Weird season. High flyers have already lost more games than you'd typically see in a whole season for the top teams. Compound effects of fixture congestion on bodies and minds unpredictable. No crowds potentially bigger factor for good or ill when the late-season pressure mounts. Relatively quiet January window.
Given our extreme streakiness up to now I reckon the next three league games tell us more about our chances than current average PPG. A struggler in Wigan at home, an underachieving mid table outfit in Ipswich away and a strong Portsmouth at home. And with both main signings going into these games with minutes and goals under their belts. Almost a perfect test to get a fresh baseline. If we take 5 points from these and Barker/Lee on form and settled in I can see us being on here in a few weeks discussing autos rather than play offs. 4 points and we're probably right to say playoffs our target. Anything less than that and we should probably prepare for mid table security.
Maybe it's clutching at straws during these grim times but I'm optimistic. A few reasons...
- Robbo teams tend to peak later in season.
- High number of fixtures against tougher teams are at home where our record very good.
- Outstanding bench quality with multiple championship level options in all attacking positions. Defensive cover the worry but not dissimilar to most L1 teams.
- New signings seem to be settling already. Our loan winger is the kind of player fans of his host club moan about because he hadn't shown the same form against Motherwell as he did away at Roma! Crazy quality.
- The best transfer business elsewhere was at Lincoln and Hull, everyone else pretty average or treading water.
Watch us lose to Wigan now
COYY