Yeah I think you have to give them huge credit for how they're performing. They're doing far better than we did in 11/12 so far and we know how good we were that season. I think it's good for the league if they go up too as well tbh. First time back to back promotions will have been achieved in over a decade and shows that despite the parachute payment gap that's emerged in the championship that it's by no means a glass ceiling that can't be overcome.
Was having a pint with an Ipswich supporting friend last night and he still thinks they’ll finish 5th or 6th. Thinks Saints and Leicester will get autos based on squads. Didn’t really press him on his reasoning for it, think he was just trying to not Tom Ipswich by being too confident
I suppose, unless we find a way of scoring more goals in a game, and winning more comfortably, we would be better off playing Leeds in the playoff final, where 1 goal might be enough to win, rather than have a 1-0 win overturned at their place. Also odd to remember that we put 3 past them in 45 minutes though. Still not giving up on catching one of the top two yet.
We are in a 5 team mini league. Without a doubt we will finish top 6 (top 5 is not pushing it). That is okay. However, we are a big team for this league and have fantastic resources and a much larger playing squad that most. Over the course of 46 games we should be in the top 3 of that mini league. Plenty of time left. I understand that our period of spilling goals has led to a period of adjustment - which has made us hard to beat but not so effective up front. I am not yet convinced that RM can get us both defensively strong AND attackingly impressive. Our last two away performances have been subpar. At some point we have to break out and shake off the shackles. All good teams give somebody a pasting at some point. This needs to come by February if we want to start asserting our right to a top two place rather than meekly hanging on.
I would say that the gap between us and Ipswich is equally down to both of us. I absolutely believe that we should have an extra 4 to 6 points. 24 hours ago the gap was 10 points (and it will hopefully be back to that in a few hours), so basically those 4 to 6 points represented half of that gap. And Ipswich's fantastic form represents the other half. They're currently on course for 112 points. We're currently on course for 87 points. That's a huge difference. My target for us has always been 92 points, so finishing on 87 would be a touch disappointing. But of course things can change (and they will - it's incredibly unlikely that we'll each finish on exactly 112 and 87), and it really won't take too much to turn those 87 points into 92 points. However, to close a projected 25 point gap, now that really would take some doing, between us improving and Ipswich dropping off.
FWIW, this 21st round is when Reading started their incredible run of results back in our last promotion season. They lost game 20, leaving them in 11th, and then went and won 20 of their next 24 games. It took them from being 15 points behind us (42 vs 27) to three points ahead of us (85 vs 88).
Automatic promotion would be a huge bonus for me this season and it's looking likely that we will achieve my pre season target of the play-offs at least. It's a shame that we played both Leicester and Ipswich when we were very much in the experimental stage and key players like Downes hadn't settled in but there is still a very long way to go (over half the season). I'm very much hoping that we can play like we did against Leeds and Cardiff more consistently for the enjoyment of them and the results will take care of themselves.
Eh? They went one down and came back to win 3-1. If that’s not a sign of a good side fighting for the title, I don’t know what is. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to expect us to do that against teams such as Coventry. Before the season started do you remember the ‘HMS piss The league’ memes? I think quite a few people expected this.
