I suspect confidence is 90% of it. It plays a huge part in goalscoring. All season we've looked like a rabbit in headlights whenever we've got near the goal. We're miles better than last season in the buildup but we are terrified in the penalty area and it shows time and time again, while other teams make goalscoring look simple against us. The first two WBA goals at the weekend were the latest examples, such confident, sweeping finishes after a good first touch. We don't do that currently. We do have good players so I'm hopeful it'll come in time. People always want to blame everything on tactics and this season tempo is the buzzword, but it completely ignores the reality of what happens in our games. We haven't dropped points because of a lack of getting the ball into goalscoring positions, we've dropped points by not converting them into shots and goals, and people hugely understate the importance of things like confidence and momentum in that.
When we're playing well and confidently we move the ball quickly and can move from defence to attack quite quickly. I don't think we're that different to Ipswich.
Yep. The Ipswich second goal was exactly what we do multiple times per game, except for the part where they curled it in from a half chance at best on the edge of the box. But because they're the trendy thing currently and we always have to be inferior everyone wanted to put it down to their vastly superior style of play. Again, literally the same thing we do multiple times a game minus the finish.
The getting frustrated cos you expected top 6 thing. I'm genuinely wondering where that came from/started when it was far from the consensus when the season kicked off. Apologies if I'm directing a wider question at you, but it's you and Tigerboy98 that have said it, so I guess that's why I'm asking you guys. But I'll be happy enough to leave you to it and ask Tigerboy98 instead...
Ah, now that's a word - momentum. And yeah, we've had it enough that if we capitalise in spells when we've got it, we come away with more points. Definitely.
Acun/Tan/Liam have all said promotion is the goal for the season in interviews and podcasts etc, of course most clubs say that but they seemed genuine. And then with the good start to the season, especially after the Leicester win I thought wow it could actually be possible Now I’ve come back to reality
There's ebbs and flows in a season young Jedi. We've done reasonably well in the first couple of months with massive squad churn over in the last 2 summers. Promotion is the goal obviously but Acun and Tan have always seen top 10 as progress for this season. And they aren't the types not to expect a return for their investments. The fact they're offering an improved deal must tell you that he's peforming to their expectation at the moment. And it's been consistent throughout.
Yep agreed! Hopefully we continue on this progress curve until we reach the promised land, more patience needed from myself and others
Stranger things have happened. Championship 2007/8. Match day 15. City 19 points, GD+1 13th place. Never be afraid to 'Dare to Dream'.
I am inclined to agree with Newcastle, the systems are similar, but we play a slower game, keep the ball at the back inviting the press, once that happens we move the ball into the areas left vacated. Ipswich play it much quicker from the back and get forward much faster than us. They appear to expend more energy doing that way, so the question is will they last the season out playing this way, I have my doubts.
You've got to look at where they are now though, and really they just need to maintain mid table form for the rest of the season to finish in the playoffs. Honestly I think the reason they play with tempo, is because of a stable regime, relatively stable squad and they just know instinctively where to find each other. At the core of them at least.
Yes, but we saw in the season we went down, we were up near the top before Bowen and Turbo left, and we soon tumbled town the table. The Championship can quickly change if you get onto a bad run of games. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
That slump wasn't one of the most remarkably bad one in championship history by chance. We sold 65% of our goal threat for huge profit and didn't replace it, and loads of out of contract senior players knew they wouldn't be renewed. Then the ones we'd just signed found a toxic environment and wanted out too. McCann didn't help himself, but remember adkins turned the contract down cos he knew what was coming. That was the Ehab effect. We're not in anywhere near that situation at the top of the club right now. We're in a transitional place still. if Liam is going to be the long term guy he'll be judged on progress by the board. No need to worry about that.
I agree, my point is that for various reasons the situation can change, injury, losing players in January etc. Personally, I think they are likely to end up in the play off place, but I guess TWT.
Yeah, any of us there in 80/09 can see how adrenaline takes you only so far when the weather turns and injuries, suspensions etc kick in. But they're still scoring goals. 2 again today albeit in a game they'd have earmarked to win. Scored silly amounts if you look at their averages over the last couple of years. Especially at home they're as good going forward as we were defensively awful under Shota.
Speak for yourself. The Y axis is speed the ball is moved by a team measured in metres per second and the X axis is average number of passes per sequence. Not that difficult to understand.
'Direct speed' in metres per second is a baffling statistic. It doesn't even say what it's the speed of, or in what direction, or how often that speed is being measured. If it's as you say, literally the speed of the ball being moved (at all times?) then it's just a measure of who kicks the ball the hardest, which seems of very little value to me. Anyone can go on a stats website, pull two random stats and shove it into a graph on Excel, it doesn't necessarily mean the information is valuable. You have to fully understand the stats you're using if you're going to draw conclusions from it.
