The half-way point of the season is here already, so time for another look at the 'slow & steady' progress we've been promised.
Aesthetics
Apart from when Ward is on the ball, or Fielding is diving full-length, there's precious little beauty to bring a gasp to your lips. That's not to say we don't show other worthy qualities - grit, determination, workrate, team spirit etc... but this section isn't about them.
I can't say we're worse though, because apart from the want-away Commons there was nothing going on 12 months ago either.
Tyson is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. I think he showed enough quality against Leeds that we can look forward to the time when he's fully match-fit with justified anticipation.
Nevertheless the verdict for the moment must be 'No Progress'.
League Position and Points
At last season's half-way point we'd just been hammered by Forest, but were hanging on to 12th spot with 30 points. This time we've just beaten Leeds, and have a point more on 31, but despite that are two places worse off in 14th.
Basically it just goes to show how tight the middle of the table is, with only three points separating 9th from 16th. On balance we're about the same as last season, but since last season was worse than the season before that's got to be another verdict of:
'No Progress'
Head-to-Head
.................................. Pts .... GD
Fixture ..... 10/11 .. 11/12 . Diff . Diff
Hull .......... L0-1 ..... L0-2 ... 0 ... -1
WHU ......... D0-0 ..... L1-3 ...-1 ... -3
Brighton .... W3-0 .... L0-1 ... -3 ... -4
C.Palace .... D2-2 .... D1-1 .... 0 .... 0
Bristol C .... L0-2 .... W2-1 .. +3 ... +3
Ipswich ...... W2-0 ... L0-1 ... -3 ... -3
Leeds ........ W2-1 ... W1-0 ... 0 .... 0
TOTAL ........................... -4 ... -7
4 points dropped compared to last season, and a GD 7 worse. Knowing how bad last season was, doing even worse is hard to swallow. Losing away to West Ham is excusable, but letting both Brighton and Ipswich (in a bad run themselves until they met us) take all the points is disheartening.
Cumulatively we're still 13 points ahead of our total from the equivalent fixtures of the previous season, but that's all down to our excellent start. After we'd played Forest in the middle of September we were 14 points ahead, so we've spent the last 3 months doing slightly worse than last season.
Verdict: Early season progress has petered-out.
Conclusions.
Despite everything, there are some positives to grab a hold of:
First, our squad is now ours. Performances are not dependant on loanees who have no real stake in the future of the club.
Second, our squad is young. There are reasons to hope they can grow and mature together.
Third, even when we lose, the performance is often decent - not every time its true, Leicester was nothing to be proud of for example - but we might have got something from Ipswich and Brighton with just a little more luck.
Finally, we seem to be emerging from our traditional injury crisis. Barker, Brayford, Bailey and Green are all back, and it looks like Tyson and Robinson are too. Basically that's half a team, and apart from Robinson (who I see as Tyson's understudy) these returning players would normally be 1st eleven players IMHO.
So the optimist in me thinks we've come through the worst of it, and we can now push on for a top-half finish and set ourselves up for a proper push for the play-offs next season.
The pesimist in me says we usually start well then fade, and that we're still short of a 'midfield general' as well as cover for both full-backs and Centre-Forward.
I think the next 8 matches will be crucial: West Ham, Forest, Coventry and Reading at home, and Hull, Burnley, Barnsley and Millwall away. Last season we scraped a meagre 5 points from these fixtures.
If we can take 7 points from the home fixtures and 4+ from the away matches (and don't suffer a new injury crisis in doing so) then I shall be feeling more optimistic about our prospects than at any time since the promotion season.
The Progress Report - Issue 15
posted on 28/12/11
Am I the only one dreading January after the previous seasons shenanigans?
posted on 28/12/11
Can I be the first to use what will become the 2012 catchphrase?
"I agree with the Capn"
I feel we are much stronger as a club overall and that this constitutes progress of sorts, even though not always evident in the first-team performance. We don't look likely to get rolled over easily any more, and we do have striking options who at least create a semblance of threat. The mere presence of somebody like Tyson affects the way the opposition line up against us-they don't push up from the back so much because they fear his pace getting in behind them. This in turn reduces the chances of getting penned in our own half and gives the midfield a little more space in which to play. Last season often we had so little forward threat that opponents could push up to the halfway line and the game would be played in our half.
I also feel vaguely optimistic that we might have a decent second half. Many of our players are still improving and this can only be a good thing.
Cheers Melbourne
posted on 28/12/11
Nice one Wideboy
I'm surprised to see no progress but that's maybe because it's facts and figures. I look at our bench first, during the bad phase we had Connor Doyle, Buxton and Bennett on it and that worried me, now I see Priskin, Davis, Robinson, O'Brien and that looks much better. Progress has been made because our squad is much stronger than last season and I am sure the good times are ahead.
And no Robbie Savage FFS.
posted on 28/12/11
With almost a full squad to choose from, I think we'll see some far better results in the next few weeks.
I still believe our pace up front will terrify defenders.
But... we rely on Ward an awful lot.
Without him, where would the 'flair' come from?
Can the academy produce some more 'gems'..?
Someone to unlock defences?
Being 'over-budget' we won't be investing so a top 10 finish looks realistic.
posted on 28/12/11
SimonJ
You haven't voted yet..
posted on 28/12/11
comment by tommo_dcfc - RN (U1583) posted 4 hours, 47 minutes ago
Am I the only one dreading January after the previous seasons shenanigans?
_________________________________________
Tommo, I assure you, you are not the only one dreading January! After the game against Leeds, it was the talk in the pubs. Anyway, we can't be any worse than that lot down the road,they are scraping the bottom of the barrel, they are signing old men again, Harewood
posted on 29/12/11
Good article wideboy
posted on 29/12/11
Good read wideboy, always look forward to reading your progress reports!
To me the reason to be optimistic is that we seem to have better consistency this season. Whereas last season we started poorly, randomly became incredible and then slumped back into a relegation battle again.
This season we seem to be a more solid unit, and you're right it is encouraging that our defeats (bar Leicester) aren't always down to bad performances.
posted on 2/1/12
where do I vote?
posted on 2/1/12
Wideboy:-
http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/69229