Fans Forum
- Thread starter Stormin' Norman
- Start date
moonay
Vital Football Legend
Of course they're defensible, and they were plainly good enough last season ......... and have been good enough so far this season.
Now, if you were to say that they aren't sustainable, then you may have a point.
Nope. We were fortunate last season that Ipswich and Bolton were so far adrift. We escaped by our teeth.
Won't be as lucky this season.
Next 3 games...Forest at DW, then Derby ajd Bristol C both away. Cook wont be here by November.
Martinez1986
Vital Squad Member
Are you saying Cook was a bad appointment 18 months down the line ?
Will_Shahane
Vital Squad Member
That’s true, but to be honest the main reason why we weren’t in the bottom three for a longer period of time was because of the great first couple of months we had. Between 2nd October 2018 and 30 March 2019, we picked up 24 points out of a possible 87, giving us an average of 1 point every 4 games nearly. That means that on average, we won just one out of every 11 or 12 games in that season. I think that many people would see these as laughable results. I don’t think the fact that we weren’t in the relegation zone for long changes my original point that the results between October and March were laughable.
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Stormin' Norman
Vital Squad Member
I wasn't bloody laughing bro!
I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes but from outside it looks as though he keeps hanging onto his job because we pick up results at home just when he needs it. If we lose against Forest I can see some people calling for his head. If we were to lose 2 or 3 home games on the spin then I can definitely see him going. There’s been no animosity towards him at home because we’ve been picking up points, for me the turning point will be when that stops happening. Knowing us we’ll start winning away once the home form goes downhill.
Stormin' Norman
Vital Squad Member
I wouldnt hold your breath bro, not until yon mon slings his hook!
FrancosLoveChild
Vital Football Hero
He should have gone yesterday, a shocker from a keeper has kept him in the job, luckiest manager this season, makes me wonder, do the owners see past results and not the details?
D
Deleted member 11413
Guest
Will, you are normally quite sensible but you have been spending too much time on this forum and your vision is being clouded I’m afraid. Try and not let these people drag you down.
To claim this seasons away form is laughable when 4 of the 6 away games have been against promotion chasing sides (2 of which are the best and 3rd best home sides to date) is in itself laughable.
king_dezeeuw06
Vital Champions League
I'm saying Cook was a good appointment at the time to get us out of L1 just like Jacobs and Grigg were great signings to get you into the Championsip but unfortunately they weren't able to make step up.
king_dezeeuw06
Vital Champions League
Don't be so patronising - Will has given you his reasons why he thinks what he does and he's entitled to that as you are entitled to disagree. But it's quite insulting to insinuate that just because he doesn't agree with you that his views are illigitimate and he's somehow being lead by others.
Will_Shahane
Vital Squad Member
Thank you for your initial compliment. I'd like to think I'm being sensible here as well, though; I don't think I've really said anything that's particularly outlandish, and I believe that most of the points I've made can be supported with statistics. I genuinely enjoy posting, and conversing with others on here, as I think you can have good debates about something we're all passionate about. I do try to learn things from other people, and to be open-minded in discussions, but I also feel capable of forming my own opinions about subjects, and coming to my own conclusions on stuff. I genuinely do appreciate your advice, but honestly nobody on here is dragging me down; like I said, I enjoy visiting the site, for the reasons I mentioned before.
I do understand your point. However, when you say 'promotion-chasing sides', I think the Championship is such an open and competitive league nowadays, that this description could realistically include anyone within the top 14 at this point. If you look at the table (I've attached it here for convenience purposes https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/championship/table), I think you could argue that any of those sides from West Brom, right down to Blackburn (and maybe even one or two clubs below that e.g. Brentford) are 'promotion-chasing'.
That's roughly two thirds of the league, so I don't think the fact that 4 out of the 6 sides whom we have faced away from home (i.e. two thirds of the sides we've played on the road) are promotion-chasing, can be used as an excuse for how bad our away form has been. The fact that we have already played 4 promotion-chasing sides is just reflective of the competitiveness of the league, and although the Championship is undoubtedly a highly competitive and difficult division to play in, I don't think we should use this as an excuse, or a justification, for obtaining results as dire as 1 point out of a possible 18.
This is true, and I think it's fair to say that we are yet to play any of the relegation candidates away from home, but I still don't believe our away fixtures have been excessively hard to the point where they can be used to excuse our terrible form. Preston are undoubtedly a great side at home at the moment, but those six fixtures have also included Hull, who are 17th in the home form table, Middlesbrough, who are 18th, and QPR, who sit in an uninspiring 12th place. Regardless of this, is it even that helpful to look at home and away form tables, given how congested and close the majority of the Championship is at the moment? Fulham, who you have mentioned there as being the 3rd best home side to date, are just 3 points clear of Middlesbrough, who are in 18th position, and could potentially be overtaken by Leeds (currently 16th) should Bielsa's men win their game in hand. I think it's fair to look at individual sides' form, but placing a lot of emphasis on positions in home form tables is counterproductive and unhelpful, in my opinion, given that there is so little to separate most of the sides at this point. Here are the home and away form tables, again just for convenience https://www.soccerstats.com/homeaway.asp?league=england2
Even if all of the above were completely wrong though, and our 6 away fixtures had comprised the top 6 of the Championship, who happened to be miles and miles ahead of the rest of the division in both the regular and home form table, I still think there's a fundamental problem in the logic that the quality of the opposition who you are playing, determines whether your results can be laughable or not. Man City beat Burton 9-0 in the Carabao Cup last season, and as I'm sure you'll know, just a few weeks ago, they beat Watford 8-0. I'm confident that both Burton and Watford fans would admit that those were laughable results, despite the fact that they were playing away from home, against stellar opposition and one of the best (if not the best) sides in the country, and arguably even the world. So, the point I'm trying to make there is that results can still be laughable (as I believe attaining 1 point out of a possible 18, with no wins and 5 losses out of 6 matches, is), whether you're playing against brilliant, or awful, opposition. Playing against good opposition can make laughable results more understandable, and it can provide a rational explanation for why the results are laughable. But I still don't think it changes the reality that they are, indeed, laughable.
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TRUE BELIEVER
Vital Football Hero
I'm afraid I don't find anything laughable about our away form. How anyone could laugh off our disastrous record is beyond me. I think it could better be described as concerning or even troubling, but laughable does it an injustice.
Just my thoughts.
Just my thoughts.
king_dezeeuw06
Vital Champions League
Or if you didn't laugh you'd cry?
