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How Long.....


Silvio Dante

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A common point on here at the moment is that we have the same number of points from the same number of games as last year.

Peoples take on this tends to fall into one of two categories - optimism as the performances are so much better this time, or a few with the attitude of that we've screwed it up before, so why not again. 

So, the question I was mulling is how long? How long until you believe this season may be different to last year? How long until you can put last years losing run behind you?

For me, I'm in the cautious optimism camp. Although last year was so scarring, I think I can only truly put it out of my mind if we maintain decent (not necessarily unbeaten) form until the November international break. Then I think I may let myself believe we may be in with a shot of something.

Anyones timescales feel the same?

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For me it's not about last year's losing run. I'm simply looking forward to reaching the 50 point mark asap. Successive seasons with the threat of relegation hanging over us have made me feel like that. I think those running our club would have that in mind, too, even if they wouldn't express it publicly.

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I'm at the stage of every point is closer to safety. For me, my goal for us was 60 points. We get to that then I'll be happy/change expectations. 

What I will say is that our performances back to what? Mid march? Up to now have been generally outstanding. A few duds but usually up for it and full of energy. Not many fluke points in there and now with this season, very tough to break down for most in the division. So I guess I'm cautiously optimistic about our prospects this season. I mean, why not this season? I think it's as strong a division as ever but no top class side(as of yet anyway). 

 

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31 minutes ago, Spoons said:

It feels different .. Simple as that! We aren't holding on for dear life to a lead late in games. Killing teams off and looking and playing like a team.

Pembo and Tomlin going is maybe the difference? 

You could be right about Pembo and Tomlin. I would say that loosing JK also impacted on our results and confidence.

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Already believe this season will be different, our style of play is much better, we don't crumble in defence while leading/drawing trying to close out games and our squad is of a depth where if someone doesn't perform they know they're getting changed out.

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Players seem to have gelled and are putting bodies on the line. This wasn't evident this stage last yr. Couple of late goals earning us points late in the game covered up the cracks last yr.

Also it seems as though there's more to come with this squad. Obviously they are all young bar a couple of exceptions but on the other hand our most dangerous, most complete player this year in Bobby reid has only a dozen games experience as striker.

Fammy isn't even completely settled yet and he's showing us already why over 5mil was spent on him.

The teams we have played against and got results shows It's just looking a whole lot better this year than last. 

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1 hour ago, Silvio Dante said:

A common point on here at the moment is that we have the same number of points from the same number of games as last year.

Peoples take on this tends to fall into one of two categories - optimism as the performances are so much better this time, or a few with the attitude of that we've screwed it up before, so why not again. 

So, the question I was mulling is how long? How long until you believe this season may be different to last year? How long until you can put last years losing run behind you?

For me, I'm in the cautious optimism camp. Although last year was so scarring, I think I can only truly put it out of my mind if we maintain decent (not necessarily unbeaten) form until the November international break. Then I think I may let myself believe we may be in with a shot of something.

Anyones timescales feel the same?

I think everything will depend on the next loss & how we react to that defeat.

If we go on another run of consecutive defeats, there will be murmurs of discontent quite early (after 3 or 4 defeats) but if we react by instantly bouncing back with a win, people will be more accepting in the knowledge that the majority of us know we won’t go undefeated for months & months, it’s just the way of the division.

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Last season's poor run was quite remarkably bad. It was pretty unlikely to happen last season (though obviously it did). It's even less likely to happen this season as the fundamentals all look better. If id does happen again then serious questions have to be asked about the manager because it'd represent a major flaw in what he's doing.

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16 hours ago, RidgeRed said:

For me it's not about last year's losing run. I'm simply looking forward to reaching the 50 point mark asap. Successive seasons with the threat of relegation hanging over us have made me feel like that. I think those running our club would have that in mind, too, even if they wouldn't express it publicly.

The way we're playing we should reach that point by mid November.

Happy times .

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I'm just happy we seem to have a style of play now. The back 5 are (while still conceding a few goal) generally rock solid with good back ups and don't seem to be making silly mistakes, especially Frankie.

