Any neutral watching last nights game, especially the first half, must have been thinking ‘How on Earth are these top of the league’ The last few games have not been very convincing except for the excellent performance against Oxford. My question is, are our defence so good that other teams rarely score against us when they are dominating us such as Luton, Preston and QPR? I think they are brilliant but we also seem to be very lucky. Every team plays so well against us but their strikers always have an off day. Surely it can’t be a run of coincidences. Our back 4 must be the best in the league (and the middle 3 as well) We all know over the season teams have poor runs and I think this is one of ours but we’re still getting the points. When almost every loose ball seems to go to the opposition you can tell we’re finding it hard but are still doing ok. I would like our coaches to do something about our throw ins. We struggle to keep possession from them. Every time it’s a short throw to our player who then passes it back to the thrower who is by then marked and we end up losing the ball. The opposition rarely concede possession from their throw ins. So then, we’re doing really well, even when playing below what we know we can do but soon enough the pendulum will swing back and we’ll see more of the stuff we know they can do.
100%, Isidor scores when he gets service, strikers can't do much if they don't get the balls played into them like
We aren’t the best team in the league. It’s been said on here many times that we don’t expect to stay top. I don’t know why folk are suggesting this is news. What we are is a very good and well organised side with a great chance if going up, and that’s fine for me. There’s been a few games now where we haven’t really created, but I’m hoping Aleksic can be ‘that guy’. None of us expected to be top at this stage so plain and simply we are going great.
Yep - been a brilliant season so far. Far exceeding expectations, Its why we absolutely should not panic and start talking about "must win" games. Just unnecessary pressure, IMO
In my opinion different teams have different approaches and we’re working out how to play them just as much. Oxford had plenty of time to work out how to beat us and barely had a kick. Coventry won’t know what to expect because we can play so many ways and we don’t even know which team we’ll play, until Saturday, or what tactics we’ll use until we kick off. I think you’d be right, under Mowbray, because he rarely changed whereas RLB will … … he may not always get it right, like last night, but I don’t think that will affect the Coventry game.
Fair enough mate. My frustration is the opposite of that to be honest, it’s that we’ve taken one point from 3 games that would be deemed some of the “easiest” of our start to the season whilst winning some of the harder fixtures. We seen with Ipswich last season momentum is everything so it’s paramount for us we keep it going if we’re to stay up there. I predicted us to finish 4th before the season and I still think that’s probably about right but at the minute nobody is running away with it so why not us?
RLB is a genius. Yes sometimes we don’t get results but I can’t say in any two games this season we’ve played the exact same. Where as with Mowbray etc you knew what game you were going to get when your turned up. That’s hard for opposition. The same way we probably prepared for teams turned up and they didn’t play that way so we tweak in game. There are no easy games in this league. I don’t look at league position really for a game because I don’t walk into any game expecting wins. Teams also drop points against these worse teams because the good teams come to play not sit in and they get a point here or there
Wow. Didn't see that coming, but they've been really poor this season. New manager bounce on Sat then...
Just seen that. Huge decision think he was the longest serving EFL manager iirc. Hopefully they’re out of sorts Saturday and don’t turn into Man City out to prove a point
Hopefully. We owe Coventry a beating. Been a long, long time... February 2007 was the last time we beat them...
The discussion in the car home was "why do we do it" ? Obviously I'm limited to games i can attend due to the 200 miles distance and weekend/night work. But some people who don't follow football look at you like you have two heads when you say your off to watch a 90 minute match across the country. Especially in pouring rain or freezing cold with a substantial financial cost . The question probably came about due to a goalless draw. The lad has said he likes going for the atmosphere more than the football. And prefers away games, although he commented the atmosphere wasn't as good last night. I pointed out to him that the standard of football and results can influence the atmosphere immensely . Them seasons dropping down the league, hardly winning, and settling in the 3rd tier but still attracting good crowds home and away shows how good/mental some can be Hat's off to them. I said if I lived in or around Sunderland my life would probably consist of work, home games Saturday's with pub and odd mid week and away games. Sunday dinners. The lads thinking of travelling up this Saturday, I've said he should join the Manchester supporters club if he's going regularly since he got a season ticket. I might try and make the Sheffield away end of November or Norwich home 21st December. See how it goes. I'll get you a pint if I'm up early
We seem to find games against ‘football’ teams easier in a way. We really struggled against Luton and again last night because it’s L1 stuff. As soon as the first long diagonal was launched over Cirkin’s head the scene was set. It immediately put our central defenders on the front line and our midfield watched the game go over their heads, literally. Plymouth were totally unpredictable so for a tactical manager like RLB it becomes hard to counteract. That’s when we need leaders on the pitch and someone to show some grit and determination. Don't take this the wrong way but we really need a strong captain imo.
Cov fans (online at least) don't seem to happy. Hopefully the players are the same and have a sulk on Sat
They've had some poor results this season but i'll take my chances against an interim over Robins every day.
