With some fans still adament that we will win promotion, I would like to take this opportunity to give 16 reasons why we aren't good enough to challenge for promotion. Other than the obvious that we aren't very good, we have scored fewer goals than anyone in the current top 10, and a record of only one win against the current top 10 teams, that being against the team in 10th.
1) Our record against the current top 10 reads as : Played 10 Won 1 Drawn 4 Lost 5. The only win came against Gillingham, currently the team in 10th position, meaning that we have failed to beat any of the top 9 sides. In other words, we haven't beat any team that we could potentially meet in the Playoffs.
2) There is now an 8 point game to the last Playoff spot. City have shown on numerous occasions that we struggle to win, so the chance of making up eight points over 23 games is unlikely given that the Top 7 are all considerably better than us.
3) We've only had one consistent spell so far this season. If you take out October then our record would read as 3 wins, 5 draws and 9 defeats. We have also won just two of our last eleven games in all competitions and those games were both against teams who would be battling relegation if it wasn't for the points deductions given to other teams.
4) With just 27 goals ot our name, we have scored fewer than anyone in the top 10. Brentford have 29, Exeter and Wycombe have 31, Gillingham 32, Bury 34, Darlington and Rochdale have 35 each, Bradford have 40 and Dagenham have an impressive 45.
5) Conceded more than 6 of the current top 10, only Bradford, Exeter, Rochdale and Gillingham have conceded more, infact only Gillingham have a worse goal difference than that Imps.
6) Unlike all the teams in the top 10, we've lost more games than we've won. We are unsurprisingly the only team in the top half of the table who have a record like that with 9 defeats compared to 8 wins. However, City wouldn't even be in the top half of the table if it wasn't for the aforementioned points deductions as Rotherham would be 7th, pushing City to 13th.
7) Fewer home wins than anyone in the top 10 with just four victories. Darlington, Bury and Exeter all have 5, Wycombe, Brentford, Bradford, Dagenham and Rochdale all have 6, Gillingham have 7 and Shrewsbury have an exceptional 9. Infact, only four teams in the division have fewer home wins than the Imps.
8) Fewer away wins than seven of the top 10 with just 4. Only Shrewsbury, Rochdale and Gillingham have fewer defeats
9) Only Gillingham and Dagenham in the top 10 have conceded more on the road than City. The Imps have conceded 16 on their travels whereas Dagenham have let in 17 and Gillingham 26.
10) Lenell John-Lewis.
11) Other than Adrian Patulea, no-one has had a free-scoring run in front of goal for the Imps. Two of Frecklington's five have come from the spot.
12) We've lost four games in which we scored the first goal. Those games came against Derby, Dagenham and Redbridge, Kettering and Exeter.
13) We've only won twice when conceding the first goal. Those two games were against Accrington Stanley and Macclesfield Town.
14) Not one City player features in the Division's top 20 scorers, only Darlington in the top 10 can also fall under that category.
15) City have one of the lowest shots-to-goals ratios in the League
16) We're a bit crap.
We've got 16 problems but the Playoffs aren't one
Posted by: theimps.tk (IP Logged)
Date: 03/01/2009 17:37
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
The stat against teams in the top half is slightly misleading. We have only lost to D&R at home and the other defeats have all been away from home. I do agree that we are currently not good enough. It does now depend on how Horsfield and this mystery man that Jackson mentioned in the BBC interview can move the team forward. Personally I think we will scrape into the play offs. Can we go up? Is mystic Meg available.
D_e_a_n Patulea is in the top 20 scorers isn't he?
Not according to the League 2 stats section on our O/S
He is not in the list on alphabetical order. He has 8 goals all of them in the league if I am not mistaken. On league goals only he would be even higher.
I understand a certain air of cynicism, but most of your pints are fairly obvious - we are 12th so the chances that Brentford, Bradford, Wycombe etc have scored more than us. However, our defensive record is reasonably good, and only 2 years ago - it was pretty much Bristol Rovers defensive performances that got them promotion.
Halfway through the season, and we have been inconsistent no question - and rightly 12th. But none of us apart from October believe we have been firing to our capabilities, and yet we sit 8pts off breaking into the top 7?
January is a big month, and we play some good sides - but we still have a good chance of breaking into the top 7. Stockport and Bristol have done it over recent years why can't we? Horsfield is a good signing, a striker we haven't had all season - and a player that could bring the best out of certain under performers.
But then compare it to where we were this time last season, is that improvement? Yes. Of course we all want success, but patience is equally as vital and giving a manager a chance too build a team good enough to go up.
Great post totally agree, just wish Jacko had not said what he did in early August.
We're a work progress for me and whether Jacko gets time to take us to the next level is another matter entirely.
I've had a few PMs about the name of this article and what it means. Basically the song "99 Problems but a B-tch Aint One" came into my head as I was writing the article.
Fair article, so what about january, if we bring in more than Horsefield do you still think the impossible is achivible,we did it in the 2002-2003 season MIRACLES DO HAPPEN, but lightining doesn't strik in the same place twice
Or, ignoring Jacko's pre-season hype, 11th isnt that bad for a club that were truly shocking last year, has some promising young players and a small budget but is well placed (hopefully) to ride out current financial problems.
im gunna comment each as i read them because if i stop laughing then i may not be bothered to actually comment on this article. Number 2 is f*ckin brilliant, so theres absolutely no chance that a team can catch a team whos 8 points ahead with literally only 69 points to play for. Yes itl will never happen
Number 3, since when has league 2 ever been about consistency? Look at how many teams have made the play-offs being not only mid-table but near the bottom for much of the season
It's probabily just a reality check and to be fair most are spot on ,some not like ljl lol.
We have been so in and out, a brilliant oct with Jacko motm followed by a s.h.i.t. nov ,just realised i know life tends to go in cycles but didn't we have a excellent oct with Schofield who also won moth then we never won a game in nov scary.lol.
10 Lenell John Lewis, a bit harsh don't you think? I don't class the reason we won't/can't make the playoff's is just 1 player. He's a good home bred player that you don't see a lot of, i can't fault him for much tbh.
The play-offs are still a good possibility, but we lack that pinacle finish infront off goal. If we are to improve our chances of promotion, its a simple case of scoring more goals.
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