What a difference a month makes.
After three successive defeats before the International break, which included a 5-0 thrashing to Brighton, Norwich were under pressure to turn things around. But it was two more defeats that followed for Alex Neil’s side, who have dropped down to 8th in the Championship after their 5th straight loss.
It’s the perfect example of how fast things can change in one of the most competitive league’s in the world. Teams find themselves on hot runs of win after win, followed by spells where they can’t muster a single point for weeks.
It’s one of the reasons why the league is so entertaining. The teams at the bottom can beat the teams at the top on any given week and one good run over 4 or 5 weeks can be the difference between sitting in the relegation spots and fighting for the playoff places.
Just look at Aston Villa. They won just one of their opening 12 games and were in the bottom three until Steve Bruce took over 6 weeks ago. They have since earned 15 points and are now just 4 points outside of the promotion places. After their struggles at the start of the season it looked like promotion straight back to the Premier League was a pipedream, but now it’s beginning to look like they really could go up.
Huddersfield are another team that have had two very different spells of form. They started off with 7 wins from their opening 10 games, topping the league and proving themselves to be genuine promotion contenders. They’ve since slumped to 6th after earning just 4 points from their last 7 games.
Wigan handed Huddersfield their latest defeat last night, the first time the Latics have ever won a league game at Huddersfield. Wigan are still third from bottom but only on goal difference. If they can come up with the goods and begin a good run of form they could be in the top half of the table in no time.
When I met the chairman over the summer I could feel the passion and focus he possessed – to get Wigan back to the top. Hopefully the change of coach will start working because the Wigan fans would love to see some success again, that’s why so many turned up to celebrate the moment Mr Dave Whelan’s great statue got revealed at the DW stadium.
Up the tics!
#mmlove