Lies, damn lies, statistics and poor spelling

[PaulWinch again]

Yeah but that's probably unlikely, we do need to offer more going forward.

[nigel]

I don't think we've ridden our luck at all so far this season. Aside from the woodwork giving us a hand, the sides we've beaten have created just as little against us as we apparently have against them. Shots on target can also be a bit misleading too, as an example, Senderos had too gilt edged chances against Liverpool which he really should have buried, the first in particular. We could have been 2-3 up at half time. I don't think luck was involved at all.  Likewise the defensive organisation has been very good.

We had games last season where no small amount of luck was involved and often the defending was a little bit last ditch, and obviously our poor play almost caught up with us.

This has been a tough start though. The only side we might have expected to beat was Hull, but other than that we've improved on results in terms of the respective games last season. Newcastle slaughtered us at VP last year. We got a point. Stoke twotted us in two games, and we beat them comfortably, and we beat Liverpool, who created very little.

We're second completely on merit. I'd like to see where we stand on shots on target against too (ah just read Savages article, largely against my better judgement). But the only stats that matter are that we're 2nd in the table with the best defensive record.

As for these stats. If they don't start improving in that run of fixtures we have over October and November, then I'll start worrying. But they probably will. We've got better footballers and more nous so I suspect the possession and seeing games out will improve. But we've got 4 games on the spin now where the opposition are a level above. Are we going to get the lions share of possession? Probably not. Will we pick up results still? Probably.

Once again, Tom, your post is excellent

[Clampy]

We've played 4 and we've scored 4. Yeah, it could be better but it's not that bad. The one thing missing against Liverpool was someone to hold the ball up and once Benteke's up and running that will help.

[Toronto Villa]

The fact that we are missing our most influential player and one of the top young forwards in Europe seems to have eluded a number of these experts. Nobody is denying that we have room for improvement, but needs to be tempered given where we are coming from and who we've been missing. It's like any club threatening the established top sides. Some pundits are just waiting for the moment it falls apart so they can be the first to say they knew all along it would happen.

[Jockey Randall]

I also think it comes down to the way you want to play though. Lambert, whether we agree or disagree obviously has his ideas on the best way for this team to play to achieve our highest possible placing.

The thing about our counter attacking style of play is that being solid at the back and grabbing the first goal in games is massively important to us. Unfortunately we've not had a solid defence for a lot of that time until this season. We conceded 61 goals last season. So far, we've conceded 1 in 4 games. I think the manager's philosophy is definitely up for debate but I don't really buy into this start being in any way down to 'luck' when all that has happened is the way the manager wants to play has been executed far better than we've previously seen it. I can't see him changing his philosophy any time soon considering what we've witnessed since he's been here.

It's probably worth considering as well that the reason for the low shot count is down to us and our system doing so well. Against Liverpool we got the goal and pretty much shut up shop. We'd probably have quite a few more shots on the board if we'd have gone behind in any of the games this season as we'd have had to change our style to try and get back in the game.

[Toronto Villa]

I wonder how the stats will read if we are sitting on 13 points later today?

[Clampy]

I wonder if Robbie Savage will change his mind again and tip us for relegation after yesterday?