Rubbish. I put this on another thread but i think it deserves wider exposure:
In the last 9 league games we have only lost twice, scoring 17 goals.
In the 9 previous games we lost 5 times only scoring 9 goals.
Really bad run eh?
So, we have got better without team selections and changes.
I really don't think some people understand this league. It's not like the Premiership where if you lose one game you are out of the title race/europe/stranded at the bottom. It changes all of the time and we are still in there with a great chance.
Glass half full guys.
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That said, performances have been better recently and we still have players to come back. I firmly believe we do need to go unbeaten for a run of games, maybe 5 or 6 to assure a play-off place at the least.
last 7 games 7 points previous 7 games 15 points
you can dress it up any way you want but the current form POINTS WISE isn't good enough FACT
I think two points a game from here on in will see us into the play-offs - better than that and we may sneak an automatic.
I think there's been a big turnaround in form since New Year's Day and we play a lot of the top teams at The Valley in the run-in. We've got key players (or one at least) on their way back from injury so I think it's in our hands. The pre-Christmas form is irrelevant now, let's kick on and pick up the points we need in the run-in - we know you can win the league from the chasing pack in this league as it happens year after year....
Cause for optimisium I'd say.
At the moment we are averaging 1.57 points a game that will see us end up with 72 points so we do need to pick up form.
Teams Finishing in 6th Place for the past 5 Seasons
06/07 - Saints - 75pts
05/06 - Palace - 75pts
04/05 - West Ham - 73pts
03/04 - Palace - 73pts
02/03 - Forest - 74pts
Therefore we need to increase our points per game by 0.06 points approx. to get a PO place.
Teams Finishing in 2nd Place for the past 5 seasons
06/07 - Brum - 86pts
05/06 - Sheff U - 90pts
04/05 - Wigan - 87pts
03/04 - WBA - 86pts
02/03 - (and) Leceister - 92pts
Need to increase our points per game by 0.34 to get one of the top two spots.
With the rest of the top 6 still to play at home and a fair few lower half teams to play away, it's very much in our own hands.
In my opinion WBA are the best team in this league yet they've lost 7 times. It needs to be accepted that it's a very tough league this year, anyone can beat anyone and it probably won't take the usual 85-90 points to go up.
perhaps with the exception of the bottom three, everyone outside that will finish with a very reasonable points tally, the gap between the top half and fourth from bottom could easily be under ten points
the way it's looking a few points here and there could not just see you miss out on automatic promotion, but a play-off place all together
teams are taking more points off one another than ever before and to be honest i can't even see the champions reaching 90points
we just have to forget all notions of points targets and take each game as it comes and play football, we should be treating each game as our last and not dipping below 6th for the remainder of the season - we can't rely on a late run like in 1997/98 (especially as it's us!)
Okay, statistics - the all all conquering, all mighty promotion certainties West Brom have managed
in their last 6 games league games ..........10 points (from 18) having being beaten at Stoke, Ipswich & just managed to scrape a draw home to Cardiff with a last minute own goal.
And that patchy form keeps them easily top of the table.
Watford are now second, having been 9 points clear at one stage. We battered them in their own back yard and should have had all 3 points.
Statistics, statistics...... you can make them mean anything you want but they are not a prediction of the future.
As Isaw says "....we just have to forget all notions of points targets and take each game as it comes and play football, we should be treating each game as our last.....
Must be the pessimism thing as I've always spoken sense!
It just sounds like a really "fun" place.
Or us only 4 points away from an automatic promotion place.
I believe we have to focus looking forward than worrying about what other teams might or might not be doing
in this dog eat dog league.
*In tribute to Frankie Valley
**Home, a fortress, a hive of hostility for opposition, a place visiting sides do not want to go. How's about if all the regular posters on here who don't have the pleasure of being situated in the North upper just forget their inhibitions and bellow out whatever we sing?????
Radical I know but hey