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This Point Last Year

This Point Last Year

paddysr

paddysr

Bearded Beauty
Joined
Jun 19, 2017
Messages
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So after 22 games last year we were sat in 11th with 3 more losses than we have so far this season 3 fewer points and a slightly worse goal difference.

Have to say when you consider the injury crisis we have just come through we are sitting in a pretty good position. It's small margins in the larger context but I, and a expect quite a few others on here, are a lot more confident that we have the ability to kick on and have a real good push for the playoffs at least.

Table is below:

Championship Table at: 19 December 2016
Pl HW HD HL HF HA AW AD AL AF AA GD POINTS
1 Newcastle 22 7 0 3 23 11 9 1 2 22 6 +28 49
2 Brighton 22 8 2 1 22 6 6 4 1 13 8 +21 48
3 READING 22 7 3 1 17 8 5 1 5 13 21 +1 40
4 Huddersfield 22 7 1 2 14 9 5 2 5 12 17 0 39
5 Leeds 22 7 2 3 15 9 5 0 5 11 13 +4 38
6 Sheff Wed 22 8 0 3 16 11 3 4 4 10 12 +3 37
7 Derby 22 5 3 3 11 5 5 3 3 12 10 +8 36
8 Birmingham 22 6 3 3 18 15 3 4 3 9 14 -2 34
9 Fulham 22 4 5 3 22 16 4 4 2 16 12 +10 33
10 Norwich 22 7 1 3 21 11 3 2 6 16 23 +3 33
11 Preston 22 5 2 4 16 11 4 3 4 14 16 +3 32
12 Barnsley 22 4 3 4 19 19 5 1 5 19 16 +3 31
13 Aston Villa 22 5 5 0 16 8 2 5 5 7 13 +2 31
14 Brentford 22 5 2 3 16 9 3 2 7 11 19 -1 28
15 Ipswich 22 4 5 2 14 9 3 2 6 8 15 -2 28
16 Bristol C 22 6 1 4 13 10 2 2 7 15 17 +1 27
17 Nottm Forest 22 5 3 3 21 18 2 2 7 14 21 -4 26
18 Wolves 22 2 3 5 13 18 4 4 4 15 12 -2 25
19 QPR 22 3 3 6 10 18 3 2 5 10 13 -11 23
20 Cardiff 22 4 2 6 13 18 2 3 5 11 18 -12 23
21 Burton 22 5 2 4 13 9 0 5 6 10 21 -7 22
22 Blackburn 22 3 4 5 18 21 2 1 7 9 16 -10 20
23 Wigan 22 2 3 6 8 13 2 3 6 10 14 -9 18
24 Rotherham 22 2 3 5 11 15 0 1 11 10 33 -27 10
 
Looking at that table also brings a sense of perspective.

Out of the top 6 3 were promoted and the other 3 stayed in the top 6, if i remember.
 
Birmingham's collapse from there is quite scary - only staying up on the final day. Bottom three were in fact the three who went, top two were the two automatics and 3 of the next 4 were in the playoffs at the end. Hope we can be the gatecrashers like Fulham were last year...
 
In fact, just checked, fulham crept in from our position at the expense of Leeds.
 
Last year we were still in with a chance of making the playoffs at the start of April but 1 point from our last 6 killed that off. I can't see that happening this year.

Be great if we could gatecrash, I can see Sheff Utd falling away and Bristol are still to have a sticky patch so who knows. We just need to keep on playing the way we are and the results will keep coming.
 
Retfordpete said:
Birmingham's collapse from there is quite scary - only staying up on the final day. Bottom three were in fact the three who went, top two were the two automatics and 3 of the next 4 were in the playoffs at the end. Hope we can be the gatecrashers like Fulham were last year...
Click to expand...

Birmingham would have got relegated but for Huddersfield putting out a weakened team against them.
 
paddysr said:
Last year we were still in with a chance of making the playoffs at the start of April but 1 point from our last 6 killed that off. I can't see that happening this year.

