Just a quick observation. Delighted that we are in the top 6 and quite surprised at that given our position after 4 or 5 matches. I also am surprised by our company in this oh so lofty position, Derby and Palace were poor last year and I expected them to be again this time round. Not many people fancied Boro (although I thought they'd do OK, not this well) And as for Peterborough.... yes they stuffed us but they actually look half decent and getting some results, also Brighton, although on the slide down the league, look like they can hold their own in this division. Just some observations
Im not surprised to see Boro doing well but their defensive record is fairly impressive. Mogga's teams are normally very attack minded and poor in defence. Southampton & West Ham at the top doesnt surprise me but the biggest surprise has to be leicester. They appear to be able to waste money even better than Roy Keane could! Derby and Palace are names I wasnt expecting in the mix but after the start of our season I can add our name to the pile of surprises as well
Palace were my surprise package for the season, I thought they had an outside chance of top 6. I thought Murray looked a cracking signing for them, be a tough game sat. I thought Boro would 100% be top 4. They have a good manager and appear to be getting things right. Shocked at Derby, fair play to them ! Good start. Leicester have been perhaps slightly disappointing so far, but Forest are the side that really have struggled thus far. A long way to go. We're placed VERY well, I never take much notice of a league table until 10 or so games gone, in the next 4 or 5 games it really will start to take shape.
Like most people, I will be happy if this season is spent in the top half, it would make a nice change not to be looking over our shoulder. Having said that, we have some decent momentum right now and we might not have a better chance of giving promotion a go. Sure you can say we are building for the future etc but who knows what teams will come down next year, will it be easier or harder. I have a feeling the quicker we can get promoted the better, I even think ME will really start to spend the cash if we do.
This league is so hard to predict, I remember looking at the league and just really not knowing who would do well and who wouldn't at the start of the season. Although I am very surprised at many of the teams up there especially, Derby, Palace and Peterborough. I had an incling that Southampton and Brighton would do well, mainly due to their philosphy of playing good football, and in general you need got players to play good football. I'm am slightly surprised to see West Ham up there tbh, I thought they may initially struggle to get back up straight away, how often is it that teams you think are definite certs to go straight back up again and they rarely do, as most of their players are of a premier league standard but find the championship pretty tough. I also thought that Nottingham Forrest would do well this season, I thought with McLaren in charge and he'd brought in some decent signing, they would do well, but clearly not. I think at the start of the season I said Southampton and Brighton could surprise a few people, Blackpool would be up there and so would Nottingham Forrest, other than that it was hard to predict. I thought we would make a late push for the playoffs. Agree tractorbhoy about Leicester, there are definate similarities, it seems that when clubs get alot of money suddenly, they feel they have to have a sudden overhaul of playing staff which causes alot of problems interms of ego's and team cohesion, which I think we experienced. However I feel Leicester although perhaps paying over the odds for a few players certainly have bought more quality than we ever had, it strikes to me as a similar situation to Man City, they easily have the best squad in the division but too many problem players with big ego's which do not make a good team.
