rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Jan 14, 2012 22:05:37 GMT
Eight wins in eleven games is certainly impressive and on the face of it is promotion form. Three more wins and the magical 50 points (safe from relegation) will have been reached. The last thing I would want to do is to put a damper on this recent form and a brilliant result today, but it might be worth considering the following statistic: Results against top 12: Won 1, Drawn 5, Lost 5 Results against bottom 12: Won 10, Drawn 3, Lost 1 I'm not drawing any conclusion from this, and similar results in the second half of the season could, probably would, still produce a play-off place. It's just that the disparity between the two sets of results is unusual and quite startling. Stewart, I know where you are coming from and indeed last year posted a thread "are we mid table bullies" looking at that very statistic! After watching the games against Swindon and Oxford I have changed my mind however, as I now think we can give as good as we have got in this division. The reason for this is that I think it took Ling a while to find his best XI and then get the best set up which is 4-3-3 or thereabouts formation. In that eight game barren spell, which in hindsight wrought the changes, six of those teams were in the top half and the other two teams, Bradford and Northampton are generally well supported for this level and can be hard to get a result away. We then had a run of easier games, Wimbledon, Hereford, Crewe and Plymouth where things have clicked and to then win eight and only lose one in eleven league games which is about a quarter of the season is pretty impressive and can't just be put down to beating the lower table sides which has paradoxically been the inverse of our problems in recent seasons. The downside of this form is that where Di Canio was happy to loan Bodin in August to little Torquay, we are now perceived as a threat (to promotion) and hence the shenanigans in extending his loan. (I wouldn't do it if I was in his shoes )
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Post by loyalgull on Jan 14, 2012 22:49:10 GMT
interesting statistics,but loss of form cannot be counted for,or being in form either.That frustrating 8 game barren spell,looks all the more annoying now,if it werent for that,we would be almost certainly cruising our way to league one. But we never do things the easy way,far sooner terrorise our minds and bodies with near misses and edge of the seat terror,tufc style.An interesting 21 games ahead i think
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Post by petergodfrey on Jan 15, 2012 0:32:59 GMT
Hi rjd - yes, will be at Morecambe, looking forward to the famous pies and hopefully a better result than usual there. Then it's over to Rotherham. As for Morris, can't say I remember too much from him, apart from a couple of probing runs with the ball, one of which over to the left wing brought us a corner. Will do a man-to-man job on him next time !
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Jan 15, 2012 8:46:02 GMT
Great, look forward to your thoughts next week then!
With Bodin starting for Swindon yesterday, Morris may be his long term replacement and just wanted to see how he got on, particularly after scoring yesterday!
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Post by longeatongull on Jan 15, 2012 9:30:59 GMT
This group of players just keep surprising me their must be an exceptional team spirit for a such a small squad to be doing this well. I dont like to agree with you ;D but on this occasion .......you've nailed it!! We are all aware how thin our squad is and we just have to hope we avoid any injuries/suspensions in the remaining few months. We are sadly lacking too many options---but ML really has worked wonders. Anyway ANOTHER fantastic away day..........nice few bevvies in "Keiths bar" at the ground.......but it was bloody cold towards the end. See you at Crawley
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Post by stuartB on Jan 17, 2012 20:33:19 GMT
had an email from a mate of mine who supports macclesfield. he said that we deserved the three points and was very impressed with Danny Stevens despite his size
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