Last month I put together a ‘take-this-with-a-pinch-of-salt’ comparison piece outlining the head-to-head history of all the sides we had played till that point in the season (HERE) Although, like I say, you do have to take the results with a pinch of salt, it was interesting to see how we usually fair against certain sides. One lesson learned was that we should never expect points against Bolton (although each and every year, without fail, I look at that as potential to gain three points)
I’ve put together a slightly different comparison this time around, highlighting how we fared in the exact same fixtures played this year compared to last:
| Fixture | Last Year | Points | GD +/- | This Year | Points | GD +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spurs (H) | 0-2 | 0 | -2 | 1-2 | 0 | -1 |
| Blackburn (A) | 1-1 | 1 | -2 | 0-0 | 1 | -1 |
| Wigan (A) | 1-0 | 4 | -1 | 0-1 | 1 | -2 |
| Liverpool (H) | 0-3 | 4 | -4 | 2-3 | 1 | -3 |
| Man City (A) | 0-3 | 4 | -7 | 1-3 | 1 | -5 |
| Fulham (H) | 3-1 | 7 | -5 | 2-2 | 2 | -5 |
| Stoke (A) | 1-0 | 10 | -4 | 1-2 | 2 | -6 |
| Arsenal (H) | 0-2 | 10 | -6 | 2-2 | 3 | -6 |
| Sunderland (A) | 1-0 | 13 | -5 | 2-2 | 4 | -6 |
| Villa (H) | 0-1 | 13 | -6 | 2-1 | 7 | -5 |
| Everton (H) | 1-3 | 13 | -8 | 1-2 | 7 | -6 |
| Hull (A) | 0-1 | 13 | -9 | 3-3 | 8 | -6 |
| Totals: | 8-17 | 13 | -9 | 17-23 | 8 | -6 |
So from that, a quick few summary points:
- We have scored 9 more goals compared to last year
- But, conceded 6 more
- We earned 5 more points in the corresponding fixtures last year.
- We have seen the same results against Spurs, Blackburn, Liverpool, Man City and Everton
- Last year we beat Wigan, Fulham, Stoke and Sunderland, whereas this year we only managed 2 points from the same fixtures.
- We have improved on the Arsenal, Villa and Hull results compared to last year.
I produce these stats table to simply put the data out there and hopefully make it easier to interpret. My opinion on the whole lot is quite simply this…our urgency to secure the services of a new striker during the summer has clearly paid off. We’ve scored significantly more goals. However…it is obviously been at detriment to our defence (selling Collins was a massive mistake).
I am however confident that once our defence settles into the same four each week for the best part, we will soon see a climb up the table. Although our goal difference is actually better this year we are shipping goals like there’s no tomorrow. Sort that, and we’ve got the makings of a side that can still achieve something this year.
Love too know your comments
IRONS
Sam
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Wore these to every game this year. They may not be lucky, but they're comfy:
Mate, I was gutted to see Collins go, he has definitely shown us what we let go by his performances for Villa and hes a firm favourite already.
I agree the results have been almost reversed, teams we would expect to beat have proved tougher and teams we would expect to struggle against, we have done quite well against. I still feel we are a good team just bubbling under the surface and with a few more back from injury, a bit more good luck rather than bad (that double rebound against Hull for example) and a fair wind, we will get a few wins and start to climb up the table.
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The goal differential is one big reason I haven’t been too worried so far. (Not to say I have been happy, just not too worried about relegation just yet) It could very easily turn around if the defense gets a run together. Remember, last year WHU ended a long streak of not having a shutout. While Collins return was key to that, it wasn’t just his return that caused. We need someone to step up, physically and verbally. If that player(s) doesn’t emerge soon, I might start to worry.
For now, there’s too much season left to get uptight.
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