3rd hardest start....

[GRUMPY BLADE]

....according to this.

Premier League clubs ranked by the difficulty of their opponents so far - Planet Football

Liverpool are the pace-setters at the top of the Premier League after 12 games, with Norwich City propping the rest up - but is the table a fair reflection of things?

www.planetfootball.com

Lots of clubs below us, never realised, just look at the top six these days.

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

Genuinely don't want us in Europe. I'd love us to finish that high up the league but not have to enter the Europa league. Both Wolves and Burnley suffered for it.

Wilder and Knill don’t do suffer

 

[GymClassHero]

Well Done! I think this is contender for worst post of the year so far!

Why?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

If we pick up another 10 points in the next 7 games would be happy with that, set us up for the new year on 27 points

From what I am seeing right now I would be slightly underwhelmed by that.

 

[Jason jacobs]

Oh dear!

What do you want from your football club mate, eh? Maybe you were one of these who didn't want us to get to the Prem either because you were happy with the Championship?

I tell you what I want. I want Sheffield United Football Club to go as high as it possibly can and win as much as it possibly can. That includes Europe, the Champion's League, the Premiership title, The FA Cup, The League Cup, the whole lot actually. I want commentators to refer to us like they once used to, "a powerhouse of English football". Yes, I want us to get back to being one of this country's finest football clubs and stay there for some time.

That inevitably includes competing in Europe. I absolutely cannot wait for that to happen. It's something I've never witnessed in my lifetime and it's something I want to see my club do before I die.

I don't know what you mean by Wolves and Burnley suffering for it, but I note they are both in the Prem currently. If we qualify for Europe and the additional fixtures take their toll on some players - so be it. That's a squad thing and I'm absolutely certain Wilder and Knill will prepare the team for that.

This is a money driven business whether we like it or not. Competing in a major European competition is a major boost for the club and puts us on the world stage. It makes the club more marketable and attracts commerce in the form of sponsorships, merchandise, TV money. It also makes the club a magnet for the world's best players.
There is no logical reason for not wanting us to compete at the highest levels of the game - and that includes Europe. There are only parochial reasons, the same ones that would have us still back in the Championship or League 1, if the ambition of the club and the manager hadn't overtaken them.

You cant argue with that

 

[WorkingtonBlade]

Quote from article
As with any kind of data like this, it is not foolproof, but footylabs, designed to help Fantasy Premier League players, calculates the difficulty of fixtures for each team based on their current table position and the standing of their opponent.

Agree this is not scientific or can be really used with any great predictive quality but it's interesting and just another way to put into perspective and enjoy our fantastic success this season

The methodology used makes the table very misleading. Bizarrely they’ve based the difficulty of fixtures for each team “on their current league position and the standing of their opponent”

So, if Liverpool play West Ham that’s considered an easy game for Liverpool, because Liverpool are higher in the table. But if Watford play West Ham that’s considered a difficult game for Watford because West Ham are higher in the table.

So if a team is doing well, the table shows it to have had relatively easy fixtures by definition - and vice versa, if a team is doing poorly, the table suggests it has had relatively difficult fixtures.

This makes the whole thing a bit of a nonsense really. It would be far more useful if the analysis only looked at the league position of the opposition, so that it was a consistent measure for all teams in the table.

As it is, most of the teams towards the bottom of the actual league table end up towards the top of this table, and vice versa.

It means that this table actually downplays how difficult United‘s fixtures have been, because we’re high in the actual league table. We’re something of an outlier in being high in the actual league table, yet still being considered by this analysis to have had difficult fixtures.

 

[S64 Blade]

Genuinely don't want us in Europe. I'd love us to finish that high up the league but not have to enter the Europa league. Both Wolves and Burnley suffered for it.

I’m sorry, but so what? You have to enjoy these times whilst you can.

Yes there’s some pretty depressing stats out there for clubs who have got into Europe and then in the following season, finished on around 12 points less than the one before (was mentioned on the Guardian Football Weekly podcast). But, we have never played in Europe in our entire history.

I’d much rather us have that experience and perhaps flirt with relegation than finish 9th two seasons in a row. Doing so would likely make Wilder think “what more can I achieve” and then he might look elsewhere.

 

[Niceguyeddie]

If we pick up another 10 points in the next 7 games would be happy with that, set us up for the new year on 27 points

Bearing in mind that the February fixtures are much kinder than January's I'd be happy with that
If we can get through Jan mentally unscathed we should get past 40 points by march /April

 

[Woodwardfan]

The methodology used makes the table very misleading. Bizarrely they’ve based the difficulty of fixtures for each team “on their current league position and the standing of their opponent”

So, if Liverpool play West Ham that’s considered an easy game for Liverpool, because Liverpool are higher in the table. But if Watford play West Ham that’s considered a difficult game for Watford because West Ham are higher in the table.

So if a team is doing well, the table shows it to have had relatively easy fixtures by definition - and vice versa, if a team is doing poorly, the table suggests it has had relatively difficult fixtures.

This makes the whole thing a bit of a nonsense really. It would be far more useful if the analysis only looked at the league position of the opposition, so that it was a consistent measure for all teams in the table.

As it is, most of the teams towards the bottom of the actual league table end up towards the top of this table, and vice versa.

It means that this table actually downplays how difficult United‘s fixtures have been, because we’re high in the actual league table. We’re something of an outlier in being high in the actual league table, yet still being considered by this analysis to have had difficult fixtures.

It works with a simple look at teams played and current league position.

Southampton's average is 7th and Everton's 13th.

 

[blade too long]

Sheff Utd eye record of best promoted teams

Blades are on course to challenge the best points performances of clubs who came up to the Premier League

www.premierleague.com

 

[Bearlie]

Genuinely don't want us in Europe. I'd love us to finish that high up the league but not have to enter the Europa league. Both Wolves and Burnley suffered for it.

Are you fucking kidding me ? I'd chop my nut sack of to go and watch United in Europe! Fucks sake ....

 

[Seth Rollins]

From what I am seeing right now I would be slightly underwhelmed by that.

I would expect us on 32. But i’m greedy.

 

[BarcaBlade]

Well Done! I think this is contender for worst post of the year so far!

Thank you.
And given that's it's almost the end of the year, not much time to beat it

 

[BarcaBlade]

With that kind of reasoning though, there can't be many clubs at many times where it would be the 'bad time' to play them. If playing Liverpool after they've won their opening 6 league games of the season isn't a 'bad time', then what is?

Liverpool were there for the taking.

There's also the fact that with my very own red and white tinted glasses, I struggled to see why we should be worried about any team ever, although did admit to my Liverpool supporting colleague that I didn't think we'd be challenging for the title this season.