Demitri_C Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 1 hour ago, Nigel said: Without trying to be a smart arse it will have far more to do with the other 30 odd games! 1 hour ago, Nigel said: Without trying to be a smart arse it will have far more to do with the other 30 odd games! SMart arse 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyexists Posted October 2, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted October 2, 2017 So after 11 games last season, Newcastle had 22 points, Huddersfield had 25 and Reading had 18... Newcastle ended up getting automatic promotion, Huddersfield won the playoffs and Reading finished 3rd 4 points ahead of Huddersfield. The season before Middlesbrough had 21 points after 11 games and finished 2nd on 89 points, ahead on goal difference only from Brighton in 3rd... My point is it's too early to be looking at places, we're on 19 points, so I think that's close enough that we aren't out of the running already... if that's even possible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Points win prizes eh. Huddersfield were top, Reading were 8th, Sheff Weds were 9th and Fulham lay in 14th place. Norwich (8th) were in 2nd place Bristol City (17th) and SHA (19th) made up the 4 play-off places at that time along with Newcastle and Brighton who sat 3rd and 4th respectively. So 5 of the eventual top 6 all sat in the top 9 with Fulham the ones who rose from mid table to get there. The 3 promoted teams sat in the top 4 though no play off team sat 3-6th and Newcastle and Brighton weren't in the top 2. So places mean very little. However, at the other end, the 3 relegated clubs all sat in the bottom 4. The other, Cardiff who were 23rd on 8 points, finished in the top half albeit on goals scored over us. (nice run they're still on eh ). Preston and Derby the other teams who climbed from bottom half to top half with Fulham also doing it but obviously also making the play offs. SHA, Bristol City, Barnsley and Wolves the 4 who went the other way. Lol, Newcastle had just managed a 1-0 away win over lowly Rotherham too. (ok we can be envious of their +12 GD I suppose). They then won 6 on the trot and eventually lost 1-0 at home to Blackburn. Won 4 Lost 2 through Dec, W2 and lost to Blackburn again in Jan, W3 D3 L1 in Feb, W1 D2 L1 in March, April was W4 D1 L2, May ended with a win at Barnsley while we held Brighton. 21 wins 6 draws and 8 losses in their last 35 games. Not any kind of blueprint but it gives us an idea of what we have to do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BOF Posted October 3, 2017 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted October 3, 2017 October is a great litmus test for us. After the relatively kind fixtures in September where we picked up a lot of points and found ourselves back on track, we now have one of the trickiest fixture lists in the division this month. Taking the opposition's home and away form into account, only Ipswich and Reading have it tougher on paper than us this month. Firstly, three of the four games are away from home. All three are being broadcast by Sky. Two tricky local derbies which are both away from home (Wolves and sha) alternating with a home tie against the 2nd best away side in the division (Fulham) and an away tie against the second best home side in the division (Preston). I'd argue that if you could somehow factor in the added difficulty of the local derbies, we probably do have the toughest October schedule all things considered. If we come out of October still happy with what we've picked up over the month, then we'll be another step closer to knowing what we're truly made of. UTV. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dn1982 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 1 hour ago, BOF said: October is a great litmus test for us. After the relatively kind fixtures in September where we picked up a lot of points and found ourselves back on track, we now have one of the trickiest fixture lists in the division this month. Taking the opposition's home and away form into account, only Ipswich and Reading have it tougher on paper than us this month. Firstly, three of the four games are away from home. All three are being broadcast by Sky. Two tricky local derbies which are both away from home (Wolves and sha) alternating with a home tie against the 2nd best away side in the division (Fulham) and an away tie against the second best home side in the division (Preston). I'd argue that if you could somehow factor in the added difficulty of the local derbies, we probably do have the toughest October schedule all things considered. If we come out of October still happy with what we've picked up over the month, then we'll be another step closer to knowing what we're truly made of. UTV. And if we come through it we will all believe Bruce is the messiah and our return to top flight football is all but assured. My biggest worry is Bruce having 2 weeks to think about the game. We've hit form because he settled on a formation and team now especially with Taylor looking like missing 3 games he'll have to do something I just hope he doesn't over think. After the last break he put the Brentford performance down to the young kids being away so can see him thinking about that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 1 hour ago, BOF said: October is a great litmus test for us. After the relatively kind fixtures in September where we picked up a lot of points and found ourselves back on track, we now have one of the trickiest fixture lists in the division this month. Taking the opposition's home and away form into account, only Ipswich and Reading have it tougher on paper than us this month. Firstly, three of the four games are away from home. All three are being broadcast by Sky. Two tricky local derbies which are both away from home (Wolves and sha) alternating with a home tie against the 2nd best away side in the division (Fulham) and an away tie against the second best home side in the division (Preston). I'd argue that if you could somehow factor in the added difficulty of the local