" Our Season So Far - Halfterm Review "

After the completion of the game yesterday we currently stand top of the Championship table with 47pts out of the 69 available, this is our highest points at the halfway stage of the season since our return to the Championship and 7 more than our previous best set in season 2010/11. It is also 12 points higher than our average over the last 10 years and a clear indication of the fantastic start we have enjoyed this season.

So after the completion of 50% of our games what kind of season do you think we will have? What do you think of our start? And where do you think we will finish? Well here are my views a sort of half term report into season 2012 – 2013.

Always bearing in mind the extent of the changes to the squad that have taken place since the end of last season, in my opinion, we have had a fantastic first half of the season. Setting a new club record of 10 winning home games at the start has helped greatly but in truth there are a number of other statistics which, in my opinion, clearly demonstrate that this season we look capable of making our strongest push yet for promotion to the Premier League. This summer MM bought 10 new players into the club spending in the process the biggest amount of money, in a single transfer window, in the history of our club. Although this is only MM 2nd season as manager of our club there can be little doubt that this is now his team and no doubt he will be measured by how the team performs, and so far he has measured up very well.

To fully appreciate our current position it is worth looking at the official league statistics covering the areas which not only identify performance, but how effective the team is against key performance criteria. The following is a comparison of our start to the season against the average performance of the team since the club returned to the Championship. The comparison is I think very interesting;

Wins %: 65% - 42%
Draw %: 9% - 28%
Loss %: 26% - 29%

Goals Scored: 44 – 35
Average goals per game 1.91 – 1.53
Goals Conceded: 28-27
Average goals conceded per game: 1.22 – 1.18
Goal For Conversion Rate: 6.36 – 7.92
Goals Against Conversion Rate: 10.00 – 8.90
Failed To Score%: 4.34% - 22%
Clean Sheets: 34.78% - 30.43%

Goal Supremacy: +0.70 - +0.35

Points Won: 47 - 35

The clear difference in the number of games won and, in my opinion, is the biggest indication of not only the never give up attitude MM has brought to the club, but this season unlike others draws are being converted to wins, a big positive in any team chasing promotion.

There can be little doubt that this season we have greater creativity in the squad which has resulted in the team failing to score in only 4% of games, against an average of 22% over the last 9 seasons, not bad for a team who lost their number 1 forward (Maynard) after just three matches. In fact our total goals scored, 44, is the highest in the last 10 years. Not surprisingly we are also scoring on average 1.91 goals per game against an average of 1.54 per game since our return to the Championship, this stat is further supported by the fact we are taking fewer attempts at goal to score with a goal every 6.36 attempts. This is fewer than our average of 7.91 since our return to the Championship. Last season we needed 7.95 attempts for each goal scored and as a result we averaged only 1.61 goals per game.

Currently we have the best ranked attack in the Championship and this has, in my opinion, been the major contribution to us winning such a high % of games and is by far the biggest plus so far this season.

Sadly our defensive performance so far has not been as impressive, or to be more accurate, our defensive performance away from home is the biggest concern. Currently we have the best defensive home record in the championship with only 7 goals conceded, with 5 from free kicks, but away from home we have conceded 21 goals our worst start to a season since our return to the Championship. Our away record has resulted in us being only ranked the 19th best defensive unit in the Championship. Overall we have the 4th best defensive record in the Championship and if we can improve or at least maintain the performance it should not affect our promotion challenge.

Despite spending £10 this summer we lack options in the defensive area of the squad and that for me is our Achilles heel. It beggars belief in my opinion and despite having 34.78% clean sheets during the first 23 matches the 21 goals conceded away from home is a huge area of concern. This simply must be improved on in the 2nd half of the season and signing defensive cover in January is a MUST for me.

Overall the number of attempts taken by our opponents 10.00 is still higher than the average of 8.90, showing it is actually harder to score against us this season, but the goals conceded is affecting our goal difference and must be corrected and quickly.

However on a more positive note our home defensive record is good, with only 7 goals conceded in the first 11 games, 5 from set pieces, but this is our best performance since our return to the Championship so again is a massive positive.

With 47pts from our first 23 games we have made our best start to the season, our average over the last 10 years has been 35 points at this stage. This season we are trying to reach the playoffs for the 4th successive season, and the average points for a club who reached the playoffs over the last 10 years has been 35 points after 23 games. That being the case we already look a very good bet to at least make the playoffs at the end of the season. But what about automatic promotion?

