I was at the game yesterday, so might have missed it being mentioned on the match thread, might have missed it on this thread too. Anyway it seems to me they always ask two more players to report to play than first team or substitute places. The two unlucky players then do a pre match warm down before the pre match warm up. Yesterday the two players were Kanu and Dixon. Enslin on the bench, Dixon on the scene.
Take a win any way they come at this stage of the season. Played very well for the most part. Godden showing what a great finisher he is again. Fortress Valley!
2nd is within reach. UTA!
Been like it all season. Can't score more than 2 goals in a game & soon that will bite us on the bum. I now expect us to make the play offs but we wont get 2nd.
But I dont want to detail this thread with negativity so I'll leave it to others to bask in another win.
Genuinely your ability to bring negativity to a positive situation is quite astounding.
The type that sucks the atmosphere out of a room. It’s almost impressive
Herminator, have you noticed that his posts have now bereft of any mention of Alfie May, the player who is now being out-scored by his replacement. Golfie must sit there, desperate to find the negative, he spent most of the first 15 games declaring he undeniably right, he should know better, Football can be a fickle mistress.
He has a genuinely impressive ability to move on from an absolute clanger of a statement and then pretend like it never happened.
I think it depends on if his meds were taken on time that day or not
Take a win any way they come at this stage of the season. Played very well for the most part. Godden showing what a great finisher he is again. Fortress Valley!
2nd is within reach. UTA!
Been like it all season. Can't score more than 2 goals in a game & soon that will bite us on the bum. I now expect us to make the play offs but we wont get 2nd.
But I dont want to detail this thread with negativity so I'll leave it to others to bask in another win.
Genuinely your ability to bring negativity to a positive situation is quite astounding.
The type that sucks the atmosphere out of a room. It’s almost impressive
Herminator, have you noticed that his posts have now bereft of any mention of Alfie May, the player who is now being out-scored by his replacement. Golfie must sit there, desperate to find the negative, he spent most of the first 15 games declaring he undeniably right, he should know better, Football can be a fickle mistress.
Astonishing that you both want to have a dig at me when we've just won. Havent you got better things to post about. Must lead sad lives when after a win you'd prefer to abuse other posters rather than praise the team.
Oh Golfie, nobody is biting on that one, you put up your usual 'we don't score enough goals' post and see who takes the bait, you love it, it's your Raison D'etre. Can I just point out though, i will see your point that we don't score enough goals and raise you on the fact that if we had kept Alfie May we would have score two goals less, fact !
Stop being silly, how can it be a fact ???
I am being silly Bob because no one knows what Alfie May would have scored at any club but his record at Birmingham is a fact and so is Godden's at Charlton. As I pointed out elsewhere, earlier in the season we had posters declaring that we hadn't scored before time because Alfie May wasn't at Charlton, they were actually stating it before the half time whistle blew. They now, and in Golfie's case, have changed tac and declared we don't score enough goals, even though it's been pointed out to them on numerous occasions that it's goal difference that counts not goals scored, they have also stopped mentioning Alfie May's name because his goals record at Birmingham does not hold up to scrutiny. I like a lot of Golfie's posts because they contain some very good reality checks, he was the first one to call out the deficiencies in the side after we played Millwall in the friendly under Dean Holden, but he and a lot of others have been proved to be wrong over the Alfie May fiasco. We are five points off second place with ten games to go and those same people are ready to declare that we would be five points better off if Alfie May was still with us, that is essentially Golfie's stance only he won't mention Alfie May's name because as I said Alfie has only scored ten at Birmingham and his replacement has scored 12, it's a fact not a fantasy.
According to Brum fans he hasn't played up front for them much this season, so it's not really a factual comparison.
Despite playing out of position, he's 6th in the league for goals + assists, which really questions this idea Godden is the better all-round player. It's fair to argue that he's better for Jones and that's all that counts.
Whatever league we're in next season, we'll need a new star striker.
I woke up with a nagging feeling I can’t shift; that @golfaddick sort of has a point.
