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Now or never for LJ


old_eastender

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Best Jan transfer window dealings I can recall; goal scorer with nearly a 1 in 2 ratio this season, international seasoned power play midfielder, much vaunted ball playing strong centre back, even with Josh gone we are considerably stronger overall.

SL has done his bit, MA too, time for LJ. We sit in 6th, and for my money it would be abject failure on his part if we now don't finish in the top 6. If he can't achieve that this season, with the squad at his disposal I don't believe he ever will.

 

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2 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

Best Jan transfer window dealings I can recall; goal scorer with nearly a 1 in 2 ratio this season, international seasoned power play midfielder, much vaunted ball playing strong centre back, even with Josh gone we are considerably stronger overall.

SL has done his bit, MA too, time for LJ. We sit in 6th, and for my money it would be abject failure on his part if we now don't finish in the top 6. If he can't achieve that this season, with the squad at his disposal I don't believe he ever will.

 

If we play good football and we end up a bit unfortunate then I wouldn't be furious at him for not making top 6.

There's plenty of very tough competition for that top 6. Won't be easy.

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2 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

If we play good football and we end up a bit unfortunate then I wouldn't be furious at him for not making top 6.

There's plenty of very tough competition for that top 6. Won't be easy.

Absolutely. If we rediscovered the Man United form and finish 8th or 9th I’d be pretty well appeased. 
 

I don’t hold out too much hope though. 

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1 minute ago, spudski said:

Finish top 6, then lose in the play offs?

Still be happy?

Really can't stand the play offs...it gives false hope. Ok only 1 in 4 can go up. Odds more likely to damage the Club.

Gotta aim top 2 imo.

The aim will be top 2. But if we don’t finish top 2 it would be nonsense to call that a failure (I appreciate you haven’t done that).

Top six would be a very good achievement so I cannot see how finishing 7th would be a failure.  A lot of football is about fine margins 

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1 minute ago, spudski said:

Finish top 6, then lose in the play offs?

Still be happy?

Really can't stand the play offs...it gives false hope. Ok only 1 in 4 can go up. Odds more likely to damage the Club.

Gotta aim top 2 imo.

one of the worse things about the playoffs is that it gives you a month less than everyone else to plan properly for next season.  If you go up a vast amount of higher quality players suddenly become realistic targets but you can't go for them until you are up, by which time a lot of deals will have already been sorted by the clubs you'll be competing against.

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1 minute ago, Abingdon Red said:

Put simply, with the resources he has available LJ now has to make the top six.  

Why? He doesn’t have the resources of a top six side.  

This is where fans get it wrong. It is LJ that has raised expectations for this club. It is LJ who has us in 6th already. So if LJ doesn’t exceed the expectations that he has set he has failed? It makes little sense to me. 

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I may add...just because we've made quality signings, they would have to hit the ground running.

Football is not about individuals. It's a team strategy game. And these players will need time to integrate. Individual brilliance or mistakes will happen.

It's not a case of we've brought quality so we will automatically improve.

Not every player fits a club...regardless of talent.

It's a lottery...it's a short term strategy that we hope will work. No pre season... absolutely nothing. Purely learning on the job so to speak.

We also have to play against teams who have also 'strengthened'...so it in theory equals out.

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looking at the money spent by WBA and Fulham it's very ambitious to being talking top 2, IMO.

We have the potential to finish top 6 - but it's still too simplistic to make it black or white.

Suspensions, injuries, luck etc will all play their parts over the next 18 games - but LJ will know now there are no excuses on the transfer side of things.

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4 minutes ago, RedDave said:

Why? He doesn’t have the resources of a top six side.  

This is where fans get it wrong. It is LJ that has raised expectations for this club. It is LJ who has us in 6th already. So if LJ doesn’t exceed the expectations that he has set he has failed? It makes little sense to me. 

Looking at the sides around us I'd say we have resources comparable to Forest, Brentford, Preston or Millwall. 

I agree that there's no excuses but it's going to take a few games to integrate the new signings. I still think it's too close to call for even automatic promotion with the top two wobbling. 

Carpe Diem City

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4 minutes ago, spudski said:

I may add...just because we've made quality signings, they would have to hit the ground running.

Football is not about individuals. It's a team strategy game. And these players will need time to integrate. Individual brilliance or mistakes will happen.

It's not a case of we've brought quality so we will automatically improve.

Not every player fits a club...regardless of talent.

It's a lottery...it's a short term strategy that we hope will work. No pre season... absolutely nothing. Purely learning on the job so to speak.

We also have to play against teams who have also 'strengthened'...so it in theory equals out.

And equally teams who are weakened and equally bedding in new signings.

 

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22 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

If we play good football and we end up a bit unfortunate then I wouldn't be furious at him for not making top 6.

There's plenty of very tough competition for that top 6. Won't be easy.

So what about if we play average football but make the play-offs or even automatic promotion?

For me, being in the position we are now in, it’s all about results, we are in our best position for a very long time & despite all the doom & gloom, we have managed to strengthen our squad with players that have all been chased by other clubs & I don’t mean they’ve been chased by poorer clubs than us, they have been chased by arguably bigger clubs than us & they have all come in commenting on our reputation! It only seems like some of our own fan base have a problem with the way we are playing & our results!

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1 minute ago, RedDave said:

LJ has made all this possible by improving the likes of Bryan, Reid, Brownhill and Kelly which has meant we can bring in money to make signings that we have in the last 48 hours. If we just miss out on play offs then keep with the plan. 

Yes it's hard to argue against LJ's player development record now. Seeing Brownhill come in, improve and move on, which in turn has taken us a step up the ladder, the result being a forward the quality of Wells coming in - shows 'the plan' is working. 

It is not a simple case of saying LJ has been backed, now deliver. Yes there was an initial outlay, but that backing has been earned.

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1 minute ago, Alessandro said:

Yes it's hard to argue against LJ's player development record now. Seeing Brownhill come in, improve and move on, which in turn has taken us a step up the ladder, the result being a forward the quality of Wells coming in - shows 'the plan' is working. 

It is not a simple case of saying LJ has been backed, now deliver. Yes there was an initial outlay, but that backing has been earned.

Exactly.  My concern is we lose 2-3 and half the fans turn again. If we are all united till June it will give us a better chance of finishing top six.  The home atmosphere has to improve in my opinion 

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25 minutes ago, spudski said:

I may add...just because we've made quality signings, they would have to hit the ground running.

Football is not about individuals. It's a team strategy game. And these players will need time to integrate. Individual brilliance or mistakes will happen.

It's not a case of we've brought quality so we will automatically improve.

Not every player fits a club...regardless of talent.

It's a lottery...it's a short term strategy that we hope will work. No pre season... absolutely nothing. Purely learning on the job so to speak.

We also have to play against teams who have also 'strengthened'...so it in theory equals out.

All of this is true and a lot of luck is involved but nonetheless luck and good judgement backed up by fortune is what football management turns on.

There are no guarantees for all the reasons you say but ultimately the club and manager have made a judgement call that these are the right players and they will hit the ground running. Their reputation is on the line and I think LJ’s job has to be on the line if it does not work out and we do not have a strong second half of the season and at least push close to the top six.

Fair or not, that is the risk he takes as a manager...

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39 minutes ago, alexukhc said:

I was thinking the same, this is it for him now and if we don’t go up, I’m not sure he will be here start of August, he’s never brought in so much quality in a window, it either works or it doesn’t

Last summer - Kalas, Dasilva, Rowe, Nagy, Massengo and Afobe?

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