A third of the season gone - review

[FellTop]

15 games in, near enough a third of the season gone. Be good to reflect on where we think we are.

By my maths we are 3 points better off than after the same games last season. I think there are 2 or 3 points left on the pitch, but maybe that is true of most teams. I think we have shown we can compete with everyone in the league, and that we have areas to improve of course.

In terms of style of play I still think we are as attractive as anybody. You can see we are trying to evolve the style further with Hume stepping into midfield, or playing with a 9. We still produce those moments of individual brilliance and of team cohesiveness.

I see players who are better than they were. Ballard, Neil, Ekwah, Clarke, Ba have all gone up a level. Jobe has come in and made a difference. Huggins is like another new signing. I see more of a leader in Hume than I did last year. Then we have the strikers who I still expect to make an impact, Rusyn in particular, this season. I still cant believe we signed Pembele and we might be watching a superstar in the second half of this season. Then we have Rigg who looks like he has the world at his feet to me.

Overall I think we are progressing, not stagnating or going backwards. We clearly want goals from strikers, and I think we need to really focus on defending set pieces. But our all round play gives far more headaches to opposition coaches than our weaknesses give opportunities in my opinion. For a side with an average age as young as ours I would say we are doing very well indeed.

 

[Essayyeffcee]

@FellTop your maths is correct. Someone else had the same idea

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spo...uls7gdSKzfLwLc_4PSZQ8uLk8DKEtP41Bu06touN3c_U0

 

[FellTop]

@FellTop your maths is correct. Someone else had the same idea

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spo...uls7gdSKzfLwLc_4PSZQ8uLk8DKEtP41Bu06touN3c_U0

Promise I didnt copy his homework

 

[Mikki Disco]

15 games in, near enough a third of the season gone. Be good to reflect on where we think we are.

By my maths we are 3 points better off than after the same games last season. I think there are 2 or 3 points left on the pitch, but maybe that is true of most teams. I think we have shown we can compete with everyone in the league, and that we have areas to improve of course.

In terms of style of play I still think we are as attractive as anybody. You can see we are trying to evolve the style further with Hume stepping into midfield, or playing with a 9. We still produce those moments of individual brilliance and of team cohesiveness.

I see players who are better than they were. Ballard, Neil, Ekwah, Clarke, Ba have all gone up a level. Jobe has come in and made a difference. Huggins is like another new signing. I see more of a leader in Hume than I did last year. Then we have the strikers who I still expect to make an impact, Rusyn in particular, this season. I still cant believe we signed Pembele and we might be watching a superstar in the second half of this season. Then we have Rigg who looks like he has the world at his feet to me.

Overall I think we are progressing, not stagnating or going backwards. We clearly want goals from strikers, and I think we need to really focus on defending set pieces. But our all round play gives far more headaches to opposition coaches than our weaknesses give opportunities in my opinion. For a side with an average age as young as ours I would say we are doing very well indeed.

good post

Agree with the players you’ve picked as going up a level

I’d be interested to know who you think won’t make the next step up or are at their max level now (top half championship player but no more)

 

[monty987]

we had 17 points from 15 games a year ago, so 6 points up on that.

 

[smithy in nl]

Anyone else think it’s mad how **** we are at defending set pieces when our gaffa was a centre half?

 

[FellTop]

good post

Agree with the players you’ve picked as going up a level

I’d be interested to know who you think won’t make the next step up or are at their max level now (top half championship player but no more)

Quite tricky one mate. I suppose the older players like ONien, Evans, Pritchard and Dack are obvious shouts. Not sure any would be able to be competitive in the premier league. I like Matete but not convinced he would be one to take up with us. Bennette possibly, but he needs to play football to really see. Might be a bit controversial but I wasnt completely sold on Alese - good squad player for us definitely but not convinced about the long term. Just opinions, hope I am wrong on the younger lads in particular.

 

[FellTop]

Anyone else think it’s mad how **** we are at defending set pieces when our gaffa was a centre half?

A bit yes. I think it is strange as well a centre half has produced such a great attacking side. In part though I think it is why Mowbray is a great coach - he can work with any sort of squad.

I go back to when stewart was in the side and he would clear probably 50% of set pieces with his head. He seemed to never mark anybody but be told to read the flight and be first to it. We dont have anyone who can do that now. I am sure Mowbray knows how to fix it, whether we have the players might be the question. For me players like Ekwah are going to need to get more physical when defending high balls.

