Why won't their poor form continue?What was it about us utterly outclassing Derby and Boro, in their runs of 1 win in 8 and 9, that convinced you they had the quality, belief and legs to put another run of form together? When they've accumulated a largely unimpressive points per game rate of 1.5/6 all season?There is a great opportunity to be 5th come 5pm a week Saturday and then to stretch our legs and make their games in hand come May, irrelevant.
Momentum is always a factor which makes a lot of teams, including us, streaky and inconsistent. Obviously when the best player in the league is out and you're still repairing your defence, results aren't going to be great but even under Bruce we had good patches followed by bad ones, it's just what happens, players are human and become inhibited when things go against them. Conversely, some teams ie Derby/Boro/Bristol have all had impressive runs of form before, now Derby may be in the transition period of stopping defeats with draws and the odd win before going on another good run while we have to wait and see if Boro have bottomed-out. Bristol are curious in that as a largely unfancied side, they had a sensational nine wins on the spin but are halfway through a run almost as poor suggesting, like Hull, they are probably finding their level. Preston had an awful first half of the season and Neil was probably close to the sack but they had horrendous injuries and since New Year their upward projectory has lasted longer than even Hull and Bristol with whom you'd bracket as mid-table fodder and little more. The fortune they've had recently in their last two wins and their upcoming fixtures suggest they will probably have a downturn now just when they need to match an in-form and seemingly (lion) rampant, Villa. Finally, Wednesday have also been on an upturn, based initially on a solid defence but gradually adding goals now and seemingly a more complete team. However, they've had the fortune of building up confidence with these recent wins while playing a lot of the division's poorer sides. Lastly, on the momentum thing, since collapsing against us with three goals conceded in the last ten minutes at Villa Park, Sheffield United have not conceded a goal in their nine(?) games since which is quite astonishing, especially given how ropey their goalkeeper looked with a couple of our goals.Not sure what the point to my rambling is but I take comfort that this wacky league consistently shows that a great run can start from the pits of despair which I guess is what partially keeps us hoping and supporting through all the heartache. Anyway, we'll finish 6th at least, that's the main thing.