WBA v Saints

[ricardo 7,452]

WBA 1-0

[Cantiaci Canary 587]

I wonder how many games Adkins has left?

[smooth 114]

Lets hope he has many. He is a good manager but like jean at Blackburn the longer these guys stay the better. Lets hope WBA win. Still think we should get something from playing WBA, but if they can keep the bottom 3 at a distance the better

[Mello Yello 2,320]

[quote user="Cantiaci Canary"]I wonder how many games Adkins has left?[/quote]

 

About as many games as the current QPR manager has left.......probably?

[nutty nigel 7,705]

Neither side looking very good to me. On this performance I reckon WBA are in a false position.

 

 

[Gingerpele 0]

I don''t think so Nutty. Some teams just had a good start, they haven''t gotten themselves into that position through pot luck, they worked hard and were playing well. But they have slowed down, while others (like us) have picked up.

I''ve never been one to agree with terms like false position, or over achieving, unless someone is cheating or really really lucky/unlucky surely they deserve to be where they are?

[ricardo 7,452]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Neither side looking very good to me. On this performance I reckon WBA are in a false position.

 

 

[/quote]Look better than Saints though. A slow start but WBA having plenty of efforts on goal.This could be 3 or 4 nil IMO.

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

I want Southampton to get absolutely smashed in the second half.

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

[quote user="smooth"]Lets hope he has many. He is a good manager but like jean at Blackburn the longer these guys stay the better. Lets hope WBA win. Still think we should get something from playing WBA, but if they can keep the bottom 3 at a distance the better[/quote]

 

Jean???

[nutty nigel 7,705]

[quote user="Gingerpele"]I don''t think so Nutty. Some teams just had a good start, they haven''t gotten themselves into that position through pot luck, they worked hard and were playing well. But they have slowed down, while others (like us) have picked up. I''ve never been one to agree with terms like false position, or over achieving, unless someone is cheating or really really lucky/unlucky surely they deserve to be where they are?[/quote]

 

It''ll even out over the season. Last season WBA won here, we won at the Hawthornes and we finished together on 47 points. I don''t think they''ll be much in it at the end of this season either.

 

 

[Oli 0]

We thought our defense was bad last year! :P Southampton are doomed, 4 points after over a quarter of the season is shocking! I don''t mind them as a club but that''s one relegation place taken and our record as the only club to achieve back to back promotions to the prem and stay there remains :) They''ve spent a lot of money as well which really puts into perspective what an amazing achievement the last 3 years was for us. I know it sounds like I''m jumping the gun but I can''t see any way they''re getting out of this.

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

We beat WBA 2-1 away twice in quick succession.  Didn''t Rudd play in the cup game?  Did he save a pen or is my mind playing tricks on me?

[Gingerpele 0]

Im sure you''re right Nutty, and at the end of the season WBA will be mid table, hardly above us on points. But they have done very well so far this season, unlike us, there new manager started off well and is/will fade, we''ve gone the other way, starting off slow and picking up. Its probably better our way as we can keep on improving, while WBA and Swansea have kind of levelled off and won''t pick up points in he same volume they did earlier in the season.

And Southampton are all but gone in my opinion. At least with QPR you can see players who if they play to their best will win them enough games to stay up, although they need to start winning soon. Southampton don''t have that. Their record signing is good, Lallana is good. Lambert is a poor Grant Holt, and Rodriguez is probably not going to prove value for money. And there defence has been very poor, they have perhaps been unlucky this season, have put in some decent attacking performances against top sides. But the defence has not been good enough. As every Hughton doubters favourite manager Mr Hollaway proved, lots of attacking football may win you some games, and many admirers. But over the course of the season, they don''t have the quality over the whole team to keep them up. If they had bought two £3.5 million defenders instead of Rodriguez, maybe they would be a little tighter in defence and not concede so many.

[nutty nigel 7,705]

[quote user="norfolkbroadslim"]We beat WBA 2-1 away twice in quick succession.  Didn''t Rudd play in the cup game?  Did he save a pen or is my mind playing tricks on me?[/quote]

 

Steer played the cup game ''slim. I think Rudd was injured. Don''t remember a pen save but he made a couple of really good saves.

 

WBA 2-0 now[Y]

 

 

[Bill 1,788]

If only we had ''spent big'' like Southampton and QPR in the summer. If only we had heeded the wise words of those who pointed out that we were doomed to failure because all we had were the ''lies'' of Bowkett to take us into the new season.

 

What is missing at our club ?

 

Is is it an ''hinvestor'' ?

 

Is it ''hambition'' ?

 

............or a place in the bottom three ?

 

(where are the whingers and whiners when we need them ?)