Over the last 10 years the average number of points won, after 23 games, by clubs who achieved automatic promotion is 42 points. There have been exceptions where clubs like Sunderland and Reading actually won the league after only winning 34 and 36 points respectively after 23 games.

Over the last 10 years no club who have won 47 points at the halfway stage have failed to go on and win automatic promotion. That’s why I was so disappointed with the Peterborough performance but that’s life as a Bluebird fan. In fact teams who have 47 points at this stage are normally Champions, that’s how good our start has been.

In fact of the 18 teams to have won automatic promotion in the last 9 seasons 14 have won 47 or fewer points after 23 games. Of those 14 clubs only 3, Southampton, QPR and Birmingham had 47 points the rest had fewer.

Since our return to the Championship 7 clubs, Reading, Norwich x 2, West Brom x 3, Birmingham, Stoke City, Sunderland x 2 and Wigan have eventually won automatic promotion having won fewer than 47 points after 23 games, but we have been here before and failed so the question is will we do it this year? We are certainly in our best position but maybe we should ask ourselves, are there any risks to us achieving our dream of promotion to the Premier League.

Suffice to say if we continue with our current defensive performance it may stop any hope of promotion, either automatic or through the playoffs. As I have said previously there lies the challenge.

Most fans would agree we are short of defensive cover so in January that MUST be dealt with. Whatever our manager thinks about January transfers this year we just cannot sit back and do little or no business. History tells us that clubs who deal in January by signing players, for the here and now, invariably go on to win promotion.

With 47 points after 23 games we are bang on target for not just automatic promotion, but winning the league. In my opinion we have every chance of doing just that but we must deal with our biggest weakness, and therefore risk, the lack of defensive cover together with our inconsistent away form and it will be the biggest disappointment in the 48 years I have been supporting the club if we don’t deal with it. The board have already supported MM during the summer and there is still money available, use it Malkay and get us the cover and organisation away from home we need.

We have had an excellent start to the season and I say well done to MM, his backroom team and of course the players, we have experience, creativity, pace all combined with the never give up attitude of MM teams and in my opinion this means that 2012/13 WILL be the year we achieve the dream of PL Football.

In my opinion the only question is, Will James Fox be doing another remix?

We are Cardiff City and we’re going to the Premier League
Watch the Bluebirds Flying High

Over to you James

I really enjoy your reports Gary and this one is another example of the hard work you put in.

I agree with you that the amount of goals conceded away from home is a concern but hopefully recent away results are what we can expect in the second half of the season.

I believe we will win automatic promotion this season and with a little bit of Lady Luck along the way then maybe even go up as champions

I really enjoy your reports Gary and this one is another example of the hard work you put in.

I agree with you that the amount of goals conceded away from home is a concern but hopefully recent away results are what we can expect in the second half of the season.

I believe we will win automatic promotion this season and with a little bit of Lady Luck along the way then maybe even go up as champions

Thanks Carl that means a lot to me.

I have no doubt this is the season that will see us get promoted and it will be performances like yesterday that will get us there. I watched the game on live stream and against the team with the 2nd best home record in the division we went there, stood up to the initial onslaught, hit them with a good goal and then broke their hearts by a performfance of sheer dogged determination not to give away the 3 points. A Champions performance if I ever saw one and sometimes you can dominate your opponents just by standing up to everything they throw at you . Before yesterday Leicester had scored in every home game but we took that away from them as well.

Cheers Gary, Once again I have really enjoyed your update on City and what we need to do to go up.


MERRY XMAS Gary to you and your family.

Cheers Gary, Once again I have really enjoyed your update on City and what we need to do to go up.


MERRY XMAS Gary to you and your family.

Thanks Annis Merry Christmas to you and your family.

As always, Castleblue, an excellent read - and you've obviously put a lot of time into compiling all the stats etc. Thanks ever so much for all the hard work.

It's very hard not to be impressed when you put all that together in the ay you have - I hust hope to goodness this time is finally our year

Top read. enjoyed that. Nice one

After the completion of the game yesterday we currently stand top of the Championship table with 47pts out of the 69 available, this is our highest points at the halfway stage of the season since our return to the Championship and 7 more than our previous best set in season 2010/11. It is also 12 points higher than our average over the last 10 years and a clear indication of the fantastic start we have enjoyed this season.

So after the completion of 50% of our games what kind of season do you think we will have? What do you think of our start? And where do you think we will finish? Well here are my views a sort of half term report into season 2012 – 2013.

