Hi 1950 - sorry I was not clear, I do not disagree with you. I just think Farke should think carefully if this sort of chance really does arise - for example, it could be Arsenal or another club like that will have a managerial position available... Of course Dortmund is a whole different level, and I agree that probably will be too good a chance for him, but still.
Borussia Dortmund have reached a low point. After the firing of manager Lucien Favre, the German giants have to weather the current crisis and then install a new manager that can bring enthusiasm and a new philosophy. Dortmund sacked Favre following an embarrassing 5-1 loss to recently promoted VfB Stuttgart. The defeat, which was a third in five league games for Dortmund, left them fifth in the Bundesliga with doubts growing over whether they can achieve their season goals. Am I worried? You bet I am
Potential advantage for NCFC over the next few weeks. Norwich, Bournemouth and Bristol City are the only teams in the Championship who are allowed fans in their stadium under the current tier rules.
Add that to the growing list of reasons for our success should we get promotion this season... We were lucky Were allowed fans in the stadium Poor quality opposition this season e.g. we'd never have beaten Leeds, WBA etc etc I'm sure there will be plenty more.
Definitely disagree with #3. It's incredibly rare for none of the relegated clubs to hit the skids, and this season all three are looking pretty good both on paper and on grass.
Listen out for it though. I bet we'll hear it or similar. It's not lost on me that it's early days for us to be talking about promotion too though
I'm sure Leeds fans will be talking up their start to the season (as they always do), but that's much harder to maintain once the initial enthusiasm from promotion wears off. I can remember BBC pundits talking about Canaries in Europe about this time in our first year in the top league back in 1972. It got much harder after that. A good start helps, as Sheffield United found last season. This season they're still looking for their second point. How times change.
It always seems to me that of the teams that go up there's often one that does well in their first season only to be found out in their second. Sheffield United were that team when we went up. Leeds may well be that team this season.
Sheffield United were already showing signs of losing form towards the end of last season. Despite finishing a very good ninth compared to our twentieth and Villa avoiding the drop by the thickness of the Dulux on a goalpost they were already losing form. It is a bit puzzling though that their form has been so bad - is one point from thirty nine a record? Conversely us losing ten straight games and then taking forty points from a possible fifty seven is equally puzzling.
I think the only real difference squad wise is Man Utd didn't loan them Henderson again this year. Could he have made that much difference ?
I think they've had issues with the summer recruitment, they haven't improved really. Ramsdale isn't as good as Henderson (but still reasonable), Brewster looks like an odd addition, Ampadu and Burke haven't exactly looked a level above what they already had. They still don't have a settled forward line, and they've struggled with defensive injuries too, Jack O'Connell has barely played for example. I suspect there's an element of being "found out", too.
Lys Mousset, who was their joint top scorer last season despite missing the final stages with a toe injury, has barely played this season following surgery to the damaged toe. Having missed all of pre-season and the first 10 matches of this season, he remains well short of match fitness and has been restricted to appearances off the bench in the later stages of recent matches. He's the man they were looking to to take over the scoring mantle from Billy Sharp and losing him has been a major factor in their season so far.
I've just read it back and realise I could have been clearer about that. Definitely tongue in cheek. Just preempting the talk back radio garbage we'll hear in the coming weeks (all being well).
5 points clear at the top 10 points off 7th place and to think only a couple of months ago people were talking about DF being sacked.
Are you one of us now Mike? Or were you joking about being Columike ? I was born in Colchester so technically I should be a Colchester fan I went a couple of times at Layer road
I wasn't calling for him to be sacked, but I was very critical of how he handled the Cantwell/Buendia stuff and I did doubt his ability to take us forward. One thing I got very wrong was saying that Farke was inflexible and wasn't learning from his mistakes. His use of substitutes over the last few games has been exemplary. He has learned from the poor season in the Prem. So again I have to admit I was wrong and Farke has made me look silly. I guess what's why he's a highly-paid manager and I'm just a keyboard warrior.