Of course a win is a win, but they should have been buried alive in the second half. I never felt that was going to happen, after TC missed that early chance. We attacked, some of the approach work was excellent. But how many near misses were there? The very first minute, and then that’s it. There were a lot of dangerous situations, usually TC getting to the by-line on the left of the box, sometimes Small on the right. But the ball in from them never found a red shirt.
I suppose that the stats for shots on target would be the one that might shed some light on this, if someone could look at that for the top 6, but maybe since the turn of the year, once we became good.
Suppose we get less on target than our now rivals, why might that be?. Well, we haven’t got enough finishers on the pitch. TC cannot-yet-finish like JR-S could. 15 goals that boy got for us, in a crap team. Anyway yesterday TC was mainly all about trying to set up the final pass for a finisher, and there really was only one on the pitch at any one tîme, Godden or Miles - and Godden obvs much more the fox in the box type.
Its still the part of the NJ plan that I don’t quite get. If we had JR-S In TC’s place then I would get it. CB-T? Not so sure about that. He scored a few but he wasn’t very poised. Presumably the idea of the plan is that midfielders do some of that finishing. Berry does it sometimes but I dont recall him with a shot on target yesterday? Maybe Gilbert. He was certainly trying to get on the scoresheet on Tuesday and he wasnt far off.
Just my nagging doubt…
Maybe this helps Prague, January 1st Wycombe had played 23 games they scored 49 goals at that point, since that date they have scored 12 goals. January 1st Wrexham had played 24 games and scored 36 goals, since that date they have scored 15 goals. January 1st Charlton had played 22 games and scored 27 goals, since that date they have scored 22 goals. So based on those stats and if current form was to continue, Charlton with an average of 1.46 would finish higher goal scorers than both Wycombe and Wrexham, sorry but Golfie's arguments fly in the face of the stats.
I get so miffed at the constant talk about goals and goal difference.
I understand ours is not above some of our rivals, but that’s due to our start to the season, and not indicative of how we are playing now.
Since the ‘turn around’ we have been improving ours above the rate of our rivals - and over the last 12 games have the best GD of anyone.
Yet posters are expecting us to pump teams by 3’s and 4’s when it’s very rare for that sort of result to happen. And talk about our players missing chances, like somehow every other team score every chance they have.
We are going the exact right thing at the moment - which is picking up 3 points and keeping cleans sheets. Only twice in the last 10 years had a 6th-place off been decided by GD, and never a top 2.
You can see the perils of trying to push for a third yesterday, instead of having a + 2 GD, we ended up only with a + 1 and a chance we might have dropped 2 points (which is much more important).
If Wrexham don't slip up next week v Stockport, then I think 2nd may unfortunately be a bridge too far.
If that's the case, we should perhaps start concentrating on preparing for the play offs because if we were to lose a player like TC, Jones, Small or Ramsey for the playoffs, it would greatly diminish our chances.
Going all out for second, which may be unattainable, could end up seriously damaging our play off hopes.
It's a difficult balancing act, but we need to look ahead and play it cute.
I’m a bit fearful that all this talk of getting 2nd could lead to disappointment. We don’t want to be going into the play-offs on a psychological low because we just missed out by 1 or 2 points.
We need to have the mindset that we are happy to finish 3rd or 4th to get the 2nd leg at home and keep doing well to achieve that aim.
When we get to the Wrexham and Wycombe matches, we can look at the league table and if it’s possible say ’ok, we’ve got this sudden bonus opportunity that we weren’t expecting. It’s like the play offs have come early and the final is against Burton.’
I think the only risk of that psychological element coming into play is if and when destiny is truly all in our own hands. I don't think that is realistically going to happen until the last game of the season at the earliest.
And if we need a result against Burton to go up and we don't get it then, yes, we will be disappointed.
I'd rather be in that position though than "settle" for the playoffs now.
Take a win any way they come at this stage of the season. Played very well for the most part. Godden showing what a great finisher he is again. Fortress Valley!
2nd is within reach. UTA!
Been like it all season. Can't score more than 2 goals in a game & soon that will bite us on the bum. I now expect us to make the play offs but we wont get 2nd.
