As statistics shown this morning demonstrated, only one club has won more than 4 in a row, at the start of the season, since Fulham at the turn of the millennium. Our run was an excellent one, particularly when many put us down as relegation contenders. But it had to come to an end at some point, and many thought it would be this weekend.
By the end of the season we may well be relegation contenders, but our opening few results suggest were are above that level this season. Perhaps an upper mid table side, which will certainly be a more entertaining prospect than last season. Our football, even if we get outplayed at times, should also be much better, based on the performances we’ve seen so far.
For the first time this season we failed to score. But this is already way better than last season, when we had racked up 3 blanks, including against home tie against Stevenage, by this stage. It took us until our 4th from last game to win two games in a row last season! We have already got 4 in a row.
Seeking to justify their own club’s poor starts, many have looked at Cardiff, who admirably continued their winning run, and Ipswich with jealousy. Many fans have claimed that if they had our start, they’d be undefeated. On today’s showing, perhaps Fulham fans might be right. But this game could just be an outlier. A point where we look back and say, actually, if we had two centre backs, we would have had a platform to build upon.
Whilst Fulham boosted their claim on the theoretical, it was Norwich’s turn to prove that they couldn’t emulate us. “Credit where credit is due” I hear you cry. Fine… Norwich made rapid work matching our goals conceded at The Den. They valiantly let in 3 goals in 42 minutes, before deciding to try and match our goal scoring prowess. Unfortunately for them, they failed, losing 4-0.
Elsewhere, another of our early season opposition showed that they were no mugs today, by smashing former premiership side Sunderland 3-0. Brentford held third placed, and a much respected and touted Wolves.
Early on in the season, teams can just play the wrong sides on the wrong day. A good way of judging those unlikely to do more than struggle, after 5 games, is to see which teams have conceded the same or more than the games they’ve played. At a glance, Burton -5, Bolton -6 and Norwich -6, look to be the truly terrible teams. The good news of course, is that we still have 2 game to play against these poorer sides.
So what is the reality? The reality is this is football. It always has been a game that surprises. Of course not so much that you can just pick up a terrible manager from the 4th tier of German football and expect him to run a championship side anywhere but into the ground. But surprising nonetheless.
Will we be as outclassed as those that went to the game today are say we were. Probably not. We should still expect to see a much more competitive season, one that is much more enjoyable than the last one. We should expect last season’s inners and outers to put it all behind them and base their observations upon what they see this season.
|  |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
