Season defining matches?

[stringjunior]

It's not how you start, it's how you finish apparently.

Me? Quickly. Always.

 

[RMBlade]

Or more accurately for us

Chelsea is that you?!

 

[coaxingstar71]

This is only my opinion but I think this league is going to be close this season. At the moment there are 3 teams all on 25 points and I don't think anyone will runaway with it. I think the points total required will be lower than average too. I can see us see sawing with wins and defeats but I think at some point we could do with a bit of a run of wins or at least go undefeated to put us right up there. Although I understand the table is theoretically meaningless at Christmas, we still need to be there or thereabouts. What we don't want is to fall away from the contending pack so that we're scraping to get into the play-offs again by March/April.

 

[blade too long]

They do when you add them to the points you get after Christmas.

It's kind of how the league system works.

you misread it . its
the points count ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
where you are in october means diddly
my apostrophe disappeared

 

[PeteBlade]

you misread it . its
the points count ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
where you are in october means diddly
my apostrophe disappeared

I'm pretty sure where you are in the league is connected to how many points you have.

 

[blade too long]

What about the bits where they slice us open like a knife through butter in a sieve

only conceded on average one a game in last 6

 

[RMBlade]

I think i'd rather us be 4th at Xmas than top... more chance of the board/Nige to bring in reinforcements.

 

[blade too long]

I'm pretty sure where you are in the league is connected to how many points you have.

and only really counts in May regarding promotion
points collection varies wildy during a season for all clubs

 

[blade too long]

I think i'd rather us be 4th at Xmas than top... more chance of the board/Nige to bring in reinforcements.

anywhere between 1st and 10th be ok provided its not a big gulf in points
the championship last season derby were top but only 6 points clear of 8th and they fell out of the play offs

so it matters not a jot till the fat lady starts gargling before performing

 

[RMBlade]

anywhere between 1st and 10th be ok provided its not a big gulf in points
the championship last season derby were top but only 6 points clear of 8th and they fell out of the play offs

so it matters not a jot till the fat lady starts gargling before performing

I can see it now we will be at the top at Xmas and through Jan but only clear by 1 point, the board will think they dont need to strengthen and we will finish 5th again.

I feel like having a doom and gloom day today

 

[longinthe toothblade]

Our next 4 fixtures are all against teams currently in the bottom 8, 3 of them indeed in the bottom 4. How far do you think our results in these games will suggest how the rest of the season will pan out?

I'm of the opinion anything less than 9 points from these games would suggest we will be looking at play-offs at best. If we can pick up 10 or 12 points I will be feeling more optimistic, but I still feel we lack the midfield or defence solidity to guarantee wins against poor opposition.

I think we lack a lot of things at present - mostly consistency.

Until we sort out the latter [assuming we can and do] there's little point trying to predict scores. There are no easy games, period. Look at Bury, Colchester [think they were 4th bottom when we played them at the lane and without a win], not to mention that shit at Vale I sat through a couple of weeks back.

We got the points Saturday which is great but we hardly set the pitch alight did we. Would it have been so harsh on us [play-wise] if Rochdale had shared the points?

Long way to go yet so lets see where we are after Christmas.

 

[Darthblade]

only conceded on average one a game in last 6

We have, however, thrown away 11 points as a result of not addressing the glaringly obvious and serious deficiencies in our current squad.

Discarding 11 points in the first 12 games is somewhat worrying for the future ......
UTB & FTP

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Did they hover around 6-8th until Christmas?

Yes they did.

On 18th December 2010 they were 10th.

On 1st January 2011 they went 2nd.

 

[OllyBlade]

The next four games are no more important than the four games after that. 'Season defining' is something you could only apply in retrospect anyway.

Yeah I agree my question was more one to invite speculation.

However I do think that for building momentum and for squad confidence certain runs of fixtures can have a big impact in setting the mood.

And the only season we've been down here where the teams around the top at Christmas haven't also been the ones challenging at the end has been 2012/13. On the other occasions the team that won the division was already in the top 2 and on 2 of the occasions was already top. So saying that the only table that matters is the one at the end of the season is technically true but doesn't really contribute anything to the debate, which is about what we might be able to start to predict and how we feel the season might pan out. Now it might be arguable that the division this season is setting up much more like 12/13 than the others and I'd kind of agree with that. Surprise runaway leaders (for Tranmere read Burton) and seemingly no stand-out team.

 

[RMBlade]

we hardly set the pitch alight did we

Its a good job we didn't. Big Kev wouldn't like having his million pound pitch set on fire!

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I think i'd rather us be 4th at Xmas than top... more chance of the board/Nige to bring in reinforcements.

That's a fair point but I'd take top four points clear.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

only conceded on average one a game in last 6

Might keep goals against column down to 70 then?

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

That's a bit shortsighted.

The onus should be on the last 46 for me.

