ucandomagic
Well-Known Member
A pretty even game which emphasised our lack of squad depth. The result was probably fair, although our 2 shots on target compared to their 6 was poor. I thought Cal O’Hare was superb – he’s the only one who presses from the side by running at the space in front of the man, rather than running at the man, and his assist for Brooks’ goal was brilliant. Brooks contributed far more going forwards than JRS has for a long time, and gives much more support to Alfie behind him. Gus was very lucky to avoid a second yellow for a clear bookable foul right in front of the bench. The pen call for Cal getting flattened was shoulder to shoulder, but I always thought that was only OK when the ball was between players running together, not when the ball was in the control of one and the other charged in at full speed from the side, but I'm probably wrong.
So, moving on to the graphs, which show again that we are still in a great position.
Graph 1 compares our progress against 3 benchmark sets of results which represent Automatic Promotion, Playoff Certainty and Playoff Possibility. My benchmarks take account of who our opponents are each week. On 49 points, comparing to my benchmarks, we are still 1 ahead of my Autos Promotion schedule – and that is with our 2 point deduction.
Graph 1:
Graph 2 compares this season against our last 3 successful promotions from this level (all in second place), in 2005/06, 2018/19 and 2022/23. On 49 points after 24 games (with the 2-point deduction) we are 8 points ahead of the 41 points that we had under Wilder in 18/19, 2 ahead of Hecky in 22/23 and only 4 points behind Warnock in 05/06.
So we are still 8 points ahead of our great 18/19 season with a 2-point deduction.
Graph 2:
Next, the coloured annotated up-to-date League Table, which highlights where our strengths and weaknesses are against opponents’ league positions. We are 5 points ahead of Sunderland in 4th and there is another 6 points back to Blackburn in 5th. Basically, the top 2 is now almost looking to be between just 4 teams, with Sunderland barely holding on. Our game at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday looks even more important now.
League Table:
So, we’re struggling a bit without Harry, Vini, Tyrese and Blaster, but it’s at exactly the right time, as we are able to bring in reinforcements – let’s hope we can see clearly through this transfer window to a bright future!
UTB & Slava Ukraini!
So, moving on to the graphs, which show again that we are still in a great position.
Graph 1 compares our progress against 3 benchmark sets of results which represent Automatic Promotion, Playoff Certainty and Playoff Possibility. My benchmarks take account of who our opponents are each week. On 49 points, comparing to my benchmarks, we are still 1 ahead of my Autos Promotion schedule – and that is with our 2 point deduction.
Graph 1:
Graph 2 compares this season against our last 3 successful promotions from this level (all in second place), in 2005/06, 2018/19 and 2022/23. On 49 points after 24 games (with the 2-point deduction) we are 8 points ahead of the 41 points that we had under Wilder in 18/19, 2 ahead of Hecky in 22/23 and only 4 points behind Warnock in 05/06.
So we are still 8 points ahead of our great 18/19 season with a 2-point deduction.
Graph 2:
Next, the coloured annotated up-to-date League Table, which highlights where our strengths and weaknesses are against opponents’ league positions. We are 5 points ahead of Sunderland in 4th and there is another 6 points back to Blackburn in 5th. Basically, the top 2 is now almost looking to be between just 4 teams, with Sunderland barely holding on. Our game at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday looks even more important now.
League Table:
So, we’re struggling a bit without Harry, Vini, Tyrese and Blaster, but it’s at exactly the right time, as we are able to bring in reinforcements – let’s hope we can see clearly through this transfer window to a bright future!
UTB & Slava Ukraini!
