Full marks to @palarsehater, after many thanks and promises to buy a drink due to him saving loads of money on train tickets, he came up trumps. I confirmed to him who @clive is, his turn is next.
Sandgaard is an egotistical twat. How many other owner would clap their fans at an away ground. And its not like he's just taken over or funded the signing of Ronaldo.
The unusually warm weather didnt help. Players were spent with 10 to go.
Some good all round play but not having a decent finisher meant we didnt win. This season will go down as the "wasted" one. We will end up 8th -10th and rue not signing someone to challenge Stockley as a No 9.
Even though we need a striker we also need a left footed centre half. O'Connell showed how awkward it us trying to play out on the "wrong" foot.
4500 home fans for a team that lost in the play-offs. Dreadful. I think the league could be spiced up a bit if there was a handicap system based on season ticket sales. Sheff Wed would start on 12 points & teams like Wycombe & Accrington on minus 12. We would start on plus 4.
Cant think JRS can be too pleased having to help Clare out 10 yards from his goal. He is such an exciting player it hurts to see him having to battle for the ball at the wrong end of the pitch. By the time he runs 70 yards with it he's knackered. He should have a free pass to stay on the half way line & not have to come into his own half.
I said 8 points from our first 6 so we are 1 point better off......but I'm the pessimistic one around here.
Ps.
Still no Golfie today though. Oh well, one day we will concede on 13 minutes & end up winning. I might even be alive to see it.
What?! Our owner is now being criticised for applauding our fans… He might as well give up now if that pisses people off.
You had to be there to see it. It wasn't an owner coming over with the players at the end of the game to applaud the fans, but an owner being "escorted" from the directors box 10 mins before kick off & walking around the pitch to the away end to take in the adulation from the fans in a "look at me I'm the big cheese......and I'm a rock star too". What he got back was a chant of "sign a striker" so if he was looking for his moment in the sun he was very mistaken.
Spot on. The most vocal lads and the J Block lads were not happy with him coming over yesterday. Lack of ticket sales in the upper north shownt this as well
Sandgaard is an egotistical twat. How many other owner would clap their fans at an away ground. And its not like he's just taken over or funded the signing of Ronaldo.
The unusually warm weather didnt help. Players were spent with 10 to go.
Some good all round play but not having a decent finisher meant we didnt win. This season will go down as the "wasted" one. We will end up 8th -10th and rue not signing someone to challenge Stockley as a No 9.
Even though we need a striker we also need a left footed centre half. O'Connell showed how awkward it us trying to play out on the "wrong" foot.
4500 home fans for a team that lost in the play-offs. Dreadful. I think the league could be spiced up a bit if there was a handicap system based on season ticket sales. Sheff Wed would start on 12 points & teams like Wycombe & Accrington on minus 12. We would start on plus 4.
Cant think JRS can be too pleased having to help Clare out 10 yards from his goal. He is such an exciting player it hurts to see him having to battle for the ball at the wrong end of the pitch. By the time he runs 70 yards with it he's knackered. He should have a free pass to stay on the half way line & not have to come into his own half.
I said 8 points from our first 6 so we are 1 point better off......but I'm the pessimistic one around here.
Ps.
Still no Golfie today though. Oh well, one day we will concede on 13 minutes & end up winning. I might even be alive to see it.
Not sure i get your point here, how exactly does that make him a twat?
Did he do something else that you haven't mentioned or did he literally just clap the fans?
Wycombe had the third best home record in this League last season, so in no way a bad result
Another important point made here.
We've had to put up with some horrendous away trips so far. Accrington, Sheff Wed and Wycombe are all expected to be very hard to beat at home.
Meanwhile at the Valley we've picked up seven points from a possible nine.
There is enough there for us to be decent this season and I'm really struggling to understand the general negativity about the team.
Because we are not winning every game 3 - 0 Callum mate.
Ipswich have played Shrewsbury, Burton and Forest Green away so far this season. Imagine we had that start compared to Sheffield Wednesday, Wycombe and Accrington.
I can’t wrap my head around people claiming that they think we won’t/can’t make play offs based on the 6 games we’ve had so far this season.
Of course I’m not saying we will, and if we cant pick up at least 7 points in that run against Exeter, Forest Green and Fleetwood then I’d start to be very dubious - but I’m not naive to be able to look at the wider picture and understand that the teams the end up in the top 6 will all drop points (and did last year) against the teams we’ve played so far.
