Against better clubs

[Snowball]

Weird!

Called consistancy. That's what distinguishes the average from the best. Too many Reading players failed to deliver every week last season.

So they are capable, and if they gain consistency, the same squad could win the title?

[Pseud O'Nym]

I'm totally against better clubs, they're a right pain in the arse.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Do you think there is a reason for it? Highly paid players only turning up for the big games? Better against passing sides?

I've got no idea...

I think you're looking too much into a bit of noisy data.

Why Sciag? Seems to me, over a third of a season's games, hardly a small sample.

Were they all 'top 8' when we played them? Or did we meet them in differing form?

[Ian Royal]

Well we beat Ipswich in our second game and Middlesbrough our fifth. Long before we were in anything even remotely resembling relegation contention and before the table has any sort of meaning. Similarly a point against Wolves (which should have been 3 and could easily have been 0).

We then picked up 7 points against Wolves, Norwich and M'bro in the Clarke false dawn / dead cat bounce.

So I make that 14 out of 23 points gathered from the top 8 outside our typical season's performance.

[Snowball]

Winning home and away against Ipswich, who were virtually always top eight
Winning home and away against Norwich, a very good squad, admittedly erratic.
Winning at Boro, the tip for Champions by a few, then drawing 0-0 when they were still challenging
Winning at Derby, who were top for almost the whole season, and needed just a point for the POs
Winning at Wolves when they were in the middle of a great run, and our win was just a blip for them

There are too many good results to dismiss this as anomalous or random

[Snowball]

Well we beat Ipswich in our second game and Middlesbrough our fifth. Long before we were in anything even remotely resembling relegation contention and before the table has any sort of meaning.

Boro had W2 L2 when we played them and they W5 D2 of their next 7 games meaning
they W7 D2 L3 = 23 points from their first 12, putting them in fifth place, so we didn't catch them off form.

Ipswich was Game 2. They won their first, lost to us, drew the game after us.

After six games they were W2 D2 L2, and won their next 3 games meaning they were W5 D2 L2 and into 4th.

[Lower West]

Weird!

Called consistancy. That's what distinguishes the average from the best. Too many Reading players failed to deliver every week last season.

So they are capable, and if they gain consistency, the same squad could win the title?

Many players are technically capable. It's the mentality they lack. Leroy Lita is an example of a striker that could have gone far higher. Charlie Austin shows that anything is possible if you really want to.

[kwik-silva]

Winning home and away against Ipswich, who were virtually always top eight
Winning home and away against Norwich, a very good squad, admittedly erratic.
Winning at Boro, the tip for Champions by a few, then drawing 0-0 when they were still challenging
Winning at Derby, who were top for almost the whole season, and needed just a point for the POs
Winning at Wolves when they were in the middle of a great run, and our win was just a blip for them

There are too many good results to dismiss this as anomalous or random

According to my Wolves supporting friends we played them at exactly the right time, they got a little lucky in the games leading up to ours apparently. Derby weren't on a great run toward the end of the season either.

[Snowball]

Winning home and away against Ipswich, who were virtually always top eight
Winning home and away against Norwich, a very good squad, admittedly erratic.
Winning at Boro, the tip for Champions by a few, then drawing 0-0 when they were still challenging
Winning at Derby, who were top for almost the whole season, and needed just a point for the POs
Winning at Wolves when they were in the middle of a great run, and our win was just a blip for them

There are too many good results to dismiss this as anomalous or random

According to my Wolves supporting friends we played them at exactly the right time, they got a little lucky in the games leading up to ours apparently. Derby weren't on a great run toward the end of the season either.

Not what the facts say:

1-0 A Sheff Wed
1-1 H Brighton
1-0 A Watford
2-1 H Brentford
0-0 A Fulham (FA Cup)
1-0 A Blackburn
3-3 H Fulham (FA Cup)
2-0 H Blackpool
0-0H Charlton
2-2 A Bolton

10 Games unbeaten W5 D5 L0 13-7, then

1-2 H Reading

then

4-1 A Huddersfield
0-2 A Norwich
5-0 H Rotherham
3-0 H Fulham
1-0 A Cardiff
1-2 A BMTH
2-2 H Watford
1-1 A Brighton
3-0 H Sheff Wed
2-0 H Derby
2-1 A Forest
4-3 H Leeds

12 Games W8 D2 L2 33-12

So, excluding the Reading Game that’s

W13, D7, L2 (to Norwich and Bournemouth)

22 Games, 46 Points, a 96 point season

Add in the Reading game and we beat them (on their patch)
in a 23 game run, that was the equivalent of a 92-point season

We hardly caught them during a bad patch!!

[Ian Royal]

Derby were in relegation form when we played them. They only stayed top 4 because they'd been in the top 2 for most of the first half of the season.

[Snowball]

Derby were in relegation form when we played them. They only stayed top 4 because they'd been in the top 2 for most of the first half of the season.

Relegation Form?

Derby had a sticky patch but had pulled it round six games before they played us.

These are the six games leading up to the Reading Game

2-2 H Watford (Top 6)
2-0 A Wigan
1-1 H Brentford (Top 6)
4-0 H Blackpool
4-4 A Huddersfield
3-3 A Millwall


W2 D4 L0 16-10 10 Points from 6 Games = a 77 Point Season

and Derby finished on 77 points!