- Aug 31, 2012
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Wasn't it last season that we had our best start since 60/61? As @coys200 says in the opening post, it's usually around mid-October that we start a "poor" run.
I think we deliberately play within ourselves during the first half of the season and due to the fact that our players are so much better than most other teams', we usually rack up plenty of points while doing so. The problem is that around October/November when the games start coming thick and fast and one or two injuries crop up, some of that gulf in quality is negated. Hopefully after this summer we will have more quality throughout the squad which will enable us to keep players fresher and turn some of those Autumn draws into wins.
We did have a decent start but were not really playing that well and came a cropper. I agree that October/November is our low point.
the other thing I have thought I noticed is that Poch experiments at the start of a season with players and positions. He appears to me to use the early season to suss out dome of the ideas perhaps he has been working on the training ground with. Come December the team gives the appearance of being more settled in personnel and shape.
Now I don't think this is bad, that is to try new things and give players a chance to prove themselves, it's just that we lose too many points by December. Last season we finished with 19 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats in the last 23 games. Right now we are on a run of 11 wins, 3 draws in the last 14. Back in 1966/7 we went unbeaten from New Years day onwards and of course won the FA Cup that year. I think we are on our longest run since then so maybe we can at least emulate that third place in the league and a cup win