So there we have a base to judge our progress on. Sheffield Wednesday drew at home against GILLINGHAM, just drew. We lost badly. Gillingham are 6th bottom.
I think the league has proved again it full of crap And soon as we realise even though we are crap We are less crappier than them the better
No drink tonight Just can’t understand some of our posters comments We must start the season with the intention of getting promoted weather we do or don’t And not start been happy with mid table
I think this comes down to if you personally believe the squad is good enough to go up, yes or no. That has to be the starting point in your logic. A few posters have clearly stated they believe it is and its Johnson that's the issue. That's fair enough. I personally believe that's just like the other seasons, we just have too many short players. The build required in modern football changed years ago and we are still not getting it. Recruitment was therefore well off the mark in my opinion. So my view is although I can't hand on heart say there are not better managers out there (there obviously are), Johnson is not the fundamental problem and I don't see another League 1 manager getting them promoted via automatic.
Your point about too many short players reminds me of us playing Hull last season. Josh Magennis was up against McFadzean and it painfully looked like Championship v League 2. Our physicality hasn't improved a lot from last season. Playing good football is one thing, but not enough by itself.
I can't remember the last time I went to a game and the lads who sit behind me didn't comment on how big the opposition were compared to us. We've made a few upgrades in that area, Hoffman, Doyle and Stewart for example but we're still lacking big tough lads with a bit of a nasty streak. O'Nien and Gooch are just about our only players with an edge and they aren't exactly giants.
To be honest I thought it was strong enough, but I’m now wondering if I’ve got ahead of myself a little bit. We look short of quality all over the squad and it looks pitifully bad on the wings, in central midfield and at CB. We’re also playing a midfielder at RB for what seems like the tenth season in a row, although granted he has done well there. I dread to think what will happen if God forbid Stewart suffers a bad injury.
Don't get this obsession with having tall, physical players as if they are the only ones capable of bringing success in League One. Top goalscorer in the league last season is 6 foot. Not 6'5" or 6'4 Top assists came from a lad 5'9", 2nd top assister was 5'7" Goalkeeper in the tightest defence in the league was just over 6 foot You don't have to be a man mountain to bring success in this league. People are only obsessing over it because apparently we only have short players (apart from Doyle, Flanagan, Stewart, Cirkin, Alves, Broadhead, Dajaku & Embleton who are all 5'11" or above)
It's not exclusively height that we need, more like bulk/strength. It was actually Mallik Wilks that I was thinking of, when we played Hull. He made McFadzean look like a skinny school kid. Cirkin is a big improvement there. Foden is an exception with his amazing balance, pace and strength.
Aye when I say big players I mean tallish and strong not your Flanagans. Plan A should be to play football and we've got the quality for that, but when our flair players are off their game or it's conditions like it was at Portsmouth it'd be useful to have a few bruisers in the squad to give us a better chance of grinding out a result.
Up until Christmas the Premier league send their kids down to league 1 and 2 to compete against us in the pizza cup. They generally leave with a heavy defeat and their tails between their legs. That's happening to us, right now. I'm not sure how we fell into the trap so easily thinking that we could walk this league with such a young squad. There's a lot of quality with our homegrown and the young Premier league lads we've signed. Not much size, strength, bottle or experience... and its showing. We desperately need experienced heads signed in January to give our squad and first team a lot more balance and so we aren't such an easy pushover.
Maybe because a computer nerd off the big bang theory choosing the squad based on data analysis rather than a bloke who knows what's what out on the pitch ?
It's a very flowery piece of writing which doesn't say anything that couldn't have been said in a couple of sentences,in that,we are here because we deserve to be and the football we played earlier on in the season demands fans respect and patience for the manager, and the players ,when results aren't going our way. The evidence is that to change horses in midstream won't work and it's time some fans stopped bickering and reacting so nastily to what could easily be a temporary set back,and everyone should get behind the lads with our unrivalled,unwavering support. Got to say I agree with him.
