" Our Season So Far "

After the completion of the game yesterday we currently stand 8th in the Championship with 54pts out of the 102 available. Since the midway point of the season we have collected 15 points out of the 33 available which represents less than 50% of the points available in the last 11 games. We are now in our 9th season as a Championship club so how does this points haul compare to the eight previous seasons;

Well our highest points total was 61 pts during season 2010/11 with the lowest being 37 pts in season 2004/05. From being just 2 pts off setting a new club record for pts collected at the halfway stage we have now dropped back to the 4th highest points total after 34 games with 54 pts.

We all know that before last nights match we had lost 4 out of 5 league matches, effectively doubling the number of matches lost this season, but in reality this poor run of result started with Middlesbrough at Home on 17th December. Since that game we have played 12 matches winning only 4, drawing 4 and losing 4. Throughout this run wins have been turning to draws and draws turning to defeats and given our start to the season it’s a big disappointment.

We have of course had our first appearance in a League Cup Final and who will ever forget the performance our Manager and team put in on the day. However history will show we lost, and although it was a glorious defeat (if there is such a thing) has it come at a price?

I believe that our failure to sign additional players, either in the first loan transfer window or during the January transfer window is responsible for much of the fall off in performance. Haris Vuckic and Liam Lawrence look good signings, Kadeem Harris looks one for the future but is it all to little to late.

The following is a comparison of our performance, against key performance measures, to date this season against the average performance of the team since the club returned to the Championship after 34 games.

The comparison is I think very interesting;

If you take the number of games lost we have currently lost 24% of the games we have played, our previous best was 15% during season 2008/09 with the worst being 44% during season 2004/05. Our average has been 30%. So we have our 2nd best performance which is great credit to the team.

If you take our record for scoring the first goal in a game well this season we have done that in 68% of our games,(Best in the Championship) our previous best was 63% during season 2010/11 with our worst performance being 39% during season 2004/05. Our average has been 48%. So this represents not only our best performance since our return to the Championship but also we are the top team in the division for scoring the first goal in a match. Again this is great credit to the team.

If you take our record for failing to score in a game well this season we have only failed to score in 15% of our games which makes us the top performing team in the championship. Our previous best performance was 19% during season 2010/11 with our worst performance being 37% during season 2004/05. Our average has been 28%.
Again this is great credit to the team as this represents our best performance since returning to the Championship and we have failed to score in fewer games than any other team in the Championship this season.

If you look at the number of goals scored well so far this season we have scored 52 goals, our best is 57 goals scored in season 2009/10 with our worst being only 36 goals scored in season 2004/05. Our average is 49 goals. 52 goals at this stage of the season is our 3rd best total since our return to the Championship. Again great credit should go to the team.

At the halfway point of the season our average attempts at goal was our best since our return to the Championship with 14.78 attempts on goal each match. 11 games on our average attempts at goal per match has dropped to 12.00, our best at this stage o the season is 12.95 in season 2003/04. Our worst performance is 9.79 in season 2005/06 with our average 11.54. This represents a big disappointment for me as in the space of 11 games this years team have gone from being our best to 4th best. But I believe few of us would be surprised.

If you take our record for keeping clean sheets well this season we have kept a clean sheet in 29% of our games. Our best performance at this stage of the season is 41% in season 2006/07 and our worst is 24% in season 2007/08. In the space o 11 games we have gone from being the best team since our return to the Championship to the 4th best team. Again I’m disappointed by this but again few would be surprised.

If you look at goals conceded well so far this season we have conceded 43 goals, our best is 30 goals conceded during season 2008/09 with our worst being the 43 goals this season which is the same as seasons 2009/10 & 2003/04. Again I’m disappointed by this but again few would be surprised.

When you consider we have scored the first goal in a match more often than any other team since we returned to the Championship, we have scored in more games than any other team in the championship this season, we have our 2nd best record for games lost and our 3rd best record for goals scored it’s not all bad news. It tells me we are playing an organised and more importantly controlled game this season than at anytime since our return to the Championship.

There are however 2 statistics which have disappointed me the first being the number of points we have lost from a winning position. Currently we have lost 23 points from winning positions this season and that’s the highest total of any Championship club, maybe it’s just a reflection of the fact we have taken the lead in more games than any other club or it may be an indication of poor defending resulting in a problem hanging on to a lead.

The second is overall possession which shows this season so far we have averaged 49.32% of possession during our matches. This is the lowest average total since our return to the Championship. Our best average being 51.94% achieved during season 2008/09. Our average has been 51.16%.

