Taken from the Swindon advertiser: well they may have won the JPT but to be honest Walsall were woeful of the 20 minutes of the game I saw. I keep reading that Bristol City fans are by far the best footballing side in this league well having watched them twice in small glimpses on TV they seem like a hoof team to me. In the JPT all their keeper was launching it as far up the pitch as he could and they do rely a lot on Flint from set pieces and as soon as they get it wide its a hoof in the box. From what I have seen no way are they the best footballing side in the league but what is in their favour they have experienced players a lot of who have played in the championship so really they should be where they are. I really hope we give them an exhibition in our great football at their place and just show them what a good side we are and if we play to our maximum there is no reason why we cant turn them over at their place. Their fans are so confident they are going to turn us over I really hope we shove it right down their throat. They are still sore over their defeat to us and by all accounts we were celebrating as though we had one a cup final did they not realise it was a local derby and their fans would do the same -oh I know they wouldn't do that of course and they do realise either we salute the players after each game anyway but you cant do that to City as they don't like it.
This is obviously written by an individual rather than the paper itself It's myopic, but then that's what football fans are
I do think that some City fans are also short sighted. In the final analysis the table does not lie but in my opinion there have been several home games this season where the better teams have out played us for long periods. Having said that there is no such thing as a perfect team and at the moment I would rather be in our position that Swindon's. So to the author I say I understand a lot of what you say but it's sour grapes really
You're right LR with have been outplayed at times and don't always look convincing,but fortunately we seem to restrict a lot of teams to shooting from distance when that happens but not all of them,as for hoof ball we just mix it up a bit when needed to,nobody could accuse us of launching it from the back all the time yesterday especially when we had moments like we had in the first half when we actually needed to hoof it away but perilously played it around the leftback position when under heavy pressure.
This actually baffles me! Do you honestly expect to go through a full season of 46 league games of football without some teams dominating play for some periods? (long or short!)
Swindon is a game we need to win,a draw or win at preston the job will be done. Apart from the last twenty minutes at swindon with ten men we gave as good as we got. We could have drawn the game, when wilbs skyed it at the end,he only needed to keep the ball down. A draw would have been a fair result.
I think some of the summing up here is getting close to the mark are we the best team in the league? ...NO.. this season all the things that have alluded us in the past 3 seasons have come to the good..fixture spread .. playing teams at the right time, lack of injuries and a formation that is "new" to a lot of teams not prepared for it, it does as people have said allow us to be attacked, but shots from further out! That's what that "odd" league table thing showed us.. what have been good at is picking up points!!!
We had 60% possession in the first half against Wallsall. No idea what game that idiot was watching. Yes, those "hoofs" in the box are called crosses. What a thick fanbase.. and they still haven't sold out their massive 900 allocation with a week to go before the game
This is my favourite comment WHAT ?? City have bought the cup and the league, spending millions in the process, unlike Swindon and Cooper who have have built up an excellent young team and spent very little, who really deserves the praise? How many contracted players do they have in their team? About 5.
'are we the best team in the league? ...NO.. this season all the things that have alluded us in the past 3 seasons have come to the good..fixture spread .. playing teams at the right time, lack of injuries and a formation that is "new" to a lot of teams not prepared for it, it does as people have said allow us to be attacked, but shots from further out!' Genius. So PNE,Swindon,MK right down to Yeovil have played with a terrible '..fixture spread .. playing teams at the worst time,and loads of injuries and a formation that is "old" to a lot of teams who are prepared for it. Cotterill, I hope you're reading this, nothing to do with you mate.
3-5-2 switching to a 5-3-2, new? How long have you been watching football? Argentina won the 1986 world cup playing it! Good at picking up points you say... yeah thats probably a good way to go!
