Fixture Pile up.

[Pollingtonblade]

With the Scunthorpe game yet to be re-arranged, potential of reaching the 5th round of the cup and should Chessy be successful and reach Wembley we could have 3 more midweek games to arrange, as we're due to play Chessy the weekend of the JPT Final. Think we'll need to bolster our squad in the event of this happening.

Incidentally why do most footy fans assume they'll win games in hand? A massive bug bear of mine.

 

[Balham]

Incidentally why do most footy fans assume they'll win games in hand? A massive bug bear of mine.

Same reason we all keep supporting our team I guess - eternal optimism

 

[Muttley]

optimist? I'm a big pessimist, so I expect the Blades to disappoint me! That way, when we win it's much MUCH better!!

 

[bricktop]

With the Scunthorpe game yet to be re-arranged, potential of reaching the 5th round of the cup and should Chessy be successful and reach Wembley we could have 3 more midweek games to arrange, as we're due to play Chessy the weekend of the JPT Final. Think we'll need to bolster our squad in the event of this happening.

Incidentally why do most footy fans assume they'll win games in hand? A massive bug bear of mine.

I always assume that the teams around us will always win the games in hand, so in my mind the Pork are a point behind us

 

[stannyblade]

What the pork fail to tell you though Brownie their game in hand is away.

 

[Bladesway]

We have played as many games as anyone else in the division so a fixture pile up for us would be the same as for anyone else. I believe the pork have the same problem, but thats because they are so MASSIVE.

 

[Ollessendro]

Big concern of mine too LS26. If we beat Brum (or draw and then beat them at their place in worst case scenario) then this gets worse. (As many have stated) it was a good move to rearrange the Yeovil fixture when we did. That's put us ahead of the MASSIVE and puts extra pressure on them. I'd much sooner have the points than the games in hand. Personally I'd like to see us out of the cup and re-arranging fixtures quickly. Get points on the board and hope that Wednesday continue in the cup. Charlton and Huddersfield are both out of the cup and this really concerns me. They can be putting points on the board whilst we have an extra game. I think we have some strength in depth (Porter/BT, Flynn, Monty, Ertl, Williams, Taylor etc can come in and do a job) but if we lose key players like Ched, McDonald and possibly Collins/Maguire, then I think we'll struggle.

Here's one for the statto's: how many teams getting promotion have had good cup runs at the same time? Personally I see the cup as a distraction. Anecdotal SUFC evidence would suggest we are better out (e.g. 2002/3 when we reached 2 semi finals and missed out narrowly on promotion and 2005/6 when we crashed out of both compeitions early and got promoted). With Huddersfield and Charlton out I wonder whether this could be telling. Unless we get a result this weekend, then the Terriers are likely to overtake us (albeit on goal difference) and then they've got a chance to put more points on the board whilst we entertain Birmingham in the cup. Charlton also playing in the league next weekend.

Think Wilson needs to strengthen if we want to stay around the top 2. I'd like to see a CB, some pace out wide and a CM.

 

[davidpinder]

With the Scunthorpe game yet to be re-arranged, potential of reaching the 5th round of the cup and should Chessy be successful and reach Wembley we could have 3 more midweek games to arrange, as we're due to play Chessy the weekend of the JPT Final. Think we'll need to bolster our squad in the event of this happening.

Incidentally why do most footy fans assume they'll win games in hand? A massive bug bear of mine.

I don't 100% agree, all these games you are talking about will be at home and teams don't like to travel mid week. I think a good cup run adds confidence to the side and if the re-arranged games were away i'd be thinking different.

 

[MobileBlade]

Rearrangements have to be on dates mutually agreed. It may be the Scunthope wish to delay the rearrangement due to their current form. They have a game next Wednesday and one two weeks after that. They may not wish to play Sat/Wed/Sat/Tue/Sat/Tue

 

[SotonBlade]

It's best to assume that games in hand are won by rivals, as if they don't it's like a brucey bonus to the points difference.

Pigs game in hand is away at Scunny, i don't fancy them winning that one.

Charlton's is home to Bury, so can safely assume they'll win that one as well. Makes this saturday more important for a win

 

[Selly]

Big concern of mine too LS26. If we beat Brum (or draw and then beat them at their place in worst case scenario) then this gets worse. (As many have stated) it was a good move to rearrange the Yeovil fixture when we did. That's put us ahead of the MASSIVE and puts extra pressure on them. I'd much sooner have the points than the games in hand. Personally I'd like to see us out of the cup and re-arranging fixtures quickly. Get points on the board and hope that Wednesday continue in the cup. Charlton and Huddersfield are both out of the cup and this really concerns me. They can be putting points on the board whilst we have an extra game. I think we have some strength in depth (Porter/BT, Flynn, Monty, Ertl, Williams, Taylor etc can come in and do a job) but if we lose key players like Ched, McDonald and possibly Collins/Maguire, then I think we'll struggle.

