No easy matches but Leeds have us, Blades and S’land in their next 6.

Our fixtures start to look ok on paper after Monday. Only one more game after that against anyone in the top 6.

Our toughest fixtures have been front-loaded this season.

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 10:09 pm

No easy matches but Leeds have us, Blades and S’land in their next 6.

IMG_4685.jpeg

Why are some in capitals?

LoveCurryPies wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 10:37 pm

Why are some in capitals?

HOME and away

agreenwood wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 10:14 pm

Our fixtures start to look ok on paper after Monday. Only one more game after that against anyone in the top 6.

Our toughest fixtures have been front-loaded this season.

Agreed but Oxford are on a great run.

Apart from that looks great

I'm guessing the home are in capitals but Leeds and Sheff Utd can't both be at home in that game.

We have lots of opportunities to look forward to! Let’s hope our team take them.

Sheff Utd were only one goal behind us on goal difference a game ago (two games for them). They are now 8 behind us. A 4-0 win against Leeds would be good to go top. Can someone let the team know.

Newcastleclaret93 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 10:39 pm

Agreed but Oxford are on a great run.

Apart from that looks great

Oxford are second in the six game form table, QPR are third. DL are top.

The last 7/8 games the form book goes out the window as sides battling relegation have nowt to lose.

Never count your chickens in this league where inconsistency is rife.

I’d rather have 4 away and 2 at home rather thain he other way round

Commy wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 10:39 pm

I'm guessing the home are in capitals but Leeds and Sheff Utd can't both be at home in that game.

Correst, apologies. It is Leeds at home.

Newcastleclaret93 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 10:39 pm

Agreed but Oxford are on a great run.

Apart from that looks great

Might be worth looking at Portsmouth's home record over the last couple of months as well.

Stonehouse wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 11:10 pm

I’d rather have 4 away and 2 at home rather thain he other way round

Now would be an ideal time to turn the home draws into wins.

Elizabeth wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 11:15 pm

Might be worth looking at Portsmouth's home record over the last couple of months as well.

Won 5 and drawn 1 at home in the last 6. They are top of the home form table. QPR the same with winning 5 and drawing 1 and we have to go there as well. Mind you, so do Leeds and Sheff Utd, and we play them last match at their place.

Commy wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 2:14 am

Won 5 and drawn 1 at home in the last 6. They are top of the home form table. QPR the same with winning 5 and drawing 1 and we have to go there as well. Mind you, so do Leeds and Sheff Utd, and we play them last match at their place.

We have already played at Sheff U.

Elizabeth wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 11:22 pm

Now would be an ideal time to turn the home draws into wins.

I understand your point but we should have done it some time ago.

Home draws against some very ordinary teams.

Avoid defeat on Monday and I’ll be optimistic. Not complacent, but optimistic.

My comment is that we seem to be meeting teams on good runs of form. DL, Pompey, Oxford and after last night the Hully Gullies. Nothing easy in this league.

So hard to project with runs of fixtures. Who'd have thought Hull would spank sheff U 3-0. You'd have thought we'd beat Stoke at home but perhaps not won at sheff United. Or Leeds away, but dropped points at home to QPR.

It does look easier on paper but there'll be plenty of surprises for all of the top 4. Just got to get 90 points by hook or crook!

Take each game as it comes. They’ll be a lot more twists and turns yet. It’s a marathon not a sprint. Don’t want to hit the front too early.

CaptJohn wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:21 am

Nothing easy in this league.

Plymouth was

It's seven matches in 26 days (including Southampton). That will be tough whoever we play.

dougcollins wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:10 am

I understand your point but we should have done it some time ago.

Home draws against some very ordinary teams.

Does that mean however that we will continue that trend. Has the die been cast or can we turn those past draws into wins in the rest of the home games this season. ?

I don't know but would like to think if we stay injury free with the current squad we are in a good position to do so. There's been a lot of positive talk from Parker that more work is now being done on the offensive side of our game.

Time will tell and I don't blame anyone for thinking we need to further improve home results to secure automatic promotion.