derbies, we probably do have the toughest October schedule all things considered. If we come out of October still happy with what we've picked up over the month, then we'll be another step closer to knowing what we're truly made of. UTV. the next 7 rounds of fixtures will show us a lot about Villa, Fulham, Bristol City, Wolves and Preston in particular, lots of games against each other in that sequence as well as games against the likes of Leeds, Sheff Utd and Cardiff for some of them. 5 of the top 10 for Wolves, Preston and Fulham in the next 7 games, 4 of them in store for Bristol City. Wolves: Aston Villa, Preston, QPR [a], Norwich [a] - Fulham, Reading [a], Leeds Bristol City: Burton, Leeds, Sunderland [a], Fulham [a] - Cardiff, Sheff Weds [a], Preston Preston NE: Fulham [a], Wolves [a], Brentford - Aston Villa, Ipswich [a], Bolton, Bristol City [a] Aston Villa: Wolves [a], Fulham, SHA [a] - Preston [a], Sheff Weds, QPR[a], Sunderland Fulham: Preston, Aston Villa [a], Bolton, Bristol City - Wolves [a], Derby, Sheff Utd [a] The next 4/5 games for us look massive though and I'd agree on us having one of the toughest Octobers on paper. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 3, 2017 Moderator Share Posted October 3, 2017 3 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said: 5 of the top 10 for Wolves, Preston and Fulham in the next 7 games, 4 of them in store for Bristol City. Never mind top 10. Five of the top 7 for Fulham in their next 7 games. Oof! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted October 3, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted October 3, 2017 27 minutes ago, BOF said: Never mind top 10. Five of the top 7 for Fulham in their next 7 games. Oof! That would kind of make sense as we are all meeting each other over this month! Funny how the fixtures have fallen that so many of us are meeting so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 1 hour ago, VILLAMARV said: the next 7 rounds of fixtures will show us a lot about Villa, Fulham, Bristol City, Wolves and Preston in particular, lots of games against each other in that sequence as well as games against the likes of Leeds, Sheff Utd and Cardiff for some of them. 5 of the top 10 for Wolves, Preston and Fulham in the next 7 games, 4 of them in store for Bristol City. Wolves: Aston Villa, Preston, QPR [a], Norwich [a] - Fulham, Reading [a], Leeds Bristol City: Burton, Leeds, Sunderland [a], Fulham [a] - Cardiff, Sheff Weds [a], Preston Preston NE: Fulham [a], Wolves [a], Brentford - Aston Villa, Ipswich [a], Bolton, Bristol City [a] Aston Villa: Wolves [a], Fulham, SHA [a] - Preston [a], Sheff Weds, QPR[a], Sunderland Fulham: Preston, Aston Villa [a], Bolton, Bristol City - Wolves [a], Derby, Sheff Utd [a] The next 4/5 games for us look massive though and I'd agree on us having one of the toughest Octobers on paper. VM, you really are the man. Oh how I wish Villa were as tuned in and clued up as you are 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post VILLAMARV Posted October 3, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted October 3, 2017 29 minutes ago, Grasshopper said: VM, you really are the man. Oh how I wish Villa were as tuned in and clued up as you are T H A N K Y O U CR A ZY P ER SON Also, I'm no @BOF 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 On 10/2/2017 at 13:37, VILLAMARV said: As it's the start of the season the margins are still really fine and people are right to point out there are a few teams in slightly 'false' positions right now. not everyone will last the distance. However we are within 45mins of being a quarter of the way through the season and with Weds just beating Leeds and creeping into the top half of the table I think we're pretty much at a point now where the top half/bottom half divide looks like about right to me. Maybe Derby and Ipswich will swap round a bit. I'm surprised Reading and Sunderland are so low. Cardiff undoubtedly the surprise package although they finished strongly under Warnock last year, which people overlook a little. Fair play to those of you who called it with Wolves, I couldn't see it clicking straight away so they've surprised me so far. We have taken 14 out of 21 points in the 7 games so far against the bottom half teams (W4-D2-L1) - [Forest/Barnsley/Bolton/Burton - Brentford/Hull - Reading] We have taken 5 out of 12 points in the 4 games so far against teams in the top half. (W1-D2-L1) - [Norwich - Bristol City/Middlesbrough - Cardiff] 3 wins in 3 to get back to a 2 point average at the earliest opportunity. 15 points are needed from a possible 18 if we were to get back to having a 2 point average in the next 6 games. However it's not an easy run at all. Wolves, Fulham, SHA, Preston, Sheffield Weds and QPR. After Sunderland's midweek visit it's Weekend games all the way to Xmas with Ipswich, Leeds [a], Millwall, Derby [a] and Sheff Utd left at which point, having played everyone once it will give a better indication of how everyone is doing on an even keel. 3 of the current top 8 in those last 5 games and does not look an easy bunch of games. As it stands we need 27 points from a possible 36 to reach halfway on 46 points. 9 more wins in the next 12 games. I'd be targetting SHA, QPR, Derby away and the home games against Sunderland, Millwall, Sheff Weds, Sheff Utd, Fulham and Ipswich. leaving Wolves, Preston and Leeds away as the trickier looking games right now imo. Some very hard to break down teams in there but that is what we have to do. Lets hope everyone stays fit over the international break. Just an observation......as the season progresses the lower teams will become more desperate and that will be mirrored in their play....we are not great with the physical side , good that we are getting them out of the way......i think we are getting better, good that we play the better teams later and they will allow us more space to play, they will fancy their chances and open up.....that will be music to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 1 hour ago, TRO said: Just an observation......as the season progresses the