Here's one for the statto's: how many teams getting promotion have had good cup runs at the same time? Personally I see the cup as a distraction. Anecdotal SUFC evidence would suggest we are better out (e.g. 2002/3 when we reached 2 semi finals and missed out narrowly on promotion and 2005/6 when we crashed out of both compeitions early and got promoted). With Huddersfield and Charlton out I wonder whether this could be telling. Unless we get a result this weekend, then the Terriers are likely to overtake us (albeit on goal difference) and then they've got a chance to put more points on the board whilst we entertain Birmingham in the cup. Charlton also playing in the league next weekend.

Think Wilson needs to strengthen if we want to stay around the top 2. I'd like to see a CB, some pace out wide and a CM.

Challange Accepted.

Here are the top 6 from the last 5 years from this league and the round they were knocked out of the FA Cup. Only 1 team got to the 5th Round, and they went up as champions. plenty got to the 4th round, some went up, some didn't

1	Brighton & HA*(C)*(P)		5
2	Southampton*(P)			4
3	Huddersfield Town			4
4	Peterborough United*(P)		3
5	Milton Keynes Dons			1
6	Bournemouth			2

1	Norwich City*(C)*(P)		2
2	Leeds United*(P)			4
3	Millwall*(P)			3
4	Charlton Athletic			1
5	Swindon Town			3
6	Huddersfield Town			3

1	Leicester City*(C)*(P)		3
2	Peterborough United*(P)		3
3	Milton Keynes Dons			1
4	Leeds United			2
5	Millwall				4
6	Scunthorpe United*(P)		3

1	Swansea City*(C)*(P)		3
2	Nottingham Forest*(P)		2
3	Doncaster Rovers*(P)		1
4	Carlisle United			1
5	Leeds United			1
6	Southend United			4

1	Scunthorpe United			2
2	Bristol City			4
3	Blackpool				4
4	Nottingham Forest			4
5	Yeovil Town			1
6	Oldham Athletic			3

 

[Revolution]

Here's one for the statto's: how many teams getting promotion have had good cup runs at the same time?

We did in both 1989 and 1990.

 

[raul]

Challange Accepted.

Here are the top 6 from the last 5 years from this league and the round they were knocked out of the FA Cup. Only 1 team got to the 5th Round, and they went up as champions. plenty got to the 4th round, some went up, some didn't

1	Brighton & HA*(C)*(P)		5
2	Southampton*(P)			4
3	Huddersfield Town			4
4	Peterborough United*(P)		3
5	Milton Keynes Dons			1
6	Bournemouth			2

1	Norwich City*(C)*(P)		2
2	Leeds United*(P)			4
3	Millwall*(P)			3
4	Charlton Athletic			1
5	Swindon Town			3
6	Huddersfield Town			3

1	Leicester City*(C)*(P)		3
2	Peterborough United*(P)		3
3	Milton Keynes Dons			1
4	Leeds United			2
5	Millwall				4
6	Scunthorpe United*(P)		3

1	Swansea City*(C)*(P)		3
2	Nottingham Forest*(P)		2
3	Doncaster Rovers*(P)		1
4	Carlisle United			1
5	Leeds United			1
6	Southend United			4

1	Scunthorpe United			2
2	Bristol City			4
3	Blackpool				4
4	Nottingham Forest			4
5	Yeovil Town			1
6	Oldham Athletic			3

Where is the Creepometer when you need it???

 

[Selly]

Where is the Creepometer when you need it???

Probably around 20 points behind...

 

[raul]

Probably around 20 points behind...

One of it's better seasons then...

 

[Selly]

One of it's better seasons then...

After being 20 points ahead the prevous season. So on average, spot on...

 

[Sothall_Blade]

With the Scunthorpe game yet to be re-arranged, potential of reaching the 5th round of the cup and should Chessy be successful and reach Wembley we could have 3 more midweek games to arrange, as we're due to play Chessy the weekend of the JPT Final. Think we'll need to bolster our squad in the event of this happening.

We've already earned £112,500 from the cup in prize money alone and could add another £90,000 by beating Birmingham.
I think the advantage those extra funds gives the manager far outweighs any potential problems caused by the additional matches.
Besides, I like Tuesday Evening matches at The Lane and without the cup run we wouldn't have had a single one between 25th October and the end of the season.
Not sure what happened with the fixure computer but it appears to have had a 'mare in terms of the home/away afternoon/evening fixture split.

