ucandomagic
Well-Known Member
OK – so “A Happy New Season” to all and let’s get started. Maybe we should all wish each other "A Happy Christmas" in the Harry Bassett psychology? I feel that the pieces are nearly all there and we just haven’t sorted out what picture we’re trying to paint. We’ve played two games and got no points, but could easily have 4. The goals that we’ve conceded have all been very poor defensively, we’ve scored the best goal in our matches and missed a straightforward one on one. What has cost us for the goals has been weakness in dealing with crosses in our central defence, Egan and Anel, which is surprising. Graphs won’t show much yet – but will set the scene to monitor our progress.
As I put in a previous thread, Graph 1 shows what 1 point above the relegated teams has been for all of the 28 Prem seasons of 20 teams. You can see that 40 points was enough to survive for all but 3 of those 28 seasons. However, 38 has been more than enough for the last 12 seasons – so I will use 38 – a point a game as a realistic survival target.
Graph 1:
Graph 2 is a plot that compares our progress against our last 2 Prem seasons and against my benchmark results to achieve 38 points, and probable survival. My benchmark takes account of who our opponents are each week – the 19/20 and 20/21 seasons are the results from the same game day – not the same opponents. On Graph2 you can see that we are 2 points behind my 38 point survival benchmark results – but when we beat City we’ll be a point ahead of schedule!! Graph 2 is also a stark reminder that in those bleak Covid days at the start of the 20/21 season we only got 2 points from the first 17 games. Our first win was home to Newcastle on January 12th 2021!
Graph 2:
Graph 3 plots our progress against the best seasons from each of the previous 4 periods that I have watched the Blades in the top flight. The early seasons have been modified to account for 3 point wins and 20 teams. I have used the actual results against the top 19 teams in each of those years. Those heady days under Ken Furphy seem just like yesterday!
Graph 3:
As I put in the title – it’s time to send Billy for the beers. Like back in 2016, when we had 1 point from 4 games, we are playing by numbers and not by instinct. We need to get a few bottles of Peroni down, or whatever is trendy these days, and relax and enjoy it. After all, the League Table shows that we are still above the drop zone! It’s interesting that, before the season started, everybody said that we would be in a fight with Burnley, Luton, Wolves and Everton at the bottom, and the table reflects that exactly after just 2 games.
League Table:
I’m going to enjoy this season, come what may – as it’s a long time since we were able to go and watch a whole top flight season at Bramall Lane, and I feel that we are really starting to build a young squad for the future.
UTB & Slava Ukraini
As I put in a previous thread, Graph 1 shows what 1 point above the relegated teams has been for all of the 28 Prem seasons of 20 teams. You can see that 40 points was enough to survive for all but 3 of those 28 seasons. However, 38 has been more than enough for the last 12 seasons – so I will use 38 – a point a game as a realistic survival target.
Graph 1:
Graph 2 is a plot that compares our progress against our last 2 Prem seasons and against my benchmark results to achieve 38 points, and probable survival. My benchmark takes account of who our opponents are each week – the 19/20 and 20/21 seasons are the results from the same game day – not the same opponents. On Graph2 you can see that we are 2 points behind my 38 point survival benchmark results – but when we beat City we’ll be a point ahead of schedule!! Graph 2 is also a stark reminder that in those bleak Covid days at the start of the 20/21 season we only got 2 points from the first 17 games. Our first win was home to Newcastle on January 12th 2021!
Graph 2:
Graph 3 plots our progress against the best seasons from each of the previous 4 periods that I have watched the Blades in the top flight. The early seasons have been modified to account for 3 point wins and 20 teams. I have used the actual results against the top 19 teams in each of those years. Those heady days under Ken Furphy seem just like yesterday!
Graph 3:
As I put in the title – it’s time to send Billy for the beers. Like back in 2016, when we had 1 point from 4 games, we are playing by numbers and not by instinct. We need to get a few bottles of Peroni down, or whatever is trendy these days, and relax and enjoy it. After all, the League Table shows that we are still above the drop zone! It’s interesting that, before the season started, everybody said that we would be in a fight with Burnley, Luton, Wolves and Everton at the bottom, and the table reflects that exactly after just 2 games.
League Table:
I’m going to enjoy this season, come what may – as it’s a long time since we were able to go and watch a whole top flight season at Bramall Lane, and I feel that we are really starting to build a young squad for the future.
UTB & Slava Ukraini