Jesus guys, we’ve just come away from last seasons play off finalists with a well deserved, well earned point.
I’m reading a thread that looks like we’ve just lost our 3rd/4th game in row to relegation fodder.
It wasn’t a vintage performance or game but it was great effort against the ultimate football spoilers in the league.
Decision making in the final third definitely wasn’t at its sharpest. And I thought Kirk was just too predictable at times. Needs to show down the line sometimes just to mix his game up.
Don’t bother risking anyone important in the week and give them all a good rest ready for Bolton.
Wycombe have lost to Exeter, Shrewsbury and Bolton already this season.
Those would be two of the teams just above them and below us.
I know Exeter are freshly promoted, but they've started well. Bolton finished strong last year and are largely unchanged apart from getting rid of some deadwood. Same as Wycombe, really. Shrewsbury look like they'll be in a relegation battle.
I don't think we were great yesterday, but I don't think a point away at Wycombe is a terrible result.
Jesus guys, we’ve just come away from last seasons play off finalists with a well deserved, well earned point.
I’m reading a thread that looks like we’ve just lost our 3rd/4th game in row to relegation fodder.
It wasn’t a vintage performance or game but it was great effort against the ultimate football spoilers in the league.
Decision making in the final third definitely wasn’t at its sharpest. And I thought Kirk was just too predictable at times. Needs to show down the line sometimes just to mix his game up.
Don’t bother risking anyone important in the week and give them all a good rest ready for Bolton.
Wycombe have lost to Exeter, Shrewsbury and Bolton already this season.
Those would be two of the teams just above them and below us.
I know Exeter are freshly promoted, but they've started well. Bolton finished strong last year and are largely unchanged apart from getting rid of some deadwood. Same as Wycombe, really. Shrewsbury look like they'll be in a relegation battle.
I don't think we were great yesterday, but I don't think a point away at Wycombe is a terrible result.
Yes, we had a worse result than a lot of our rivals will have against Wycombe.
Jesus guys, we’ve just come away from last seasons play off finalists with a well deserved, well earned point.
I’m reading a thread that looks like we’ve just lost our 3rd/4th game in row to relegation fodder.
It wasn’t a vintage performance or game but it was great effort against the ultimate football spoilers in the league.
Decision making in the final third definitely wasn’t at its sharpest. And I thought Kirk was just too predictable at times. Needs to show down the line sometimes just to mix his game up.
Don’t bother risking anyone important in the week and give them all a good rest ready for Bolton.
Wycombe have lost to Exeter, Shrewsbury and Bolton already this season.
Those would be two of the teams just above them and below us.
I know Exeter are freshly promoted, but they've started well. Bolton finished strong last year and are largely unchanged apart from getting rid of some deadwood. Same as Wycombe, really. Shrewsbury look like they'll be in a relegation battle.
I don't think we were great yesterday, but I don't think a point away at Wycombe is a terrible result.
Yes, we had a worse result than a lot of our rivals will have against Wycombe.
Yes but there will be occasions when our rivals will have worse results against other teams, where we have better results - Plymouth beating Peterborough 2-0 for example.
Peterborough must have been shocking that game, can forget about them being involved in the fight for promotion, if they cant beat a team we despatched 5-1.
Jesus guys, we’ve just come away from last seasons play off finalists with a well deserved, well earned point.
I’m reading a thread that looks like we’ve just lost our 3rd/4th game in row to relegation fodder.
It wasn’t a vintage performance or game but it was great effort against the ultimate football spoilers in the league.
Decision making in the final third definitely wasn’t at its sharpest. And I thought Kirk was just too predictable at times. Needs to show down the line sometimes just to mix his game up.
Don’t bother risking anyone important in the week and give them all a good rest ready for Bolton.
Wycombe have lost to Exeter, Shrewsbury and Bolton already this season.
Those would be two of the teams just above them and below us.
I know Exeter are freshly promoted, but they've started well. Bolton finished strong last year and are largely unchanged apart from getting rid of some deadwood. Same as Wycombe, really. Shrewsbury look like they'll be in a relegation battle.
I don't think we were great yesterday, but I don't think a point away at Wycombe is a terrible result.
Yes, we had a worse result than a lot of our rivals will have against Wycombe.
Yes but there will be occasions when our rivals will have worse results against other teams, where we have better results - Plymouth beating Peterborough 2-0 for example.
