Form vs the top ten

[Champagneblade]

I didn’t realise how poor our form really was vs the top10 teams until a moment of reflection earlier.

Out of a possible 39 points, we have managed 2 wins, 2 draws and 9 defeats. The only points being from Derby (4), Wolves (3), Villa (1).

To those suggesting a ceiling has been hit, then promotion form of 52 from 25 vs those 11th and below in contrast to relegation form vs the top teams seems to confirm this.

We have some time to improve and you can argue with home games vs 4 of those top 10 and only one away may push up the points per game.

Wilder must know this. Remember when Warnock got 1 point out of the last 30 away in the Prem?

Remember what Einstein said about insanity? I do hope he can fashion a plan B that puts the better teams on the back foot - maybe it’s Brooks starting like at the Sty? Whatever it is, what we have tried so far has not worked too well.

Let’s hope Chris has some fresh ideas after the international break as what has been tried to date vs the top teams doesn’t seem to be working in terms of results.

Did you know the form was so bad vs the top teams? Answers on a postcard on how to solve it!

 

[Sheffsteel]

I didn’t realise how poor our form really was vs the top10 teams until a moment of reflection earlier.

Did you know the form was so bad vs the top teams? Answers on a postcard on how to solve it!

Yes I did, this season our results and performances have been very consistent and quite predictable.

Against top teams: we always seem to struggle to assert ourselves and lose (usually a close match where we lose by the odd goal).
Against the bottom teams: we always seem to win
Against the mid table teams, we win a few, draw a few with the occasional lost.

Putting this into perspective, as a first season back in the Champiomship it’s been a good season.
I knew we had a good team so expected us to finish above mid table but not quite be good enough for the playoffs
And it’s looking that might be how it ends up.
Although of course we shouldn’t give up on the playoffs yet and we need to give it a go.

 

[ucandomagic]

 

[ucandomagic]

English Football ranking

 

[UnitedBlade]

I didn’t realise how poor our form really was vs the top10 teams until a moment of reflection earlier.

Out of a possible 39 points, we have managed 2 wins, 2 draws and 9 defeats. The only points being from Derby (4), Wolves (3), Villa (1).

To those suggesting a ceiling has been hit, then promotion form of 52 from 25 vs those 11th and below in contrast to relegation form vs the top teams seems to confirm this.

We have some time to improve and you can argue with home games vs 4 of those top 10 and only one away may push up the points per game.

Wilder must know this. Remember when Warnock got 1 point out of the last 30 away in the Prem?

Remember what Einstein said about insanity? I do hope he can fashion a plan B that puts the better teams on the back foot - maybe it’s Brooks starting like at the Sty? Whatever it is, what we have tried so far has not worked too well.

Let’s hope Chris has some fresh ideas after the international break as what has been tried to date vs the top teams doesn’t seem to be working in terms of results.

Did you know the form was so bad vs the top teams? Answers on a postcard on how to solve it!

Yes I did, it's actually only 4 wins against top half sides from 16 games.

All the wins were at home and all before Coutts got injured.

We've beaten 2 other sides who were in the top half at the time: Pigs and Leeds. Again before Coutts's injury but these of course were both away.

You can sometimes get into the top 6 by being ruthless with the bottom half of the table and we've nearly done that.

The solution is turn back time and Coutts is nowhere near Sordell in the Burton game .

We just have to try and move it quicker and slicker and get more quality in the delivery. It doesn't help that 6 of our last 8 games are against top half sides (the other 2 against sides fighting for survival) but we have to have a go. No complaints from me if we attack every game but I'd be disappointed if we failed without putting in the fight and effort.

All still to play for.

 

[metalblade]

I really did expect us to do much better than Bolton and Millwall and we have done much better than hoofball Bolton but Millwall are just one point behind us this season and if current form carries on they will go above us soon. Very disappointing seeing as Millwall were way off us last season just scraping into the play off's, have they improved by vast amounts or have we stagnated due to poor recruitment (January especially) ?

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

In contrast, Wednesday still haven't beaten any team below them.



Considering they're 17th and we're nearly in April I don't even know how that's fucking possible.

 

[Champagneblade]

I have to say I must have found this thread somehow cathartic because I woke this morning with a totally different and more relaxed outlook of our situation.

Despite the hullabaloo created by his comments post-Hull, the sentiment was accurate.

The current team isn’t good enough for promotion or at least isn’t ready and will probably not be able to pull the required results out of the bag vs the top teams to sustain a play off push.

We needed many things to go for us, Coutts not being injured was one, and it wasn’t just his injury but also the fact that replacing him became the priority in January whereas original thoughts may have been around beefing up the striking department.

