Startling, and very worrying, stats. Failure to add another quality defender in January will be totally unacceptable. No " we tried bur we were unable to complete the deal " please. Time to take the bull by the horns and push the boat out, metaphorically speaking
Fair point Dave, but perhaps we could focus on promising Championship players like Dunk at Brighton or Scott Hogan at Brentford. I can't see us scouring Europe though.
Use the Shankly technique when he signed (I think) Ron Yeats. He apparently told Yeats that he was just the player for a top 1st divison team. Yeats replied, "But Liverpool aren't a top 1st division side." Shankly apparently said, "No laddie, but with you we will be." Yeats signed and the rest is history.
At the start of the season my target was 2 points per game for automatic promotion. Not very original I know, but interesting to see that AN is thinking along similar lines: http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwic...h_city_s_championship_promotion_bid_1_4734975 1 Huddersfield 11 6 25 2 Norwich 11 6 23 3 Newcastle 11 12 22 4 Brighton 11 7 21 5 Bristol City 11 7 20 6 Birmingham 11 5 20 7 Brentford 11 9 18 8 Reading 11 -3 18 9 Sheff Wed 11 -1 17 10 Barnsley 11 5 16 With Rotherham at home we can reasonably hope for a decent result, but football is a funny game. Newcastle struggled to beat them 1-0 last time out so let's hope for better than that. At this point 23 points from 11 matches looks good, but a win tomorrow would make it look even better, particularly if Newcastle slip up against Brentford. Huddersfield play Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday so a win would also put us top of the league for a day at least.
So, after Huddersfield's 0-1 home loss to Sheffield Wednesday earlier, ourselves and Newcastle were the only top 8 teams who won while Brighton and Reading drew and the other 4 teams lost, leaving the table looking like this: 1 Norwich 12 8 26 2 Newcastle 12 14 25 3 Huddersfield 12 5 25 4 Brighton 12 7 22 5 Bristol City 12 6 20 6 Birmingham 12 3 20 7 Sheff Wed 12 0 20 8 Reading 12 -3 19 9 Brentford 12 7 18 10 Fulham 12 -1 17 Newcastle are away to Barnsley, Brighton are at home to Wolves and Huddersfield play at Preston (who drew 2-2 at Brighton) on Wednesday.
If Carlsberg did EFL Championship weekends ......... I know there's a heck of a long way to go until May, but who wouldn't have taken being top after 12 games whilst not playing our best football?????
Definitely a Carlsberg week-end, Braveheart, as the table is beginning to spread out a bit below the top 3 teams. Our coming match with Brighton could consolidate that or tighten things up again. That one's a key match for me. As for the football, I think we have begun to play better football in the last 2 games. Our pass success ratio was 82.5% against Rotherham and we dominated the match far more than the score indicated. Winning 6 out of the last 7 games breeds confidence as well.
Yes, the table is beginning to change quite significantly and even if we were to lose on Tuesday (and Huddersfield win on Wednesday), the worst that could happen is that we'd slip to 3rd!!! I've only missed one home game this season and IMO, yesterday was the best we've played for the whole match (apart from Rotherham's goal) and it's looking like the players are at last playing as a team and look like scoring on quite a few occasions. The player ratings were all excellent and I'm just hoping we can pile on as many points as possible prior to teh next International break. As you say, the game could have been over by half time, in much the same way as it was against Wolves.
This is the point I was going to make after looking at the table tonight. Ideally, we can start to open an imposing gap over the rest of the promotion chasers, probably with Newcastle. We can't expect to keep such a good run of results going indefinitely, so having the breathing space to afford a slump would be ideal. It also serves to demotivate the chasing pack if there's a big margin to overhaul, regardless of the number of games remaining.
AN seems to have really got the players playing as a team and we have a large enough squad, so can rotate the players if need be. We should be a match for any team in the Championship and if we could only stop conceding 'soft' goals, we could close the gap on Newcastle's GD.
That's true up to a point, but there is also the consolation of the play-off places for the teams falling off, but even that could suit us. Fulham will be a test for sure, but their home record isn't great mainly because they're vulnerable to counterattacks when pressing forward. They are a possession side, though, so we'll need to hold on to the ball with good passing and break quickly. The first goal will be vital and if we get it, we could be in for a win.
Oh well, Newcastle have now gone into 'pole position' after our pathetic display at Craven Cottage and I wonder in Huddersfield will reclaim it tomorrow???
Huddersfield failed that test by losing 3-1 at Preston, who we play Saturday. 1 Newcastle 13 16 28 2 Norwich 13 8 27 3 Brighton 13 8 25 4 Huddersfield 13 3 25 5 Birmingham 13 5 23 6 Sheff Wed 13 0 21 7 Bristol City 13 5 20 8 Brentford 13 7 19 9 QPR 13 -2 19 10 Reading 13 -4 19 Of the teams below us, I'd say the main threats will be Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday, given their current positions and their finishing in the top 6 last year. A win over Preston would be a good boost before we play Brighton next week.