Peterborough must have been shocking that game, can forget about them being involved in the fight for promotion, if they cant beat a team we despatched 5-1.
I just don't think Wycombe, based on the performance they had against us, are quite the team everyone is claiming.
They have midtable all over them. Hopefully we can manage to be above them come the end of the season.
Jesus guys, we’ve just come away from last seasons play off finalists with a well deserved, well earned point.
I’m reading a thread that looks like we’ve just lost our 3rd/4th game in row to relegation fodder.
It wasn’t a vintage performance or game but it was great effort against the ultimate football spoilers in the league.
Decision making in the final third definitely wasn’t at its sharpest. And I thought Kirk was just too predictable at times. Needs to show down the line sometimes just to mix his game up.
Don’t bother risking anyone important in the week and give them all a good rest ready for Bolton.
Wycombe have lost to Exeter, Shrewsbury and Bolton already this season.
Those would be two of the teams just above them and below us.
I know Exeter are freshly promoted, but they've started well. Bolton finished strong last year and are largely unchanged apart from getting rid of some deadwood. Same as Wycombe, really. Shrewsbury look like they'll be in a relegation battle.
I don't think we were great yesterday, but I don't think a point away at Wycombe is a terrible result.
Yes, we had a worse result than a lot of our rivals will have against Wycombe.
Yes but there will be occasions when our rivals will have worse results against other teams, where we have better results - Plymouth beating Peterborough 2-0 for example.
Peterborough must have been shocking that game, can forget about them being involved in the fight for promotion, if they cant beat a team we despatched 5-1.
I just don't think Wycombe, based on the performance they had against us, are quite the team everyone is claiming.
They have midtable all over them. Hopefully we can manage to be above them come the end of the season.
Difficult to judge anyone after this early stage of the season.
Agree in the sense that I think they'll struggle because David Stockdale must have won them so many points last season (He made the most clean sheets all season), he'll be impossible to replace.
But then they showed signs of how they could pick up form, once the likes of Sam Vokes are back, had he played yesterday, we may well have lost.
We’re just unlucky every team we play has had a great start or brilliant home form last year and will be in the top half the refs are against us the oppo have got lucky we have much better possession stats than the oppo Injuries are just beyond unlucky
all those other teams just have easy starts and a load of luck more money better owners/away support
wait till It all evens itself out over the season and yeah then you’ll see why people are so negative/positive
Wycombe had the third best home record in this League last season, so in no way a bad result
Another important point made here.
We've had to put up with some horrendous away trips so far. Accrington, Sheff Wed and Wycombe are all expected to be very hard to beat at home.
Meanwhile at the Valley we've picked up seven points from a possible nine.
There is enough there for us to be decent this season and I'm really struggling to understand the general negativity about the team.
I'm not negative about the team, quite the opposite. I quite like "Garnerball" and I'm not one of the "launch it forwards fgs" every time the ball is passed around the back 5.
However, I fear the season will end up being a damp squid because TS will fail to fully invest in the squad and we'll end up finishing somewhere around 8th-10th.
The old poem "for want of a horseshoe nail" comes easily to mind here.
Jesus guys, we’ve just come away from last seasons play off finalists with a well deserved, well earned point.
I’m reading a thread that looks like we’ve just lost our 3rd/4th game in row to relegation fodder.
It wasn’t a vintage performance or game but it was great effort against the ultimate football spoilers in the league.
Decision making in the final third definitely wasn’t at its sharpest. And I thought Kirk was just too predictable at times. Needs to show down the line sometimes just to mix his game up.
Don’t bother risking anyone important in the week and give them all a good rest ready for Bolton.
Wycombe have lost to Exeter, Shrewsbury and Bolton already this season.
Those would be two of the teams just above them and below us.
I know Exeter are freshly promoted, but they've started well. Bolton finished strong last year and are largely unchanged apart from getting rid of some deadwood. Same as Wycombe, really. Shrewsbury look like they'll be in a relegation battle.
I don't think we were great yesterday, but I don't think a point away at Wycombe is a terrible result.
Yes, we had a worse result than a lot of our rivals will have against Wycombe.
Yes but there will be occasions when our rivals will have worse results against other teams, where we have better results - Plymouth beating Peterborough 2-0 for example.
Peterborough must have been shocking that game, can forget about them being involved in the fight for promotion, if they cant beat a team we despatched 5-1.
