Our Form is Stupendous

[Kernow]

Well according to SkyBet, we are now favourites to win the league...

Derby 15/8, Pompey 5/2, Posh 7/2 and Bolton 4/1.

I'm not sure why Bolton are those odds, they are currently in a stronger position than us. I think it'll be two from those four, if I had to stick my neck out, I'd say us and Bolton right now.

[Bris Vegas]

By Easter I expect us to be about 10 points clear of third and cruising to promotion.

Easy.

[Old Spalding Ram]

Just an update for the stats lads…………………makes for good reading. 👍🐏

 

[cstand]

10 hours ago, Kernow said:

Well according to SkyBet, we are now favourites to win the league...

Derby 15/8, Pompey 5/2, Posh 7/2 and Bolton 4/1.

I'm not sure why Bolton are those odds, they are currently in a stronger position than us. I think it'll be two from those four, if I had to stick my neck out, I'd say us and Bolton right now.

Pompey have not won for three games against sides they were expected to beat.
Their next game is Stevenage at home, who have a very good away record, if they lose that game they will start to feel the pressure of the chasing pack. 

 

 

[RamLad1884]

10 minutes ago, cstand said:

Pompey have not won for three games against sides they were expected to beat.
Their next game is Stevenage at home, who have a very good away record, if they lose that game they will start to feel the pressure of the chasing pack. 

 

 

Think that ship has already left the port. Their recent form means they are relying on teams around them to drop points in order to stay top

[S6 boy]

In the league we haven't conceded a goal from open play since October.  Since August we have conceded four goals in total at home. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by S6 boy

[ram59]

1 hour ago, S6 boy said:

In the league we haven't conceded a goal from open play since October.  Since August we have conceded four goals in total at home. 

This statistic is the real 'stupendous' part of our run, not only have we not conceded from open play since October, I am struggling to remember many top drawer saves by Wildsmith during this same period.

Could this be the reason for his less than perfect performance last night, although he did really collect well another free kick with two forwards ready to pounce, which would have made it 3 nil? I know from experience how difficult it is to maintain concentration when playing goal for a team with an excellent defence. Wildsmith is playing week in week out, not having anything to do and it's bound to have an effect on his match sharpness.

[Ewe Ram]

12 minutes ago, ram59 said:

This statistic is the real 'stupendous' part of our run, not only have we not conceded from open play since October, I am struggling to remember many top drawer saves by Wildsmith during this same period.

Could this be the reason for his less than perfect performance last night, although he did really collect well another free kick with two forwards ready to pounce, which would have made it 3 nil? I know from experience how difficult it is to maintain concentration when playing goal for a team with an excellent defence. Wildsmith is playing week in week out, not having anything to do and it's bound to have an effect on his match sharpness.

It was his birthday the day before I believe, so I think he was suffering from a food hangover, he looked a bit dopey in his interview 

[jagerbob]

if the top 4 doesnt end up being pompey bolton derby peterborough in any order i will eat my hat. lack of depth for stevenage and oxford will catch up with them.

[Wolfie20]

1 minute ago, jagerbob said:

if the top 4 doesnt end up being pompey bolton derby peterborough in any order i will eat my hat. lack of depth for stevenage and oxford will catch up with them.

I wouldn't rule out Barnsley at least getting into the playoffs.

[eddielewis]

So far this season is very very similar to the 18/19 season. Portsmouth had a very good first of the season as you can see below. Then they had a very mediocre January whilst Luton were red hot and were unbeaten in 10 games throughout November and December and carried that form into January and only lost twice over the 2nd half of the season. Could we be this years Luton... who can say? but we must carry this form over this next month to stand a chance.

[Carl Sagan]

On 26/12/2023 at 22:46, David said:

If we was talking about the odd game being lucky, I may see your point.

However it’s a run of 8 games, lucky to score 18 and concede just 3 yet it’s the next 2 that would swing it? 

Look at the 10 game form someone posted earlier, even with the defeat we still top the table.

Bit unfair at this stage not to give credit where credit is due.

