2 years ago after 18 games Leeds had 45 points, they only just made promotion after a poor second half to the season, some say this was due to fixture conjestion caused by cup runs, they reached 4th round of the FA Cup, 3rd round of League Cup and Northern Final of JPT. Could a similar implosion happen this season.
IMHO our main rivals are MK Dons, Hudds and both Sheffields, I also reckon that the best any L1 team can do is reach round five of the FA Cup. So what might happen, here are the fixtures, where you also have to consider not only who is in the cup but games that might be postponed due to the opposition being in the cup. All these rivals are out of all other cup competitions
CAFC
away to Fulham in R3
R3 Bury postponed
R4 Exeter (out of cup)
R5 Stevenage (R3 away to Reading so should be out by R5)
so if we loose to Fulham we will probably only have one game postponed
HUDDS
out of cup
R3 Wycombe (out of cup)
R4 Tranmere (out of cup)
R5 Exeter (out of cup)
no postponements
WENDIES
home to West Ham R3
R3 Scunthorpe postponed
R4 MK Dons (R3 home to QPR)
R5 Sheff Utd (R3 home to Salisbury or Grimsby)
Whether they win or loose to WHU they could still have 3 postponements if MKD and United have good cup runs.
SHEFF UTD
home to Salisbury or Grimsby
R3 Yeovil postponed
R4 Scunthorpe (out of cup)
R5 Wendies
Should have 2 postponements, could have 3
MK DONS
home to QPR
R3 Stevenage postponed
R4 Wendies
R5 Bournemouth (out of cup)
Could have 2 or 3 postponements
So Huddersfield are in the best position, if we lose to Fulham it won't be too bad but both Sheffields and MK Dons are likely to have the most postponements and ensuing fixture conjestion.
Comments
Great work Lancs lad !! Nice to see who's got whom on rounds 3,4 & 5 and although I don't like to p**s on anyone's parade "fixture congestion" is not really an issue nowdays seeing as there is only one replay & then penalties and there are plenty of free midweeks between jan and april (without counting, I would reckon at least half a dozen).
I think it would only become an issue if we had a month or so of bad weather around feb/march time and cup games, replays and the usual sat fixtures are postponed.
It's more player fatigue (mental and physical) and the distraction factor that counts.
Not easy for a player to motivate himself at say carlisle if you've just won at old trafoord and have white hart lane coming up.
Which is why i have mixed feelings about Fulham. We have 5 important league games before then
I had really forgotton how bad Leeds run was.I have just checked their site
Up until end of december and the manure gamethey had a record of P 23 , W 17, D 5 L1 pts 56
they then went on a league run of P 16 W 3 D 6 L 7 Pts 15, which was relegation form. After beating manure they also got to a replay against spuds and got knocked out of JPt SF v Carlilse over 2 legs (on pens)
They saved themselves by winning 7 of the last 9!