This may be blindingly obvious to everyone else, but it's only just sprung to my attention. Our unbeaten run stretches back to the Palace game - but it was between the Palace game and our win vs. Reading that we disposed of the services of that cockney wastrel now plying his trade in Suffolk. I know that people are putting our run down to the atmosphere in the club, and the togetherness of the squad - but going from three defeats in four, to six wins and three draws in nine is one hell of a turn around. Pure coincidence, or if not, just how toxic was Bullard to the morale of the squad?
Good point BT. Bullard not only sucked the financial lifeblood out of the club like a vampire, but he was totally disruptive to team morale and the coaching staff. Definitely one of the all-time Villains in our history. Btw its 6 wins and 3 draws in the last 9. We top the Championship form charts. Should make it 10 unbeaten tomorrow. http://www.footstats.co.uk/index.cfm?task=formguide
Yeah, on a nine match unbeaten run, six wins and two draws would be a bit tricky. I'm just going to go and hide in a corner over that. Fingers crossed on the 10...
I've got a fixture list stuck to the wall above my desk, and I'm worried about the next couple of months. We've got some of the (current) best sides in the league to play, and with injuries becoming a problem it's make-or-break as far as I'm concerned.
The point is we've come up against teams that were on form when we played them. Forest beat Blackpool and Boro, but lost to us in their back yard, Brighton was fifth when we played them, Cardiff were up there when we played them. Yeah, the run's going to come to an end at some point - and I am a little concerned by Soton and West Ham - but no one else. They have to beat us - and I would not want to face us right now.
Yeah, I'd probably agree with that. My main concern is the lack-of strength in depth that we have. Where Leeds had Luciano Becchio as reserve forward at the weekend, we had Dele Adebola. The injury trouble we seem to be having right at the start of a tough run of games is nagging away in the back of my mind, as much as I try to convince myself we can continue our good run of form.
That is a problem, very true - but I'm (eternally optimistically) looking at it another way. We've dealt with an injury crisis, and produced some of our best performances despite it. My only real concern is up front. We've proven we can withstand problems in midfield, our left/right backs both have understudies - McShane was looking very good before his injury, Dawson is proven at this level, CB is a concern, but we have rarely lost a defender to a long term injury in the past. Up front is a concern, but if waggy is due to return, we have four including Adebola, plus Pusic is an option up front (He was regularly used as a striker in Austria) - and if we are hit in any position for a serious long term injury - unlike last season, our loan quota isn't full - we can get in an emergency loan. Plus we are only two months now from the January window opening up. I'm not saying it's not a problem - but I think we've shown we can handle injuries. I hope.
I know Hull City very well indeed have done for many years and I predict our unbeaten run will come to an end at Barnsley. We are due a blip and it would be so typical of us to lose something like 3-1 tomorrow, if we do do'nt panic these things happen and theres a long way to go yet. If we actually get 6 points from our next two matches then woo hoo we might just be in auto promo land but the tigers never make things that easy do they
Barnsley (A) win 2-1 W.Ham (H) Draw 1-1 Derby (A) Win 1-0 Burnley (H) Win 2-0 Southampton (A) Draw 0-0 Takes us through to December with our unbeaten run intact. I would expect our unbeaten run to come to an end at Middlesboro ( seem to be our bogey team lately)
Look at two of the three draws, we should have won and didn't! We were supposed to go to TWS and win! Look what happened there! Im off to Barnsley tonight and wouldn't be at all surprised if we're coming home disappointed.
if it was always a case of results going "as expected" then the pools / betting companies wouldn't make any money and it also wouldn't be as much fun to watch.
I think the international break will come at the right time, we'll have 2 weeks to get some if not all of the injured players back. This unbeaten run has to end at some point, but everyone keeps saying the same about Newcastle, but they continue to pick up points so it may be the same with us! We have a tough run of games coming up but we all know city thrive on those sort of games, we're more likely to trip up at Barnsley or Coventry than we are against West Ham or Southampton! Although we haven't played these two teams yet or some of the chasing pack, the run has included the likes of Cardiff, Brighton, an improving Forest side and Reading so we have taken points of some of the sides who would expect to be in the play offs in May. We have seen our home form transformed in this run of form, i no longer expect us to drop points at home as easily as we did last season and the West Ham game has the potential to be a cracking game. Our lack of strength and depth is a concern, but with the injured players due back soon we'll have a boost there and although the back up players aren't necessarily star names, they're hardly bad players and can do a job if called upon. We can always utilise the loan market before the shuts to tie us over until January if need be. If we remain in a promising position in January then the Allams could well give us funds to bring in players who can improve the current side and lead us to a potential campaign. Great time to be a city fan! UTT.
Of course it has to end, but for as long as we keep clean sheets it won't. We all talk about form of this player or that player but when we talk about our defenders, the best adjective is consistent. We have the most consitent defence i've ever seen us have and for as long as NP is the coach there won't be many teams that score more than 1 past us, that pretty much guarantees you won't lose many either. As for the current run, i'm not too concerned about when it ends. Promotions aren't built on winning runs or never losing, they're built on only losing odd games and not letting one loss turn into 3 in a row. So despite this run being fantastic our promotion credentials aren't shown by how long we can keep it going, but by how we react when it ends. I think we probably have got the right mentality in the squad to cope (shown by how they've reacted to the poor start) and we've definitely got the right man in charge to make sure of that, time will tell though!
Noticed StLT above mentioned the right mentality and I think that comes from the top. Although he is a bit dull and flat, NP does transmit the right positive attitude to the players. Winning runs are built on that and above all confidence; it's these sort of things, as well as form and a balanced team that NP has brought us. It was also so important to get that monkey off our back in cancelling the JB contract; knowing he wasn't coming back did have an effect. If it wasn't for the threads on here I would have forgotten all about that twat. The run will come to an end ok, but the longer the run the better.
I am sure NP will hope to have the Tigers in a good position entering the new year,that will be his focus at the moment, as that will be the best chance of the Allam's making more funds available, to push for promotion.
Agree with firthy, Lose at Barnsley ,win against West Ham would be typical of City over the years..BUT me thinks with NP in charge things are changing so there's every chance of 3-0 to the tigers tonight.... Fingers crossed JF .
