Beauchief Owl Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 1 hour ago, owl-zat said: I’m just playing devils advocate here . . . . . On Tuesday we could rise up to 2nd place and they say after 10 games the league represents a true indication of how things are going but if we look at who we’ve faced, the results and where they currently are in the league :- Preston 5th place - 0 points QPR 9th place - 0 points Fulham 10th place 1 point Luton 16th place - 3 points Millwall 17th place - 0 points Middlesbrough 18th place - 3 points Reading 20th place - 3 points Barnsley 22nd place - 3 points Huddersfield 23rd place - 3 points We play Hull on Tuesday who are in 15th place so will have then played 7 out of the bottom 10 teams in our first 10 games and admittedly we’ve done well against them and need to beat these teams if we are going to push for promotion but against the 3 teams we have played in the top half we’ve taken just 1 point. The ‘easy’ run then continues with a game against 22nd placed Wigan. Obviously you can only beat who is in front of you but the real tests I feel are to come and we’ll see a true reflection of where we are at the end of November after Leeds, West Brom, Swansea and the surprise team Charlton. WAWAW Fair point but I doubt whether before the season that you saw Middlesbrough (a), Huddersfield (a) and Barnsley at home as the easier matches in the Championship. It could be argued with so few matches played those teams are near the bottom in part because we beat them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmJimmers Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Yeah legitimate question to ask - sign of a good team is putting the so called lesser teams to the sword though. Man Utd used to be masters of it under SAF, Norwich came to Hillsborough last year and tanked us, went onto win the league. If we can continue to pick up points and roll into end of November on a high then we'll see if we are really up for pushing on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirksandallowl Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Those teams are where they are partially because we beat them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torres Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 1 hour ago, McRightSide said: Results against better teams are concerning. Win the games you “should” win and games against the better teams will take care of themselves Its all the pigs did for 2 years in our league Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Runner Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 We are 7th because we deserve to be 7th based on results so far, we play every team twice like the rest of the league. It’s one of the most if not the most competitive league in the world, there are no easy games. We have always been slow starters and don’t running until Xmas time. We are in the perfect position going along unnoticed and within a couple of points of top spot. Keep this up until Xmas and I’d really fancy our chances in the second half of the season. We just needed organising and playing to our strengths which Monk is now finding out and I like how Monk says we can always do better so these players won’t be able to rest of their laurels like the past few seasons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 I think as far as the table goes, it'll be another 6 or 7 games before it settles down. If we can be in the Top 8 or so come mid-November then we can genuinely feel we can challenge for a Top 6 place which in all fairness is the best we can hope for TBH? That said over the course of 2019 our general form has been very impressive. Just the 7 defeats and a much improved defensive record. If we can keep Westwood, Bannan and Fletcher in particular fit and available, we won't be far away. Also don't underestimate how important Borner and Harris are as well, tremendous bits of business by Bruce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigblueowl Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 There are no easy games in this league! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash77 Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 (edited) Some good analysis, clearly harder games to come but theres possibly some improvement to come from us too if we can get ff sharp and reach consistent At our best we might scrape playoffs as we have a very strong central defence, but its a tough league so we need to create and score consistently, not just against the strugglers. Edited September 29, 2019 by Ash77 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The only way is S6 Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 7th as it stands. What can’t speak, can’t lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toooldforthis Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Championship is a league where anyone can beat anyone in any game. There isn't an easy game, I could have seen quite realistically that we could have had 18 pts from the 1st 6 games on paper. We need an average of 2.15 points per game for auto promotion we are currently on 1.77. Two wins in next two games puts us on 2.0. This is good enough for play offs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldishowl Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 The change of manager makes a big difference to studying form. Signs are that we might be a completely different proposition under Monk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buxtongent Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 In order to achieve promotion, we've got to beat ALL sides, be they 'good' or 'bad'. There's no such things as easy games. We have to play all the teams in the Championship twice, and you do not get any more points for beating the 'better ' sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlyonedavidhirst Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 I think it’s a fair question and I suspect the next 9/10 games will tell. There’s also the new manager syndrome, which often kicks in. I left Middlesbrough elated with that first half performance, but to me there are still many many questions. 1. Is Odabajo good enough at RB. I like his speed, he can beat a player, but his positioning is awful sometimes (often caught wrong side) and when his head is down he makes blind passes. 2. What is Iorfa’s best position. One awful game at CH but a couple of crackers. He’ll get us goals so he has to play, but yesterday we could have conceded another couple - would we view things differently if it had ended 3-4. 3. Centre midfield. At home Hutch and Bannon sit too deep, yesterday we did well partly because Bannon was more advanced in the first half. Not heard anything about Hutch’s injury, Luongo was ok but in the second half the midfield wasn’t as good. Was that due to the second half plan after leading 4-1 or because he doesn’t quite fit as well. Kieran Lee has done ok, nothing more, but will he be able to step up if we regularly play 2 in there. 4. Reach was excellent yesterday, can he revert to those standards as he’s not had the best of starts to the season. 5. Playing two up top worked, but we relied on height not pace yesterday, when we all know pace will sometimes be needed. Rhodes looks lost, Winnall still not fully fit (with a full pre-season and still not quite there then that’s a worry), and Nuihu often does best as an impact sub. He did ok yesterday but if we play Fletch and Dave together most games, teams will adjust so I can’t see it being a long term permanent solution. Fessi is an option once back, but I’d still rather him play wide and he could be a great option to replace Harris or Reach if either aren’t quite doing it. 6. Fletch is so important right now, an injury there and I can’t see how we replace him. He’s perhaps our most important player right now. 7. With other injuries, are Fox, Murphy , Pelupessy etc capable of filling in to the point where results wouldn’t be affected. Considering the upheaval with Bruce, I’m really pleased with the start. I’d love to think we can make the top 6 then really compete for top 2, but I’m not sure if we really have the wherewithal within the squad. Borner and Harris look real finds and Palmer is answering the LB issue, so they are real positives. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the monk Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 1 hour ago, Lawrie Madden said: I’m sure Fulham expected to beat the Dingles , I’m equally sure Blackburn expected to beat Luton and ditto Swansea expected to beat Reading but this division doesn’t work like that Anyone trying to predict results in the Championship is on a fools errand because the cliche that anyone can beat anyone on their day could have been coined specifically with the Championship in mind Anyone can beat anyone in this league ,that is until Wednesday are near the top then it's you should beat these teams ! Like when Burton and Rotherham turned us over under carlos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theowlsman Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Is three points versus Leeds different to three points versus Barnsley, or is it still three points? Beating teams near the bottom is something we’ve traditionally struggled with, so you could argue that we’ve beaten that hoodoo already and are very much so ahead of schedule to annihilate previous seasons’ points totals. Apologies again for the positive viewpoint. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradowl Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 When we lost to Millwall they were up there but haven't won since. I wouldn't back against em beating Leeds next week though. It's a very unpredictable league. When we beat Barnsley they were top on alphabetically order. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveyboy66 Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 I'll take that position going into March...you know the business end of the season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theowlsman Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 1 minute ago, daveyboy66 said: I'll take that position going into March...you know the business end of the season Add our traditional late season burst, and we should finish with about 106 pts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McRightSide Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 1 hour ago, torres said: Win the games you “should” win and games against the better teams will take care of themselves Its all the pigs did for 2 years in our league Beat the poor teams and fail against the top 6 Its what we did under Carlos in the first season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torres Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 12 minutes ago, McRightSide said: Beat the poor teams and fail against the top 6 Its what we did under Carlos in the first season Incorrect - we failed against the poor teams too many times in both of his first two seasons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now