Title Race | This vs Last Season

[AG7]

A lot has been said about us being in 'crisis' and our 'form' not being what it was last season and especially our defense has come under intense scrutiny from all ends ... it's time to set some records straight.

Here I have created a table of games (separate Home and Away fixtures) for both Manchester clubs from last season and this season so far ... you can't compare that last year after 14 games we were at X point and this year after 14 we are at Y ... you have to consider whom these games were against and which ones were at home and which were away. So this table takes care of it in a sense that now here is a comparison between Apples with Apples and Oranges with Oranges ... yes, yes, before some genius points out I have equated the three new teams coming from Championship to the three that were relegated last year (I know, but we have to equate those fixtures somewhere).

I won't go about what to look for where in this table as it's pretty self-explanatory and all of you can go compare goals for, goals against, home, away, ours vs. scum etc. yourself ... but here is the bottom line: We are 3 points better than last season, we have conceded 6 less goals (against same fixtures last year), our goal difference is also 3 better ... while Rags are -9 on goal difference if compared to their same fixtures last year and -2 on total points.

Now end the non-sense of City being sleepy and what we aren't doing right ... on wards and upwards ... C'mon City!

PS. Needless to say, I will update this table (in this thread itself), after every weekend when we and them both have played the next fixture each.

Title Race 14.JPG

[john68]

Cheers AG, It pretty much explains what I said in another thread in a more graphic way. Keep it updated, it may prove interesting.

[AG7]

Have just updated the table with added comparison for separate Home and Away games as well.

- We are at exactly the same place in Home games, points wise and goal difference wise, except we have conceded 3 less goals at home this season in same fixtures but then have also scored 3 less in them, so net effect is zero.

- Away, we have been better, have scored the same no. of goals but have conceded 3 less, so are better off 3 on goal difference and also have taken 3 points more away than last season.

- Scum on the other hand as shown in the total are poor off than last season same fixtures but their home form is poorer than their away form, they are 3 better in goal difference and a point more when it comes to away fixtures.

Rest is in the sheet. Some pretty useful stats once you look at it a little.

[AG7]

Updated table attached - after 15 games.

Title Race at 15 Games.JPG

We are marginally ahead of last season, just 1 point better and only 1 ahead in GD from last year.

What's telling is that the Scum are -13 on goal difference from last year so they are leaking left right and centre which should be good for us in the derby over the weekend, but then we haven't been scoring as freely ... what a great time to find our form perhaps.

Another worrying thing is we only drew 5 games all of last season ... this year we have already drawn 6. Still not too worried as at this stage we are still better off than last (on pure game v game stats).

[kinkylola]

At first glance more draws may seem bad, but if we learn to scrap draws from would-be losses, we will come out far ahead.

Surprising to me that our defence is even close after our beginning and how out of sync the defense/gk seem at times. Hopefully it continues to improve

[Dameerto]

Cheers for that - interesting thread.

[Crossie]

I remember last season we would win 3 or 4.1, we were probably not noticing the 1 because we were battering teams but would still present the odd gift and be punished.

This is a great thread, sticky maybe?

[Original Dub]

Yeah good shout for sticky. Well done on this thread.

[Chinners]

Good work AG7!!

[Goataldo]

Top drawer.

I have already used these stats to shoot down a rag, a tree, and a hammer, and that was just today. Excellent stuff.

[Arjan Van Schotte]

damned lies.....

we don't seem as good as last seaso, and i don't think we are.

barring that end of dec/whole of jan period, we're simply not playing as well. that's how it seems to me. and you can dress up the stats however you want, but we're not right, for some reason.

[Goataldo]

damned lies.....

we don't seem as good as last seaso, and i don't think we are.

barring that end of dec/whole of jan period, we're simply not playing as well. that's how it seems to me. and you can dress up the stats however you want, but we're not right, for some reason.

Couldn't you just see it as getting as good results as last term, whilst still yet to play our best stuff?

[dazby]

Some of you have very short memories about last season. We played a lot of below par games last season, yet you are only choosing to remember the good home games.

