The next two games are huge, not because they’ll decide the season on their own, but because if we want to stay up we have to take points off those around us.
@EwanHoosaami it was a cheap dig at both a record England goalscorer, spouse of a famous detective and supporter of OAP sex workers and a poor quality Midlands team...but that's me all over!
Worth pointing out that Barnsley, Huddersfield and Luton all survived being relegated by winning their final or penultimate games last season, I get people’s concerns about the upcoming fixtures, but we are seven games short of the half way point of the season, it’s far too early to start talking about must win games.
@StrongestTeam said:
For me it's just about staying in touch with teams so we don't leave ourselves too much to do late on. Will certainly take staying up by one goal
Completely agree. This is a wide open division, we can’t afford to let the gap grow too big but it’s manageable at the moment.
@bigred87 said: @Wendoverman can you please refrain from using such insults as 'shrek county' i find it highly offensive Shame on you!
I apologise wholeheartedly to cartoon ogres as I realise now using the term Shrek out of its original context and then inviting a completely unnecessary and inflammatory comparison between the ogre community and an infamous poorly behaved, appearance challenged footballer with an an expensive failed hair transplant could cause offence.
@YorkExile said:
I'd agree with most of that, although I personally think that Wednesday will very much be in the relegation picture and probably go. I also think that Birmingham will be dragged into it. It's possibly not a coincidence that they are the two sides that we have beaten so far this season!
Pre-season I had Birmingham, Huddersfield and Rotherham as my relegation tips. I can still see Birmingham getting dragged in.
If Monk had stayed at Weds I'd agree but I just think Tony Pulis is too shrewd and will play as ugly as it takes to get the points and stay up. Having said that since he's taken over they've drawn 3 and lost 3, long may that run continue!
Rooney has won 1 and drawn 2 since being designated leader, rather than one of four coaches.
I would have expected those managerial records to perhaps be the other way round in the first few games.
Will Millwall get dragged in, no win in 9 and some off fields issues again.
For all the talk of ages left, coping well with the division, bad luck etc, we have only won two games out of 15/16 so far.
Id say we've been pretty lucky to have stayed only three points or so off the drop zone safety line so far.
That luck could disappear at any time and once we start to need two wins back to back to get to safety it becomes a totally different matter.
Looking back and having calmed down a bit (finally), I think the Norwich game was the only one where we were really robbed. Samuel probably did foul Foster by the letter of the law and we still could easily have lost the Millwall game even if JJ's goal had stood. So we'd only be a point better off. It's not a great division this year though, and I'm not sure that will change after January - any new signings will be offset by the mountains of injuries.
The reality of the situation is we have to somehow win 10/12 games to give us a fighting chance to stay in this division( which will be the club’s greatest achievement). Good to start tonight.
To me it is not so much about where we are against those teams around us (though it would be nice to be out of the drop zone today) but more the reality that we need 45-50 points to stay up. I feel we need to get to at least 20 by the halfway point of the season, as even that would leave us needing up to 30 in the second half. If we only draw a few and are stuck on 15 at halfway, we would need playoff form to get 35 or so from there.
Draws in themselves are actually fine - in a 46 game season, a draw per game would put us right around safety. So each draw is basically a par. The issue is that we need to win at least as many as we lose. If we went WDL every three games, we would be just about safe.
Looking at it as roughly a point per game, we are 5 over par currently (11 from 16) and need some birdies.
I don't think the threshold will be as high as 50 this season. 43 kept Bolton up in 2018, 45 Millwall in 2019. There are quite a few bad teams this year, looks like it could be a bigger scrap than usual.
@Shev Good point on the draws, was just thinking the same. We don't need to win ten games, just pick up the equivalent of ten wins' worth of points. Drawing the remaining 30 games might just be enough...
Replicating what Barnsley have already done against bottom half teams would put us in good place to stay up. A little like our form against lower half teams last season.
They've beaten QPR, Forest, Derby and Birmingham.
Drawn with Coventry & Millwall.
All their defeats have been against sides who are 13th and above, With some bonus points with a win against Watford and draws with Bristol City & Stoke.
@Commoner said:
Replicating what Barnsley have already done against bottom half teams would put us in good place to stay up. A little like our form against lower half teams last season.
They've beaten QPR, Forest, Derby and Birmingham.
Drawn with Coventry & Millwall.
All their defeats have been against sides who are 13th and above, With some bonus points with a win against Watford and draws with Bristol City & Stoke.
Barnsley fans are being respectful so far - but then again, a lot of opposing fans have, till they see us actually play, and then the bingo card includes:
How did we make Akinfenwa look good?
This is the worst team in the history of the Championship.
Wycombe play dire football, and we somehow played down to their level.
@Shev said:
Barnsley fans are being respectful so far - but then again, a lot of opposing fans have, till they see us actually play, and then the bingo card includes:
How did we make Akinfenwa look good?