Be great if we could gatecrash, I can see Sheff Utd falling away and Bristol are still to have a sticky patch so who knows. We just need to keep on playing the way we are and the results will keep coming.
Click to expand...

if we`d have got maximum points from the last 6 it still wouldnt have got us in the play offs.

Like I say this really does bring it all into perspective and shows theres a lot of hard work to be done to get anywhere near.
 
My own feeling is that realistically that bad run cost us eight points - one at Wolves, four from the games against Brentford and Villa, one at Ipswich and two against Bolton. But every team will have a bad run and again being realistic only the Villa and Ipswich games were ones where we played really badly. The main thing now seems to be that we have come out of that bad spell having been toughened up a bit by it. More importantly I think we are stronger now than this time last season - important factors including the emergence of Davies and Earl, the increased maturity and presence of Pearson and Johnson and the further development of Hugill. Looking back our performances in the second half of last season were in large part - not entirely but in large part - artificially boosted by the disproportionate contributions of McGeady but a year later we are much more cohesive team. Nothing is certain but if we can avoid major injuries then we have a real chance this time round of making the play-offs.
 
There are many ways of analysing and assessing the respective tables.

But fuck that, just win as many games as you can and average 2 points a game and you are in with a shout.

I’m just enjoying the ride currently.

Merry Xmas everybody.
 
raefil said:
if we`d have got maximum points from the last 6 it still wouldnt have got us in the play offs.

Like I say this really does bring it all into perspective and shows theres a lot of hard work to be done to get anywhere near.
Click to expand...

It was Fulham onwards that cost us. Played 12, won 2, drew 4 and lost 6. Last season we were poor 1st 8 league games, then had a lengthy spell of promotion form and then 12 games of relegation form at the end.

We seem a bit more consistent in our points gaining so far this season, apart from 1 bad run of 6 games. And in that we should have won at Fulham.

These next few weeks on paper I think we've a decent run of games. Hopefully we can at least maintain our position, and have a strong transfer window. Then who knows!?
 
K14 PNE said:
Also worth noting that we have already played a lot of the current top teams away from home.
Click to expand...

Beating high-flying teams at our place has frequently been more of a problem than at theirs. But we are developing a bit more of a knack of doing so as last Saturday indicated. The better part of two months yet before the current seemingly runaway leaders come to our place and anything could have happened in the meantime but what is already evident is that providing we are reasonably close to full strength we can match any other team in this division home or away.
 
Schemer said:
Another 5 wins for safety, that's all I'm looking at just now.
Click to expand...

Quite right to do so. More than one team has plummeted from mid-season safety to disaster at the end of it. But I am very hopeful the direction we will go from where we are now is further upwards.
 
ernest said:
Quite right to do so. More than one team has plummeted from mid-season safety to disaster at the end of it. But I am very hopeful the direction we will go from where we are now is further upwards.
Click to expand...

Exactly - last season's table had Birmingham one point and one place above Fulham - one finished in the playoffs, one hired a dodgy conman manager and stayed up by the skin of their teeth on the last day.
 
ernest said:
Quite right to do so. More than one team has plummeted from mid-season safety to disaster at the end of it. But I am very hopeful the direction we will go from where we are now is further upwards.
Click to expand...

After we lost 4 games in a row I remember some our fans predicting a slide down the table which at the time was pretty much ridiculous.
 
White123 said:
After we lost 4 games in a row I remember some our fans predicting a slide down the table which at the time was pretty much ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Football is about confidence and I was confident that provided we could just avoid defeat in a match then with players starting to return from injury we would start progressing again. I wrote here a few days ago that the last few minutes against Bolton were absolutely crucial. If they had somehow scraped a goal from one of those corners they had right at the end we might have gone into freefall and where we might be now hardly bears thinking about. Frankly the fact they did not score then is likely to prove much more influential than that last minute goal Fulham got. But they did not score and we are now progressing again with an extra dash of resilience and experience gained in the only way that makes such things really useful - the hard way.
 
Better manager as more tactically astute and plays to win instead of trying not to get beat. Has more than one plan and can change things effectively. Of course were progressing. Long may it continue 🙂
 
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