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NP is bigging us up, after 2 losses ... both from my part preseason were nil points of NORWICH/BURNLEY/WATFORD .... BURNLEY WAS THE EASIEST OF 3 in first half of the season.
at least 7 of the next 10 are difficult! even with the so called "different team / better? " we have!

 

Fatigue in September? sorry I'm not buying that ole chestnut..
Bad defending, defensive errors, lack of concentration....possibly dodgy tactics and substitutions...is the reality..

 

It’s all relative. Away games against arguably two of the best teams in the league, within 3 days of each other, and the miles between them, not much time to recover in between, on top of that the pressing game we play, especially against Norwich.

Personally whilst obviously disappointed with two losses, I’m not too down beat. We competed with both, in particular Norwich. They both have individually better players, which is why ultimately we lost to both, but we gave them both a game, and made them work hard for their wins. I believe if we can continue to play at a similar level we will pick up enough points to end up in the top half of the table.,

 

a 3 year plan! this is second year a consolidation of squad to propel us to the 3rd year which is supposed to bring promo? top half could be 12th 15 points from 6th!
TBH I wouldnt really be happy anything less than 7th on a 1 goal difference! Thats 1 place better than a top third finish.

I usually work on next games [ or 6 pts from nearest team or a point where we should / nt be] at the mo we are 1 pt from top 6 and 6pts from top, so within a good finish ..... however we are only 4 pts from a relegation spot !! [ but very early in season ] can go both ways.
OK so We play good football and results are close but just draw or lose by 1 goal! soon back to square one [ previous couple of seasons ]. I did have reservations about NP ...STILL DO, but not so serious!! also serious reservations about the coaching staff for defence.

just pointing out not an opinion ... when we had DH + the 2 coach's we had some balance . front middle and back experience, and to be honest were doing above average. As you look back at the day NP was brought in, was it known that the accounts because of covid were going to be a disaster and the thinking was we are doing quite well , near the top lets bring in a experienced manager to get into top 6 maybe get promo and then FFP IS OF LITTLE CONCERN? .... IT certainly backfired, seriously back fired ... still had FFP to contend with, were paying more wages and had compensation to come and only picked up 4 pts in the last 13? games against relatively easier competition.

Happy with top half finish ... NO

 

Be prepared to be disappointed then, because it’s unlikely we’ll achieve 7th this season, possible but not likely. You’re a man of odds, what are the odds we’ll reach the heights you are expecting?

 

how long is a piece of string ? At this early conjecture has to be 50/50! Usually around the 10 games mark it is seeing whether your manager is up to it! [ Cardiff doesnt think so! although like city have played 6A 4H / 5A 2H in last 7!!!! ] Around 16 games is a point where teams should have played 8H & 8A [ 1/3rd season ] so a point to start looking at what might be achieved ... 24 pts = average 28 is minimum top 5 or 6th [EOS]
I would say my expectation would be around 8th-10th at this moment .. get in a decent defensive coach and maybe 6th / 7th

 

Well said Ashton, a very sensible analysis.

 

I agree, we competed which is something we didn’t do last season against the relegated PL teams. 2 weeks now to spend time working on the defence. Get that right and we are very well set for the season.

 

Absolutely agree.
I just hope we plug the gaps before the top 6 are out of sight.
On a more positive note I don’t think relegation is likely (there - jinxed!!)

 

really, how do learn what is good/ bad / can be improved without prior knowledge of what was there before? whether animal vegetable of mineral? SAY washing up liquid worked fine on a very wide range of "things" but one was more stubborn than the rest, learned by the act of using the liquid, then you can work on the ingredients to improve it using historical facts on what worked and what didnt! ...just saying... but havent you just said the things you thought were superflourus?

there is a difference between coach and Manager it was not within the briefs of previous to & / SC / LJ / DH to at least half on that list
a couple items are "has to work within the parameters of FFP "
Backroom staff and fitness levels are pertinent to all managers [ fitness levels may lead to poor results# ].

All the managers /head coach's are judged on results# ..

We are where we are, and the highest scorer in the division, [a wellness feeling] and second worst defender one of 13 teams within 3pts of 5th position [ wellness feeling ] and pundits stating we are a fantastic team and going places [ more than once on here people have said take no notice of pundits? ] ... Pundits said the same about Watford /Blackburn [ before City game ] 3 or 4 games ago with the new man in charge, Watford destined to go straight back up ... !

We have had a history of players seeing us over.. easy ride/ easy money/ lazy?/ didnt fit in at the time / didnt come up to expectations. A question, had covid, lack of income , leading to a £38m loss not happened would we have cleared out all the players we have for what we did? IE NO FEE ... [ bearing in mind the whole of football lost out, so had money kept flowing and transfers continued would we have not MAYBE held on to 1 or 2 and got fee's for the rest allbeit maybe just £1-£2m?]

As you say "interesting" and different views ways to look at it.

 

when you look at the table between 4th and 23rd is the points spread you expect between groups of maybe 4 or 5 teams today this covers 18 teams. WHY I dont take a lot of stock of pundits is most often they are talking about today, often have no management experience , or never played the professional game above league 8 in fact the BCFC forum is full of pundits ...lol
5th is only 5 points above 22nd = MIDDSBRO & WBA, with another 3 or 4 teams just 2 points above them [ MIDDS/ WBA ] these are teams hoping the same " close the gaps"

You can look at the top and visualize
1 Sheff Utd 2 Norwich 3 Reading 4 Burnley 5 Sunderland 6 Watford 7 Blackburn [ not in that order being the EOS?]

THE JURY IS OUT ON THE RELEGATION CONTENDERS

 

spot on wiz absolutely on the money your comments

 

Monday 19th

I'm not sure it's possible with the current back 3.
Naismith is too much of a footballer.
Vyner is slow, ponderous and just can't keep switched on. Not sure you can coach concentration.
Atkinson, who was at fault for Burnley's first, plays where Naismith should play.
Our only game plan, currently, is to score 1 more than the opposition.