But I dont want to detail this thread with negativity so I'll leave it to others to bask in another win.
Genuinely your ability to bring negativity to a positive situation is quite astounding.
The type that sucks the atmosphere out of a room. It’s almost impressive
Herminator, have you noticed that his posts have now bereft of any mention of Alfie May, the player who is now being out-scored by his replacement. Golfie must sit there, desperate to find the negative, he spent most of the first 15 games declaring he undeniably right, he should know better, Football can be a fickle mistress.
He has a genuinely impressive ability to move on from an absolute clanger of a statement and then pretend like it never happened.
I think it depends on if his meds were taken on time that day or not
Take a win any way they come at this stage of the season. Played very well for the most part. Godden showing what a great finisher he is again. Fortress Valley!
2nd is within reach. UTA!
Been like it all season. Can't score more than 2 goals in a game & soon that will bite us on the bum. I now expect us to make the play offs but we wont get 2nd.
But I dont want to detail this thread with negativity so I'll leave it to others to bask in another win.
Genuinely your ability to bring negativity to a positive situation is quite astounding.
The type that sucks the atmosphere out of a room. It’s almost impressive
Herminator, have you noticed that his posts have now bereft of any mention of Alfie May, the player who is now being out-scored by his replacement. Golfie must sit there, desperate to find the negative, he spent most of the first 15 games declaring he undeniably right, he should know better, Football can be a fickle mistress.
Astonishing that you both want to have a dig at me when we've just won. Havent you got better things to post about. Must lead sad lives when after a win you'd prefer to abuse other posters rather than praise the team.
Oh Golfie, nobody is biting on that one, you put up your usual 'we don't score enough goals' post and see who takes the bait, you love it, it's your Raison D'etre. Can I just point out though, i will see your point that we don't score enough goals and raise you on the fact that if we had kept Alfie May we would have score two goals less, fact !
Stop being silly, how can it be a fact ???
I am being silly Bob because no one knows what Alfie May would have scored at any club but his record at Birmingham is a fact and so is Godden's at Charlton. As I pointed out elsewhere, earlier in the season we had posters declaring that we hadn't scored before time because Alfie May wasn't at Charlton, they were actually stating it before the half time whistle blew. They now, and in Golfie's case, have changed tac and declared we don't score enough goals, even though it's been pointed out to them on numerous occasions that it's goal difference that counts not goals scored, they have also stopped mentioning Alfie May's name because his goals record at Birmingham does not hold up to scrutiny. I like a lot of Golfie's posts because they contain some very good reality checks, he was the first one to call out the deficiencies in the side after we played Millwall in the friendly under Dean Holden, but he and a lot of others have been proved to be wrong over the Alfie May fiasco. We are five points off second place with ten games to go and those same people are ready to declare that we would be five points better off if Alfie May was still with us, that is essentially Golfie's stance only he won't mention Alfie May's name because as I said Alfie has only scored ten at Birmingham and his replacement has scored 12, it's a fact not a fantasy.
According to Brum fans he hasn't played up front for them much this season, so it's not really a factual comparison.
Despite playing out of position, he's 6th in the league for goals + assists, which really questions this idea Godden is the better all-round player. It's fair to argue that he's better for Jones and that's all that counts.
Whatever league we're in next season, we'll need a new star striker.
Once again though Chunes, nobody knows what would or would not have happened but there is one guarantee, if Charlton do miss out on the top two positions or indeed fail in the play offs, the same culprits will jump on the Alfie May bandwagon and declare that the failure was down to the sale of Alfie May, I almost think they are willing Charlton to fail just to prove their point.
We got a bit complacent near the end. Understandable a bit as we had
been so dominant at that point for the majority of the match. Its good
to be reminded to keep on doing all the good things were doing in the
press / defensive solidity. Not take other teams for granted as they can
get back in it.
We started playing at 2-0 like it was 3-0. Maybe having Jones spending so much time in the final third later on, didn't help with the shape of the team. Tennai Watson, could have been subbed, as it was the first game for a long time. Also another sub for freshness, a bit earlier to match up to number of subs Wigan put on.