I just don't think Wycombe, based on the performance they had against us, are quite the team everyone is claiming.
They have midtable all over them. Hopefully we can manage to be above them come the end of the season.
They aren't world beaters, I'm not claiming that anyway. What they are though is a side any team who tries to play like us have the potential to really struggle against.
We didn't, we made them really work (they also made us work and they forced a lot of mistakes out of us as well) we lacked a final ball and presence in the box which I cant really blame stockley for as he was crowded out completely, he needed someone getting closer to him. Wycombe are effective at what they do and have been doing it for as long as Ainsworth has been there, we are just starting out praying a totally new way under a new manager so a point I'll take. We can't keep having these dropped points against well organised sides or hoping everyone wants to get the ball down and play as well as us
Wycombe had the third best home record in this League last season, so in no way a bad result
Another important point made here.
We've had to put up with some horrendous away trips so far. Accrington, Sheff Wed and Wycombe are all expected to be very hard to beat at home.
Meanwhile at the Valley we've picked up seven points from a possible nine.
There is enough there for us to be decent this season and I'm really struggling to understand the general negativity about the team.
I'm not negative about the team, quite the opposite. I quite like "Garnerball" and I'm not one of the "launch it forwards fgs" every time the ball is passed around the back 5.
However, I fear the season will end up being a damp squid because TS will fail to fully invest in the squad and we'll end up finishing somewhere around 8th-10th.
The old poem "for want of a horseshoe nail" comes easily to mind here.
If I have you right Golfie, and I think I am in a similar place, is you think we have a good manager and potential to be challenging but you are sure you can see what is stopping that being a reality. What should you do, just shut up about it because it irritates some people?
And then I ask myself why can't the irritated see it? Maybe because we are wrong? Maybe they don't want to see it. Who knows?
As for Wycombe, a physical side who know how they want to play but who are pretty toothless up front. No way they will go up this season.
I’m surprised at how frustrated and impatient I’m getting with us as I’m not normally like that. I think it’s the fact I got so excited after the Plymouth game at home we how we were playing football forward with pace and intent and the two games since have felt after the Lord Mayors Show.
Wycombe are not an easy team to play against and I would have taken a draw before and during, but I still felt a little disappointed. This doesn’t appear a Wycombe team up at the same standard of recent years imo.
Attacking aspects concern me. Stockley is playing so isolated and I’ve just not got enough trust in Kirk and Morgan. Had it not been for a bit of in-box quality from Ruck Sack, I think we’d again be looking at another scoring blank and a 1-0 defeat.
Great day though. Met up with @SE7toSG3 and @charltonnick at Marylebone, we found a strange pub in Wycombe that hardly had anything. Been offered many a different thing in a pub before but when we saw a head popping over the garden fence and a “psssst”, I didn’t expect the toothless druggie to follow up with “do you want any Marks & Spencer’s steaks?” :-)
Had a nice catch up with @clb74 and @addick1965 in there and through the course of the afternoon bumped into 30-40 Lifers off here.
Dog end of a place with a ground in middle of nowhere, the shuttle buses worked out well (fortunately they put on 3 not 1) and the highlight of the trip was the clog given to a poor lad with a massive mullet the bus pulled alongside.
Great noise from our end. My lad loved it and had me (unsuccessfully) looking up trains to Bolton next week, so looking forward to a few more aways this season.
WE NEED A PACEY CENTRE FORWARD - nothing else worth mentioning
You hated the last one
you're gonna have to remind me i'm afraid - who was it i hated??
Washington fella
never hated washington and actually grew to quite like him from thinking he was bang average - he isn't what we need now though but was okay playing off stockley
I’m surprised at how frustrated and impatient I’m getting with us as I’m not normally like that. I think it’s the fact I got so excited after the Plymouth game at home we how we were playing football forward with pace and intent and the two games since have felt after the Lord Mayors Show.
Wycombe are not an easy team to play against and I would have taken a draw before and during, but I still felt a little disappointed. This doesn’t appear a Wycombe team up at the same standard of recent years imo.
Attacking aspects concern me. Stockley is playing so isolated and I’ve just not got enough trust in Kirk and Morgan. Had it not been for a bit of in-box quality from Ruck Sack, I think we’d again be looking at another scoring blank and a 1-0 defeat.