We have a high tempo, pressing nature for the front players, closing people down, not giving them time to play, forcing them to go long and unsettling them. We also have technically good young players who are playing well and must be difficult to play against.

Thats what I'm happiest with!

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13 minutes ago, BCFC_Dan said:

Last season's poor run was quite remarkably bad. It was pretty unlikely to happen last season (though obviously it did). It's even less likely to happen this season as the fundamentals all look better. If id does happen again then serious questions have to be asked about the manager because it'd represent a major flaw in what he's doing.

Well it was remarkably bad and it wasn't.  To lose thirteen games out of sixteen is pretty bad, but to lose all of them except one by a single goal (the other game being a 2-0 home defeat to the eventually promoted Brighton) is downright weird.   We were never far off in any of these games except the Brighton one (which to be fair we could have lost by more than two goals), and were very unlucky at times.  Nothing went our way, the confidence drained out of the side,  and in the last twenty minutes of virtually every game we played as though we had a death wish.  Such a long run of matches lost by one goal is something that I don't think I've ever seen before, and I never once doubted Lee Johnson during this run.  The only time I did doubt him was the 5-0 defeat at Preston when we really did look as though we had thrown in the towel, but to be fair his response to that was bold (dropping Tomlin, Hegeler and Cotterill; bringing in Brownhill, Paterson and Taylor) and we have only lost two games since.

I am convinced that this is the best squad since the one which won promotion to the First Division in 1975, and given that there probably isn't much difference in quality between the First Division in 1975 and the Championship in 2017, this may well be the best squad in my lifetime, and indeed the best ever.  That is quite a thought.  Why shouldn't it take us to promotion?  Compare to the 2007-8 squad and it is stronger in almost every department.

 

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7 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Well it was remarkably bad and it wasn't.  To lose thirteen games out of sixteen is pretty bad, but to lose all of them except one by a single goal (the other game being a 2-0 home defeat to the eventually promoted Brighton) is downright weird.   We were never far off in any of these games except the Brighton one (which to be fair we could have lost by more than two goals), and were very unlucky at times.  Nothing went our way, the confidence drained out of the side,  and in the last twenty minutes of virtually every game we played as though we had a death wish.  Such a long run of matches lost by one goal is something that I don't think I've ever seen before, and I never once doubted Lee Johnson during this run.  The only time I did doubt him was the 5-0 defeat at Preston when we really did look as though we had thrown in the towel, but to be fair his response to that was bold (dropping Tomlin, Hegeler and Cotterill; bringing in Brownhill, Paterson and Taylor) and we have only lost two games since.

I am convinced that this is the best squad since the one which won promotion to the First Division in 1975, and given that there probably isn't much difference in quality between the First Division in 1975 and the Championship in 2017, this may well be the best squad in my lifetime, and indeed the best ever.  That is quite a thought.  Why shouldn't it take us to promotion?  Compare to the 2007-8 squad and it is stronger in almost every department.

 

Is that correct, both games agains Birmingham?

I have been too lazy to check, but that is pretty impressive if true.

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I disagree, @Alex_BCFC .

Yes the wins vs Fulham, Villa and Leeds were excellent in the first 10 games last year and yes we had the 2nd half rallies which were heartening to see- or you could turn it on its head and say we had to as we were below par in first half which was a weakness that would catch up with us in the end- as it did!

However performances this time around? First 10...seem more convincing and balanced to me. Plus our away form vs the equivelant games last year...no comparison. More resilience too as we showed at Ipswich and in a big way (the latter big luck too) at Brentford.

Early days of course but I think this start is more sustainable, better balanced. At minimum we won't collapse as we did from Brighton home game onwards last year IMO. This feels better...feels different. My prediction is still midtable FWIW.

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I don't know of any club that has broken its record losing run two years running so do not believe it will happen this time.  It's so statistically unlikely it is reassuring.

I do suspect we will not maintain our impressive recent run throughout the season though because again, these things don't tend to happen.

It's basic logic really, not really football dependent.

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