Chance to bury Bristol City (2 Viewers)

[Sutty]

The two games next week are massive. If we beat Peterborough and win in Bristol, there's a decent chance we'll be 7 points clear of Bristol City with 4 to play.

They have Forest away on the Saturday I think, which is not an easy game.

Don't want to get ahead of myself, but today's win, with Donny and Pompey having lost, gives us a chance to almost put relegation worries to bed.

 

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[ccfcway]

i am a massive CCFC fan, but even I dont think we will win 4 in a row, which is just what you have suggested

I would be over the moon at a win v peterborough and a draw v bristol city, we just cant lose that game !!!

 

[kg82]

Has anyone got the league standings at Christmas?

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Has anyone got the league standings at Christmas?

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-championship/2011-2012/table/2011-12-26

 

[sky_blue_up_north]

Win our home games we'll be safe now... which is nothing short of amazing considering where we were.. brillant job by AT, where are all the people who wanted him sacked now

 

[PWA1934]

How times change!

When I came on here after we beat you in December it was very much that you were relegated and had no hope! And now out of the relegation zone..Funny old world.

No idea if you'll beat us, our consistency is all over the shot, beat Reading, lose to barnsley, then we go and beat Leicester. Tough to call, I reckon we will draw against you.

 

[kg82]

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-championship/2011-2012/table/2011-12-26

Thank you!

 

[Colonel Mustard]

brillant job by AT, where are all the people who wanted him sacked now

Most are right here. Where was this team passion for the first two-thirds of the season? That's always been the point.

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

Would be massive if we could beat Peterborough and Bristol fail to win, we could then go into the Bristol game where a loss would still keep us out the relegation zone.

 

[@richh87]

Most are right here. Where was this team passion for the first two-thirds of the season? That's always been the point.

There was always passion. First time i've heard anyone saying there wasn't.

You know the reasons that this has been so tough for the club - don't pretend not to it's getting tedious.

 

[kg82]

How times change!

When I came on here after we beat you in December it was very much that you were relegated and had no hope! And now out of the relegation zone..Funny old world.

No idea if you'll beat us, our consistency is all over the shot, beat Reading, lose to barnsley, then we go and beat Leicester. Tough to call, I reckon we will draw against you.

2 completely different halves of a season. We usually get it but the other way round. Add to that now we're 6 unbeaten and hitting form just at the right time, showing fight and passion and just got out of the relegation zone for the first time in about 5 months the fans are, rightly, full of confidence!

 

[coundonskyblue]

How times change!

When I came on here after we beat you in December it was very much that you were relegated and had no hope! And now out of the relegation zone..Funny old world.

No idea if you'll beat us, our consistency is all over the shot, beat Reading, lose to barnsley, then we go and beat Leicester. Tough to call, I reckon we will draw against you.

I hope Posh don't get dragged into it (as long as well still stay up). Their one of those teams I have a soft spot for after we had a good day out there a few years ago (2010 I think?).

Seemed a good group of fans and a great old style ground.

 

[kdrinkell]

I hope we bury Brizzle,really dislike them

 

[Colonel Mustard]

I hope we go to Bristol with every intention of beating them, because they sure as hell will be up for beating us. Setting up shop for the point would be very tough going indeed.

 

[dongonzalos]

I hope Posh don't get dragged into it (as long as well still stay up). Their one of those teams I have a soft spot for after we had a good day out there a few years ago (2010 I think?).

Seemed a good group of fans and a great old style ground.

heard their chairman on the radio the other day he impressed me. It does make a difference having a chairman coming on the radio explaining decisions, future plans finances etc...

Lots of their fans were phoning up commending him aswell

 

[Gaz]

A Forest
H Coventry
A Birmingham
H West Ham
H Barnsley
A Burnley

Bristol need 4 points from us and the trees if they are to stay up imo.
Brum and West spam will be tough games for them but Barnsley and Burnley shouldn't really have much to play for by then.

 

[covcity4life]

"Barnsley and Burnley shouldn't really have much to play for by then."

they can be dangerous games when players play withour fear or pressure

 

[Astute]

A Forest
H Coventry
A Birmingham
H West Ham
H Barnsley
A Burnley

Bristol need 4 points from us and the trees if they are to stay up imo.
Brum and West spam will be tough games for them but Barnsley and Burnley shouldn't really have much to play for by then.

Burnley had nothing to play for yesterday. They won away at Pompey 5-1

 

[BurbageSkyBlues]

This concept of 'nothing to play for'........

So many factors can influence the mindset and the outcome, surely? What about players and managers wanting new contracts, fans' expectancies, passion, young players trying to establish themselves in the first team.