Always bearing in mind the extent of the changes to the squad that have taken place since the end of last season, in my opinion, we have had a fantastic first half of the season. Setting a new club record of 10 winning home games at the start has helped greatly but in truth there are a number of other statistics which, in my opinion, clearly demonstrate that this season we look capable of making our strongest push yet for promotion to the Premier League. This summer MM bought 10 new players into the club spending in the process the biggest amount of money, in a single transfer window, in the history of our club. Although this is only MM 2nd season as manager of our club there can be little doubt that this is now his team and no doubt he will be measured by how the team performs, and so far he has measured up very well.

To fully appreciate our current position it is worth looking at the official league statistics covering the areas which not only identify performance, but how effective the team is against key performance criteria. The following is a comparison of our start to the season against the average performance of the team since the club returned to the Championship. The comparison is I think very interesting;

Wins %: 65% - 42%
Draw %: 9% - 28%
Loss %: 26% - 29%

Goals Scored: 44 – 35
Average goals per game 1.91 – 1.53
Goals Conceded: 28-27
Average goals conceded per game: 1.22 – 1.18
Goal For Conversion Rate: 6.36 – 7.92
Goals Against Conversion Rate: 10.00 – 8.90
Failed To Score%: 4.34% - 22%
Clean Sheets: 34.78% - 30.43%

Goal Supremacy: +0.70 - +0.35

Points Won: 47 - 35

The clear difference in the number of games won and, in my opinion, is the biggest indication of not only the never give up attitude MM has brought to the club, but this season unlike others draws are being converted to wins, a big positive in any team chasing promotion.

There can be little doubt that this season we have greater creativity in the squad which has resulted in the team failing to score in only 4% of games, against an average of 22% over the last 9 seasons, not bad for a team who lost their number 1 forward (Maynard) after just three matches. In fact our total goals scored, 44, is the highest in the last 10 years. Not surprisingly we are also scoring on average 1.91 goals per game against an average of 1.54 per game since our return to the Championship, this stat is further supported by the fact we are taking fewer attempts at goal to score with a goal every 6.36 attempts. This is fewer than our average of 7.91 since our return to the Championship. Last season we needed 7.95 attempts for each goal scored and as a result we averaged only 1.61 goals per game.

Currently we have the best ranked attack in the Championship and this has, in my opinion, been the major contribution to us winning such a high % of games and is by far the biggest plus so far this season.

Sadly our defensive performance so far has not been as impressive, or to be more accurate, our defensive performance away from home is the biggest concern. Currently we have the best defensive home record in the championship with only 7 goals conceded, with 5 from free kicks, but away from home we have conceded 21 goals our worst start to a season since our return to the Championship. Our away record has resulted in us being only ranked the 19th best defensive unit in the Championship. Overall we have the 4th best defensive record in the Championship and if we can improve or at least maintain the performance it should not affect our promotion challenge.

Despite spending £10 this summer we lack options in the defensive area of the squad and that for me is our Achilles heel. It beggars belief in my opinion and despite having 34.78% clean sheets during the first 23 matches the 21 goals conceded away from home is a huge area of concern. This simply must be improved on in the 2nd half of the season and signing defensive cover in January is a MUST for me.

Overall the number of attempts taken by our opponents 10.00 is still higher than the average of 8.90, showing it is actually harder to score against us this season, but the goals conceded is affecting our goal difference and must be corrected and quickly.

However on a more positive note our home defensive record is good, with only 7 goals conceded in the first 11 games, 5 from set pieces, but this is our best performance since our return to the Championship so again is a massive positive.

With 47pts from our first 23 games we have made our best start to the season, our average over the last 10 years has been 35 points at this stage. This season we are trying to reach the playoffs for the 4th successive season, and the average points for a club who reached the playoffs over the last 10 years has been 35 points after 23 games. That being the case we already look a very good bet to at least make the playoffs at the end of the season. But what about automatic promotion?

Over the last 10 years the average number of points won, after 23 games, by clubs who achieved automatic promotion is 42 points. There have been exceptions where clubs like Sunderland and Reading actually won the league after only winning 34 and 36 points respectively after 23 games.

Over the last 10 years no club who have won 47 points at the halfway stage have failed to go on and win automatic promotion. That’s why I was so disappointed with the Peterborough performance but that’s life as a Bluebird fan. In fact teams who have 47 points at this stage are normally Champions, that’s how good our start has been.

In fact of the 18 teams to have won automatic promotion in the last 9 seasons 14 have won 47 or fewer points after 23 games. Of those 14 clubs only 3, Southampton, QPR and Birmingham had 47 points the rest had fewer.