Easy to be wise after the event.
The close call could be a good thing, as it will remind the team the need to be focused and work hard for the whole match. The team did see the match out though, and recovered the solidity late on. That showed good character.
Overall, an excellent day, lots of positives (Coventry clear of yellow cards suspension). Onwards and upwards. COYRs.
We got a bit complacent near the end. Understandable a bit as we had
been so dominant at that point for the majority of the match. Its good
to be reminded to keep on doing all the good things were doing in the
press / defensive solidity. Not take other teams for granted as they can
get back in it.
We started playing at 2-0 like it was 3-0. Maybe having Jones spending so much time in the final third later on, didn't help with the shape of the team. Tennai Watson, could have been subbed, as it was the first game for a long time. Also another sub for freshness, a bit earlier to match up to number of subs Wigan put on.
Easy to be wise after the event.
The close call could be a good thing, as it will remind the team the need to be focused and work hard for the whole match. The team did see the match out though, and recovered the solidity late on. That showed good character.
Overall, an excellent day, lots of positives (Coventry clear of yellow cards suspension). Onwards and upwards. COYRs.
A good summing up of the situation. Lloyd Jones got a bit greedy with the way he stayed up top (a very rare criticism), and it all got a bit too relaxed for everyone.
The lack of a 3rd goal was a bit annoying, as that would have killed the game off completely, and we could have made earlier subs to rest and protect players.
Take a win any way they come at this stage of the season. Played very well for the most part. Godden showing what a great finisher he is again. Fortress Valley!
2nd is within reach. UTA!
Been like it all season. Can't score more than 2 goals in a game & soon that will bite us on the bum. I now expect us to make the play offs but we wont get 2nd.
But I dont want to detail this thread with negativity so I'll leave it to others to bask in another win.
Really do wonder why you support the club, I bet you’re a bundle of fun!!
Don't think we have played that well the past 3-4 games but we've still racked up the points. Yesterday we were excellent and dominant in all areas of the pitch. We are just lacking that cutting edge in front of goal that can make these games a little more comfortable.
I love TC but he, for one, has such little composure in front of the net. Not only the one-on-one, but the chance from the corner in the first half.
Tennai was good going forwards, but showed no effort to stop the cross for their goal. That harkens back to the defending of previous seasons where there was no desire to stop the other team scoring.
Coventry, Doc and Ramsay were all excellent.
As was Gillesphey again. It's heartbreaking that we have a flawed CB with a wand of a peg and @Leuth has not fallen in love!
10 wins out of 13 is an extraordinary record and it's a great feeling to be in the tail end of the season and to be fighting for something other than relegation.
If Wrexham don't slip up next week v Stockport, then I think 2nd may unfortunately be a bridge too far.
If that's the case, we should perhaps start concentrating on preparing for the play offs because if we were to lose a player like TC, Jones, Small or Ramsey for the playoffs, it would greatly diminish our chances.
Going all out for second, which may be unattainable, could end up seriously damaging our play off hopes.
It's a difficult balancing act, but we need to look ahead and play it cute.
I’m a bit fearful that all this talk of getting 2nd could lead to disappointment. We don’t want to be going into the play-offs on a psychological low because we just missed out by 1 or 2 points.
We need to have the mindset that we are happy to finish 3rd or 4th to get the 2nd leg at home and keep doing well to achieve that aim.
When we get to the Wrexham and Wycombe matches, we can look at the league table and if it’s possible say ’ok, we’ve got this sudden bonus opportunity that we weren’t expecting. It’s like the play offs have come early and the final is against Burton.’
Because of where we've come from (since December), I don't see it as a psychological blow if we miss out on autos by a point or two.
Think Jones has set this team up with confidence and unity, and they'll be up for the play offs if we finish between 3rd and 6th.
Whoever out of Wrexham and Wycombe finishes outside top 2 will have the biggest psychological blow as they've been the ones closest to autos most of season.
If only there was somewhere you could put money on that ...
Thanks for the reminder!