Very good graph.
Can someone do a similar one for the business end...last 4 games? Saves keep scrolling!
I'm 72, and no technophobe.

Home and away form so far.

It Is What It Is wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:27 am

Very good graph.
Can someone do a similar one for the business end...last 4 games? Saves keep scrolling!
I'm 72, and no technophobe.

Here you go.

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 1:56 pm

Here you go.
IMG_4687.jpeg

There's not much in it but you could make an argument for us having the toughest run in there on paper.

Or away form is sensational. However, the number or goal scored at home is appalling and worse than almost everyone. We've got away with that so far because of our away form. I think we an get to 92 points without too much fuss, but so can 3 others. So we have to be more adventurous at home. 1 win is the same as 3 draws points wise.

CaptJohn wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:21 am

My comment is that we seem to be meeting teams on good runs of form. DL, Pompey, Oxford and after last night the Hully Gullies. Nothing easy in this league.

That's the intriguing part of all this. A look at the current league table suggests that on paper we are heading for a nice run of fixtures but are we?

My feeling is that we have a manager and team who always respect whichever team we are playing, regardless of league position, and while the teams coming up are in good form one way or another, our strengths should be enough to override this and maintain an unbeaten run if we come out of the Leeds game unscathed.

The nice thing is with the results this weekend, even if we lose to Leeds, it's not a disaster and I'd still be confident we'd close the gap over the next few games.
I guess Leeds will come for a point and try and nick a goal or two by picking us off on the counter.

evensteadiereddie wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 26, 2025 11:17 am

The nice thing is with the results this weekend, even if we lose to Leeds, it's not a disaster and I'd still be confident we'd close the gap over the next few games.
I guess Leeds will come for a point and try and nick a goal or two by picking us off on the counter.

That could be the problem on Monday night ... we have struggled to break down teams who come to close it down.

I think we'll see a lot of counter thrusts from Leeds from the start of the game as they try to kill us off early and take control of the game. Really looking forward as to how we will deal with that.
There's usually a thread by now of what team we will play so guessing most think we will go with our settled team with Humphreys coming in for Pires.

I'd like to see us take more shots from distance in this game, or more shots in general rather than take an extra pass. The reason being, Meslier is a calamity waiting to happen.

Only ‘worrying’ thing here is with have 4 of our next 6 at home where we desperately need to improve

Quicknick wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 6:23 am

We have already played at Sheff U.

I know we have. We have Sheff Utd at home near the end of the season. We go to QPR for their last game. They will be mid table safe hopefully and be on the beach .

Our home form will decide where we finish, carry on as we are, and it's the play offs. Turn some draws into wins, and we finish in the top 2.

ArmchairDetective wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 26, 2025 10:27 am

There's not much in it but you could make an argument for us having the toughest run in there on paper.

Same problem every season with the last 6 games. Which have something to play for and who are on the beach. Too early to call for me.

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 26, 2025 1:14 pm

Same problem every season with the last 6 games. Which have something to play for and who are on the beach. Too early to call for me.

The way we played on Wednesday will it make much difference to the lower teams anyway, especially when we are away from home?

Spijed wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 26, 2025 1:19 pm

The way we played on Wednesday will it make much difference to the lower teams anyway, especially when we are away from home?

And yet every season their are major upsets as the finishing line closes in.
Similar to this weekends results.

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 1:56 pm

Here you go.
IMG_4687.jpeg

Thanks for the graph Tricky Trev....not a bad run in ....hopefully top or second secured by then

ClaretLoup wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 10:44 pm

...the last 7/8 games the form book goes out the window as sides battling relegation have nowt to lose.

Never count your chickens in this league where inconsistency is rife.

Agree about not counting chickens, but relegation area sides with nowt to lose are perhaps good for us; we're good at defending but struggling to break down teams who shut up shop; in 2/3 of the sides we've played so far, the opposition have turned up happy to get a point, if they are chasing a win, we'll get more/better opportunities to score ourselves

A great opportunity for us now opening up with the next few games, but we simply have to get wins out of them.