So we've been playing easier teams in our league to the other teams in our league? And for the previous years we've been doing the same? Are you sure you're not a Gashead? Here's some stats to suggest we are not the best Home table GP W D L Pts 1 Bristol City 19 14 3 2 45 2 Preston 19 11 7 1 40 3 Milton Keynes 19 12 3 4 39 4 Swindon Town 18 11 3 4 36 5 Barnsley 19 10 3 6 33 6 Sheffield Utd 19 9 5 5 32 7 Chesterfield 19 9 4 6 31 8 Gillingham 19 8 6 5 30 9 Peterborough 19 9 3 7 30 10 Fleetwood 19 7 8 4 29 11 Oldham 19 8 4 7 28 12 Crewe Alexan. 19 8 4 7 28 13 Rochdale 18 8 3 7 27 14 Port Vale 19 8 3 8 27 15 Crawley Town 19 7 6 6 27 16 Bradford 18 6 6 6 24 17 Coventry City 19 5 8 6 23 18 Walsall 19 5 7 7 22 19 Scunthorpe 18 6 4 8 22 20 Doncaster 19 6 4 9 22 21 Yeovil Town 19 4 6 9 18 22 Colchester 19 5 2 12 17 23 Leyton Orient 19 4 4 11 16 24 Notts County 18 4 3 11 15 Away table GP W D L Pts 1 Bristol City 19 11 5 3 38 2 Swindon Town 19 10 4 5 34 3 Preston 18 10 3 5 33 4 Doncaster 19 8 7 4 31 5 Milton Keynes 19 8 6 5 30 6 Sheffield Utd 19 8 5 6 29 7 Bradford 18 7 6 5 27 8 Notts County 19 7 6 6 27 9 Rochdale 19 8 2 9 26 10 Peterborough 19 8 2 9 26 11 Walsall 18 6 6 6 24 12 Oldham 19 6 6 7 24 13 Leyton Orient 18 6 5 7 23 14 Fleetwood 19 7 2 10 23 15 Barnsley 19 6 4 9 22 16 Scunthorpe 19 5 6 8 21 17 Colchester 19 5 6 8 21 18 Port Vale 19 6 3 10 21 19 Coventry City 19 5 5 9 20 20 Chesterfield 18 5 5 8 20 21 Gillingham 19 4 6 9 18 22 Crawley Town 19 4 4 11 16 23 Yeovil Town 19 4 3 12 15 24 Crewe Alexan. 19 4 2 13 14 Swindon fans are just living in a different world, they've been driving around the magic roundabout too many times their brains are scrambled.
Jealousy is an ugly thing and the top of the table says everything we need to know. How many teams wouldn't want to be in our position and how many of them, if asked, would decline the points in matches where the opposition deserved them more? The answer is NONE! Over a season all these things sort each other out and same can be said of any team either at the top or bottom of the table. Using the "what if" scenario at any time during the season is pointless because the only thing that matters is the points on the board, which we have in the bank. At the end of the season the top teams go up and the bottom teams go down and unless the league are going to start using hypothetical formulae to determine promotion and relegation then questioning the ability of your competitors to deserve promotion is a waste of time and energy.
We are the best team in the league. We're top by a distance and the table doesn't lie. We've won more and lost less than any other side. Are we the best team in the league right now ? Debatable, but it just doesn't matter. All that does matter is when 46 games have been played. If we are still top at that point, then we will be deserved champions. PNE didn't look great at times today............
Still there is one thing that Swindon have had this season that we haven't..a visit from the bailiffs. Did you see it on the telly?
Some of the critiscism on this board seems to come from people who don't actually go to many games. Watching the highlights does not tell you which side was the better, as they usually try to show a balanced view, for both sides. In the games I have seen first-hand we have dominated sides all over the pitch, in every position, and played a nice combination of direct and passing play. We do score from corners - corners that are won by Joe Bryan and Mark Little getting down the flanks and the opposition defenders cutting out the crosses through interception. I am glad I have actually been to games and can therefore tell it like it is. We are the best team in the league, though sides like MK Dons and Preston are also very capable on their day. As are Bradford, Barnsley & Sheffield.
The letter from the Swindle fan appears to be rather bitter and twisted. He clearly does not understand the difference between "Hoofball" and "Long Ball". Not worth trying to enlighten him. As for us being outplayed by some teams. Once again some cannot differentiate between bring outplayed and having less possession. The last World Cup finals in Brazil had many games where the winning team had considerably less possession than the losers. City have had some home matches that followed that pattern and the alternative point of view is that City have become very adept in home games, allowing opponents lots of possession and hitting them quickly on the break in the same way that many sides do in away games when under pressure. There is more than one way to skin a cat and the object of a football game is not to have the ball more than your opponent, but to put the ball in the net more than the other side. I seem to remember a few weeks ago, Gillingham beat Swindle 3-0 at the County Ground but only had around 40% of possession. Lucky? Maybe but took their opportunities.
