Thank god for such a great start. The next couple of months fixtures are full of some really tough games, we seem to have hit a point where we are playing all the teams in the top 10 one after another If we come out of this run with another 20 or 21 points I will be delighted. 40 or 42 points by the end of January will mean mid table obscurity and survival. But its not going to be easy. Scunny home Should be ok 3 Derby away On form and playing well 0 Forest Home Tough team - getting going now 1 Palace Away Should be OK 3 Burnley away Very tough, not a good record there 0 Reading home On form Bit hos and miss at home 1 Barnsley away good home record and we always play crap there 0 Leicester home Svens in town, come on girls, you know your club needs you 3 QPR away Doing OK this year 0 Preston Home Not even worth a debate 3 Ipswich away I just can't see us getting anything 0 Cardiff home Baaa 0 Pompy home Injures will have hit them by then 3 Scunny away God knows 1 Derby home Should be OK 3 Cardiff away Baaa Baaa again 0
We're 3rd for a reason. If we stay injury and suspension free then there's no team in that list we can't beat. Sixteen matches and I'd hope for at least 25 points on our current form.
We've already beaten some pretty strong teams though and this league is pretty even despite having some bigger names in. Mind you if we do get a result at Barnsley or Burnley then it does prove we're having a good season!
People were saying "oh we've got a tough start to the Season" and now it's "oh we've a difficult run into Christmas " then it will be "oh Easter is important for us " Then finally it will be " oh we've got a tough finish " Then it will be Malky out we didn't even make automatic promotion. Lose in Playoff Final, the boo boys will be out. Then it will be Malky out. "Can't wait for next Season, must get to 51 points to survive, oh have you seen the fixture list, tough start" "Where is that shiny new stand we were promised years ago ?" "When we get promoted "
Every game is tough in the Championship. Bristol City have the ability to beat QPR on their day and so fourth. There are no easy games.
Over the past 2 months or so we've beaten Norwich, Sheff Utd, Middlesbrough and Ipswich and drawn with Hull. Teams that have expectations of play offs at least and budgets that dwarf ours. Every month will be tough but so far we've shown we can deal with it.
Were 3rd in the league because were currently the third best team in the championship. I'm not saying were going to stay there but at the moment people should be fearing us, not the other way around.
We thought that last season too when we were pretty much in the same position. Lets just take each game as it comes this time...
Malky himself has said lets get to the 52 points mark first...(ie..quicker the better) Its still pretty tight in the top half of the table.
They were able to get two players in for £20k/week each, presumably on credit. I don't think money is an issue. Apparently Pompey are able to run up as much debt as they like without having to ever pay it back. They should have been liquidated months ago. The whole situation is joke, and it puts honest clubs like ourselves who have had our wage bill/transfer budget reduced to League One levels at a massive disadvantage even though we haven't done anything wrong!
yer it is a bit of a sham, but surely any deals they make will be massively scrutinised by the football league. the two players in for 20,000 a week did actually reduce their wages overall though, right?
they were only able to bring in Lawrence and Kitson by releasing youth players so that they could then say their squad is less than 20 players. As for the accounting, all i can do is direct you towards this http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=5438
at the moment i feel that he shouldn't lose that many as are form is good. however if we lose several in a row i could see us losing confidence and playing badly. anyway i still think that there are at least 20 points to get from those games.
With my (perhaps naive) "glass half full" outlook, I see a set of matches where we can win every game. We can beat any of those teams, if we play well. Neither QPR or Cardiff played particularly well ; They, unless we have a real slump in our form) will look at the Watford game and would consider it a tough game. I predicted a top 6 finish before the season started and I am more confident than ever now. It isn't just the results we have had, it is the manner of our performances. Last season, we were in a similar situation, but I always felt that we were a little lucky to be up there. This season, I feel that we have deserved every result we have got, win or lose, and, with a little more luck and less late goals conceded, we would be level with Cardiff. Mind you, every time I drive in to Barnsley to watch Watford play, I am always engulfed by a grey cloud of impending doom!