I think it is hard to generalise, and impossible to predict the outcome, because 'there is nothing to play for' ?

 

[Otis]

There have been many cases though where teams like this turn up to games, try their best but lack that little bit of fight in their bellies.

 

[Astute]

16th place, 10 points out of the top 6 and 16 points out of the bottom 3.

Never said they won't try to win. Beating Pompey 5-1 away proves they are up for it. Not going up or down this season though.

 

[Astute]

There have been many cases though where teams like this turn up to games, try their best but lack that little bit of fight in their bellies.

Spot on. Now they can play without fear of relegation or fear of losing in a promotion hunt. A team with relegation fears can play giving 101% effort, but their nerves get the better of them. Most players with nothing to win or lose will still want to win, but will they give 100% and risk injury in tackles and that sort?

Works both ways. Some teams when relegated with games to go end up on a winstreak. Some players can handle pressure better than others.

 

[EleanorRigby]

I will use an old, boring but very true football quote, take every game as it comes and one at a time the next is Peterborough. Probably the most unpredictable team in the division. A win is vital not just for the obvious reason but to keep the momentum going, we are on a roll which seems to happen to all clubs just happened to us a bit late.

 

[skybluelee]

Spot on. Now they can play without fear of relegation or fear of losing in a promotion hunt. A team with relegation fears can play giving 101% effort, but their nerves get the better of them. Most players with nothing to win or lose will still want to win, but will they give 100% and risk injury in tackles and that sort?

Works both ways. Some teams when relegated with games to go end up on a winstreak. Some players can handle pressure better than others.

Nobody can give more than 100%! :facepalm:

 

[Gaz]

I'v seen enough football to know that if a team doesn't need the points on the last game of the season, then they don't play with the same intensity as they would have before.

That said its not ever a given fact that the opposition will just roll over for you, example being our game at Charlton a few seasons back.
But if we needed points on the last day of the season, who would you rather play ?, a team who were fighting for there lives or a team who were mid table 'with nothing to play for'

 

[Otis]

I'v seen enough football to know that if a team doesn't need the points on the last game of the season, then they don't play with the same intensity as they would have before.

That said its not ever a given fact that the opposition will just roll over for you, example being our game at Charlton a few seasons back.
But if we needed points on the last day of the season, who would you rather play ?, a team who were fighting for there lives or a team who were mid table 'with nothing to play for'

That is exactly right. Yes players will try their best, but will they go in for those 50/50 challenges? Will they chase lost causes, will they risk diving in for the ball risking injury? Peterborough next week is a much better proposition for us that say Barnsley for instance who only wanted to stifle us and tried only not to lose. Peterborough will come here and play a more open game of football. They now know they are all but safe. A more open team is much more preferable than a Barnsley team whose tactics we very nearly didn't overcome.

 

[curlyc_]

Nobody can give more than 100%! :facepalm:

what about all those players that at the end of the day give 110% and are over the moon. triffic..

 

[speedie87]

Nobody can give more than 100%! :facepalm:

How giving 110% is actually possibleMAY 04 2011

Quantitative pedants always wince whenever anyone -- usually an athlete -- rattles off a phrase like "we gave 110% out there tonight."

"It's impossible to give more than 100%," they'll say. "That's what 'percent' means."

But of course percentages greater than 100 are possible. That's how Google's Android Market can grow by 861.5% in year-over-year revenue, just to pick one example.

It all depends on what your baseline is -- x percent of what. But it's usually easier for tongue-clicking know-it-alls to just assume athletes are dumb than to try to actually figure out what it is they might be talking about.

Here's actually a more serious (and more mathematically precise) way to look at this. Economist Stephen Shmanske has a new paper in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports titled "Dynamic Effort, Sustainability, Myopia, and 110% Effort" that actually brings some stats and benchmarks to bear to figure this out in the context of the NBA.

For Shmanske, it's all about defining what counts as 100% effort. Let's say "100%" is the maximum amount of effort that can be consistently sustained. With this benchmark, it's obviously possible to give less than 100%. But it's also possible to give more. All you have to do is put forth an effort that can only be sustained inconsistently, for short periods of time. In other words, you're overclocking.

And in fact, based on the numbers, NBA players pull greater-than-100-percent off relatively frequently, putting forth more effort in short bursts than they can keep up over a longer period. And giving greater than 100% can reduce your ability to subsequently and consistently give 100%. You overdraw your account, and don't have anything left.

I haven't dived into the paper (it's behind a subscription wall, natch), but doesn't this seem like a rough-but-reasonable analysis of what athletes and other people mean when they use language this way? Shouldn't we all calm down a little with rulers across the fingers, offering our ready-made "correct" use of the rhetoric of percentages?

(Via @pkedrosky.)