How many years have we been chasing a goal, only for every single cross we put in to be blocked or headed away? We are finally that team that does the blocking and heading away every time the ball comes into our box. Solid.
i'm not sure its possible to play well at places like shrewsbury, stevenage, exeter, cambridge etc - its just a case of getting the job done - today, we did it, stockport blew it - there are so many of these types of away games in this league where if u keep a clean sheet, u r likely to win - u have to grind your way out of this division and we are set up to do that - free flowing, high scoring victories are gonna be few and far between - grit your teeth and get with the programme - in Jones we trust - COYR!!!
Very clear to me that we need a more creative midfielder in January. Jones was hoping Berry would fill that role but he seems more of a decent substitute than a starter to me. A Campbell is more in the Docherty mold but has been forced to play more advanced when he comes on. Haven’t been convinced by any of T Campbell, Ahadme, Kanu or Godden - as far scoring goals, they all bring other positive attributes but we need someone who is going to be clinical in front of goal. Hopefully Leaburn can really fill that role
Whilst he wasn’t terrible overall, I thought the ref gave them a lot of soft free kicks, and denied us quite a few far clearer ones. Hard fought away win, that.
Great solid start to the season cant have hoped for much more especially after last season and nearly a whole new team/squad jones knows what he is doing and its a process
It isnt the prettiest and we are not free scoring but who cares clean sheet wins and us getting out this league is all i care about
Just focus on the points and not the underlying numbers.
It's like watching Southgate's England, and I guess they ended up doing pretty well on the whole.
The thing with underlying numbers is that either they stay where they are and the team results regress.
Or the team gels, finds some confidence, and the underlying numbers gradually improve to meet the results.
Hopefully we’ll see the latter once 10, 15, 20 games are played
I think we are due to give a team a coupon-busting hammering soon. It's the Nathan Jones way. Even if not though, Pompey managed to win the league while getting six 1-0 wins and six 0-0 draws, which is more than a quarter of their games so the power of the clean sheet really can't be underestimated. I think we'll continue to gel and improve and if the results start to dip a bit we'll see a change, probably to a diamond. One way or another it won't be this all season
I do think the wind was far more of a factor than has been mentioned. The ball flew on on some strange trajectories and took some weird bounces. Made it difficult for both sides ant different times. It may have contributed to our goal too - Jones header back across seemed to hang in the air but in order to make all the way Ahadme at the opposite post.
Great away win. Typical of this division and if you want to get promoted then you need these sort of wins. I felt comfortable, my only worry was I thought the ref woul give them a penalty at some point. Solid, a little ugly but 3 points we wouldn't have got last season. The table looks quite nice. UTA.
We’ll play better than that and get beat by 2 or 3 goals . we won ugly and it’s looking like that’s the route we’ll have to go because so far there’s a limited amount of creativity being shown . the points so far are more than most could have dreamed of but the performances to me paint a picture of us being not as convincing as the table so far suggests .
1% Autos 45% 3rd-6th 54% 7th-12th
I'll take a 50/50ish shot at the playoffs right now. Your percentages look accurate
thought it was Gass's best game - he not only scored but won some good headers in defence and attack and was a bit more physical, ok he isn't a show stopper but he is improving
Let’s start with the positives: a win’s a win, it’s another welcome clean sheet and several players had good games.
But there’s no getting away from it, we are the very definition of a “battling” side. The entire game plan seems to be about playing the percentages - tight at the back, hoofball, hope that something breaks our way. Today it did but we struggled to overcome a Shrewsbury side that are probables for relegation, a team that other sides with promotion ambitions will overcome much more easily. There is very little attempt to pass it around, play through the lines or actually create chances.
I’m hoping that Nj is simply starting with getting the foundations right, and to his credit he has transformed our defence already. But we’ve got to quickly also improve our attacking game - and I mean from all parts of the team, not just the forwards - otherwise I just don’t think it’s going to be anywhere good enough to be challenging for promotion come next May.
You’ve saved me writing what I was going to write. A wins a win so I’ll go back in my box. A hard watch but effective.
And can we please get Brownie off the commentary. It’s beyond a joke now.
The difference in our defence from previous seasons to this, is unreal.
I think this is key. NJ has had a mighty impressive effect on the mentality of the club.
We’ve gone from being a team easily rolled over to one who bullies the opposition. It’ll take time but a strong base is a hell of a way to build a team and club. Hopefully more flair and confidence will come into our play as the season develops.
6 similar league games and I'm expecting the other 40 to be the same unless something changes. Once again a very solid back 3, with Ramsay looking very good and Small ok.
Coventry looks decent but Berry and Docherty seem quite invisible for large parts today & previously.
TC looked quite dangerous in a "nearly man" way. A bit like Lisbie all those years ago when in many games he nearly scored, but rarely did (apart from Liverpool). Ahadme put himself about and bundled in the goal so well done to him.
Once we took the lead I was fairly confident apart from added time when I was a bit worried.
13 points from 6 games and we are what everyone sees. A very tight defensive team who won't give away many goals, but also have very little creativity at this stage and won't score many either. The aim is pretty much to nick 1-0s. It may be enough to reach the play offs, but surely not top 2?