 

[clockstander]

We are a man short (no pun intended) when defending corners atm, also very poor at converting them as well but with Cirkin coming back and Alese, Seelt and Triantis in the wings maybe we wont be quite so vulnerable in future, at least thats my hope.

 

[RTB]

Good start so far
- we could do better at shooting and defending set pieces.
With our injured players coming back we should get better at defending and with the new strikers settling in and getting more minutes on the pitch then we should get better at scoring goals.

 

[LD19SAFC]

I’d be absolutely over the moon with 6th place. I was impressed with us earlier on in the season but not so much in recent weeks. The Swansea result was a poor one, let’s be honest. We’ve won 1 in 5 and that was against a very poor Norwich side. I really hope we can get a centre forward firing soon but I’m not confident…

 

[Arlyman]

I’d be absolutely over the moon with 6th place. I was impressed with us earlier on in the season but not so much in recent weeks. The Swansea result was a poor one, let’s be honest. We’ve won 1 in 5 and that was against a very poor Norwich side. I really hope we can get a centre forward firing soon but I’m not confident…

Agree. A striker firing or Amad back in Jan to help Roberts out should be enough for sixth.

A striker firing AND Amad might be enough for second.

 

[Prehab26]

Interesting one. I think we are playing better football but for me, we are weaker at both ends of the pitch. Very weak at set plays these days and that needs to be looked at with greater scrutiny.

Also, we don't have the supreme talent of amad to bail us out when it's 0-0. We are going ok but I do feel that we will finish lower than last year.

January window and certain players coming in, could obviously change my view.

 

[Monkey69]

I still remain optimistic at the moment however some recent results have shown a few cracks, We did bring in a lot of new players in the summer and I think they may take some time to settle as most were young and from foreign shores so patience will be the key from that point of view.
The striker conundrum is a bit perplexing as we have created a few chances for them but there seems a lack of confidence in that area which is the worrying bit along with PR having little to no luck in front of goal.
For my 10p worth I think we will grow into the season more and more and will continue to dominate the ball and play with this same style of football that we as fans love to watch and I do believe the goals will start to flow and the confidence will build. Will it be in time for a promotion or play off push who knows but I think I will still enjoy watching the effort and know that IMO we are building towards something special and as i stated earlier I think patience will be the key for us.

 

[flandersmackem]

Tend to agree with Prefab... I think we are doing ok....but i'm not convinced with our defence and lets be honest our strikers have been conspicuous by their absence for a good few months now. I know O9 is a huge fans favourite, seems like a great guy who loves the club, but for me, not good enough, we need to put trust in one of the centre backs we bought which is their natural position. In January, if we buy/loan a striker who can actually score goals, then we will be as good as anything in this league. Our general play is outstanding, I'm sure TM is aware of where are failings are.

 

[Hudson92]

Fairly happy with how things are going, league is as competitive as ever I think we’ll be in the top ten, where in that top ten is anyone’s guess though, starting to think we will benefit from a big sale (Clarke/Neil) but hope we hold onto them until the summer Atleast

 

[clockstander]

Tend to agree with Prefab... I think we are doing ok....but i'm not convinced with our defence and lets be honest our strikers have been conspicuous by their absence for a good few months now. I know O9 is a huge fans favourite, seems like a great guy who loves the club, but for me, not good enough, we need to put trust in one of the centre backs we bought which is their natural position. In January, if we buy/loan a striker who can actually score goals, then we will be as good as anything in this league. Our general play is outstanding, I'm sure TM is aware of where are failings are.

I still believe its about our formations not playing to our squad strengths ,and not recognising things that aint working soon enough. Maybe TM is aware I'm not so sure. Personally I think O/9 is fine , but he and Ballard are our only set piece defenders atm, yet neither rival Sanderson who would have been invaluable this season and last..

 

[Smug in Boots]

Do people really want two big less mobile, players in central defence, especially at home when we have teams like Norwich sitting back for almost the entire game.

 

[clockstander]

Do people really want two big less mobile, players in central defence, especially at home when we have teams like Norwich sitting back for almost the entire game.

I dont, but our lack of height at times leaves us vulnerable at set pieces, and teams know this. It was very costly in the play off finals for instance, which was due to injury but the warnings were clear. Losing both Bailey Wright and Danny Batth has left us short of experience as much as height imo..

 

[Nads]

Anyone else think it’s mad how **** we are at defending set pieces when our gaffa was a centre half?

And when we have the best CB in the league….

Is Amad gonna be for for January? If we somehow got him back I’d be utterly confident.

We are well placed despite some shortcomings and we have some really high quality individuals. We are in good shape overall.