Our next 4 games are against ,Derby/West Ham /Reading & Middlesborough so what do you think our points total from these 4 games will be ? 6 for me would give me hope to be in top 6 come end of season ,thoughts
If only they did bonus points in football like they do in Rugby, we would probably have already won the league by now!
It will certainly put us on the map if we get a decent haul. 6 would be awesome any more than that would be out of this world. However if we truly are contenders 8 has to be a minimum......or there abouts.
Derby (A) - L West Ham (H) - W Reading (A) - D Middlesbrough (H) - W Most promoted clubs average 2 points per game, which is what Adkins is targetting. We're currently averaging 2.2 points per game. If we win our homes games and draw our away games we will get promoted, it's as simple as that. I expect 7 points from these 4 fixtures including one loss, one draw and 2 wins. Which would put us on 29 points from 14 games. That'd mean we'd be averaging 2.07 points per game. I'd happily take that. October is a really hard month and it will test us to the limit, but November is about as easy as it gets: Posh (H) Coventry (A) Brighton (H) Bristol City (A) Hull City (H) - Not being arrogant but, I seriously think we will win all 5 of those games.
Which would put us (if you're right about all 9 games, and you could well be) on 44 points from 19 games, or 2.32 points per game. Averaged out over the whole season, that would give us 106.5 points (round it up, I hear you say) or 107 if you like. That's the best any team has ever got in the Championship.
In a wonderful world, 12 points - That will be Nigel's aim anyway! However, I would be more than happy with a total of 8 points from these games. Any less and I would feel we could have done better. I don't really think the next 4 games will decide the season's prospects, there's a very long way to go yet.
6 points minimum would be an ok return from these fixtures with so called 'easier' matches coming after. Avoiding defeat in these games is the most important thing as losing will mean the team we lose too will gain 3 points on us.
Whilst I'd ordinarily say it's an exaggeration to suggest that three or four games in a row, at this stage of the season, will go a long way to determining the outcome of our season, in this instance I actually agree. First and foremost, I've always said that you can't begin to judge a season until you played 12 - 15 games. And these four games takes us right into that area. 7 or 8 games just isn't a big enough sample size. And secondly, there's the obvious fact that these four games are against very big teams. You wouldn't surprised if they all finished in the top 6; certainly in the top 10. Forget about just automatic contenders, once these four games are played I'd suggest that we'd have already faced every single top 10 contender with the exception of Brighton, Hull and Blackpool - and none of them are exactly nailed-on top 6 teams. I said it a few days ago, and I'll say it again now. If we finish this month in the top 3, then I finally start to accept that a top 6 finish can be a realistic aim for us.
Interesting set of stats from The Ugly Inside [of all places], in response the Nigel's call for a 2 points average throughout the season: http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/fb_news.php?storyid=14283
Hopefully, you're joking. Or you're not recognising that the person responsible for putting the article up got the display format wrong.
Hope we get 6..anything higher will be great. Should beat Derby and Reading, but there may be more draws than we're used to in these 4 games. I don't think these games will have a definite effect on our promotion chances, but will give us a real indication of how we are doing. If it's not good, I'm sure NC and NA will act on it both in training and in the transfer window.
