Our Rivals Thread

[dj161]

I thought as this is probably the closest a promotion race has been in the championship for many years, it's worth having a thread to keep track of and discuss our promotion rivals upcoming games and fortunes

Here's who they play this weekend

Friday

Fulham vs Bournemouth

Saturday

Derby vs Birmingham

Ipswich vs Brentford

Forest vs Middlesboro

Wolves vs Watford

so some tough ties in there, with four of the top eight playing each other, defeats for Ipswich and Wolves could see them cut a little bit adrift, although I think I'd like to see draws in both, so long as we beat Millwall

Boro have a very tough away game at Forest who have won their last 3 three home games and are one of the form teams in the league at the moment, and having lost at Charlton on Tuesday desperately need a win to keep their outside hopes of a play off place alive

Derby you'd have to expect to beat Birmingham at home, but Derby have just lost back to back games and could be a little fragile, whilst Birmingham seems to of found a little bit of form again with two wins on the spin.

We could be second at the end of the weekend just a point of the top if results go our away, should they go the other way, we could slip to 7th and be 7 points off the top

Should be a really interesting weekend, lets hope that Fulham can get a decent result against Bournemouth tonight to start it off.

 

[Suffolk Canary]

Wow. That could be a lot of dropped points.   Hopefully the footballing gods will give us a second chance to sneak in to the automatics! 

 

[Fenway Frank]

I was hoping someone would start a thread like this

 

[RhythmicTheory]

On paper, you couldnt ask for better fixtures in terms of chance of getting what we want this weekend.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I was hoping someone would start a thread like this

What was wrong with my Derby and Boro thread?     *sniffs*

 

[SwindonCanary]

Think I'm pushing my luck by saying it but it looks like we've got the easiest match this weekend !

 

[Fenway Frank]

What was wrong with my Derby and Boro thread? *sniffs*

You didn't include all the other teams

 

[dj161]

Bournemouth 2-0 at half time away to Fulham, come on fulham please just do something nice for us for once in your miserable life

 

[dj161]

Bournemouth ended up winning 5-1, with Fulham having a player sent off with Bournemouth already 3-1 up,

not to worry though plenty more games this weekend to see some other teams drop points, though this result does mean we can't go into the automatic places this weekend

 

[Monty13]

Wow, Birmingham have just done us a massive favour, huge choke from Derby!

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

BANG! And the gap is gone!

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Done in league position order:

Bournemouth's next games - Home to Blackpool, away to Cardiff, home to Middlesbrough and away to Ipswich. Form - won 2 in their last 7 (though its their two last games)

Derby have lost two and drawn one of their last 3 games. Next theyre away to us, home to Boro, away to Wolves and home to Watford. They then play Wigan and then Brentford.

Watford are home to Reading, away to Wigan, home to Ipswich and then away to Derby. Form - same as ours, 7 wins 1 draw and 2 losses in their last 10

Boro have lost 3 out of their last 5 games. Their next three matches are at home to Ipswich, away to Derby and away to Bournemouth.   Something has to give in those games

Our form for comparison? Won 7 of our last 8

Us and Watford are the two teams with the most momentum, with Bournemouth seemingly over their little wobble. Boro and Derby by comparison both having somewhat of a wobble

Looking at that run-in, Watford seem the most likely to lead the pack over the next few weeks. Has it ever been tighter? With similar goal differences all bets are off at this stage. What a shame we slipped up against Wigan, if we'd have won that game we'd be two points clear at the top - who'd have said that a month ago?

 

[dj161]

Just got in from work and seen the results, couldnt of gone any better, other than if Birmingham could of a gotten a 3rd against Derby, had you offered be those results at the start of the day I'd of bitten your hand off

The game against Derby next weekend is absolutely massive, and I think it'll play a massive part it deciding who gets automatic between us, we need to make Carrow Road as noisy as it was against Ipswich for that one

 

[Brian Fantana]

I do like this site http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-championship/2014-2015/true-table/full, makes for interesting reading.

Bearing in mind who we have played recently our form is miles ahead of those around us.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Just got in from work and seen the results, couldnt of gone any better, other than if Birmingham could of a gotten a 3rd against Derby, had you offered be those results at the start of the day I'd of bitten your hand off

The game against Derby next weekend is absolutely massive, and I think it'll play a massive part it deciding who gets automatic between us, we need to make Carrow Road as noisy as it was against Ipswich for that one

Did we suffer from it being a mid-week game against Wigan. Had we played them today might we have faired better?

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I do like this site http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-championship/2014-2015/true-table/full, makes for interesting reading.

Bearing in mind who we have played recently our form is miles ahead of those around us.

Interesting that Bournemouth have the only 8 registered, and have only failed to score 4 times (lowest) also having the 3rd best defence. Sheffield Wed surprisingly very tight at the back

We are top of the 'vs top half' league, but midtable for vs lower half

Watford are the opposite, top of the 'vs lower half' but mid-table for vs top half

Poor Blackpool bottom of both

 

[dj161]

Did we suffer from it being a mid-week game against Wigan. Had we played them today might we have faired better?

I think it may of been as was mentioned on canary call possibly an after the lord mayors show problem, as it came so soon after the Ipswich game everyone had put everything into that game and just took the fact we'd beat wigan somewhat for granted, and then when they nicked an early goal, started time wasting and got 10 men behind the ball it was always going to be a tough ask to break them down

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Difficult time for us to play Forest and Brighton unfortunately, both teams having a bit of a run of form

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I think it may of been as was mentioned on canary call possibly an after the lord mayors show problem, as it came so soon after the Ipswich game everyone had put everything into that game and just took the fact we'd beat wigan somewhat for granted, and then when they nicked an early goal, started time wasting and got 10 men behind the ball it was always going to be a tough ask to break them down

Early goal was probably what did for us, allowed them to play almost the whole of the game with something to defend. If we'd have got an early goal it might have been a lot different. We need to be a bit smarter and a bit tighter at home to teams lower down the league in the early stages of games. Let them register and they can then park the bus

 

[It's Character Forming]

Yh I think it was a combo against Wigan of come down from Sunday, bit of underestimating them, and concede an early goal.

Probably a mistake to take off Hooper when Wes came on - he's the sort of player who can poach a goal in a tight game.

Great to see Wes back to his best in general tho.

Also can I point out that a week ago we were 6 points off top spot? I know we had a game in hand but but was the derby... Incredible catchup.

So 10 games to go and virtually nothing in it among the top 5.