Just checked my Bet365 account and had totally forgotten that I put on a £50 bet for us to get promoted before a ball was kicked. I'd clearly already written the season off in my mind long ago.
Still remember Arsenal being called 1-0 Arsenal when they went onto win the league
About international calls ups, if any of our players are called up, as they are on stand by, because of injuries, it is too late to have our game against Posh called off
I lurk on here most of the time now. I don't get to as many games as I used to.
Most seasons when we have an indifferent start, I retain the fantasy that we will go on a storming run after Christmas. I am blown away that for once this has happened.
It is axiomatic that the more games we win, the better will our goal difference be. If we miss out on that basis, it will be the indifferent start that caused it.
I always think it's fun but not provable to claim in a parallel universe, things would be different, if this or that player remained in the team etc.
Godden is a sniffer - they are worth their weight in gold. He is our best goal scoring striker but others bring their strengths as well.
My position has not changed - despite being depressed about our form up to Christmas. NJ was/is the best manager we could have secured given the reality of our slow demise.
It is always a bit about canny signings but more about the hard yards in training. Turning under-performers to over-achievers. Turning poor fitness to energy for the whole game. It is all about the team.
Together
Everyone
Achieves
More
That is what NJ has brought. Other managers came and went, maybe some would have been able to deliver given more time. I think we must thank the board and CM in particular for sticking not twisting.
As for yesterday's game - great performances all round but in the fickle nature of the game we all love, a late goal created the jeopardy that led to a nervous last 15 mins. We weathered that pretty well.
I don't know if we have what it takes to break into the top two. Logic says it's unlikely but it will not be for the want of trying. If we don't and we make the play offs, our manager WILL get this team focussed correctly. The rest is in the hands of fate.
As for golfie, he has always been the same. I think he adds to the debate. What he does is express his passion for our club in terms of his fear of failure. Some don't like that because they need to bury their fears in positivity. If we are honest though, don't we all carry that fear of failure?
Although I don't go as much as I did, and at 65, I am working harder than ever including often on match days. 3pm to 4.55pm sees me on edge, whatever I am doing. I still expect us to lose. I still worry that the bubble will burst.
I woke up with a nagging feeling I can’t shift; that @golfaddick sort of has a point.
Of course a win is a win, but they should have been buried alive in the second half. I never felt that was going to happen, after TC missed that early chance. We attacked, some of the approach work was excellent. But how many near misses were there? The very first minute, and then that’s it. There were a lot of dangerous situations, usually TC getting to the by-line on the left of the box, sometimes Small on the right. But the ball in from them never found a red shirt.
I suppose that the stats for shots on target would be the one that might shed some light on this, if someone could look at that for the top 6, but maybe since the turn of the year, once we became good.
Suppose we get less on target than our now rivals, why might that be?. Well, we haven’t got enough finishers on the pitch. TC cannot-yet-finish like JR-S could. 15 goals that boy got for us, in a crap team. Anyway yesterday TC was mainly all about trying to set up the final pass for a finisher, and there really was only one on the pitch at any one tîme, Godden or Miles - and Godden obvs much more the fox in the box type.
Its still the part of the NJ plan that I don’t quite get. If we had JR-S In TC’s place then I would get it. CB-T? Not so sure about that. He scored a few but he wasn’t very poised. Presumably the idea of the plan is that midfielders do some of that finishing. Berry does it sometimes but I dont recall him with a shot on target yesterday? Maybe Gilbert. He was certainly trying to get on the scoresheet on Tuesday and he wasnt far off.
Just my nagging doubt…
Maybe this helps Prague, January 1st Wycombe had played 23 games they scored 49 goals at that point, since that date they have scored 12 goals. January 1st Wrexham had played 24 games and scored 36 goals, since that date they have scored 15 goals. January 1st Charlton had played 22 games and scored 27 goals, since that date they have scored 22 goals. So based on those stats and if current form was to continue, Charlton with an average of 1.46 would finish higher goal scorers than both Wycombe and Wrexham, sorry but Golfie's arguments fly in the face of the stats.