I have always thought that a team has to work harder without the ball than they do with it, so with our small squad has this been responsible for the downturn in our form and have our players run out of legs since the halfway point of the season. I think this is probably the strongest indication of why we needed to add to our squad, we didn’t and I think we are paying the penalty. Also Malkay Mackay not making better use of the squad available has no doubt made a small squad smaller.

In an average Championship season a club will require 73 points to reach the playoffs so in an average season we now require 19 points from the 36 available to reach the playoffs, it could be as lower but we need 19 points minimum in my opinion and our 7 homes games are now vital to us. I still believe we have enough to get us into the playoffs but it is a very tight league and our period of indifferent performances must end starting at the Wurzels on Saturday. For the remainder of the season there is now little room for below standard performances.

There is a well known saying that it’s not the size of the dog that matters in a fight but the amount of fight in the dog. Well our squad has plenty of fight in it, and no small amount of quality, and I think that just maybe 2011/12 can be the year we achieve the dream of PL Football.

Through the playoffs though.

TOP POST ....It's not over yet ...

excellent, CCFC. --------- just go for it, shit or bust.

Great post Gary, Some very very interesting stats there,We can still do it through the play offs, all is not lost yet.

Thank you Gary for taking the time to put all that together.

very good read thanks

Hopefully our form will pick up and we'll sneak into the playoffs and be that team that goes in high on form at the end.

Love CBs posts when he is in this mood.

One factor may I suggest you have missout out on.....now I am being brave.

Personally....this is my opinion....but I feel we have played teams at the wrong time......I shall elaborate....I just feel we have played quite a few teams that have hit form at the wrong time for us. The only 2 teams this season that we have played who were struggling at the time were Derby and Forest both away. Lately we have played teams that have been inform starting with the home defeat to Boro. Blackpool, Leicester, Ipswich and West Ham being the latest we have played and all four have been playing good football. Yep I think we have had our share of bad luck.

Looking at our run in I still think we can make the playoffs. Of course we need to correct what has been difficult lately like getting some striker to hit the goal like. If we can overcome this problem we just might be going back to Wembley.

Love CBs posts when he is in this mood.

One factor may I suggest you have missout out on.....now I am being brave.

Personally....this is my opinion....but I feel we have played teams at the wrong time......I shall elaborate....I just feel we have played quite a few teams that have hit form at the wrong time for us. The only 2 teams this season that we have played who were struggling at the time were Derby and Forest both away. Lately we have played teams that have been inform starting with the home defeat to Boro. Blackpool, Leicester, Ipswich and West Ham being the latest we have played and all four have been playing good football. Yep I think we have had our share of bad luck.

Looking at our run in I still think we can make the playoffs. Of course we need to correct what has been difficult lately like getting some striker to hit the goal like. If we can overcome this problem we just might be going back to Wembley.

I agree with that, it seems like we play every team just before they lose their form so then the teams after us get the benefit of us tiring them out

Love CBs posts when he is in this mood.

One factor may I suggest you have missout out on.....now I am being brave.

Personally....this is my opinion....but I feel we have played teams at the wrong time......I shall elaborate....I just feel we have played quite a few teams that have hit form at the wrong time for us. The only 2 teams this season that we have played who were struggling at the time were Derby and Forest both away. Lately we have played teams that have been inform starting with the home defeat to Boro. Blackpool, Leicester, Ipswich and West Ham being the latest we have played and all four have been playing good football. Yep I think we have had our share of bad luck.

Looking at our run in I still think we can make the playoffs. Of course we need to correct what has been difficult lately like getting some striker to hit the goal like. If we can overcome this problem we just might be going back to Wembley.

Funny enough I did look at that because earlier in the season we had a run of games including Portsmouth, Doncaster, Blackpool, Leicester,Ipswich, Hull, Peterborough and Southampton and we took 10 pts from the 24 on offer. In the reverse fixtures, except Hull which has been rearranged from the same run of fixtures we took 8 pts but of course West Ham have replaced Hull.

If we beat Hull on Tuesday and drop the West Ham result we would actually have collected 1 more point than we did through August / September.

Could it be a case of the wrong teams at the wrong time of course it could.

top job...i remember the last post (im new) and thought the same.

agree with lack of investment in window (which can be explained with finances etc)

but I dont understand and only malky and explain is why we are not using the small squad we are...conway and earnie could be super subs any game

Great post, our lack of recent form is only partly due to lack of new signings, and more importantly due to the extra games in the league cup, especially the games around the semi and final. This extra strain and effort had had a massive impact both physically and mentally, fingers crossed it doesn't cost us, time will tell if Malky can sort them out and we do have a lot of home games to get us pushing on again.