Since our return to the Championship 7 clubs, Reading, Norwich x 2, West Brom x 3, Birmingham, Stoke City, Sunderland x 2 and Wigan have eventually won automatic promotion having won fewer than 47 points after 23 games, but we have been here before and failed so the question is will we do it this year? We are certainly in our best position but maybe we should ask ourselves, are there any risks to us achieving our dream of promotion to the Premier League.

Suffice to say if we continue with our current defensive performance it may stop any hope of promotion, either automatic or through the playoffs. As I have said previously there lies the challenge.

Most fans would agree we are short of defensive cover so in January that MUST be dealt with. Whatever our manager thinks about January transfers this year we just cannot sit back and do little or no business. History tells us that clubs who deal in January by signing players, for the here and now, invariably go on to win promotion.

With 47 points after 23 games we are bang on target for not just automatic promotion, but winning the league. In my opinion we have every chance of doing just that but we must deal with our biggest weakness, and therefore risk, the lack of defensive cover together with our inconsistent away form and it will be the biggest disappointment in the 48 years I have been supporting the club if we don’t deal with it. The board have already supported MM during the summer and there is still money available, use it Malkay and get us the cover and organisation away from home we need.

We have had an excellent start to the season and I say well done to MM, his backroom team and of course the players, we have experience, creativity, pace all combined with the never give up attitude of MM teams and in my opinion this means that 2012/13 WILL be the year we achieve the dream of PL Football.

In my opinion the only question is, Will James Fox be doing another remix?

We are Cardiff City and we’re going to the Premier League
Watch the Bluebirds Flying High

Over to you James

Great report mate.

I think what our doom and gloom brigade fail to realise is that we are not top of
the division because of LUCK. That cannot happen, not over 20 odd games. We are
top because we are the most CONSISTENT side in the division. We are not consistently
brilliant or awe inspiring, we are not consistently poor.....

But we are consistently better than every other side in the division. Thats all we need
to be. Its that consistency that ensures we will NOT fall away after Xmas

Great report Gary, iv always enjoyed reading your posts and iv always wondered if I knew as your from caerphilly like myself, then it turns out your my manager in work

Have a good Christmas mate, see you soon

Great report Gary, iv always enjoyed reading your posts and iv always wondered if I knew as your from caerphilly like myself, then it turns out your my manager in work

Have a good Christmas mate, see you soon

Stop f*cking creeping to the boss!!!!

Being a stataholic I love these sorts of reports.

As you have stated, the reason why we are doing so well this season is that we are turning draws into wins.

We've had 2 draws out of 23 games which is matched only by Hull and Middlesbrough. However we are beaten to that stat by Peterborough who have only drawn once.

http://www.livefootball.com/football/en ... mpionship/

Put simply, if you draw few games, your either at the top or the bottom of the league.

Bizarrely, Nottingham Forest have lost the same number of games as us but drawn 9. Brighton have lost one game less than us but drawn 10. Both mid table.

Better to be positive rather than negative.

Keep up the good work Malky (and castleblue)

Very impressive read that. thanks for your time and effort.
You know the score though and probably like many other bluebirds i Cant allow myself to think so far as the next game , but i tell you what its fu..ing exciting this season.

merry christmas.

Brilliant post Castleblue as always, really enjoyed it

I have an observation, I can't back it up with stats, but to me we seem to be scoring much more goals that usual from dead ball situations especially corners, and seem to be conceding slightly less from them too????

I am not sure if I am right, does anyone have to stats or agree with this ???

One of the best posts of the year, and it clearly shows how far Malky and the team have come.

One of the positives from our half season report is with the recent defensive element in away games.

Since that Charlton comedy (not very funny) show that Tuesday night in early Nov, the away defencive element of the whole team has improved dramatically and the 3 wins and 1 draw from the last 4 away games shows things have been improved beyond belief.

As you mentioned, extra cover for the defensive positions is vital to keep that record going.

Roll on the next 23 league games.

After the completion of the game yesterday we currently stand top of the Championship table with 47pts out of the 69 available, this is our highest points at the halfway stage of the season since our return to the Championship and 7 more than our previous best set in season 2010/11. It is also 12 points higher than our average over the last 10 years and a clear indication of the fantastic start we have enjoyed this season.

So after the completion of 50% of our games what kind of season do you think we will have? What do you think of our start? And where do you think we will finish? Well here are my views a sort of half term report into season 2012 – 2013.