Those stats are not really addressing my point. It's about shots on target, stuff that makes the keeper work. The lack of them yesterday, especially in the second half made me feel less comfortable than I should have done given our overall dominance. It's not like we weren't trying to score.
Apart from the very first minute how many serious efforts on goal did we have in the second half?
I get so miffed at the constant talk about goals and goal difference.
I understand ours is not above some of our rivals, but that’s due to our start to the season, and not indicative of how we are playing now.
Since the ‘turn around’ we have been improving ours above the rate of our rivals - and over the last 12 games have the best GD of anyone.
Yet posters are expecting us to pump teams by 3’s and 4’s when it’s very rare for that sort of result to happen. And talk about our players missing chances, like somehow every other team score every chance they have.
We are going the exact right thing at the moment - which is picking up 3 points and keeping cleans sheets. Only twice in the last 10 years had a 6th-place off been decided by GD, and never a top 2.
You can see the perils of trying to push for a third yesterday, instead of having a + 2 GD, we ended up only with a + 1 and a chance we might have dropped 2 points (which is much more important).
I know some have blamed him for the Wigan goal (I'd need to watch the highlights) but I thought Watson did well. The wing back system really suits him. I don't think he gets in the team when Edwards is back but hopefully more than adequate cover in his absence. As said elsewhere, well done to Coventry for continuing to put in excellent performances whilst on the brink of a ban. Matty Godden's performance was sublime, not just the finishes but the pressing, movement and the clevernesss of the pass through to TC. It is a shame we didn't get that third goal because that would have broken them and likely led to a cricket score.
I woke up with a nagging feeling I can’t shift; that @golfaddick sort of has a point.
Of course a win is a win, but they should have been buried alive in the second half. I never felt that was going to happen, after TC missed that early chance. We attacked, some of the approach work was excellent. But how many near misses were there? The very first minute, and then that’s it. There were a lot of dangerous situations, usually TC getting to the by-line on the left of the box, sometimes Small on the right. But the ball in from them never found a red shirt.
I suppose that the stats for shots on target would be the one that might shed some light on this, if someone could look at that for the top 6, but maybe since the turn of the year, once we became good.
Suppose we get less on target than our now rivals, why might that be?. Well, we haven’t got enough finishers on the pitch. TC cannot-yet-finish like JR-S could. 15 goals that boy got for us, in a crap team. Anyway yesterday TC was mainly all about trying to set up the final pass for a finisher, and there really was only one on the pitch at any one tîme, Godden or Miles - and Godden obvs much more the fox in the box type.
Its still the part of the NJ plan that I don’t quite get. If we had JR-S In TC’s place then I would get it. CB-T? Not so sure about that. He scored a few but he wasn’t very poised. Presumably the idea of the plan is that midfielders do some of that finishing. Berry does it sometimes but I dont recall him with a shot on target yesterday? Maybe Gilbert. He was certainly trying to get on the scoresheet on Tuesday and he wasnt far off.
Just my nagging doubt…
Maybe this helps Prague, January 1st Wycombe had played 23 games they scored 49 goals at that point, since that date they have scored 12 goals. January 1st Wrexham had played 24 games and scored 36 goals, since that date they have scored 15 goals. January 1st Charlton had played 22 games and scored 27 goals, since that date they have scored 22 goals. So based on those stats and if current form was to continue, Charlton with an average of 1.46 would finish higher goal scorers than both Wycombe and Wrexham, sorry but Golfie's arguments fly in the face of the stats.
Those stats are not really addressing my point. It's about shots on target, stuff that makes the keeper work. The lack of them yesterday, especially in the second half made me feel less comfortable than I should have done given our overall dominance. It's not like we weren't trying to score.
Apart from the very first minute how many serious efforts on goal did we have in the second half?
Across the whole season we are 9th for shots on target, and actually have the 4th best shots to shots on target ratio.
Considering our very defensive start to the season, I don’t think these are bad metrics at all.
Be interesting to see those stats since the Crawley game - but can’t find them.
Comments
Get back to your car after a win and scallywags have had your tyres away speedier than Kwik fit.
No thank you !
