Blocks Of Ten

[Nibor]

We completed our first of Gary Johnson's patented blocks of 10 games at the start of October for a fantastic return of 17 points. This saw us remain unbeaten and top the table for two games and was met with delight from all City fans.

Our second set of 10 games was completed tonight with a 2-0 win and a very good performance against Ipswich. It looked like this:

October

Sat 20 A Norwich City W 3-1

Wed 24 H Southampton W 2-1

Sat 27 H Stoke City W 1-0

November

Sat 3 A Wolves D 1-1

Tue 6 H Charlton L 0-1

Sat 10 A Ipswich Town L 0-6

Sat 24 H Leicester City L 0-2

Tue 27 A Hull City D 0-0

December

Sat 1 A Watford W 2-1

Tue 4 H Ipswich Town W 2-0

That's P10 W5 D2 L3 for another 17 points.

This block contained our first defeat, and saw us lose 3 league games on the trot for the first time since August 2006.

Looking back on the last thread there were two themes which generally had a consensus.

1) This was our toughest block of 10 (on paper at least)

2) 13-15 points was a good target most people would be very happy with.

That means we've just got through our most difficult set of games with a points tally that City fans will again be delighted with. We've also got our first bad patch out of the way and bounced back from it, had our first real thumping which we reversed tonight, got our first (inevitable) set of suspensions out of the way, and we have not left the top 6 spots in the league since mid August. During this run we have had pretty good luck with injuries not losing a key player for more than a game.

After 20 games there can be no doubt now that our form is no fluke. We've had our share of luck both good and bad. We can see that Gary Johnson, backed by SteveL, has put together a team that can compete more than capably at this level, even though we all see things that we can improve on. Gary, Keith Millen, the board and the rest of the staff and all the players deserve a big pat on the back for beating the expectations of even the most wildly optimistic City fan.

On top of this we've had the fantastic distraction of a new training facility and potential new ground being announced. It's the best time to be a City fan since I started watching them in the 80s and I'm over the moon. So where do we go from here? Well - we start worrying about the future of course!

The next 10 games look like this:

December

Sat 8 A Plymouth

Sat 15 H Cardiff City

Sat 22 H Barnsley

Wed 26 A WBA

Sat 29 15:00 A Burnley

January

Tue 1 H Coventry City

Sat 12 H Colchester

Sat 19 A Crystal Palace

Tue 29 H Blackpool

February

Sat 2 A QPR

No game at this level is easy but those certainly aren't as daunting as the last lot.

During this period we may see the team strengthened by the return of Brooker, and one or two arrivals in the January window. We will probably see more injuries since we've been lucky so far and the weather will get heavier. We traditionally slump over the festive period though last season GJ managed to get from Dec 1st to Jan 31st before suffering a defeat.

What would you think is a reasonable target from this set of games?

I'd go for 17 points this time as a target. I said 15 for ones I thought were harder and the team beat it. I think all of our 5 home games are winnable and I think we can pick up some points on the road. That would put us on 51 points after 30 games - playoff form no question and pretty much safe from relegation.

[Alex_BCFC]

It looks like the easiest set of 10 on paper so we will most likely get less!

[mozo]

We lost three on the trot with two tough games to come, and the question loomed: Are we worthy of our position or were we just an over-achieving honeymoon club all along?

The answer arrived in the form of 7 points from 3 tough games.

Now, there's nothing wrong with analysing fixtures, doting over the league table, or considering the possibilities.

50 points will come, possibly in the next block of ten, soon we can begin to look beyond that landmark.

[mozo]

January looks VERY tasty!

Gotta put ourselves in a nice position this month and could be rosy come February.

[Rednready]

It looks like the easiest set of 10 on paper so we will most likely get less!

Last Christmas/New Year we had an easy run on paper but managed 4 poor draws against Rotherham, Cheltenham, Bournemouth and Leyton Orient. That was 8 points lost and the forum was pretty heated about the draws against poor opposition.

A different outlook this year, and GJ does go for wins, rather than accepting draws.

Looking at 34 points from 20 matches, thats on schedule for a play off spot and actually looking a possibility. Injuries/suspensions are the issue, but the squad players are looking great when brought on from the bench. Then we have Brooker and two ready made squad youngsters in Artus and Ribiero. Add Murray, Betsy, Vasko and the 2 Wilsons and we do have a lot of cover.

If we get to Jan 2end maintaining our current points ratio and no major injuries, GJ may not need the expense of new players.