lower teams will become more desperate and that will be mirrored in their play....we are not great with the physical side , good that we are getting them out of the way......i think we are getting better, good that we play the better teams later and they will allow us more space to play, they will fancy their chances and open up.....that will be music to us. It's that time of year in my eyes where you can't win anything, but you can lose. Look at Palace right now. If we can, on the whole, beat the teams below us and take points off those around us we'll be doing ok. It's the second bit of that we'll be finding out more about in the next 5 games, where our trip to the sty is the 'easy' one. Wolves and Preston away are tricky for contrasting reasons. Fulham and Sheff Weds at home are not easy but games we could do with winning. Continue our unbeaten run for any length of games and we'll be challenging the top 2. If we're not going to make the break away then we need to stay with the pack at least and give ourselves a fighting chance. The parallels with 87-88 have been mentioned before. Just brings back memories of my realistic transistor radio from Tandys, tuning into sports report on Radio 2 MW on a Saturday afternoon. Taylor still hadn't won a home game yet (and didn't till the 21st October). After 6 games we had 5 points having won 1, drawn 2 and lost 3 - including a loss at home to Small Heath, the knives were out, questions were being asked. We lost once in the next 25 games (Against Millwall who finished top) up to the start of February. The record of that run was W16 - D8 - L1. We then bought Platt, stumbled over the line and the rest is history and all that. There is a similar feel to all this 30 years on. I suppose though, emulating the poor start is the easy bit, losing one game out of 25 not so much! Unless you're Celtic in the SPL I guess. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 5 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said: It's that time of year in my eyes where you can't win anything, but you can lose. Look at Palace right now. If we can, on the whole, beat the teams below us and take points off those around us we'll be doing ok. It's the second bit of that we'll be finding out more about in the next 5 games, where our trip to the sty is the 'easy' one. Wolves and Preston away are tricky for contrasting reasons. Fulham and Sheff Weds at home are not easy but games we could do with winning. Continue our unbeaten run for any length of games and we'll be challenging the top 2. If we're not going to make the break away then we need to stay with the pack at least and give ourselves a fighting chance. The parallels with 87-88 have been mentioned before. Just brings back memories of my realistic transistor radio from Tandys, tuning into sports report on Radio 2 MW on a Saturday afternoon. Taylor still hadn't won a home game yet (and didn't till the 21st October). After 6 games we had 5 points having won 1, drawn 2 and lost 3 - including a loss at home to Small Heath, the knives were out, questions were being asked. We lost once in the next 25 games (Against Millwall who finished top) up to the start of February. The record of that run was W16 - D8 - L1. We then bought Platt, stumbled over the line and the rest is history and all that. There is a similar feel to all this 30 years on. I suppose though, emulating the poor start is the easy bit, losing one game out of 25 not so much! Unless you're Celtic in the SPL I guess. I remember, VM. But Bruce ain't no Taylor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 8 hours ago, AntrimBlack said: I remember, VM. But Bruce ain't no Taylor. I agree and on many levels. However they do have similarities too. Both labelled dinosaurs for instance. Both have a knack of getting teams up. I know it's been bandied around on here about how 'last time we went up we had a bad start its ok' and all of that and to be honest id rather have a few points than go copying any blueprint from 87/88. More that the circumstances are looking very similar. If we can take anything like 10 points from the next 5 I'll start believing it's on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One For The Road Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 On 04/10/2017 at 00:24, VILLAMARV said: Just brings back memories of my realistic transistor radio from Tandys, Tandy's! Haha. Totally forgotten about that place. I wonder what happened to them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted October 5, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted October 5, 2017 Tandy you say? What better way to unwind... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted October 5, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted October 5, 2017 10 hours ago, One For The Road said: Tandy's! Haha. Totally forgotten about that place. I wonder what happened to them... Like Maplin but 4000% better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reivax_Villa Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 The more i think about it, the more I believe that this could be our season. We also have Grealish, Green, Jedinak & Lansbury to come back. 6 points from this month and I will be happy. November will be the month when we can make a real push and beat the teams that are around us in the table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted October 11, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted October 11, 2017 10 minutes ago, Reivax_Villa said: The more i think about it, the more I believe that this could be our season. We also have Grealish, Green, Jedinak & Lansbury to come back. 6 points from this month and I will be happy. November will be the month when we can make a real push and beat the teams that are around us in the table. You are a brave man to look beyond this month. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 If we arearoind the play off positions by the end of this month i think we are in a very good position Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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