Great day though. Met up with @SE7toSG3 and @charltonnick at Marylebone, we found a strange pub in Wycombe that hardly had anything. Been offered many a different thing in a pub before but when we saw a head popping over the garden fence and a “psssst”, I didn’t expect the toothless druggie to follow up with “do you want any Marks & Spencer’s steaks?” :-)
Had a nice catch up with @clb74 and @addick1965 in there and through the course of the afternoon bumped into 30-40 Lifers off here.
Dog end of a place with a ground in middle of nowhere, the shuttle buses worked out well (fortunately they put on 3 not 1) and the highlight of the trip was the clog given to a poor lad with a massive mullet the bus pulled alongside.
Great noise from our end. My lad loved it and had me (unsuccessfully) looking up trains to Bolton next week, so looking forward to a few more aways this season.
Good to see you there, and to meet and have travelled up with @Fumbluff and Mrs Fumbluff. 👍
I like Wycombe’s stadium, with all the trees in view, and the circling kites, and the decent away stand. Was surprised to be reminded it was my third trip there.
Obviously won’t be in the same league as Wycombe next year after our shock, last minute signing of a 25 goal a season striker. 😬
A fair draw after both sides nullified one another using different playing styles for most of the game. Yes, we had more possession, but they forced more from Wollacott than we did their keeper.
One year on, chalk and cheese. We are gelling and have a fair few to come back from injury. I am feeling increasingly optimistic that we will be pushing hard for those play offs. We are getting a lot of tougher games out of the way early and picking up a fair few points along the way..
Isn’t it a bit early to be able to say which are the tougher games?
I agree, far too early to know. The teams we played are near the top as we failed to beat 4 of them.
A fair draw after both sides nullified one another using different playing styles for most of the game. Yes, we had more possession, but they forced more from Wollacott than we did their keeper.
One year on, chalk and cheese. We are gelling and have a fair few to come back from injury. I am feeling increasingly optimistic that we will be pushing hard for those play offs. We are getting a lot of tougher games out of the way early and picking up a fair few points along the way..
Isn’t it a bit early to be able to say which are the tougher games?
I agree, far too early to know. The teams we played are near the top as we failed to beat 4 of them.
The two teams we did beat are in the top six though
We achieved a point in a game where we started three points behind target (due to losing to Sheffield Wednesday and drawing with Cambridge United). Had we held on at Accrington we would have only been one point off the target, an indication to me that points matter at every stage of the season. A draw at Wycombe represented a holding pattern, and we go to Bolton still three points off the target. Defeat at Bolton leaves us four points down, which represents having to win against Exeter and Forest Green, and a win at Fleetwood would haul us back to two points short of (my) target. If we maintain current form we get to 63 points with two games left, win those in a kind of Hail Mary surge and we end up on 69 points. This is why Bolton away right now is a must win. If we do so it compensates for Cambridge, and would leave the one point dropped in Sheffield as the blot on the landscape, something that can be made up at Fleetwood. In short we are now in a position where to stay on track for the 92 points we need, we have to win the next four in a row (that creates a one point cushion). I worry that anybody thinks we’re not doing that bad. I know it isn’t relegation form, but our aspiration should be much higher. As far as I am concerned we are failing by an average of 0.667 points per game overall. My approach remains to take each game one at a time, and structure all our resources in order to win at Bolton.
Hot summer days, Garnerball and the beginning of the season were never necessarily going to mix well. I’ve been impressed with the football so far and with the fitness level and buy-in of the players and can’t complain about the outcomes and points tally. I suspect we will start to see it all coming together spectacularly next month.
I'm surprised at the levels of frustration setting in already. With a new style of play being implemented it will take time. I'm surprised tbh at the performances we have seen so far as they have been great. So much more attractive to watch than the shit we had to endure recently. I think Garner has been very lucky in gaining the points that we have this early I.e. Derby. Otherwise the knives would be out. All I can say is for the 1st time in years I look forward to the games now as I think there might be a decent chance of seeing us play decent football rather than previously watching us with no actual hope of seeing anything other than hoofing the ball and hoping we dont lose
We achieved a point in a game where we started three points behind target (due to losing to Sheffield Wednesday and drawing with Cambridge United). Had we held on at Accrington we would have only been one point off the target, an indication to me that points matter at every stage of the season. A draw at Wycombe represented a holding pattern, and we go to Bolton still three points off the target. Defeat at Bolton leaves us four points down, which represents having to win against Exeter and Forest Green, and a win at Fleetwood would haul us back to two points short of (my) target. If we maintain current form we get to 63 points with two games left, win those in a kind of Hail Mary surge and we end up on 69 points. This is why Bolton away right now is a must win. If we do so it compensates for Cambridge, and would leave the one point dropped in Sheffield as the blot on the landscape, something that can be made up at Fleetwood. In short we are now in a position where to stay on track for the 92 points we need, we have to win the next four in a row (that creates a one point cushion). I worry that anybody thinks we’re not doing that bad. I know it isn’t relegation form, but our aspiration should be much higher. As far as I am concerned we are failing by an average of 0.667 points per game overall. My approach remains to take each game one at a time, and structure all our resources in order to win at Bolton.
