2 points?
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A comparison with 2006/07
What stats am I talking about?
2006/07 - 10 points from 5 games / 3 points from 3 games
2021/22 - 2 points from 1 game / 11 points from 5 games
2 points?
is it points dropped from winning positions / points gained from losing positions
I know that, I wrote about this sort of thing in my blog piece for the Preston game. It’s a good job we’re pretty good at coming back from a deficit because we’re diabolical at scoring the first goal and even worse than that at scoring in the first half. We’ve played twenty games in all competitions and I make it that we’ve been behind at some time in all bar three of them (Barnsley, Blackpool and Millwall) - by rights we’re lucky we’re not a few places lower in the table than we are
I was going to write a longer post about this and comparing with the recently departed man utd manager, whose team was also good at coming from behind.
the abridged version is that being able to come from behind is a good asset, but often going behind first is a bigger negative than the ability to turn around games is a positive.
it is unsustainable to expect that you will continue to be able to come from behind with enough regularly to overcome having a leaky defence at 0-0 , eventually the odds will catch up with you.
the first goal in a game is statistically the most important for a number of reasons. unless we can start to perform better at 0-0 then I fear that our current improvement in fortunes will be sadly short-lived.
when Mick McCarthy took over we went on a long winning streak, but out underlying stats didn't improve at all, the main thing that did improve was we didn't concede an early goal during those games, whereas that was a common feature during the end of the Harris regime. clearly whatever was causing that weakness wasn't really addressed, we were perhaps just due a bit of luck ant our results were reverting to the mean. in the longer term the weakness is still there and it will be a problem sooner rather than later.
Agreed to a point, and yes you were right with your answer.
We're one of only 4 teams in the Championship, League 1 and 2 to have scored first on 3 or fewer occasions this seasons - the others are Hull, Bolton (both 3) and Oldham (2). It might be a coincidence but Hull, Bolton and Oldham have won on every occasion they've scored first - we've won 2 and drawn 1. Would I expect each of those sides to continue their impressive records when they've scored first if they kept doing it? No.
There was another reasoning behind a comparison with the 2006/07 season. We failed to win a game that season after going behind or conceding first. It was part of a bizarre run. When Koumas turned his Leeds debut on its head, little did we think we'd have to wait over 2 years for the side to win another game when it conceded first. For all the good football at times, Jones's sides had that weakness when going behind, no doubts one of the reasons we never got promoted under him. If we had a 2-2 draw, it was more likely we'd given away a 2 goal lead than recovered a 2 goal deficit. That season I mentioned we managed to turn a 3-0 lead at Plymouth into a 3-3 draw in the last 20 minutes. Peterborough was always the one everyone remembered, but that 3-3 included two own goals from our defenders.
I see our comebacks as a good sign this season that we've got players who will roll up their sleeves and work hard to turn a game around. Yes, there are lots of things that need addressing, but having guts and fighting spirit is important.