Always bearing in mind the extent of the changes to the squad that have taken place since the end of last season, in my opinion, we have had a fantastic first half of the season. Setting a new club record of 10 winning home games at the start has helped greatly but in truth there are a number of other statistics which, in my opinion, clearly demonstrate that this season we look capable of making our strongest push yet for promotion to the Premier League. This summer MM bought 10 new players into the club spending in the process the biggest amount of money, in a single transfer window, in the history of our club. Although this is only MM 2nd season as manager of our club there can be little doubt that this is now his team and no doubt he will be measured by how the team performs, and so far he has measured up very well.

To fully appreciate our current position it is worth looking at the official league statistics covering the areas which not only identify performance, but how effective the team is against key performance criteria. The following is a comparison of our start to the season against the average performance of the team since the club returned to the Championship. The comparison is I think very interesting;

Wins %: 65% - 42%
Draw %: 9% - 28%
Loss %: 26% - 29%

Goals Scored: 44 – 35
Average goals per game 1.91 – 1.53
Goals Conceded: 28-27
Average goals conceded per game: 1.22 – 1.18
Goal For Conversion Rate: 6.36 – 7.92
Goals Against Conversion Rate: 10.00 – 8.90
Failed To Score%: 4.34% - 22%
Clean Sheets: 34.78% - 30.43%

Goal Supremacy: +0.70 - +0.35

Points Won: 47 - 35

The clear difference in the number of games won and, in my opinion, is the biggest indication of not only the never give up attitude MM has brought to the club, but this season unlike others draws are being converted to wins, a big positive in any team chasing promotion.

There can be little doubt that this season we have greater creativity in the squad which has resulted in the team failing to score in only 4% of games, against an average of 22% over the last 9 seasons, not bad for a team who lost their number 1 forward (Maynard) after just three matches. In fact our total goals scored, 44, is the highest in the last 10 years. Not surprisingly we are also scoring on average 1.91 goals per game against an average of 1.54 per game since our return to the Championship, this stat is further supported by the fact we are taking fewer attempts at goal to score with a goal every 6.36 attempts. This is fewer than our average of 7.91 since our return to the Championship. Last season we needed 7.95 attempts for each goal scored and as a result we averaged only 1.61 goals per game.

Currently we have the best ranked attack in the Championship and this has, in my opinion, been the major contribution to us winning such a high % of games and is by far the biggest plus so far this season.

Sadly our defensive performance so far has not been as impressive, or to be more accurate, our defensive performance away from home is the biggest concern. Currently we have the best defensive home record in the championship with only 7 goals conceded, with 5 from free kicks, but away from home we have conceded 21 goals our worst start to a season since our return to the Championship. Our away record has resulted in us being only ranked the 19th best defensive unit in the Championship. Overall we have the 4th best defensive record in the Championship and if we can improve or at least maintain the performance it should not affect our promotion challenge.

Despite spending £10 this summer we lack options in the defensive area of the squad and that for me is our Achilles heel. It beggars belief in my opinion and despite having 34.78% clean sheets during the first 23 matches the 21 goals conceded away from home is a huge area of concern. This simply must be improved on in the 2nd half of the season and signing defensive cover in January is a MUST for me.

Overall the number of attempts taken by our opponents 10.00 is still higher than the average of 8.90, showing it is actually harder to score against us this season, but the goals conceded is affecting our goal difference and must be corrected and quickly.

However on a more positive note our home defensive record is good, with only 7 goals conceded in the first 11 games, 5 from set pieces, but this is our best performance since our return to the Championship so again is a massive positive.

With 47pts from our first 23 games we have made our best start to the season, our average over the last 10 years has been 35 points at this stage. This season we are trying to reach the playoffs for the 4th successive season, and the average points for a club who reached the playoffs over the last 10 years has been 35 points after 23 games. That being the case we already look a very good bet to at least make the playoffs at the end of the season. But what about automatic promotion?

Over the last 10 years the average number of points won, after 23 games, by clubs who achieved automatic promotion is 42 points. There have been exceptions where clubs like Sunderland and Reading actually won the league after only winning 34 and 36 points respectively after 23 games.

Over the last 10 years no club who have won 47 points at the halfway stage have failed to go on and win automatic promotion. That’s why I was so disappointed with the Peterborough performance but that’s life as a Bluebird fan. In fact teams who have 47 points at this stage are normally Champions, that’s how good our start has been.

In fact of the 18 teams to have won automatic promotion in the last 9 seasons 14 have won 47 or fewer points after 23 games. Of those 14 clubs only 3, Southampton, QPR and Birmingham had 47 points the rest had fewer.