It really is not that bad though. Just like what happened with Wigan did last year - there’s going to be stretches of games where we achieve less than 2 points a game, and stretches where we achieve more.
Playing 2 teams in the play offs last year away from home, alongside a team who are notoriously hard to beat at their place will make it very hard to achieve that magic number. Yeah we should have beaten Cambridge, but then again they beat Wigan at Wigan last year - so again not exactly the ‘easiest’ fixture.
As you mention that run against Exeter, Forest Green and Fleetwood is where we should, if we have aspirations for top 6, be achieving over that 2 point per game target.
Personally I think we should be getting 9 points out of those 3, if we want to show what we are about.
Wycombe had the third best home record in this League last season, so in no way a bad result
Another important point made here.
We've had to put up with some horrendous away trips so far. Accrington, Sheff Wed and Wycombe are all expected to be very hard to beat at home.
Meanwhile at the Valley we've picked up seven points from a possible nine.
There is enough there for us to be decent this season and I'm really struggling to understand the general negativity about the team.
I'm not negative about the team, quite the opposite. I quite like "Garnerball" and I'm not one of the "launch it forwards fgs" every time the ball is passed around the back 5.
However, I fear the season will end up being a damp squid because TS will fail to fully invest in the squad and we'll end up finishing somewhere around 8th-10th.
The old poem "for want of a horseshoe nail" comes easily to mind here.
If I have you right Golfie, and I think I am in a similar place, is you think we have a good manager and potential to be challenging but you are sure you can see what is stopping that being a reality. What should you do, just shut up about it because it irritates some people?
And then I ask myself why can't the irritated see it? Maybe because we are wrong? Maybe they don't want to see it. Who knows?
As for Wycombe, a physical side who know how they want to play but who are pretty toothless up front. No way they will go up this season.
I guess some are glass half empty, some glass half full. That's life! Me wailing and gnashing my teeth, what I have left of them, isn't going to make a blind bit of difference to Ben Garner and Steve Gallen who know what they have to do this week and will be trying their best, within whatever constraints are imposed on them. The window isn't shut yet, so I'm happy to wait and see where we are on Friday before becoming despondent.
We achieved a point in a game where we started three points behind target (due to losing to Sheffield Wednesday and drawing with Cambridge United). Had we held on at Accrington we would have only been one point off the target, an indication to me that points matter at every stage of the season. A draw at Wycombe represented a holding pattern, and we go to Bolton still three points off the target. Defeat at Bolton leaves us four points down, which represents having to win against Exeter and Forest Green, and a win at Fleetwood would haul us back to two points short of (my) target. If we maintain current form we get to 63 points with two games left, win those in a kind of Hail Mary surge and we end up on 69 points. This is why Bolton away right now is a must win. If we do so it compensates for Cambridge, and would leave the one point dropped in Sheffield as the blot on the landscape, something that can be made up at Fleetwood. In short we are now in a position where to stay on track for the 92 points we need, we have to win the next four in a row (that creates a one point cushion). I worry that anybody thinks we’re not doing that bad. I know it isn’t relegation form, but our aspiration should be much higher. As far as I am concerned we are failing by an average of 0.667 points per game overall. My approach remains to take each game one at a time, and structure all our resources in order to win at Bolton.
It really is not that bad though. Just like what happened with Wigan did last year - there’s going to be stretches of games where we achieve less than 2 points a game, and stretches where we achieve more.
Playing 2 teams in the play offs last year away from home, alongside a team who are notoriously hard to beat at their place will make it very hard to achieve that magic number. Yeah we should have beaten Cambridge, but then again they beat Wigan at Wigan last year - so again not exactly the ‘easiest’ fixture.