 

[tomtheblade]

In terms of teams' league and cup progression clashing, i think it depends on the league. For Championship promotion hopefuls and premiership relegation battlers, i think getting far in the cup could give them a disadvantage in the league and weaken them (see: Birmingham last season for example). However for League 1 and 2 i would actually say that statistically progression to the later rounds of a cup would be a good thing. This is because the standard in those leagues is a lot lower and therefore any team which gets far in the cup must have a superior side to everyone else in the league. Essentially.. if they're good enough to get that far, they're good enough to go up.

Having said all that the cup is so variable i don't think it's really easy to take a strong indication of a side's strength from it, as it depends so much on who they're playing, how seriously the opposition is taking the competition, whether they're at home etc etc.

I'm happy to get knocked out so we can focus on the league (and i think it's really close between us, wendy and hudds this year- if we win on sat charlton could get dragged into a 4 way dog fight for 2 places as well), but if we do go out i want it to be in the 'right way'. So, a close 1-0 loss to a superior side is fine, but losing to a side lower than us is really bad for confidence and i would much rather us go as far as we can if we're up against that kind of opposition. Of course, being League 1 most sides left are above us so we don't really have that problem.

 

[Grecian2000]

Here's one for the statto's: how many teams getting promotion have had good cup runs at the same time? Personally I see the cup as a distraction. Anecdotal SUFC evidence would suggest we are better out (e.g. 2002/3 when we reached 2 semi finals and missed out narrowly on promotion and 2005/6 when we crashed out of both compeitions early and got promoted).

The Burnley team that bollocksed us in the Play-Off final should have put all this "too many games" nonesense to bed having had significant runs in BOTH competitions.

Winning is a habit and the more games you win the better you feel about yourself. The run in 2002/2003 started with our upturn in fortunes in the League Cup (specifically Leeds). We were further away from the team in second (Leicester) then than at the end of the season! As for the FA Cup we were playing a significantly different team in the Cup (no Kabba/Windass) than in the League. All just an excuse for Colin at the time (and for Hoofy when we got turfed out at every opportunity in his gory years). Cup games are also a good way of "managing" suspensions.

Players enjoy playing far more than training and are just as likely to get injured doing the latter anyway. If we're good enough it'll happen (as in 1990), if we aren't, it won't.

 

[Selly]

The Burnley team that bollocksed us in the Play-Off final should have put all this "too many games" nonesense to bed having had significant runs in BOTH competitions.

Indeed

As for the FA Cup we were playing a significantly different team in the Cup (no Kabba/Windass) than in the League.

Must have imagined Kabba scoring against Leeds in the QF then...

All just an excuse for Colin at the time (and for Hoofy when we got turfed out at every opportunity in his gory years). Cup games are also a good way of "managing" suspensions.

Except when you get to semi-finals and players *cough*Brown*cough* get themself suspended before it, thus missing a league match...

 

[stannyblade]

Must have imagined Kabba scoring against Leeds in the QF then...
QUOTE]

In the league cup?
ndlovu and jags scored

 

[JohnDenver]

Must have imagined Kabba scoring against Leeds in the QF then...
QUOTE]

In the league cup?
ndlovu and jags scored

Kabba into the bottom corner in front of the Kop.

 

[blade too long]

up to press we only have 3 midweek games left in the fixture list , all away

hardly be chaos unless we reach the cup final , but Id put up with that

 

[Silent Blade]

Here's one for the statto's: how many teams getting promotion have had good cup runs at the same time?

We did in both 1989 and 1990.

Aston Villa and Norwich got promoted in 1975 and both reached the League Cup final (Villa won 1-0). Not sure how far they reached in the FA Cup but Villa beat us 4-1 in the 4th round

 

[stannyblade]

Im thinking of the other game then because both our goals in the game im thinking of were at the other end

 

[broomhillblade]

up to press we only have 3 midweek games left in the fixture list , all away

hardly be chaos unless we reach the cup final , but Id put up with that

The voice of commonsense.

I was beginning to wonder about my own sanity.

 

[axel smeets]

Here's one for the statto's: how many teams getting promotion have had good cup runs at the same time?

We did in both 1989 and 1990.

West Brom reached the Semi Final in 2008 and won the Championship, we reached the Semi Final in 1961 and got promotion, West Ham reached the Semi Final and went up in 1991, Birmingham the same in 1972. I suppose we could mention the fuck faced fuckers winning the milk cup and going up in 1991, something they haven't mentioned at all in the interceding years.

It can be done, but it is an exception rather than the rule.

 

[mpjacko]

[video=youtube;QQ9QP9yL9B8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ9QP9yL9B8[/video]

---------- Post added at 09:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:01 PM ----------

Can't seem to find any clips of the FA goal :-(

 

[raul]

Not too worried at the moment . The cup game will be between both clubs benches and reserves. What would bugger us up would be a long spell of wet weather causing postponements as our pitch looks very susceptible at themoment.

 

[JohnDenver]

I was beginning to wonder about my own sanity.

Time of life fella. Have another cup of tea and try not to worry.