.Talking on the phone to a friend a couple of weeks ago,we eventually we got around to talking football, ok he is a Gillingham fan so what does he know. Anyhow he said Saints have got off to a good start but that’s because they had an easy start ( if there is such a thing in the Prem) . We all know this but this got me looking at our results last year in the same fixtures as we have played this year, and the results this year are pretty amazing. For comparison reasons I have.replaced the relegated teams but kept their results with the newly promoted.teams in the order that they finished. ...............2012/2013......................................2013/2014 West Brom.... 2-0 Southampton........ West Brom....... 0-1 Southampton Southampton. 0-1 Sunderland........... Southampton... 1-1 Sunderland Norwich........ 0-0 Southampton........ Norwich.......... 1-0 Southampton Southampton 1-1 West Ham............. Southampton... 0-0 West Ham Liverpool...... 1-0 Southampton......... Liverpool......... 0-1 Southampton Southampton 1-2 QPR..................... Southampton... 2-0 Crystal Palace Southampton 1-1 Swansea.............. Southampton.... 2-0 Swansea Man Utd .......2-1 Southampton ........ManUtd ...........1-1 Southampton. .................3 Points...................................... 15 Points....... So not so much an easy start but a huge improvement.
I wouldn't say palace are this seasons QPR. Palace are truly awfully. This just got me thinking.... last season so many other teams must have had us as nailed on to go down. Now look at us! Although I guess people couldn't say we were an awful side, we did score a fair few.
After doing the above I decided to do the same for other teams it sort of gives a different perspective on the table this early in the season. Like the first post for comparison reasons I have kept the relegated teams results and replaced them in order of finishing with the promoted teams. CLICK TO ENLARGE. Sorry could not get the large image on screen. Saints stand way above all others with +12 points after 8 equivalent fixtures. Other things that stand out Man Utd -8 points down from last season. ( thanks to help from us.) Interesting despite the media ranting about Arsenal being on form they are -5 points on last season yes they actually won all the 8 equivalent fixtures last season. And last poor Palace -7 points compared to QPR`s pitiful return last season, think the writing is on the wall. Even with our good start it does show the gulf between ourselves and the top 7 Also trying to format these tables into the forum after a bottle and a half of Cotes Du Rhone is quite a challenge.
Interesting...thanks for the work. Always love anything that makes us look good The complaint we had last season was that we lost points against lower/middling teams despite some great results against top sides. This has been corrected so far this season. I have to say that I thought we would not be able to repeat the matches against top 6 sides, but the Liverpool and ManU results suggest we can. The tables here show that we are the most improved side (which is obvious to most people), but we will need to put those shots away if we are to avoid annoying results this season.
Interesting perspective, I'm not sure you can really predict the outcome of the season by simply adding or subtracting the difference in points at this stage though!
Quite agree about the prediction ptf, it`s just a name really for the last column on a spreadsheet. Took me so long to to get the columns I wanted over to the forum I could not be bothered to edit it again.
I don't want to start a new thread for this link, but I also don't want to hi-jack the thread. An interesting perspective in terms of START. The speed of Saints rise still occasionally makes my head spin. This is from exactly 3 years ago: http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/33147/
The weird thing is is that I think that we're more likely to get points at home to Everton than at home to Fulham. We've got 4 points out of 6 from our two hard games, and 11 points out of 18 points against the teams around our quality, meaning our points average is better against the top teams!
Good view point Mick. Interestingly enough we had not won any of those corresponding fixtures and if you substitute hull at home for wigan we wouldn't have won our next 5 games either - Fulham or hull at home and stoke, arsenal and Chelsea away. In fact for the fixtures we have had to start corresponding to last year's results we would have had to wait till 3 December for out first win with villa at home. Gillingham fans are funny. Living in Kent, I have many mates who are Gills fans. I remember getting a fair bit of stick when we sacked Adkins after he got us promoted, now they have sacked Martin Allen after he got them promoted. Just shows everything is not black and white.
Thanks for your work on this, Mick. I have been following our points gain compared to the equivalent fixture 12/13 since we won at West Brom. Having only one 'negative' result (v Norwich) is really impressive. However I was interested to see the rest of the teams achievements in their corresponding games and I'm amazed at just how well Saints have done in comparison with the other clubs! Anyone see any reason why we shouldn't keep this up?
Yes, we still have to play all the good teams before xmas, so let's see where we stand then. Let's not get carried away, we've done very well, but from a fixtures point of view this is the opposite of last season; easy at first, then difficult.
Very interesting post, I think comparing to last year is a very fair indicator. Obviously there are variables...teams improve, teams decline but it's certainly a fair indication. I'd also be curious to compare our start this season to West Brom's last season. But not curious enough to look it up!
That's the pint of the analysis, though, isn't it - it takes the order of fixtures out of the equation. Vin
Sorry if it wasn't clear, I was answering angleseysaint's question: "Anyone see any reason why we shouldn't keep this up?"
I already did on another thread! WBA had : W: 4 D: 2 L: 2 F: 12 A: 9 GD: +3 Points : 14 We have: W: 4 D: 3 L: 1 F: 8 A: 3 GD: +5 Points : 15
Just an update after another positive week for Saints. Can this continue, win at Stoke anyone? ...............2012/2013......................................2013/2014 West Brom.... 2-0 Southampton........ West Brom....... 0-1 Southampton Southampton. 0-1 Sunderland........... Southampton... 1-1 Sunderland Norwich........ 0-0 Southampton........ Norwich.......... 1-0 Southampton Southampton 1-1 West Ham............. Southampton... 0-0 West Ham Liverpool...... 1-0 Southampton......... Liverpool......... 0-1 Southampton Southampton 1-2 QPR..................... Southampton... 2-0 Crystal Palace Southampton 1-1 Swansea.............. Southampton.... 2-0 Swansea Man Utd .......2-1 Southampton ........ManUtd ...........1-1 Southampton. Southampton.2-2 Fulham..................Southampton....2-0 Fulham .................4 Points........................................ 18 Points.......
This marks the second time in 2013 that we've hit the 18 point mark for a season, because it took us until January 1st to reach this point last year!
That's obsevant. I like that kind of statistic. It's significant but 99% of people [OK, I'm guessing] would miss it.
I think theres a danger in comparing promoted and relegated teams. Perhaps a better way to compare would be to lump all points together and take an average.