Yes, back up for injury's during warm up...🙄
Despite playing out of position, he's 6th in the league for goals + assists, which really questions this idea Godden is the better all-round player. It's fair to argue that he's better for Jones and that's all that counts.
Whatever league we're in next season, we'll need a new star striker.
I understand ours is not above some of our rivals, but that’s due to our start to the season, and not indicative of how we are playing now.
Yet posters are expecting us to pump teams by 3’s and 4’s when it’s very rare for that sort of result to happen. And talk about our players missing chances, like somehow every other team score every chance they have.
You can see the perils of trying to push for a third yesterday, instead of having a + 2 GD, we ended up only with a + 1 and a chance we might have dropped 2 points (which is much more important).
And if we need a result against Burton to go up and we don't get it then, yes, we will be disappointed.
I'd rather be in that position though than "settle" for the playoffs now.
made it hard for ourselves at the end when we could have been out of sight.
generally in contention for top 2 with the right result on Saturday
special mention to the ref
he made the odd incorrect decision in the second half but
thought he had an excellent game
let down by his assistant in which most people will blame the ref
The lack of a 3rd goal was a bit annoying, as that would have killed the game off completely, and we could have made earlier subs to rest and protect players.
I love TC but he, for one, has such little composure in front of the net. Not only the one-on-one, but the chance from the corner in the first half.
Tennai was good going forwards, but showed no effort to stop the cross for their goal. That harkens back to the defending of previous seasons where there was no desire to stop the other team scoring.
Coventry, Doc and Ramsay were all excellent.
As was Gillesphey again. It's heartbreaking that we have a flawed CB with a wand of a peg and @Leuth has not fallen in love!
10 wins out of 13 is an extraordinary record and it's a great feeling to be in the tail end of the season and to be fighting for something other than relegation.
Just checked my Bet365 account and had totally forgotten that I put on a £50 bet for us to get promoted before a ball was kicked. I'd clearly already written the season off in my mind long ago.
About international calls ups, if any of our players are called up, as they are on stand by, because of injuries, it is too late to have our game against Posh called off
I lurk on here most of the time now. I don't get to as many games as I used to.
Most seasons when we have an indifferent start, I retain the fantasy that we will go on a storming run after Christmas. I am blown away that for once this has happened.
It is axiomatic that the more games we win, the better will our goal difference be. If we miss out on that basis, it will be the indifferent start that caused it.
I always think it's fun but not provable to claim in a parallel universe, things would be different, if this or that player remained in the team etc.
Godden is a sniffer - they are worth their weight in gold. He is our best goal scoring striker but others bring their strengths as well.
My position has not changed - despite being depressed about our form up to Christmas. NJ was/is the best manager we could have secured given the reality of our slow demise.
It is always a bit about canny signings but more about the hard yards in training. Turning under-performers to over-achievers. Turning poor fitness to energy for the whole game. It is all about the team.
Together
Everyone
Achieves
More
That is what NJ has brought. Other managers came and went, maybe some would have been able to deliver given more time. I think we must thank the board and CM in particular for sticking not twisting.
As for yesterday's game - great performances all round but in the fickle nature of the game we all love, a late goal created the jeopardy that led to a nervous last 15 mins. We weathered that pretty well.
I don't know if we have what it takes to break into the top two. Logic says it's unlikely but it will not be for the want of trying. If we don't and we make the play offs, our manager WILL get this team focussed correctly. The rest is in the hands of fate.
As for golfie, he has always been the same. I think he adds to the debate. What he does is express his passion for our club in terms of his fear of failure. Some don't like that because they need to bury their fears in positivity. If we are honest though, don't we all carry that fear of failure?
Although I don't go as much as I did, and at 65, I am working harder than ever including often on match days. 3pm to 4.55pm sees me on edge, whatever I am doing. I still expect us to lose. I still worry that the bubble will burst.
Onwards and upwards!
COYR!
Apart from the very first minute how many serious efforts on goal did we have in the second half?
Considering our very defensive start to the season, I don’t think these are bad metrics at all.
It's a great feeling when there's a big crowd walking back to the station, and there's pockets of fans all around still singing.