may have a bit of a problem with Joao.
Who have we got on our books?
The guy who couldn’t miss or the guy who’s forgotten how to play football?
Given he hasn’t set the world alight anywhere else is it actually the latter?

I really don’t know. He was so good in the first few months. That was skill not luck. Where that player has gone I just don’t know. I cannot recall any striker in our history having such an odd season.

Blackman

Vydra

[Zip]

No doubt it’s a big opportunity and it’s very disappointing to say the least

I actually think we may have a bit of a problem with Joao.
Who have we got on our books?
The guy who couldn’t miss or the guy who’s forgotten how to play football?
Given he hasn’t set the world alight anywhere else is it actually the latter?

I really don’t know. He was so good in the first few months. That was skill not luck. Where that player has gone I just don’t know. I cannot recall any striker in our history having such an odd season.

Blackman

Vydra

Vydra was just a let down. Blackman is a good one but his purple patch was brief. Joao had gone from sublime to ridiculous

[tmesis]

Broken up into blocks of 8 games each...

1-8, 22 points
9-16, 8 pts
17-24, 13 pts
25-32, 10 pts
33-40, 15 pts

That doesn't really point to a collapse. It points to the inevitable consequence of five months of picking up fewer ppg that the other sides up there.

Of course, had Barnsley not had their storming run we'd probably still have made the play-offs.

You can talk about critical misses, I guess, but let's not forget that the early season form was based on only conceding one goal in the first seven games, not great goalscoring. 11 goals in those first 7 games isn't amazing.

[windermereROYAL]

Broken up into blocks of 8 games each...

1-8, 22 points
9-16, 8 pts
17-24, 13 pts
25-32, 10 pts
33-40, 15 pts

That doesn't really point to a collapse. It points to the inevitable consequence of five months of picking up fewer ppg that the other sides up there.

Of course, had Barnsley not had their storming run we'd probably still have made the play-offs.

You can talk about critical misses, I guess, but let's not forget that the early season form was based on only conceding one goal in the first seven games, not great goalscoring. 11 goals in those first 7 games isn't amazing.

We`ve got 66 points not 68.

[Snowball]

I really don’t know. He was so good in the first few months. That was skill not luck. Where that player has gone I just don’t know. I cannot recall any striker in our history having such an odd season.

Blackman

Vydra

Vydra was just a let down. Blackman is a good one but his purple patch was brief. Joao had gone from sublime to ridiculous

Vydra is known for having good and bad seasons

He failed with us in the championship yet he is in the Prem

[Crowbar6753]

Today it looks bad!! and seems pretty desperate right know. But there's still a way to go and i guarantee there will be a few more twists and turns as the pressure is cranked up.
If we can beat Cardiff and Muff lose at Norwich then its game on again....especially if Huddersfiels can get something in midweek.
Our next two games Cardiff/Luton are must win to build momentum and put some pressure back on those above.

[Snowflake Royal]

Well whichever way we look at it we are now very unlikely to make the play offs. We have been too reliant on Joao. That was fine when he was in good form but when he lost his way so did the team.
For me this season is a big missed opportunity.

No doubt it’s a big opportunity and it’s very disappointing to say the least

I actually think we may have a bit of a problem with Joao.
Who have we got on our books?
The guy who couldn’t miss or the guy who’s forgotten how to play football?
Given he hasn’t set the world alight anywhere else is it actually the latter?

I really don’t know. He was so good in the first few months. That was skill not luck. Where that player has gone I just don’t know. I cannot recall any striker in our history having such an odd season.

Doyle had scored 16 by Xmas after we got relegated first time and then scored 2 in the rest of the season, across another 17 games.

[Zip]

No doubt it’s a big opportunity and it’s very disappointing to say the least

I actually think we may have a bit of a problem with Joao.
Who have we got on our books?
The guy who couldn’t miss or the guy who’s forgotten how to play football?
Given he hasn’t set the world alight anywhere else is it actually the latter?

I really don’t know. He was so good in the first few months. That was skill not luck. Where that player has gone I just don’t know. I cannot recall any striker in our history having such an odd season.

Doyle had scored 16 by Xmas after we got relegated first time and then scored 2 in the rest of the season, across another 17 games.

Good one but I can’t recall Doyle’s form dropping off so steeply. At least you would always get Doyle’s work rate. The missed pens, open goals, other good chances. Staggering drop off.

[Hendo]

I really don’t know. He was so good in the first few months. That was skill not luck. Where that player has gone I just don’t know. I cannot recall any striker in our history having such an odd season.

Doyle had scored 16 by Xmas after we got relegated first time and then scored 2 in the rest of the season, across another 17 games.

Good one but I can’t recall Doyle’s form dropping off so steeply. At least you would always get Doyle’s work rate. The missed pens, open goals, other good chances. Staggering drop off.

