Form

[Hound]

It’s a bit of shame our run from Brentford to Stoke, only picking up 5 points

Even three more points would have been massive for us right now, and got us really looking up the table. Swifts injury was a really bad blow for us, really hope he can stay fit now

tough games in there though - Bowen's only real blot so far was the Birmingham game, and I know its greedy, but a really shame we screwed that one up, or we genuinely could have been keeping an eye on 6th place. Stoke have had decent home form for a while and Barnsley are transformed under their new boss. 22/8 shots/shots on target against WBA compared to WBA's 7/2 tells you all you need to know about how well they are playing

Leeds got very lucky when they came here with the deflected cross handing them the win on a plate, and I think Brentford away is as tough a game as you'll get in this league at the moment

[Millsy]

Deary me, another stat oxf*rd so early on... BUT

...yeah I believe we have a great side and good team and my bet after the Cardiff game that we'd finish top half looks ever closer to paying for my holiday!

[Lower West]

Dare I say it but we're a bit McD. Playing badly but still coming away with the points, or maybe not badly, but not winning convincingly.

More passion and desire in more recent games. Likewise the players seem more comfortable with the formation and style of play. Replace Adam with a new Leigertwood and we would be formidable.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Deary me, another stat oxf*rd so early on... BUT

...yeah I believe we have a great side and good team and my bet after the Cardiff game that we'd finish top half looks ever closer to paying for my holiday!

Think my £30 on a top 6 finish I put on after the window closed is a bit too far fetched, sadly. A nice £500 windfall if it does come off.

[Lower West]

Deary me, another stat oxf*rd so early on... BUT

...yeah I believe we have a great side and good team and my bet after the Cardiff game that we'd finish top half looks ever closer to paying for my holiday!

Think my £30 on a top 6 finish I put on after the window closed is a bit too far fetched, sadly. A nice £500 windfall if it does come off.

My money is on a top 12. Though didn't expect the season to unwind as it has.

[Sutekh]

The "just a bit of fun" Championship table since Mark Bowen took over

Pos Team Pld - Pts

1. Leeds 14 - 30
2. WBA 14 - 29
   =============================
3. Brentford 14 -28
4. Reading 13 - 24
5. Millwall 14 - 24
6. Fulham 14 - 23
   -------------------------------------------------
7. Hull 14 - 23
8. Blackburn 14 - 22
9. Cardiff 14 - 21
10. Huddersfield 14 - 20
11. Middlesbrough 14 - 20
12. Sheff Wed 14 - 19
13. Nottm F 13 - 18
14. Bristol C 14 - 18
15. Preston 14 - 18
16. Swansea 14 - 17
17. Stoke 14 - 16
18. Barnsley 14 - 15
19. Birmingham 14 - 13
20. QPR 14 - 13
21. Derby 13 - 12
    ===========================
22. Charlton 13 - 10
23. Luton 14 - 10
24. Wigan 14 - 9

[AthleticoSpizz]

Play-offs is simply not good enough
We don’t do play-offs

Bowen out

[Stranded]

Shows just what an aberration that Brum game was. Only other defeats to teams in better form.

[Nameless]

We are one of only 2 teams in the Championship with no defeats in their last 5 games.

The other one is 22nd placed Barnsley !

[leon]

We are one of only 2 teams in the Championship with no defeats in their last 5 games.

The other one is 22nd placed Barnsley !

And that’s an indication that a point at theirs wasn’t such a bad result.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Yep, they have also landed on their feet with Struber......as seemingly we have with Bowen

Life is good right now

[WestYorksRoyal]

Shows just what an aberration that Brum game was. Only other defeats to teams in better form.

Bowen's only blot. We were poor for 70 minutes against Wigan; to go unchanged in the next match was clearly wrong. But he's a new manager who is still learning, so one bad result doesn't really bother me.

[URZZZZ]

Shows just what an aberration that Brum game was. Only other defeats to teams in better form.

Reflecting on it now and at the time, it was an awful result

But looking at the bigger picture, Birmingham had only lost 2 of their last 7 before our game, so there are two ways of looking at it

When you factor in two of their goals were unlikely to happen (their FK wouldn’t happen again if the guy tried it 20 times) I think we can just put it down to “one of those days”

[Millsy]

So as not to get carried away (FWIW I put my money where my mouth is and bet on us finishing top half months ago), I was arguing that you could look at our first few games as honeymoon games and the stats would then paint quite a dim picture. But three wins on the bounce after that and it sure is looking like they weren't just honeymoon games. Clutching at straws further we could argue that the Xmas/NY period is always a weird one as players are shattered (Preston looked jaded) and there is a lot of squad rotation, which favours us as we have a large squad so these wins may also be skewing things.

But as time goes on these things are looking less likely and it's probably just the case that we have a shrewd manager and a very good team. As I said, McDermott lifted us out of the crap within one season and with an arguably stronger squad there's no reason why this isn't going to be a similar situation. Come on Bowen!!!!!

[Snowball]

The biggest thing for me is the energy we are showing; how much harder we work when we lose the ball.

But we are a long way from the real deal, IMO and
I can't help thinking we might yet get a 3-0 tanking

[windermereROYAL]

Top of the form table from the last 6 games, 14 points.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

One for the stats guys...in the past have we ever won all our 4 Christmas/New year games?

Thinking back to promotion seasons and even in the 106 season we dropped points at Derby...

[Sutekh]

One for the stats guys...in the past have we ever won all our 4 Christmas/New year games?

Thinking back to promotion seasons and even in the 106 season we dropped points at Derby...

Before this season I believe that the most recent runs of 4 or more consecutive wins over the Xmas/new year period were

1965/66

27 Nov 65 - Reading 2-0 Brentford
11 Dec 65 - Reading 3-0 York City
27 Dec 65 - Reading 2-1 Peterborough United
01 Jan 66 - Reading 3-0 Walsall

1951/52

22 Dec 51 - Bristol C 1-3 Reading
25 Dec 51 - Reading 5-1 Aldershot
26 Dec 51 - Aldershot 0-2 Reading
29 Dec 51 - Reading 4-0 Ipswich Town
01 Jan 52 - Southport 0-2 Reading (FA Cup 2nd round, 2nd replay at Villa Park)
05 Jan 52 - Torquay United 0-3 Reading

[URZZZZ]

One for the stats guys...in the past have we ever won all our 4 Christmas/New year games?

Thinking back to promotion seasons and even in the 106 season we dropped points at Derby...

Before this season I believe that the most recent runs of 4 or more consecutive wins over the Xmas/new year period were

1965/66

27 Nov 65 - Reading 2-0 Brentford
11 Dec 65 - Reading 3-0 York City
27 Dec 65 - Reading 2-1 Peterborough United
01 Jan 66 - Reading 3-0 Walsall

1951/52

22 Dec 51 - Bristol C 1-3 Reading
25 Dec 51 - Reading 5-1 Aldershot
26 Dec 51 - Aldershot 0-2 Reading
29 Dec 51 - Reading 4-0 Ipswich Town
01 Jan 52 - Southport 0-2 Reading (FA Cup 2nd round, 2nd replay at Villa Park)
05 Jan 52 - Torquay United 0-3 Reading

Technically we did in the 16/17 season

Blackburn - 17th December
Norwich - 26th December
Fulham - 30th December
Bristol - 2nd January

Just the original Fulham game was postponed and rearranged in January

[John Madejski's Wallet]

My two bets on Reading to get promoted and win the league outright are officially ON