Everyone's happy because we won, but we've ridden our luck to edge some of our wins this season. We have to improve or eventually it'll run out.
I do find though that teams manage to win promotion, not just through blowing teams out of the water, but through a level of luck as well - Remember the amount of late goals Portsmouth got last season for example.
Whats comforting is we may only be six games in, but as Callum said, there is a small amount of daylight between the top six and the rest now, and we're still part of that... So lets hope this luck continues.
I agree, but teams that go up also blow teams out of the water and put in dominant, convincing performances. We need to add a bit of that before I feel really optimistic.
Wasn't there, didnt watch a dodgy stream so only have the updates from you's lot to go by.
A wins a win.......but here is where I'll get pelters because you cant keep grinding out 1-0's if you want to get promoted. Both Wigan & Huddersfield won 4-0 away today so they also kept a clean sheet......but improved their GD massively.
October is a big month. We have 3 of the top 6 to play at home. Winning those is a statement.
I think the biggest concern from these games, isn't the fact that we're failing to win these games 4-0, and so improving our Goal Difference - But more because if we do concede (we have, we will again), we don't look at the moment as though we'll manage to win 2-1 for example, as shown from the Reading / Rotherham games.
To be fair though, we certainly created more in the opening exchanges today, and could have been a couple up (Coventry's thunderbastard of a strike, and Berry had he been onside) - Just the concern from that was, how we sat off, and let Shrewsbury control proceedings a bit too much, which is again something which has been a worrying consistent from each of our other two away games.
NJ talks about 5 game blocks and presumably he’s targeting 10 points per block which should get promotion
3 today with Blackpool, Stevenage, Bristol Rovers and Brum to come
I fancy us to get the next 7 points before Brum which effectively makes that a bonus game, that’s where we will see whether we really are top 2 contenders
Great result today it’s never pretty but none of us care as long as we get the job done
Thanks for the match thread. Sitting on my sunbed in Benidorm it was a tough read in the 1st half, then we scored and I almost lost my phone in the pool! Despite some negative comments it never felt like we’d concede. That’s a big difference from last season.
Great start to the season. I’m sure the football will get prettier as our confidence and assertiveness grows.
Great win. The "aerial duel" stats - 63 won in total by both teams, looks to be the most of all matches in the four divisions today. I can only guess it wasn't pretty.
This is where I think people like Pep Guardiola would just fail in this league.
I see you have 4 lols so I’m going to back you up. He wouldn’t necessarily fail but I think he would have to massively adapt. If he tried to play Man City style with any team in this league then I think he would fail because they’d concede too many ’unnecessary’ goals.
Wasn't there, didnt watch a dodgy stream so only have the updates from you's lot to go by.
A wins a win.......but here is where I'll get pelters because you cant keep grinding out 1-0's if you want to get promoted. Soon you'll let a goal in and then you have a Reading on your hands. Both Wigan & Huddersfield won 4-0 away today so they also kept a clean sheet......but improved their GD massively.
October is a big month. We have 3 of the top 6 to play at home. Winning those is a statement.
Wasn't there, didnt watch a dodgy stream so only have the updates from you's lot to go by.
A wins a win.......but here is where I'll get pelters because you cant keep grinding out 1-0's if you want to get promoted. Soon you'll let a goal in and then you have a Reading on your hands. Both Wigan & Huddersfield won 4-0 away today so they also kept a clean sheet......but improved their GD massively.
October is a big month. We have 3 of the top 6 to play at home. Winning those is a statement.
You’re getting pelters from me not because of your perpetual negative reminders but because you know full well that there is no plural ’you’ in English and if there were then it most certainly wouldn’t have a f***ing apostrophe. Sort it out golfie!!!!!
Comments
It isnt the prettiest and we are not free scoring but who cares clean sheet wins and us getting out this league is all i care about
well done Jones and the team👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
It’ll take time but a strong base is a hell of a way to build a team and club. Hopefully more flair and confidence will come into our play as the season develops.
been out all day and have seen nothing but the score
another win, another clean sheet and another player added to the list of goal scorers
im a happy addick
Once again a very solid back 3, with Ramsay looking very good and Small ok.
Coventry looks decent but Berry and Docherty seem quite invisible for large parts today & previously.
TC looked quite dangerous in a "nearly man" way.
A bit like Lisbie all those years ago when in many games he nearly scored, but rarely did (apart from Liverpool).
Ahadme put himself about and bundled in the goal so well done to him.
Once we took the lead I was fairly confident apart from added time when I was a bit worried.
13 points from 6 games and we are what everyone sees.
A very tight defensive team who won't give away many goals, but also have very little creativity at this stage and won't score many either.
The aim is pretty much to nick 1-0s.
It may be enough to reach the play offs, but surely not top 2?
3 today with Blackpool, Stevenage, Bristol Rovers and Brum to come
I fancy us to get the next 7 points before Brum which effectively makes that a bonus game, that’s where we will see whether we really are top 2 contenders
Great result today it’s never pretty but none of us care as long as we get the job done
Sort it out golfie!!!!!