Since our return to the Championship 7 clubs, Reading, Norwich x 2, West Brom x 3, Birmingham, Stoke City, Sunderland x 2 and Wigan have eventually won automatic promotion having won fewer than 47 points after 23 games, but we have been here before and failed so the question is will we do it this year? We are certainly in our best position but maybe we should ask ourselves, are there any risks to us achieving our dream of promotion to the Premier League.

Suffice to say if we continue with our current defensive performance it may stop any hope of promotion, either automatic or through the playoffs. As I have said previously there lies the challenge.

Most fans would agree we are short of defensive cover so in January that MUST be dealt with. Whatever our manager thinks about January transfers this year we just cannot sit back and do little or no business. History tells us that clubs who deal in January by signing players, for the here and now, invariably go on to win promotion.

With 47 points after 23 games we are bang on target for not just automatic promotion, but winning the league. In my opinion we have every chance of doing just that but we must deal with our biggest weakness, and therefore risk, the lack of defensive cover together with our inconsistent away form and it will be the biggest disappointment in the 48 years I have been supporting the club if we don’t deal with it. The board have already supported MM during the summer and there is still money available, use it Malkay and get us the cover and organisation away from home we need.

We have had an excellent start to the season and I say well done to MM, his backroom team and of course the players, we have experience, creativity, pace all combined with the never give up attitude of MM teams and in my opinion this means that 2012/13 WILL be the year we achieve the dream of PL Football.

In my opinion the only question is, Will James Fox be doing another remix?

We are Cardiff City and we’re going to the Premier League
Watch the Bluebirds Flying High

Over to you James

To be fair Gary, Malky has worked wonders if he's only spent £10!

Only joking Gary, another great write up and read, thanks!

Fantastic report Mate but being a Bluebird you always have a pending sense of doom and that nagging feeling that it could all go wrong again

However I want to be positive and think another 12 wins and 3 draws would be enough to take us up and it could be less than that we are so much more consistent this year and if we do lose we always seem to bounce back.

This really could be our year

Castleblue, that was an excellent well thought out post. Thank you for sharing that info. As a "newer" fan that information was very interesting to me, fabulous job.

like a school report. keep up the good work

We have been 1-0 to Wolves and we managed to grab all 3 points. We went 1-0 down to Watford and got 3 points. Just shows we go for all 3 points at home.

Excellent post as always Gary - Radio Wales said on saturday,something about the team who was top at xmas in this division
19 out of 23 went up Not sure how true this is,but your info/post - is always worth reading

Thoroughly enjoyed reading that. Excellent bit of work. Looks like the Blues are going up

Excellent report Gary, thank you.

The major factor to our success is converting draws to wins. 2 draws at half stage does seem unreal for us, 9% against 27% ratio is a huge difference. Funny really but the biggest cheer I gave the team this half was the 1-1 draw a Derby. Going down to 10 men cost us but we could have snatched it. Best performance so far for me that game.

There is always a risk in a project and the skill is identifying it. Defence performances away have been identified and the criteria used to point this out are the goals conceded. This is followed by the mitigation we need extra cover in defence. Personally I feel the criteria is miss leading therefore making the mitigations logic automatic when it should just be an option.

We have played 12 games on the road and conceded 21 goals. 15 of those goals have come from 4 games, Charlton 5, Bristol City 4, Palace 3 and Forest 3. That means for the remaining away fixtures we have let in only 6 goals over 8 games. You know that saying dont throw all your eggs in one basket, well in a way we have thrown our bads eggs in 4 away games instead of spreading them across all matches. From that I think our away performances look a lot better when you see the full picture.

I am not convinced we need to address full the defence as much as we think we do. It doesneed to be looked at and perhaps needs some help but I certainly don't think it is as drastic as some are making out. The freak scenario of losing 2 of our defence line in the Middlesborough home game has brought this uncertainty out. People seem to forget that the mitigation we used for that, Nugent and Ralls, seemed to cope. If I recall right Gunnarson has been used as well and passed with flying colours. Ideally I would like a proper full back in place so therefore justification is there but I don't think its the high risk we think it is.

I identify the risk up front. Yes we have scored more goals than most but where have these come from. All over the park is the answer which is good and needed but we can't rely on that. We need a striker who can get into the top 4 of goal scorers in the league. My fear are the goals could dry up across the park and we don't have that poacher who could step in to redres the balance. Last season is a prime example of that in the fact we had the striker in Miller but he failed to score which cost us. We need that striker.

Best game for me so far was Wolves, felt like it was where the season would kick start for us.