Think it wasn’t just Doyle that dropped off that year it was the whole team but might not have been as obvious as we weren’t so reliant on him for how we played.

Wasn’t it something stupid like we only picked up 2 points at home after Christmas that year?

[Snowball]

Not necessarily Reading but how many can we think of

Joao
Vydra
Blackman
Forlan 26 games (9 Months)
Aubameyang

Shearer 12 games without scoring
Torres 24

Rooney went 1,080 minutes blank when at his peak

SHANE LONG went more than 319 days blank and in the same period Kane scored 50 goals

Benteke had a 20+ dry run

Vardy had nine consecutive blanks and jut one goal in 12 games

Werner, Chelsea

[Zip]

Doyle had scored 16 by Xmas after we got relegated first time and then scored 2 in the rest of the season, across another 17 games.

Good one but I can’t recall Doyle’s form dropping off so steeply. At least you would always get Doyle’s work rate. The missed pens, open goals, other good chances. Staggering drop off.

Think it wasn’t just Doyle that dropped off that year it was the whole team but might not have been as obvious as we weren’t so reliant on him for how we played.

Wasn’t it something stupid like we only picked up 2 points at home after Christmas that year?

Yep it was Coppell’s final season. We beat Wolves at their place 3-0 that season and a mate who supports Wolves said to me it was men v boys that night. Wolves went on to win the title.We looked odds on to go up at one point but the home fall fell apart and we ended up missing out on automatic promotion on the final day.I think it was then the play offs v Burnley where Bikey imploded. We had the best goal difference in the entire division that season too.

[Zip]

Not necessarily Reading but how many can we think of

Joao
Vydra
Blackman
Forlan 26 games (9 Months)
Aubameyang

Shearer 12 games without scoring
Torres 24

Rooney went 1,080 minutes blank when at his peak

SHANE LONG went more than 319 days blank and in the same period Kane scored 50 goals

Benteke had a 20+ dry run

Vardy had nine consecutive blanks and jut one goal in 12 games

Werner, Chelsea

It’s more than the goals drying up with Joao. It’s the awful misses that have gone with it.

[Westwood52]

Not necessarily Reading but how many can we think of

Joao
Vydra
Blackman
Forlan 26 games (9 Months)
Aubameyang

Shearer 12 games without scoring
Torres 24

Rooney went 1,080 minutes blank when at his peak

SHANE LONG went more than 319 days blank and in the same period Kane scored 50 goals

Benteke had a 20+ dry run

Vardy had nine consecutive blanks and jut one goal in 12 games

Werner, Chelsea

It’s more than the goals drying up with Joao. It’s the awful misses that have gone with it.

Also you could never fault Doyle for effort.At time since Xmas;Jao has stunk the place out.

[Notts Royal]

Good one but I can’t recall Doyle’s form dropping off so steeply. At least you would always get Doyle’s work rate. The missed pens, open goals, other good chances. Staggering drop off.

Think it wasn’t just Doyle that dropped off that year it was the whole team but might not have been as obvious as we weren’t so reliant on him for how we played.

Wasn’t it something stupid like we only picked up 2 points at home after Christmas that year?

Yep it was Coppell’s final season. We beat Wolves at their place 3-0 that season and a mate who supports Wolves said to me it was men v boys that night. Wolves went on to win the title.We looked odds on to go up at one point but the home fall fell apart and we ended up missing out on automatic promotion on the final day.I think it was then the play offs v Burnley where Bikey imploded. We had the best goal difference in the entire division that season too.

Remember going to that Wolves game as a student...getting back to Sheffield at some ungodly hour due to poor train service. Was a class game. In fact, every away game that season was pretty class. Glory years!

Not sure Joao’s had as much of a drop off as say Nick Blackman did.

Starting to think Puscas adds more in terms of work rate, hold up play (now greatly improved) and runs. If the team was built around him a bit more, would be interested to see if he’d score as many as Joao.

However I expect him to move...he’s not going to want to carry on playing second fiddle when his stock across the continent is still quite high

[Zip]

Think it wasn’t just Doyle that dropped off that year it was the whole team but might not have been as obvious as we weren’t so reliant on him for how we played.

Wasn’t it something stupid like we only picked up 2 points at home after Christmas that year?

Yep it was Coppell’s final season. We beat Wolves at their place 3-0 that season and a mate who supports Wolves said to me it was men v boys that night. Wolves went on to win the title.We looked odds on to go up at one point but the home fall fell apart and we ended up missing out on automatic promotion on the final day.I think it was then the play offs v Burnley where Bikey imploded. We had the best goal difference in the entire division that season too.

Remember going to that Wolves game as a student...getting back to Sheffield at some ungodly hour due to poor train service. Was a class game. In fact, every away game that season was pretty class. Glory years!