[Grandad Rosler]

And we can all surely remember that the title went down to the wire??? The way people bang on its as if we had it sewn up in Jan last season!
Long season people and we are comparatively better off without playing particularly well
Good work AG

[Arjan Van Schotte]

damned lies.....

we don't seem as good as last seaso, and i don't think we are.

barring that end of dec/whole of jan period, we're simply not playing as well. that's how it seems to me. and you can dress up the stats however you want, but we're not right, for some reason.

Couldn't you just see it as getting as good results as last term, whilst still yet to play our best stuff?

that's exactly how i do see it mate, but the performances concern me. with the players at our disposal, we really should piss this league.

[Nigels Tackle]

damned lies.....

we don't seem as good as last seaso, and i don't think we are.

barring that end of dec/whole of jan period, we're simply not playing as well. that's how it seems to me. and you can dress up the stats however you want, but we're not right, for some reason.

100% this

[Tokyo Blue]

damned lies.....

we don't seem as good as last seaso, and i don't think we are.

barring that end of dec/whole of jan period, we're simply not playing as well. that's how it seems to me. and you can dress up the stats however you want, but we're not right, for some reason.

Couldn't you just see it as getting as good results as last term, whilst still yet to play our best stuff?

that's exactly how i do see it mate, but the performances concern me. with the players at our disposal, we really should piss this league.

Damn these opponents and their "trying to stop us winning" behaviour. It's just not fair.

[AG7]

Thank you all for the positive feedback. As I said earlier, I'll keep this updated in this thread after each round of games is played by both clubs.

It's definitely a feel-good table to look at right now given our general overall demeanor this season but the slight problem with tracking the title race this way is that last year we won both the derbies, and won them handsomely by 6-1 and 1-0 (a total of 7-1), which created a goal difference of +6 for us and -6 for them so a swing of 12 between us ... and we know how we won the title in the end, on this goal difference.

So yes if we are to track the progress this way, we have got a massive massive game on our hands this weekend. I think we won 6-1 at their place because it was the first derby of the season, and things were a lot tighter the second time around ... so this year too expect any fireworks to happen in the first derby and not when we visit them later on towards the end of the season. It helps that this is at our place this time.

A stat that Gary Lineker mentioned at the end of MotD this week was that top (Scum) and bottom (QPR) of the table teams both have conceded the first goal in same no. of games this season, but what matters is the end result. So while their defense is leaky, their attack has done more than enough for them so far. What the comparative table will also highlight is how we fare against the big clubs, and last year it was 2 out of 2 against United. We have got to do that again this year, as they despite losing to us twice still managed to amass same no. of points last year. With our draw against Chelsea away (vs. last year's loss) and Arsenal's draw at home (vs. last year's win) has us a point down against big clubs already.

So again, a massive massive game ... but bring 'em on!

[Swales4ever]

a belated well done from me, too AG7.
much appreciated and interesting.
cheers for this.

[AG7]

Table updated:

Title Race at 16 Games.JPG

As I said the derbies are very important to us ... last year we won both so that's +6 points to us and -6 to them in those fixtures and +6 on goal difference to us and -6 to them ... and in the end we won by goal difference, they managed to get those 6 points elsewhere and were at par on points with us ...

One fixture, and this one last year was just 1-0 btw and not the 6-1 but it screws up our comparative table and we are not so fine anymore all of a sudden as all values go into negative ... Our home record vs. same fixtures last season is now 5 points worse off, and -4 on goal difference as well. As for overall, we are at -3 goals scored, -2 goals given, -1 on goal diff, and -2 on points ... so all gone to negative. They on the other hand have gone into positive and are a point better now overall (vs. their own last year fixtures).

Let's see ... tough game next, although Newcastle aren't playing that well but still ... and they'll get a shit Sunderland at home, already tired team will come to them after another mid-week fixture on Tuesday (against Reading, rescheduled due to water logged pitch earlier).

If there is any hope ... it's in Mancini's last words today: "We have the players and the spirit to recover and I believe we will still win the Premier League and FA Cup double." Surely, he is feeling the pressure and saying this to deflect the Kahlood/Sheikh Mansour anger and disappointment?