Average to good (patchy). Not as dominant a start as last season but steadily improving whilst the team "gels"(tm). Some of the results have been a bit dodgy but there have been some good ones in there too. I think we will improve and move up a gear or two. As it stands- considering all these factors- we are in a good position with 37 games to play!
If we didn't let the lead slip on saturday we would be in 3rd place and then the start would have been considered good. Such is the nature of football.
With the number of new players I think its a good start. Its probably the most rebuilt team in the division, a settled squad will also bring about improved performances but I think this team is a confidence team with players like Martin lacking in confidence when he came here, Benson taking a few games to get off the mark, Abbot not off the mark and Wagstaff consistantly inconsistant.
Id be happy to win every game 1-0 if it gets us out this league but it would be nice to see the quality improve over the course of time.
Saturday is a massive game, its 4 games unbeaten now and we need to keep that going but it will be a lot tougher than league positions suggest. This match will be a good judge of the teams character
[cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite]all this time to gel and new players stuff seems a good reason for the inconsistancy until i hear colin wanker say he had 8 new players at qpr ...... but then again he can lift players to the max
Sounds like he was using it as an excuse for a draw at home to Millwall.
Out of the play-off positions on goal difference 2 points away from an automatic place. That's not a bad start given all our changes.
The key now is for players like Racon to perform to the best of their ability consistently. He showed last night what he is capable of. More please Therry for the remaining 37 matches.
id say points wise NO mainly due to the teams that we have dropped points to i expected more than 2 points from tranmere,dagenham,exeter.
i think the squad we have is more than capable of not dropping points to those 3 teams named above, it puts more pressure on getting points from
Plymouth a)
Brighton h)
Carlisle a)
Sheff Wed h)
Swindon a)
Peterborough a)
Performance wise from the games i have been to i have not yet thought that we actually can play to the expected standard required to go up,
i expect us to go up this season otherwise i will deem it as a catostrophic failure and the consequences do not bear thinking of.
i expect more, i want more but out of the games above i cant see more than 4 points
I'd say it's been a below average start. Yes we're 7th only two points off second but what we've seen on the pitch has been pretty poor. And we've needed late winners to win 2 of our home games against poor sides. Notts County should've beaten us, Tranmere outplayed us for large periods, Dagenham were unlucky as well. Apart from Huddersfield away we haven't played a team that i'd class as a top side likely to be in the shake up at the end of the season.
We've beaten:
Bournemouth (1st game was obviously a good time to play them)
Orient
Notts County
MK Dons
But failed to beat Oldham, Tranmere, Exeter and Dagenham. Teams IMO that a side looking for promotion should be beating. 3 points from 12 against that lot is way below average.
We'll have a much better idea of where we stand in six weeks time as our next 7 games are:
Brentford away
Plymouth away
Brighton home
Carlisle away
Sheff Weds home
Swindon away
Peterborough away
Some tough ones coming up including 5 out of 7 away and 2 of the harder home games we're likely to face, but hopefully we have a bit of momentum now.
The one big plus is that we haven't played well at all yet we're near the play offs. If we can up our game it bodes well for us.
I don't know what to make of our start to the season, after we had brought in the likes of Reid, Lee Martin and Benson you'd definitely expect our attack to have looked a bit more threatening than it has so far. However considering it has not done so at all, 15 points from 9 games and 7th place in the table with as much room for improvement as we have certainly gives us a decent chance of promotion and isn't that bad at all.
No offence to these teams but with 3 of the teams above us being Rochdale, Carlisle and Bournemouth you'd expect them to fall away a bit with their resources and we have a decent gap to the 2 bigger teams in the division in Southampton and Sheff Wed.
I think our points total has been made to look alot betta than it really is, just by the so called 'big hitters' of the league having (like us) atrotious inconsistancies with their results.
As many ahve said i expect a lot more than 3 points from d&r, exeter and tranmere, but if we then pick up a 3 wins and a couple of draws in the next 7 matches then it'll prob even itself out.
I am actually starting to feel alot more confident about the season thou, first time in a long time we dont look like conceeding, and as every pundit will tell you the start of a great team is a solid base, just a shame our best creative players only perfrom from the bench
Two good results with ten men - especially given that Bournemouth are now in an automatic promotion place.
But we've squandered points against D&R, Notts County, Tranmere, Exeter etc who we should have beaten. Would a side with promotion credentials have dropped points against all those teams? We have a lot of ground to make up.
But we've squandered points against D&R, Notts County, Tranmere, Exeter etc who we should have beaten. Would a side with promotion credentials have dropped points against all those teams? We have a lot of ground to make up.
It is possible when the entire league is completely average. I'm not going to act as if I'm not disappointed with those results and I get annoyed when a draw away to TRANMERE ROVERS is considered a decent result but I would be very surprised if any of the promotion candidates dealt with most of the teams in the league as easily as Norwich and Millwall did in the back end of last season.
We started the season with a new team that would need a good few matches to gel and play winning football and therefore it was predictable that we would squander points, so surely it is better to squander points to teams that are unlikely to be in the promotion mix than to promotion rivals.
