There’s a lot being made of our defensive woes. And there’s not really much argument there – we are letting in too many goals at the moment. Statistically we are among the worst goal conceders in the Premiership, though on the bright side we are no worse than a gaggle of teams (Hull, Bolton, Blackburn, Burnley, Wolves, Wigan). I personally think our defence will improve, and it certainly can’t get much worse.
But on the bright side we are scoring at a better rate than in any season for a decade or so (I couldn’t be bothered to check further back).
We’ve scored 24 goals in 15 games. 1.6 goals per game.
The best competitor in recent history is the Hartson/Berkovic season when we were destroying teams at the Boleyn. That was 1.47 goals over the season.
I’m not trying to make excuses for a sluggish start to the season. But the goalscoring is a big plus. Particularly as many were criticising the club for not committing more attention to the attack in the Summer.
Looking at the form table might give us hope as well. We’re currently 12th in that, with a DWLDWL pattern. Considering we had a LDLLLD pattern earlier in the season I would say we’ve improved a hell of a lot of late in result terms. The current form (even after a 0-4 defeat at home) would see us sail clear of any relegation trouble were it to continue.
And the elephant in the room has always been the fixtures. We’ve played 7 of the likely top 8 at home, and we have a long run of home games in the new year that give us all the chance we need to push up the table (Pompey, Wolves, Blackburn, Birmingham, Hull, Bolton, Stoke, Sunderland, Wigan).
If you want to be an extreme optimist, you can find a good reason to see this season very much as business as usual. Looking at the actual fixtures played the only glaring missed opportunity is the draw at home to Fulham, and they were 7th last season so maybe that is an insult to them. If we were losing home games to relegation rivals there would be alarm bells. But we simply haven’t had the opportunity yet to really make any big mistakes.
I still feel fairly confident that by February we will be comfortably clear of the relegation fight. Chins up!
I am with you on this Alex but there seems to be a lot of negativity around the Boleyn at the moment. Some people have very short memories for I have seen a lot worse from West Ham over the years. I took issue with a guy at the Burnley game who described the team as shocking. Yes, it is true that the defense was sloppy in letting in those 3 late goals but we did scoe 5 and it was a very entertaining game – what more could one ask for the money and are we not “supporters” of the team? The lads, especially the youngsters, need encouragement, not constant carping.
Totally agree Clive – I can remember teams that have struggled in the past and the current one bears very little resemblance to it. So fingers crossed.
I definitely think if we can get to the other side of the financial problems we will be in an incredibly strong position in terms of young talent and the low wage bill the club seem to be striving towards. Something to look forward to.
Best wishes.