A comparison of the League Tables as at 29 November 2022 & 2023 makes interesting reading:
2022 PLD W D L F A GD P
Plymouth 19 13 4 2 39 22 17 43
Ipswich 19 12 5 2 38 19 19 41
Sheff W 19 12 4 3 35 16 19 40
Peterb 19 10 1 8 34 23 11 31
Bolton 18 9 4 5 21 15 6 31
Barnsley 18 9 3 6 23 15 8 30
Portsmouth 17 7 8 2 26 18 8 29
Derby 18 8 5 5 23 16 7 29
2023 PLD W D L F A GD P
Bolton 18 12 3 3 37 18 19 39
Portsmouth 18 11 6 1 29 16 13 39
Oxford 18 11 3 4 31 18 13 36
Stevenage 20 10 6 4 29 19 10 36
Peterb 19 10 5 4 37 20 17 35
Derby 18 10 3 5 31 16 15 33
Barnsley 18 9 4 5 34 20 14 31
Blackpool 20 8 6 6 33 25 5 30
Admittedly, you can read anything into stats to back up your own position but with a fairly positive (but realistic) outlook, I can see some positives. At this stage last year we were 11 and 13 points behind the top two, this year currently only 6 points. Last year, I think everyone would agree, Ipswich and Plymouth were the outstanding teams throughout the year, rightly gaining automatic promotion.
The consensus of opinion is that Derby haven't played as well as they might at present but are still 4 points better off than last year. Surprising, having lost our talisman McGoldrick, we have scored 8 more goals than at this stage last year, conceding the same as last year (16). Both Bolton & Barnsley have also scored a lot more goals too, helped by two huge wins.
My conclusions: things are no where near as bad as is being made out. Hopefully there will be a lot more goals to come together with an uplift in "exciting" performances. Hopefully we can keep hold of the players we want to retain in January and bring in a couple who can really improve the team, to the next level.
My positive spin - I know the doubters will use the stats to put a different view on things.
