This terrible run that we've apparently been on in the last 9 games...

WSS

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.

EGAddick

Take out the first ten games of the season, first 2 (a draw and a loss), then we were unbeaten in 8, that run of 18 games we only managed to win 7, injuries aside that is still midtable form. We have 18 games remaining, if we repeat a similar sequence of our last 18 there isn't a chance we'll finish in the top 6. We are 7 points adrift of first place and 4 off automatic, with a number of teams (right the way down to 13th place) at a similar distance behind.

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.

Friend Or Defoe

The last 3 games we've put in great preformances. If we can keep that up for the rest of the season I don't see why we can't finishing 2nd.

oohaahmortimer

13 points from 9 games is not even play off form and the previous 9 games provide 12 points even worse and the previous 9 games 18 points....
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

PassItToLeaburn

We do need to be picking up points quicker than we have been over the past few months, there's no doubt about that.

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....

Barn Door Varney

Our last 2 games 1 home, 1 away, 4 points with greatly improved performances.

Cause for optimisium I'd say.

oohaahmortimer

[cite]Posted By: PassItToLeaburn[/cite]We do need to be picking up points quicker than we have been over the past few months

I think there's been a big turnaround in form since New Year's Day.... let's kick on and pick up the points we need in the run-in

totally agree PITL it's results time now as we near the last third of the season ... e-i-e-i-e-i-o

PassItToLeaburn

Bloody hell OohAhh - this is becoming a habit!

WSS

[cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite]you can dress it up any way you want but the current form POINTS WISE isn't good enough FACT

Totally agree but we're not far off (a play off place). I still think we can get automatic though with a run which is just around the corner. ;-)

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.

oohaahmortimer

[cite]Posted By: PassItToLeaburn[/cite]Bloody hell OohAhh - this is becoming a habit!

you're beginning to talk sense or i'm not as pessimistic;-)

Sco

I think we are still in the mix and have showed good improvement - I now watch the team playing in the oppo's half far more than the back foot stuff we always seemed to play in the first half of the season and I am looking forward to the next match. Stoke will be a tough test but I am far more optimistic. Bring it on.

Chris_from_Sidcup

Regardless of whether current form is good enough points wise or not, the fact is we haven't really played that well on many occasions this season yet we sit 6th, 4 points behind a faltering Watford who are in an automtic place.
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.

oohaahmortimer

i'm hoping second spot will be a lot less this year (cos this leagues so evenly matched/crap) to get to 86 points would require 14 wins from our last 18 games and even the nost optimistic amongst us know that isn't gonna happen!!

ISawLeaburnScore

will be way below oohahh

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!)

Oggy Red

[cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite]13 points from 9 games is not even play off form and the previous 9 games provide 12 points even worse and the previous 9 games 18 points....
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

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.....

PassItToLeaburn

[cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite]

[cite]Posted By: PassItToLeaburn[/cite]Bloody hell OohAhh - this is becoming a habit!

you're beginning to talk sense or i'm not as pessimistic;-)

Must be the pessimism thing as I've always spoken sense!

Off_it

Statto's the lot of yous!

AFKABartram

well i thought they were interesting !! cheers WSS.

Off_it

all this says to me is that you can more or less prove any argument you want with some well chosen statistics - and there's always an exception to the rule.

AFKABartram

98.6% of the time you can.....

Off_it

which just leaves the remaining 36.42% of the time - when you only count statistics produced on the third Monday in March, after 3pm, in a leap year and the Eritrean year of the beef jerky.

LoOkOuT

What's with you and Eritrea? That's at least the second time this week.

Off_it

Spooky Looky - didn't realise you were watching that closely!

It just sounds like a really "fun" place.

Reamsofverse

Guys I take on board what your saying but the run we have had is positive if you look upwards because nobody has really got away but looking at it negatively we are having to look both ways now because the gap between us an d the closing pack is shortening.

Before Christmas we were 10 points away from being in mid table, now we are 4pts.

Just a thought that's all.

Oggy Red

That makes Watford in a promotion place - only 8 points away from midtable.

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.

Carter

Shank all this ballcocks* the side have been performing very well away from home. If a few more of us put a tiny bit more energy into supporting the side at home** than running them down I think a top 2 finish is not beyind us.



*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

northstandsteve

Come on Cart's I don't ride with all this,if we get behind the team we will win bollocks.If the team are playing shite it ain't coz the fans aren't cheering.Christ if it was that alone our first season in the premiership should have ended with Champions League football.

Carter

It goes a long way to making them feel more confident Steve. At the moment they are very nervous at home and that is because of the crowd, I appreciate the players need to give us something to cheer about but equally we can do our bit to lift them and push them on

Oggy Red

Bang on, Carter!

northstandsteve

it's a half and half thing m8 I feel to much emphasis is put on it,although I agree it is sometimes like a morgue.But there are many times when I look around and see the so called Northstand Ultra's (not the one who posts on here) are standing there in complete silence.

WSS

[cite]Posted By: northstandsteve[/cite]it's a half and half thing m8 I feel to much emphasis is put on it,although I agree it is sometimes like a morgue.But there are many times when I look around and see the so called Northstand Ultra's (not the one who posts on here) are standing there in complete silence.

or booing...