As you mention that run against Exeter, Forest Green and Fleetwood is where we should, if we have aspirations for top 6, be achieving over that 2 point per game target.
Personally I think we should be getting 9 points out of those 3, if we want to show what we are about.
I hear what you say. This season my mindset is more demanding and less forgiving. Sandgaard, Garner, and Gallen, along with the players signed, have set out their stance. I know that our current form wouldn’t even achieve the play offs. The last gateway now is the transfer deadline, and following that we shouldn’t so much hit the ground running but be increasing the pace. I am personally sick and tired of being a work in progress with a promise of jam tomorrow. I want it right now.
We achieved a point in a game where we started three points behind target (due to losing to Sheffield Wednesday and drawing with Cambridge United). Had we held on at Accrington we would have only been one point off the target, an indication to me that points matter at every stage of the season. A draw at Wycombe represented a holding pattern, and we go to Bolton still three points off the target. Defeat at Bolton leaves us four points down, which represents having to win against Exeter and Forest Green, and a win at Fleetwood would haul us back to two points short of (my) target. If we maintain current form we get to 63 points with two games left, win those in a kind of Hail Mary surge and we end up on 69 points. This is why Bolton away right now is a must win. If we do so it compensates for Cambridge, and would leave the one point dropped in Sheffield as the blot on the landscape, something that can be made up at Fleetwood. In short we are now in a position where to stay on track for the 92 points we need, we have to win the next four in a row (that creates a one point cushion). I worry that anybody thinks we’re not doing that bad. I know it isn’t relegation form, but our aspiration should be much higher. As far as I am concerned we are failing by an average of 0.667 points per game overall. My approach remains to take each game one at a time, and structure all our resources in order to win at Bolton.
It really is not that bad though. Just like what happened with Wigan did last year - there’s going to be stretches of games where we achieve less than 2 points a game, and stretches where we achieve more.
Playing 2 teams in the play offs last year away from home, alongside a team who are notoriously hard to beat at their place will make it very hard to achieve that magic number. Yeah we should have beaten Cambridge, but then again they beat Wigan at Wigan last year - so again not exactly the ‘easiest’ fixture.
As you mention that run against Exeter, Forest Green and Fleetwood is where we should, if we have aspirations for top 6, be achieving over that 2 point per game target.
Personally I think we should be getting 9 points out of those 3, if we want to show what we are about.
I hear what you say. This season my mindset is more demanding and less forgiving. Sandgaard, Garner, and Gallen, along with the players signed, have set out their stance. I know that our current form wouldn’t even achieve the play offs. The last gateway now is the transfer deadline, and following that we shouldn’t so much hit the ground running but be increasing the pace. I am personally sick and tired of being a work in progress with a promise of jam tomorrow. I want it right now.
But our current form could be promotion form. To get through a tough set of fixtures and still be in touch is exactly where we need to be in my opinion. If we get through the ‘weaker’ set of fixtures after Bolton and are further adrift and have not made up ground, then I’ll certainly be with you and say it’s not promotion form.
On the ‘work in progress’ funny enough for me this feels like first actual time it’s happening in a long time - apart from someone just close to the team taking over and continuing the norm.
I know under Adkins it was kinda meant to be like that, but they neither gave him the tools or did the massive reset we needed.
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I confirmed to him who @clive is, his turn is next.
We've had to put up with some horrendous away trips so far. Accrington, Sheff Wed and Wycombe are all expected to be very hard to beat at home.
Meanwhile at the Valley we've picked up seven points from a possible nine.
There is enough there for us to be decent this season and I'm really struggling to understand the general negativity about the team.
I know Exeter are freshly promoted, but they've started well. Bolton finished strong last year and are largely unchanged apart from getting rid of some deadwood. Same as Wycombe, really. Shrewsbury look like they'll be in a relegation battle.
I don't think we were great yesterday, but I don't think a point away at Wycombe is a terrible result.
Peterborough must have been shocking that game, can forget about them being involved in the fight for promotion, if they cant beat a team we despatched 5-1.
They have midtable all over them. Hopefully we can manage to be above them come the end of the season.
Agree in the sense that I think they'll struggle because David Stockdale must have won them so many points last season (He made the most clean sheets all season), he'll be impossible to replace.
