[Albion] You wouldn't think it possible, would you?

[Pavilionaire]

It is a strange season but I think there's an argument that the standard of football in the Prem is improving and so the ability to regularly pick up points is massive. Strikers aren't scoring as many goals as they used to, the best teams are getting goals from 12-13 players. Arguably we're not further up the table not because of Maupay's misses but the chances missed by our midfield or centre backs from corners. Modern teams need 7 or 8 players who can score, not 1 or 2.

 

[Badger Boy]

We had a staggeringly comfortable start to the season and needed to get off to a good start, the start we actually made was par for the course but it was so unexpected that it took everyone by surprise. We're now back to type but will probably end up winning our usual 9 games in the league all season, as we have in the previous 4 campaigns.

 

[zefarelly]

This years frustration is not playing very well or finishing anything off when we do.

Least season it was playing well and coming away with nothing.

Maybe we're just missing the decades of yo-yo. . . We seem to be mid table mediocrity now. No mean feat, and what we wanted, but equally frustrating.

Its a game of chess with massive financial stakes, which has changed the game immeasurably.

 

[Jeremiah]

I remember under Hughton, an interview where it was said that we aim to get the players to their peak fitness in the last third of the season. I wonder if that's still the case and whether the stats back this up ?

Under Hughton , in his and our first premier league season, he had a better points return than at present after 15 games with 21 points on the board. Unfortunately the rest of the season was a car crash and we finished with 36 points. So he may have had the players fitter in the final third but they certainly didn't get the results.

 

[kevo]

I am definitely 'glass half full' with our stats so far this season and just three defeats is certainly something to be proud of. But 8 points from 10 is relegation form. We do need another win soon.

 

[Acker79]

Is it a product of the last two draws being battling, come from behind in the last minute with ten men-type games, or just what I have taken to calling the Peter Griffin Knee Effect*, but it seems like the tone of fans has changed.

*There's an early episode of family guy where Peter Griffin is running somewhere and you think it's going to be a chase scene, but he trips and hurts his knee. He then sits there rubbing it and 'ahh'-ing. At first the suddent contradiction to expectation is funny, but then it just keeps going on. And you start to get bored of is. Getting a little annoyed and all 'alright, move on' but it keeps going and starts to get funny again because of how absurd it is.

After the leeds game it was generally a lot of 'I didn't boo, but I can see why they did, 8 league/9 league and cup games with a win...' to looking at the records for draws in a season, and various jokes about starting with 10 men, etc.

Have we been on such a long winless run we're past the point of annoyance, and now becoming exasperatedly amused? Or is it just the nature of our latest draws (somewhat undermining the argument that the boos were about the run, not about the one game v leeds)?

 

[zefarelly]

Is it a product of the last two draws being battling, come from behind in the last minute with ten men-type games, or just what I have taken to calling the Peter Griffin Knee Effect*, but it seems like the tone of fans has changed.

*There's an early episode of family guy where Peter Griffin is running somewhere and you think it's going to be a chase scene, but he trips and hurts his knee. He then sits there rubbing it and 'ahh'-ing. At first the suddent contradiction to expectation is funny, but then it just keeps going on. And you start to get bored of is. Getting a little annoyed and all 'alright, move on' but it keeps going and starts to get funny again because of how absurd it is.

After the leeds game it was generally a lot of 'I didn't boo, but I can see why they did, 8 league/9 league and cup games with a win...' to looking at the records for draws in a season, and various jokes about starting with 10 men, etc.

Have we been on such a long winless run we're past the point of annoyance, and now becoming exasperatedly amused? Or is it just the nature of our latest draws (somewhat undermining the argument that the boos were about the run, not about the one game v leeds)?

YOur last paragraph reminds me of the 90's . .we went for the amusement in many ways, the comedic value of weapons grade crapulence.

 

[Eric the meek]

After one of our wins (I can't remember which one, but obviously at least 10 games ago), Warren Aspinall remarked that we are (were) now beating the teams around us.

Well, now we aren't. Now we tend to draw with them. Why aren't we still beating them?

15 games is enough to identify a trend. The trend seems to be that we have become harder to beat. Maybe other teams have as well.

 

[The Wookiee]

Having only lost 3 games out of 15 is pretty remarkable too though remember - credit to the team & manager for being so hard to beat, even by the big boys.

This !!

Only the top 3 have lost less games than us

 

[Justice]

Under Hughton , in his and our first premier league season, he had a better points return than at present after 15 games with 21 points on the board. Unfortunately the rest of the season was a car crash and we finished with 36 points. So he may have had the players fitter in the final third but they certainly didn't get the results.

The second season we finished with 36 points.

 

[Wardy's twin]

Depends if someone added you’d only lost 3 of those 15. No matter what the ratio of wins/draws, a side that has only lost 1/5th of their games you can generally assume is doing pretty well.

was going to say the same..... its a key stat

 

[Wardy's twin]

Under Hughton , in his and our first premier league season, he had a better points return than at present after 15 games with 21 points on the board. Unfortunately the rest of the season was a car crash and we finished with 36 points. So he may have had the players fitter in the final third but they certainly didn't get the results.

but 9 of those points came in 3 consecutive (?) games which we won 1-0 having had 3 shots and the opposition had something like 80 ... not pretty at least yesterday we created more chances.

 

[dazzer6666]

but 9 of those points came in 3 consecutive (?) games which we won 1-0 having had 3 shots and the opposition had something like 80 ... not pretty at least yesterday we created more chances.

Yep…….games like away at Newcastle, where we had about 30% possession and won with a flukey Kayal deflection

 

[Eeyore]

Only lost two of the last ten games....

 

[Reddleman]

I know I am very, very ungrateful but I can't help feeling disappointed at how many points we've left on the table due to woeful finishing. The 3 points we have stolen from Palace, West Ham and Southampton don't make up for the 8 points we have failed to get from Leeds, Newcastle, Norwich and Arsenal. Then there's Villa.

We also stole three points against Burnley, we could have been 3-0 at half time. We stole two bonus points against Brentford in a game we didn’t deserve to win and absolutely stole two points (at least) against Leicester where we we benefited massively from some very controversial referring decisions.

We have stolen more points than we have thrown away.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

The EPL is rubbish this season because 50% of the teams are in the bottom half of the table. FFS.

(expecting Das Reich to be along in a minute to school me )

 

[theboybilly]

I know I am very, very ungrateful but I can't help feeling disappointed at how many points we've left on the table due to woeful finishing. The 3 points we have stolen from Palace, West Ham and Southampton don't make up for the 8 points we have failed to get from Leeds, Newcastle, Norwich and Arsenal. Then there's Villa.

Last minute or very late goals doesn't mean we stole those points. We were the better side at Palace, Sanchez had little to do and their msin man, Gallagher, was withdrawn as he wasn't doing much. We were terrific value at West Ham. Only yesterday were we really under par. We were much worse, in the first half especially, at Burnley and at Norwich

 

[Wardy's twin]

Yep…….games like away at Newcastle, where we had about 30% possession and won with a flukey Kayal deflection

it was a very strange sequence of games - Hughton defending at its best/luckiest and poor viewing but great results. Whilst recent games have been frustrating (misses) the football is much better IMO>