 

 

 

 

[Jacko 0]

I think Southampton and QPR will still be in with a shout of survival at the end of the season. But for an idea of context. The endlessly hilarious Derby County team had 6 points at this stage of the season.

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

Getting very confused in my old age, Rudd saved a pen in the league game against WBA at CR.....

[Gingerpele 0]

We''ve saved a few penalties recently haven''t we?

[Surfer 1,547]

" I want Southampton to get absolutely smashed in the second half "

I''d prefer a nice 2-0 defeat, it will keep the current management in place for a few more weeks...

[York Canary 29]

[quote user="Surfer"]" I want Southampton to get absolutely smashed in the second half "

I''d prefer a nice 2-0 defeat, it will keep the current management in place for a few more weeks...[/quote]Agreed..unless they''ve got a dodgy caretaker manager who could ruin them further for a good while? Lol. I think Reading are the ones to watch out for as they''ve been quite good when I''ve seen them and 150% energy that pressures teams into mistakes. The problem is they run out of energy so we MUST keep a tight ship against them early on particularly and then expose the tiredness. They tend to commit to tackles too (Tabb especially) and can give away fouls easily if the opposing player has a bit of sense to ''entice'' them. They''ve played Chelsea, Spurs, Newcastle, West Brom, Swansea, Liverpool, Stoke, Fulham and QPR and none of them are easy games. They''ve got 4 draws in there and should have won some, but for poor defending at the end. They''ve got us, Villa, Wigan and Southampton coming up in the next few weeks too. No one is out of it yet, but a win against Reading would be absolutely massive before we have 2 hugely tough games. I''d take a draw, but a loss puts pressure right back on us going into the 2 tough games

[PurpleCanary 5,630]

[quote user="Gingerpele"]Im sure you''re right Nutty, and at the end of the season WBA will be mid table, hardly above us on points. But they have done very well so far this season, unlike us, there new manager started off well and is/will fade, we''ve gone the other way, starting off slow and picking up. Its probably better our way as we can keep on improving, while WBA and Swansea have kind of levelled off and won''t pick up points in he same volume they did earlier in the season. And Southampton are all but gone in my opinion. At least with QPR you can see players who if they play to their best will win them enough games to stay up, although they need to start winning soon. Southampton don''t have that. Their record signing is good, Lallana is good. Lambert is a poor Grant Holt, and Rodriguez is probably not going to prove value for money. And there defence has been very poor, they have perhaps been unlucky this season, have put in some decent attacking performances against top sides. But the defence has not been good enough. As every Hughton doubters favourite manager Mr Hollaway proved, lots of attacking football may win you some games, and many admirers. But over the course of the season, they don''t have the quality over the whole team to keep them up. If they had bought two £3.5 million defenders instead of Rodriguez, maybe they would be a little tighter in defence and not concede so many.[/quote]

 

At a tangent, quite a few posters here hate the transfer window, and want to revert to the old system of being able to buy players all the way through the season. If that was the case, Southampton, with their money, could easily have gone out in September - once they had realised they were shipping too many goals - and bought a couple of £3.5m defenders. As it is they have to wait until January, with the season more than half over, by which time it may be too late.

[ROBFLECK 132]

A very good point Purple! It seems we''ve done some good deals and the only thing I still have mixed feelings about is our strike-force. But we didn''t pay millions and millions for strikers without any return.

I hope their winless run continues ''til X-mas, before they can splash out.

[Yobocop 1,110]

[quote user="norfolkbroadslim"]

[quote user="smooth"]Lets hope he has many. He is a good manager but like jean at Blackburn the longer these guys stay the better. Lets hope WBA win. Still think we should get something from playing WBA, but if they can keep the bottom 3 at a distance the better[/quote]

 

Jean???

[/quote]

Billie Jean is not Blackburn Manager
He''s just a boy who thinks Paul Robinson is the one
But Jordan Rhodes is not my son

[CambridgeCanary 0]

[quote user="Gingerpele"]I don''t think so Nutty. Some teams just had a good start, they haven''t gotten themselves into that position through pot luck, they worked hard and were playing well. But they have slowed down, while others (like us) have picked up. I''ve never been one to agree with terms like false position, or over achieving, unless someone is cheating or really really lucky/unlucky surely they deserve to be where they are?[/quote]

 

Ginger, I wrote this on 8th October

It is explained by the statistical concept of The Regression To Mean. Essentially, performance is not constant and at different times there is overperformance and under performance. That is why the leader of the first round of a golf tournament rarely wins after four rounds.

It also applies to teams. Just as we are underperforming and must inevitably have a successful spell to even out to our true position, WBA are overperforming and due a run of poor results which will see them back to their true midtable level.

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