I’m not throwing in the towel or wishing against promotion more embracing the reality of our situation. Results show we have established ourselves as ruthless, relatively speaking vs the divisions bottom half but lacking vs the top teams who undeniably have more funding in almost all cases.

We’ve done well, very well in fact but I’m no longer going to fret how Derby, Boro, Bristol, Preston and Millwall have done. If we get to the Play offs still it will buck the trend of the form book and we’ll take that. If we then get past Villa/Fulham and go up, it will be superhuman.

In the meantime I look forward to seeing us give it a right go.

UTB

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I didn’t realise how poor our form really was vs the top10 teams until a moment of reflection earlier.

Out of a possible 39 points, we have managed 2 wins, 2 draws and 9 defeats. The only points being from Derby (4), Wolves (3), Villa (1).

To those suggesting a ceiling has been hit, then promotion form of 52 from 25 vs those 11th and below in contrast to relegation form vs the top teams seems to confirm this.

We have some time to improve and you can argue with home games vs 4 of those top 10 and only one away may push up the points per game.

Wilder must know this. Remember when Warnock got 1 point out of the last 30 away in the Prem?

Remember what Einstein said about insanity? I do hope he can fashion a plan B that puts the better teams on the back foot - maybe it’s Brooks starting like at the Sty? Whatever it is, what we have tried so far has not worked too well.

Let’s hope Chris has some fresh ideas after the international break as what has been tried to date vs the top teams doesn’t seem to be working in terms of results.

Did you know the form was so bad vs the top teams? Answers on a postcard on how to solve it!

It actually doesn't matter which teams we lose to, it's the same number of points lost whether it's a top team or a bottom team. Some of those losses against "top teams" weren't "top teams" when we played them either.

All that matters is we try and take maximum points from every game. If we did that in the remaining 8 games then the league position will take care of itself. Based on current form though, I can't see us winning more than half of the remaining games and maybe drawing a couple and losing a couple. So, somewhere around 74 points I think - which hopefully will be enough to see us squeeze into a play-off spot.

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

As I've said on another thread, the core of our team is excellent we just lack that top end talent which makes a difference in those big/tough games and make the opposition scheme to nullify that. In the same way all the top 6 have players like that - we don't.

Coutts is one, and next season Brooks will hopefully develop into another. Tufty obvious hoped Wilson could be another - but that's proving a forlorn hope.

For the team to develop and us to be competitive against top 6 teams, Tufty needs to add 1 or 2 match winners to the squad. Based on recent comments He knows this...

In Tufty we Trust!

 

[Keen Blade]

View attachment 37924

That colour-coded table is very illuminating.
The results that stick out like a sore thumb are the defeats to Notlob , Hull & Forest and the draws at home to Brum & the Pigs.
I remember feeling particularly sickened after those games , all of which should have been won.
It's no wonder that CW let rip after the Hull defeat , especially considering where it fell in the sequence - such a bad blow to morale at that time.
And he still talks about the undeserved defeat at Forest to this day.
Given that CW made these strong comments straight after these games , without the knowledge of hindsight that this table provides , it just shows you his immense grasp of things in the Chamionship.
What a manager. He knows which teams should be beaten (and which should beat us).
He knows EXACTLY what's what and the players are never gonna pull the wool over his eyes.
I've followed the Blades for 50 years.
I can't imagine us ever leaving the Lane.
I also can't imagine us ever having a future manager as good as CW , not in my lifetime.

 

[blade too long]

perhaps our record v top 10 might look better when weve played boro millwall cardiff and preston at home

we have played far more away games v top 10 so our records very skewed

should and could have won at both villa and derby , were robbed of an equaliser at boro

sometimes bare stats dont give a true reflection
if we win 3 of those 4 home games our record will be as good as most

 

[HolmesfieldBlade]

View attachment 37924

Wow, this just shows how important our upcoming home games are.

 

[Champagneblade]

It actually doesn't matter which teams we lose to, it's the same number of points lost whether it's a top team or a bottom team. Some of those losses against "top teams" weren't "top teams" when we played them either.

All that matters is we try and take maximum points from every game. If we did that in the remaining 8 games then the league position will take care of itself. Based on current form though, I can't see us winning more than half of the remaining games and maybe drawing a couple and losing a couple. So, somewhere around 74 points I think - which hopefully will be enough to see us squeeze into a play-off spot.

Maybe their placing was higher or lower when we played them but after 38 matches we know who the top teams are. My point isn’t that we’re a set of bottle jobs who can’t lift our game for big matches when we play a team ranked highly at the time. My point is that our record vs the season’s top ten is particularly poor. Being towards the bottom of that group is probsbly where we are as a team.

I’m fine with that given what Wilder has been given.

But you are right, we have matches to redress this and if we get in the play offs it will be on merit. We certainly will have had to redress the trend to get there.

We’ve had a good season. We can be happy with that.