Yer need a good start for a strong finish.

 

[blade too long]

We have, however, thrown away 11 points as a result of not addressing the glaringly obvious and serious deficiencies in our current squad.

Discarding 11 points in the first 12 games is somewhat worrying for the future ......
UTB & FTP

not really , they say 2 points per GAME ALL SEASON ,CONSISTANTLY , so dropping 11 in 12 is par , 2.2 will get us automatic with certainty
we need 24 wins out of 34 to hit 94 points or , well do able

 

[blade too long]

Might keep goals against column down to 70 then?

ok provided we score over 100

 

[Darthblade]

not really , they say 2 points per GAME ALL SEASON ,CONSISTANTLY , so dropping 11 in 12 is par , 2.2 will get us automatic with certainty
we need 24 wins out of 34 to hit 94 points or , well do able

I've got to take my hat off to you mate and I want some of whatever you are drinking please.

I am nowhere near as optimistic as you, given the current squad and it's major issues and unless we strengthen CH, CM & GK I personally don't see any chance of automatics and I wouldn't have a shred of confidence in progressing via play-offs.
UTB & FTP

 

[blade too long]

I've got to take my hat off to you mate and I want some of whatever you are drinking please.

I am nowhere near as optimistic as you, given the current squad and it's major issues and unless we strengthen CH, CM & GK I personally don't see any chance of automatics and I wouldn't have a shred of confidence in progressing via play-offs.
UTB & FTP

its not optimism , I said its our task
we have to achieve that to get up
can it be done
course it can other clubs have done it before
surprisingly including us
in fact Ive seen us promoted with equally poor looking squads, the year we pipped Burnley out of this division youi could argue that side was far inferior to the current one
it wasnt that good a team

 

[blade too long]

http://www.sheffieldunited-mad.co.uk/results_fixtures/1988_1989/sheffield_united/index.shtml

if you look at the last team we won promotion from this division

we went up with 84 points on gd from port vale
we lost 12 games, 4 at home
we conceded 54 goals

and we won 13 games by one goal difference
we had a run where we got 5 points out of 21 fell from 2nd to 4th

whats different now
internet complaining

 

[Superblades]

I've just been having a look at the table and the thing that was worrying me was the amount of game we have lost already. Having had a look, it is pretty much the same as the other teams around us apart from Walsall & Bury (1) & Gillingham (2). Nowhere near the meltdown some have been posting on on the forum.

UTB

 

[blade too long]

if you look at the team that went up in 89 , they lost 2-1 at home to southend and to mansfield
imagine if our fans had internet then the reaction to them
dont want to go up no ambition in the board , all the usual lines would have been there
we need some decent defenders would no doubt have cropped up

 

[raul]

I'm sure there would have been someone pointing out how the season was comparing favourably to someone elses promotion bid of 1952 though.

 

[blade too long]

I'm sure there would have been someone pointing out how the season was comparing favourably to someone elses promotion bid of 1952 though.

was our last promoton from this division theres no similar circumstances to compare to

It seems strange how the perception from some is we should be sweeping teams aside with big win after big win
but we only managed 4 big scores of 4 or 5 that season out of 46

 

[Pollingtonblade]

if you look at the team that went up in 89 , they lost 2-1 at home to southend and to mansfield
imagine if our fans had internet then the reaction to them
dont want to go up no ambition in the board , all the usual lines would have been there
we need some decent defenders would no doubt have cropped up

That board didn't have any ambition/money, they even said so Dave Bassett never hid that fact. This board has promised us the Premiership within 5 years - almost half of that timescale has gone and we appear to have not moved forward. I went to the 2 games you mentioned, in fact that season the bottom 4 all beat us, Chezzy did the double over us as did Southend. Fans weren't as pissed off cos that team were a team of fighters and you accepted the odd bad result.

 

[Darthblade]

was our last promoton from this division theres no similar circumstances to compare to

It seems strange how the perception from some is we should be sweeping teams aside with big win after big win
but we only managed 4 big scores of 4 or 5 that season out of 46

"Past performance is no guarantee of the future performance" .......

We currently have a GK / Defence / Midfield that leak goals like a colander ....... and that has been the case for some considerable time.

I don't expect that we should be "sweeping teams aside with big win after big win", that would simply be disrespectful and I'm not an arrogant piggy bast**d.

I do expect though, that with the resources and backing at our disposal, we should make much more efficient use of both than we are. That is not the fault of the long-suffering supporters of this magnificent Club that I love so much that it often makes me weep with frustration!!

UTB & FTP

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

was our last promoton from this division theres no similar circumstances to compare to

It seems strange how the perception from some is we should be sweeping teams aside with big win after big win
but we only managed 4 big scores of 4 or 5 that season out of 46

Haven't seen anyone state we should be hammering teams.
The complaining has been about not addressing the known problem before a ball was ever kicked in anger.