But then they showed signs of how they could pick up form, once the likes of Sam Vokes are back, had he played yesterday, we may well have lost.
every team we play has had a great start or brilliant home form last year and will be in the top half
the refs are against us
the oppo have got lucky
we have much better possession stats than the oppo
Injuries are just beyond unlucky
all those other teams just have easy starts and a load of luck more money better owners/away support
wait till It all evens itself out over the season and yeah then you’ll see why people are so negative/positive
once again no booooing at ht and no win 🤷♂️
However, I fear the season will end up being a damp squid because TS will fail to fully invest in the squad and we'll end up finishing somewhere around 8th-10th.
The old poem "for want of a horseshoe nail" comes easily to mind here.
We didn't, we made them really work (they also made us work and they forced a lot of mistakes out of us as well) we lacked a final ball and presence in the box which I cant really blame stockley for as he was crowded out completely, he needed someone getting closer to him. Wycombe are effective at what they do and have been doing it for as long as Ainsworth has been there, we are just starting out praying a totally new way under a new manager so a point I'll take. We can't keep having these dropped points against well organised sides or hoping everyone wants to get the ball down and play as well as us
And then I ask myself why can't the irritated see it? Maybe because we are wrong? Maybe they don't want to see it. Who knows?
As for Wycombe, a physical side who know how they want to play but who are pretty toothless up front. No way they will go up this season.
Wycombe are not an easy team to play against and I would have taken a draw before and during, but I still felt a little disappointed. This doesn’t appear a Wycombe team up at the same standard of recent years imo.
Attacking aspects concern me. Stockley is playing so isolated and I’ve just not got enough trust in Kirk and Morgan. Had it not been for a bit of in-box quality from Ruck Sack, I think we’d again be looking at another scoring blank and a 1-0 defeat.
Great day though. Met up with @SE7toSG3 and @charltonnick at Marylebone, we found a strange pub in Wycombe that hardly had anything. Been offered many a different thing in a pub before but when we saw a head popping over the garden fence and a “psssst”, I didn’t expect the toothless druggie to follow up with “do you want any Marks & Spencer’s steaks?” :-)
Had a nice catch up with @clb74 and @addick1965 in there and through the course of the afternoon bumped into 30-40 Lifers off here.
Great noise from our end. My lad loved it and had me (unsuccessfully) looking up trains to Bolton next week, so looking forward to a few more aways this season.
A draw at Wycombe represented a holding pattern, and we go to Bolton still three points off the target. Defeat at Bolton leaves us four points down, which represents having to win against Exeter and Forest Green, and a win at Fleetwood would haul us back to two points short of (my) target.
If we maintain current form we get to 63 points with two games left, win those in a kind of Hail Mary surge and we end up on 69 points.
This is why Bolton away right now is a must win. If we do so it compensates for Cambridge, and would leave the one point dropped in Sheffield as the blot on the landscape, something that can be made up at Fleetwood.
In short we are now in a position where to stay on track for the 92 points we need, we have to win the next four in a row (that creates a one point cushion).
I worry that anybody thinks we’re not doing that bad. I know it isn’t relegation form, but our aspiration should be much higher.
As far as I am concerned we are failing by an average of 0.667 points per game overall.
My approach remains to take each game one at a time, and structure all our resources in order to win at Bolton.
All I can say is for the 1st time in years I look forward to the games now as I think there might be a decent chance of seeing us play decent football rather than previously watching us with no actual hope of seeing anything other than hoofing the ball and hoping we dont lose
Playing 2 teams in the play offs last year away from home, alongside a team who are notoriously hard to beat at their place will make it very hard to achieve that magic number. Yeah we should have beaten Cambridge, but then again they beat Wigan at Wigan last year - so again not exactly the ‘easiest’ fixture.
As you mention that run against Exeter, Forest Green and Fleetwood is where we should, if we have aspirations for top 6, be achieving over that 2 point per game target.
Personally I think we should be getting 9 points out of those 3, if we want to show what we are about.
This season my mindset is more demanding and less forgiving.
Sandgaard, Garner, and Gallen, along with the players signed, have set out their stance.
I know that our current form wouldn’t even achieve the play offs.
The last gateway now is the transfer deadline, and following that we shouldn’t so much hit the ground running but be increasing the pace.
I am personally sick and tired of being a work in progress with a promise of jam tomorrow.
I want it right now.
On the ‘work in progress’ funny enough for me this feels like first actual time it’s happening in a long time - apart from someone just close to the team taking over and continuing the norm.