Take their first goal from the moment the player shoots from 20 yards and it's one of those very unfortunate goals that you can do nothing about. A deflection off Joseph wrong foots Pandur and it's in the back of the net before anyone can move. Take the second goal from the moment the guy hits a brilliant left-footed cross right into the box and it's a clinical goal. The problem with both goals is that opportunities weren't taken to avert the danger in the lead up to the final ball. The first goal - Pandur punches, the cross is headed back not out, and Joseph's mishit clearance - 3 chances to deal with the situation, none taken. The second goal - Amir loses the ball, then doesn't close down the cross - 2 chances, neither taken. We've played 16 games so far and conceded 2 or more goals in 10 of them. Rarely have we been clearly beaten (twice?). It just means that in two thirds of our games we have to score 2 or more goals ourselves to get anything out of the game. We've done that regularly though and stand fifth which is remarkable. We won't finish fifth or even sixth however unless we deal with that damning statistic of conceding 2 or more goals in the majority of games.
Now the poll is showing more saying bottom half than top half, only by a few admittedly. But I think some of the votes have changed.
That's my point. Portsmouth offered very little and yet we still conceded twice to the lowest scorers in all four divisions. The stats show that, in order to win matches, we're relying on the opposition to be far less ruthless than us which I'd suggest isn't really a sustainable approach especially, as Syd points out, we have tougher games ahead.
Two different things indeed. Our game policy now seems to be one of creating as many chances as possible which is both refreshing and exciting to watch but without wanting to break the current wave of euphoria, at the other end our goals against suggests City are still being opened up too easily at times for the same reasons we saw last season which basically was our difficulty to both prevent and deal with crosses into our box. Hopefully the players missing through injury will help City ease our current Achilles heel and in turn improve the goal difference could well be vital come April. Others may disagree. UTT.
A couple of bad results Jelly and you'll be the first to slag off all the players as being **** I predicted midtable but said I be satisfied with top of the bottom half. They've certainly out performed my expectations in the first third of the season and I sincerely hope we keep doing so. For me the manager has been fantastic. Not afraid to switch up the tactics or formation depending on who's available or who were playing. A focus on forwards momentum over maintaining possession and a general feeling of the handbrake being off. I personally feel that maintaining this good form will in large part come down to how lucky we are with injuries. We cant spend in January and getting more freebies will be extremely difficult. So we have to hope the squad we have holds together
We should have a 'where will we finish' poll at the start of the season and another one halfway through the season for comparison purposes and to gauge the mood amongst us. Think I went middle or bottom half but not sure when I voted or where we were in the recruitment process in that window. And I aint looking it up. For what it is worth I feel more positive now than then but I'm sure most do.
I remember lumping on last season about this time, think we'd just won 3 on the bounce, ended in tears. Feels different this season but I'm still keeping my hand in my pocket!
Me?! Never… I just had a decent feeling about the direction of our signings, with the quality we had it would have took an almighty **** up to not finish at the very least mid table. play offs minimum for me now. UP THE TIGERS