I tried to reply to this over Chrimbo, but you never get a moment's peace. I absolutely wasn't saying "the next two would swing it". Even though this is Derby, the answer is not black and white (and I'm a blue shorts and red numbers man) - it's a gradual process of improvement. At the start of the run I thought "more luck than judgement". When I posted here, I said "as much luck as judgement". When I got home last night and turned to Radio Derby, we were 2-0 down and I thought, "are we bottlers?" but we showed ourselves not to be. Many on here have said that we were doing well because we've been scoring early, meaning the opposition had to come on to us. It will have done the team the world of good to see that we are never beaten and can totally dominate opponents, even top six opponents, in this way. So the win last night is worth almost more than three points in terms of self-belief.

A reason this game mattered, marking the halfway point, was that for the first time in a long time we now stand at two points per game, which is the launchpad for an automatic promotion push in this division. Previously when we've threatened to get there, it's been as if we've flown too close to the flame, and have fallen away. Now we're there, effectively in third place in the league, how will we react? Beat Peterborough and we'll reach the dizzy heights of more than two points a game, and this will begin to look serious.

I still have doubts because this time last season we were in the middle of a 17-game unbeaten run and everything looked rosy. Then we fell away and effectively imploded. Obviously if we maintain the run I will be won over, and I do think last night will prove a big momentum boost. Let us hope. After the Stevenage defeat I said in another thread we would need to win ten games in a row to make ourselves automatic promotion contenders, and this wouldn't happen. To Warne's immense credit we've won eight out of nine and have put ourselves very close, with half a season now to go. Win the next two or three and I think we'll move into the top two. This division is relentless at the top, but last night did show we can be relentless in attack in one game, and that's a huge improvement on the more chaotic style we've shown before. And what Warne does well is I think he realizes only wins matter - at the top of the table a draw is pretty much as bad as a defeat in terms of the ground you lose. What a run this has been, but we must continue to win, win, win, and then win again.

[Srg]

17 hours ago, Kernow said:

Well according to SkyBet, we are now favourites to win the league...

Derby 15/8, Pompey 5/2, Posh 7/2 and Bolton 4/1.

I'm not sure why Bolton are those odds, they are currently in a stronger position than us. I think it'll be two from those four, if I had to stick my neck out, I'd say us and Bolton right now.

I checked Bolton’s fixtures to see if they have to play everyone away or something to give a reason for those odds, but nope, nothing obvious. One thing I did see though… they have Peterborough last game of the season. 

[Kernow]

4 minutes ago, Srg said:

I checked Bolton’s fixtures to see if they have to play everyone away or something to give a reason for those odds, but nope, nothing obvious. One thing I did see though… they have Peterborough last game of the season. 

Yep I had a look to see if they have any injuries, any possible points deductions for previous unpaid wages or anything like that but nothing, it's strange.

[ram59]

4 minutes ago, Srg said:

I checked Bolton’s fixtures to see if they have to play everyone away or something to give a reason for those odds, but nope, nothing obvious. One thing I did see though… they have Peterborough last game of the season. 

That's got me thinking, our last game is Carlisle at home 49 years and 1 day after we collected our second title on the pitch before the game against the same opponents, is it an omen?🤞

[LazloW]

1 hour ago, ram59 said:

That's got me thinking, our last game is Carlisle at home 49 years and 1 day after we collected our second title on the pitch before the game against the same opponents, is it an omen?🤞

No.

[Grumpy Git]

1 hour ago, Kernow said:

Yep I had a look to see if they have any injuries, any possible points deductions for previous unpaid wages or anything like that but nothing, it's strange.

Not strange at all, it means punters have seen our form and have put serious wonga down for us to win, (that's how bookmaking works).

[richinspain]

16 minutes ago, Grumpy Git said:

Not strange at all, it means punters have seen our form and have put serious wonga down for us to win, (that's how bookmaking works).

@David lumped a quid each way on us.

[Grumpy Git]

5 hours ago, richinspain said:

@David lumped a quid each way on us.

I heard 50p E/W?

[oomarkwright]

We would be top if it weren't for those two late late late goals against Pompey and ambulance chasers! 🤔