Not sure Joao’s had as much of a drop off as say Nick Blackman did.

Starting to think Puscas adds more in terms of work rate, hold up play (now greatly improved) and runs. If the team was built around him a bit more, would be interested to see if he’d score as many as Joao.

However I expect him to move...he’s not going to want to carry on playing second fiddle when his stock across the continent is still quite high

Agree about Puscas. I think he’s shown a great attitude and been unlucky to have started so few. I hope he starts in our remaining games.

[CountryRoyal]

Yep it was Coppell’s final season. We beat Wolves at their place 3-0 that season and a mate who supports Wolves said to me it was men v boys that night. Wolves went on to win the title.We looked odds on to go up at one point but the home fall fell apart and we ended up missing out on automatic promotion on the final day.I think it was then the play offs v Burnley where Bikey imploded. We had the best goal difference in the entire division that season too.

Remember going to that Wolves game as a student...getting back to Sheffield at some ungodly hour due to poor train service. Was a class game. In fact, every away game that season was pretty class. Glory years!

Not sure Joao’s had as much of a drop off as say Nick Blackman did.

Starting to think Puscas adds more in terms of work rate, hold up play (now greatly improved) and runs. If the team was built around him a bit more, would be interested to see if he’d score as many as Joao.

However I expect him to move...he’s not going to want to carry on playing second fiddle when his stock across the continent is still quite high

Agree about Puscas. I think he’s shown a great attitude and been unlucky to have started so few. I hope he starts in our remaining games.

Agreed. Joao was abysmal when he came on. He genuinely looked like he’d won a competition or something.

[Snowball]

Remember going to that Wolves game as a student...getting back to Sheffield at some ungodly hour due to poor train service. Was a class game. In fact, every away game that season was pretty class. Glory years!

Not sure Joao’s had as much of a drop off as say Nick Blackman did.

Starting to think Puscas adds more in terms of work rate, hold up play (now greatly improved) and runs. If the team was built around him a bit more, would be interested to see if he’d score as many as Joao.

However I expect him to move...he’s not going to want to carry on playing second fiddle when his stock across the continent is still quite high

Agree about Puscas. I think he’s shown a great attitude and been unlucky to have started so few. I hope he starts in our remaining games.

Agreed. Joao was abysmal when he came on. He genuinely looked like he’d won a competition or something.

According to WhoScored he had 5 unforced errors and was dispossessed three times.

For context at Forest his scores for these were 1 (0)

His numbers were worse than most 90 minute games he's played.

[tmesis]

Broken up into blocks of 8 games each...

1-8, 22 points
9-16, 8 pts
17-24, 13 pts
25-32, 10 pts
33-40, 15 pts

That doesn't really point to a collapse. It points to the inevitable consequence of five months of picking up fewer ppg that the other sides up there.

Of course, had Barnsley not had their storming run we'd probably still have made the play-offs.

You can talk about critical misses, I guess, but let's not forget that the early season form was based on only conceding one goal in the first seven games, not great goalscoring. 11 goals in those first 7 games isn't amazing.

We`ve got 66 points not 68.

Indeed, but the point stands. We've not dropped out of the top six because our form has collapsed. We've been just as good lately as we've been at any time of the season, barring those first eight games. It's just that our form since then hasn't been that great.

[Stranded]

Broken up into blocks of 8 games each...

1-8, 22 points
9-16, 8 pts
17-24, 13 pts
25-32, 10 pts
33-40, 15 pts

That doesn't really point to a collapse. It points to the inevitable consequence of five months of picking up fewer ppg that the other sides up there.

Of course, had Barnsley not had their storming run we'd probably still have made the play-offs.

You can talk about critical misses, I guess, but let's not forget that the early season form was based on only conceding one goal in the first seven games, not great goalscoring. 11 goals in those first 7 games isn't amazing.

We`ve got 66 points not 68.

Indeed, but the point stands. We've not dropped out of the top six because our form has collapsed. We've been just as good lately as we've been at any time of the season, barring those first eight games. It's just that our form since then hasn't been that great.

The main difference in all of this is you simply can't legislate for a run that Barnsley are having.

After 10 games, they had 10 points. In the next 31, after a change of manager they have picked up 61. That's a 92 point season, bloody impressive.

Also in that opening run, we had a lot of games against what turned out to be poor opposition.

Derby in relegation battle
Cardiff needed to sack manager to turn things round.
Wycombe
Rotherham
Blackburn
Barnsley started poorly as mentioned

The only win that could be marked as surprising in terms of the season was Watford. We are good enough to finish around 6th or 7th and that is pretty much where we will be.

Also split the season into 12 game chunks and there is only 1 point between the first 12 games and the second.