This is the worst team in the history of the Championship.
Wycombe play dire football, and we somehow played down to their level.
Number 3 always gets me because it's saying 'They turned us into a bad team'. Well yeah, that's exactly what we often do because we're so good at limiting and disrupting what teams do well. An underrated aspect of the game that the snobs can't - or refuse to - see.
Comments
The next two games are huge, not because they’ll decide the season on their own, but because if we want to stay up we have to take points off those around us.
@EwanHoosaami it was a cheap dig at both a record England goalscorer, spouse of a famous detective and supporter of OAP sex workers and a poor quality Midlands team...but that's me all over!
@Wendoverman can you please refrain from using such insults as 'shrek county' i find it highly offensive Shame on you!
Worth pointing out that Barnsley, Huddersfield and Luton all survived being relegated by winning their final or penultimate games last season, I get people’s concerns about the upcoming fixtures, but we are seven games short of the half way point of the season, it’s far too early to start talking about must win games.
For me it's just about staying in touch with teams so we don't leave ourselves too much to do late on. Will certainly take staying up by one goal
Completely agree. This is a wide open division, we can’t afford to let the gap grow too big but it’s manageable at the moment.
I apologise wholeheartedly to cartoon ogres as I realise now using the term Shrek out of its original context and then inviting a completely unnecessary and inflammatory comparison between the ogre community and an infamous poorly behaved, appearance challenged footballer with an an expensive failed hair transplant could cause offence.
any offence to Derby County was purely intentional.
Pre-season I had Birmingham, Huddersfield and Rotherham as my relegation tips. I can still see Birmingham getting dragged in.
If Monk had stayed at Weds I'd agree but I just think Tony Pulis is too shrewd and will play as ugly as it takes to get the points and stay up. Having said that since he's taken over they've drawn 3 and lost 3, long may that run continue!
Rooney has won 1 and drawn 2 since being designated leader, rather than one of four coaches.
I would have expected those managerial records to perhaps be the other way round in the first few games.
Will Millwall get dragged in, no win in 9 and some off fields issues again.
For all the talk of ages left, coping well with the division, bad luck etc, we have only won two games out of 15/16 so far.
Id say we've been pretty lucky to have stayed only three points or so off the drop zone safety line so far.
That luck could disappear at any time and once we start to need two wins back to back to get to safety it becomes a totally different matter.
So erm roll on win number three tonight then.
Looking back and having calmed down a bit (finally), I think the Norwich game was the only one where we were really robbed. Samuel probably did foul Foster by the letter of the law and we still could easily have lost the Millwall game even if JJ's goal had stood. So we'd only be a point better off. It's not a great division this year though, and I'm not sure that will change after January - any new signings will be offset by the mountains of injuries.
The reality of the situation is we have to somehow win 10/12 games to give us a fighting chance to stay in this division( which will be the club’s greatest achievement). Good to start tonight.
To me it is not so much about where we are against those teams around us (though it would be nice to be out of the drop zone today) but more the reality that we need 45-50 points to stay up. I feel we need to get to at least 20 by the halfway point of the season, as even that would leave us needing up to 30 in the second half. If we only draw a few and are stuck on 15 at halfway, we would need playoff form to get 35 or so from there.
Draws in themselves are actually fine - in a 46 game season, a draw per game would put us right around safety. So each draw is basically a par. The issue is that we need to win at least as many as we lose. If we went WDL every three games, we would be just about safe.
Looking at it as roughly a point per game, we are 5 over par currently (11 from 16) and need some birdies.
I don't think the threshold will be as high as 50 this season. 43 kept Bolton up in 2018, 45 Millwall in 2019. There are quite a few bad teams this year, looks like it could be a bigger scrap than usual.
@Shev Good point on the draws, was just thinking the same. We don't need to win ten games, just pick up the equivalent of ten wins' worth of points. Drawing the remaining 30 games might just be enough...
Replicating what Barnsley have already done against bottom half teams would put us in good place to stay up. A little like our form against lower half teams last season.
They've beaten QPR, Forest, Derby and Birmingham.
Drawn with Coventry & Millwall.
All their defeats have been against sides who are 13th and above, With some bonus points with a win against Watford and draws with Bristol City & Stoke.
COYB!
That’s not promising for tonight!!
Barnsley fans are being respectful so far - but then again, a lot of opposing fans have, till they see us actually play, and then the bingo card includes:
Number 3 always gets me because it's saying 'They turned us into a bad team'. Well yeah, that's exactly what we often do because we're so good at limiting and disrupting what teams do well. An underrated aspect of the game that the snobs can't - or refuse to - see.
Hopefully: How did we lose that?
Awful team. Tripping over the grass. Going down at the slightest touch. They won't stay up. Ainsworth constantly moaning to the officials.
(followed by a bit further down: Got a lot of time for Ainsworth he shook every players hand and applauded our fans)