Sheffield United's current position is slightly over par for the course
Sheffield United are currently 10th in the Championship and Alan Biggs argues that’s slightly above par
You can only really judge a season at the end of it. But like it or not, many mini-judgments, sensible or foolish, will always be made.
Take Sheffield United. The needle has swayed one way and then the other.
A steady run currently and yet a first defeat in five (at Charlton last Saturday) swings the needle backwards on public opinion. Exactly why it's best not to overreact either way.
And so to the question I posed here a fortnight ago - is 10th place par for the course, below it or above it?
I'd put it slightly above - at this stage; realistically all you could ask considering the background to this campaign.
Yes, I know, some fans are sick of hearing about it - the departure of big players and lack of confidence in the ownership.
After a while, even that smacks of an excuse if results aren't right. But they are genuine handicaps to a manager knowing he will be the lightning rod for general dissatisfaction if some sort of promotion bid isn't delivered in spite of everything.
So, to go into the international break four points off sixth is more than takeable. Three of the next four games (against fancied teams in Southampton, QPR and West Ham) will tell us more - with West Brom and Middlesbrough shortly behind.
Chris Wilder hasn't always got it right. He has to take his share of responsibility if his team doesn't turn up, as in the first half at home to Derby recently.
But by any reasonable measure this competitive position is an answer to those who question the belief, probably of the quieter majority, that United couldn't be in better hands for this situation, not to say others.
"Others" is what Wilder would wish for the January window - a reversal of the last one when he was scampering to make late, low budget signings.
For that, he has to give the owners more than a glimpse of what some investment in the team could achieve.
It means no let up after the break. But it's a prospect that's been entirely driven from the dressing room.