So a good start but the next 6 games require the team to play better and not give points to our rivals.
[cite]Posted By: BlackForestReds[/cite]Those four teams are in the bottom half dozen in the division and of the twelve points on offer we picked up just three. That isn't good enough.
From here we have to start consistently winning before the gap widens.
We picked up 7 points from four matches against teams in the top 10, and 10 from six matches against the top half. These are teams that haven't dropped many points this season, but they dropped more than their fair share to us.
Twisting statistics is great.
We've only played three teams in the bottom half. Not sure where you get the 'those four teams' from.
From the league table you have to say it's been ok, but as others have said - performances have not reflected that of a side who are supposed to be promotion contenders. Of course the best sides can pick up points when they don't play well which is what we've seen, but those sides also dole out their share of comfortable wins and even the odd drubbing - which we've not even come close to.
[cite]Posted By: lancashire lad[/cite]We started the season with a new team that would need a good few matches to gel and play winning football and therefore it was predictable that we would squander points, so surely it is better to squander points to teams that are unlikely to be in the promotion mix than to promotion rivals.
So a good start but the next 6 games require the team to play better and not give points to our rivals.
I see it differently - we've dropped points against poorer teams, meaning that we have to pick up points against the bigger teams - if we beat the poorer teams we don't need to win against the better ones - draws will do.
Comments
If we didn't let the lead slip on saturday we would be in 3rd place and then the start would have been considered good. Such is the nature of football.
Id be happy to win every game 1-0 if it gets us out this league but it would be nice to see the quality improve over the course of time.
Saturday is a massive game, its 4 games unbeaten now and we need to keep that going but it will be a lot tougher than league positions suggest. This match will be a good judge of the teams character
The good news is 17 other teams have been even worse.
Sounds like he was using it as an excuse for a draw at home to Millwall.
The good news is 17 other teams have been even worse.[/quote]
Thats the best and most true statement out of the lot! Well said.
The key now is for players like Racon to perform to the best of their ability consistently. He showed last night what he is capable of. More please Therry for the remaining 37 matches.
i think the squad we have is more than capable of not dropping points to those 3 teams named above, it puts more pressure on getting points from
Plymouth a)
Brighton h)
Carlisle a)
Sheff Wed h)
Swindon a)
Peterborough a)
Performance wise from the games i have been to i have not yet thought that we actually can play to the expected standard required to go up,
i expect us to go up this season otherwise i will deem it as a catostrophic failure and the consequences do not bear thinking of.
i expect more, i want more but out of the games above i cant see more than 4 points
that total will be well below desired total
We've beaten:
Bournemouth (1st game was obviously a good time to play them)
Orient
Notts County
MK Dons
But failed to beat Oldham, Tranmere, Exeter and Dagenham. Teams IMO that a side looking for promotion should be beating. 3 points from 12 against that lot is way below average.
We'll have a much better idea of where we stand in six weeks time as our next 7 games are:
Brentford away
Plymouth away
Brighton home
Carlisle away
Sheff Weds home
Swindon away
Peterborough away
Some tough ones coming up including 5 out of 7 away and 2 of the harder home games we're likely to face, but hopefully we have a bit of momentum now.
The one big plus is that we haven't played well at all yet we're near the play offs. If we can up our game it bodes well for us.
Nobody seems to be setting the division alight and a lot of teams we thought would be doing well at the begionning of the season aren't.
No offence to these teams but with 3 of the teams above us being Rochdale, Carlisle and Bournemouth you'd expect them to fall away a bit with their resources and we have a decent gap to the 2 bigger teams in the division in Southampton and Sheff Wed.
As many ahve said i expect a lot more than 3 points from d&r, exeter and tranmere, but if we then pick up a 3 wins and a couple of draws in the next 7 matches then it'll prob even itself out.
I am actually starting to feel alot more confident about the season thou, first time in a long time we dont look like conceeding, and as every pundit will tell you the start of a great team is a solid base, just a shame our best creative players only perfrom from the bench
Two good results with ten men - especially given that Bournemouth are now in an automatic promotion place.
But we've squandered points against D&R, Notts County, Tranmere, Exeter etc who we should have beaten. Would a side with promotion credentials have dropped points against all those teams? We have a lot of ground to make up.
It is possible when the entire league is completely average. I'm not going to act as if I'm not disappointed with those results and I get annoyed when a draw away to TRANMERE ROVERS is considered a decent result but I would be very surprised if any of the promotion candidates dealt with most of the teams in the league as easily as Norwich and Millwall did in the back end of last season.
So a good start but the next 6 games require the team to play better and not give points to our rivals.
From here we have to start consistently winning before the gap widens.
We picked up 7 points from four matches against teams in the top 10, and 10 from six matches against the top half. These are teams that haven't dropped many points this season, but they dropped more than their fair share to us.
Twisting statistics is great.
We've only played three teams in the bottom half. Not sure where you get the 'those four teams' from.
Hope I'm wrong of course.
I see it differently - we've dropped points against poorer teams, meaning that we have to pick up points against the bigger teams - if we beat the poorer teams we don't need to win against the better ones - draws will do.