I think we can forget going up this season.
Look at the top of that table. We’re nowhere near them. 3 spots for the top league.
No clean sheets, 2nd worst defence in the league, 1 win in 7, 6 points from 21.
And that’s our record ‘when we’re playing well’. I dread to think what it’ll be like when we aren’t..
You're not doing your username any justice
We don't have the worst defence in the league, far from it, we've just conceded a lot of goals, largely against good sides, and a lot of them through misfortune and bad decisions.
So, rather than focusing on the result (the table), let's focus on what makes up that summary, which is still subject to wild variance.
Played West Brom at home, many peoples picks for top 6, deserved to win, despite not having brought in any of our main strikers
We've played QPR away (6th) and didn't deserve to lose that, even after the bad first 20 minutes - still didn't have any of our main strikers
We've already played Sheff Utd (Top) at home, and we deserved to beat them - still didn't have any of our main strikers
Drew away at Stoke, where we were effectively robbed - still didn't have any of our main strikers
We've played Reading away (5th), deserved to win that - still didn't have any of our main strikers
We beat Swansea, which was possibly the least deserved result we've had - one of our main strikers had been here about a day
We've just played probably the best team in the league away (for now anyway, with that front two), lost Howson and Lenihan during it, and still didn't deserve to lose - one of our main strikers scored
In any of those games have we been played off the park?
How many bad decisions have gone against us, leading to goals and a big change in the result? At least 4?
How many bad decisions have gone for us, leading to goals or saving goals, which have actually mattered? I can't think of any.
In any of those games have the opposition had better chances (even after the mistakes, and terrible decisions)?
For those games we've played we're probably around 4 points below par, for anyone with the highest expectations pre-season, 6 points from what we should have expected with xG etc, it's not the end of the world.
Have a look at the next 16 games, how many of those games will be as hard as most of the games we've played? Two, Burnley and Norwich away, but then we've played all three relegated prem teams away, and have them all to come at home second half of the season.
Have a look at who Burnley have played, 6/7 of them are absolute muck.
Norwich, 6/7 games against absolute muck sides, and they've look far from convincing in any of those, from what I've seen.
The only good result Sheff Utd had against a good side was us, and they didn't deserve it (on chances created/ given away), the rest have been against poor/average teams, largely at home.
In the next 13 games, there is zero fear against any of them, we could easily average 2 points a game, possibly even more if we continue to play the way we do, now with a decent striker, chuba coming back and possibly a second big addition. Even if we just win the home games and draw half of the away games, it's still 24 points.
We could easily be sat on around 30-32 points then, after 19 games, which even after the bad results at the start would head us toward 73-77 points, more than last year, and playing better football. I'd expect the second half of the season to bring more points than the first too.
We've had some exceptionally tough games, when our squad is still depleted and largely new to each other (pretty big overhaul), and still created more than the opposition (who are better than average). It's not Wilders fault that we can't score as many as we deserve, or that silly defensive mistakes are being ruthlessly punished in a way they would not normally do. Mistakes happen in any team, we made just as many mistakes under other managers, but I feel we've been a lot less fortunate this season (up to now).
We're playing well, and creating a lot of chances, I'm not sure what more you can ask for on that side, especially still missing the big ~£10m signing we've clearly been after, and some centre mid-backup. Although, we should still have had 10-12 points without him, whoever he is.