Matchday 38 came and went, the season is now beginning to move in to its endgame as the 2016/17 season shapes up for its conclusion. For all sides barring Huddersfield and Wolves, there are 24 very important points on offer – for some sides these will be more ‘essential’ than ‘important’.
It was a high-scoring, hip-shooting matchday with only three drawn games and only one of those, the tie between Birmingham City and Newcastle, ending scoreless. Across the 11 games, 40 goals were scored with two sides, Brentford and QPR, hitting five goals apiece.
Here’s five things that Matchday 38 in the Sky Bet Championship taught us.
1. Rotherham are doomed.
Managers go on about ‘mathematical possibilities’ for this scenario versus that scenario but you can get as Euclidian as you want – Rotherham are still doomed for the drop to Sky Bet League One.
They are anchored firmly to the foot of the table, and only have that clichéd pride to play for. A meagre 17 points is all that they have managed to gain and have lost their last six games, conceding 19 goals whilst scoring just three themselves.
To put their situation in perspective, they are 24 points from safety, the exact number available from their remaining eight games. The last of the non-relegation places is currently held by Burton Albion on 41 points, the Brewers having a -14 goal difference. Rotherham’s goal difference is -54, meaning not only do they have to win ALL their remaining eight games but they have to gain a +5 winning margin in EVERY game.
2. Brentford should be a team in contention, but aren’t.
If you look solely at their ‘goals for total’, Brentford are up there with the highest scorers in the league. They have netted 60 times, a total good enough for the fifth-highest scoring side in the division.
Fair enough, 14 of these goals were scored by the now left Scott Hogan who is plying his footballing trade at Aston Villa. But aside from his contribution, the Bees have a 10-goal forward in Dane Lasse Vibe who has also laid on seven assists. They also have eight goals from Spaniard Jota who has weighed in with four assists.
It’s not the finding the net that Brentford have an issue with, it’s the other end of the field and their inability to stop the ball going in their own net. From fifth-highest scorers (60) to the joint-fourth conceders of goals (57), that’s where Brentford’s inconsistencies lie.
Owner Matthew Benham is said to run Brentford on a ‘Moneyball’ approach, using analytics to find ‘value’ in a player that other teams overlook. If that’s still the case, he might want to analyse at one end of the field in the off-season.
Click on the next page link for the final three things that cover fat ladies singing and goals galore.
