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Opposition so far


CiderHeadDan

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Okay so this is based on obviously an extremely small sample size, but what do we make of the opposition we have played so far?

Coventry (H) Promoted last season, with a very solid record for league one's sakes. Probably had the better of the play against us (especially first half) but we managed to grind out a performance regardless of being at our best. This was obviously our first game so there were a lot of unknown quantities so personally I believe this could be a very good result against a team who will finish mid table.

Stoke (A) For me this was the game that initiated the hope, along with a very competent game with our reserves against Northampton. At the start of the season I thought Stoke would be up there with their squad and they might still be, but now I'll change my prediction to a top 10 side. They won yesterday against Preston, althought Preston played a large amount of the game with 10 men. Preston are a team I think may struggle this year after overperforming in previous years.

Sheffield Wednesday (H) A team who I find very hard to decide on. I think they will have enough to stay up this year, even with the 12 point deduction. I would probably say they are the best team in terms of performance that we have seen so far this year, with the obvious quality in term of Bannan. The substitutes today were a fresh of breath air and instead of bringing on defensive players when being 1-0, we brought on Famara, Semenyo and Sessegnon. Instead of putting us under pressure, we done the opposite... hindsight is a good thing with subs, but it worked perfectly today, with us eventually getting the 2nd with a well taken goal by Patterson. Verdict: Sheffield Wednesday will win more games than they lose. 

In summary, so far we have won 3/3 and all of the teams we have played against, we have been the only team that they have lost to. We have played (in general) good football and more importantly I feel like we have been solid. As the cliche goes "clean sheets win championships" this has been an area of the squad I have been most impressed with (especially with injuries to Kalas and Baker). As someone who was sceptical at best of the appointment of Holden, I have to say I couldn't have wished for a better start and would have probably taken 5 points before a ball was kicked. 

My question to you is how good are the opposition we have played so far and where would you predict them to finish at the end of the season?

 

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Good idea for a topic. I definitely think all 3 stay up, Weds will be good enough to overcome the deduction and Coventry look surprisingly ready for this league. I suspect all 3 will finish between around 12th and 18th. Haven’t seen anything to suggest Stoke are as good as some think but I’ve been wrong many times before.

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2 minutes ago, Galway Red said:

Couldn't be bothered to read all your post but the three teams we have beaten are all otherwise undefeated 

Exactly this.

Each team have only lost 1 of their opening 3 games. 

It's too early to get a gage of who will finish where yet. Except for us, of course..! ??

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Just now, BCFCGav said:

Good idea for a topic. I definitely think all 3 stay up, Weds will be good enough to overcome the deduction and Coventry look surprisingly ready for this league. I suspect all 3 will finish between around 12th and 18th. Haven’t seen anything to suggest Stoke are as good as some think but I’ve been wrong many times before.

I feel Stoke are a very hard one to predict, on one hand I feel as though they could compete with top six, but then again I can also imagine them being just above relegation. I'll reserve too much judgment on them until later

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2 minutes ago, Nibor said:

I think Cov will finish 13th-18th and Stoke will be in the relegation battle again.

Wednesday will probably be 13th-18th with the deduction.

Forest away will be interesting, they have been quite shite so far but should be aiming for playoffs.

 

Forest are very intersting. On paper a very good squad and their fans were raving on about Lambouchi before the Covid-19 break last season. Now it wouldn't surprise me if he's the first manager sacked... it will either be him or Cocu for the first manager gone. I think they will be top 10, I really cant see them challenging this year. I think they had a good run of form last year which masked over a lot of their underlying problems.

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Or alternately.

Poor performance against a team that came up in Coventry.

Stoke are bad, and Preston are bad and especially bad with 10 men.

Sheff Weds might well go down. Have a look at their forum and what their fans think about their team.

You can only beat what's in front of you and we don't really know yet obviously. But I think there's reasons to not be too excited on strength of schedule.

I'm actually very positive at the minute, but if we beat a Swansea, Brentford, Watford, Norwich, or Bournemouth then I think I'll get excited.

Our next three are

away to Barnsley

away to Forest

Home to Middlesborough

and we could genuinely have 6 wins and not play anyone good.

Then it's

Home to Swansea

Away to Bournemouth

Home to Norwich

And then I'll be pretty comfortable assessing where we are.

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All about perspective, 

Wherever they finish this year, Coventry had just been promoted and that's always difficult. Stoke have been tipped for promotion by some "experts" and over his time there, Oneils home form is right up there. Sheff W are a solid Championship side and no gimme. Without getting ahead of ourselves I think we've made a good solid start, just as importantly decent to watch, unlike the last couple of years under the other bloke

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48 minutes ago, Prinny said:

Or alternately.

Poor performance against a team that came up in Coventry.

Stoke are bad, and Preston are bad and especially bad with 10 men.

Sheff Weds might well go down. Have a look at their forum and what their fans think about their team.

You can only beat what's in front of you and we don't really know yet obviously. But I think there's reasons to not be too excited on strength of schedule.

I'm actually very positive at the minute, but if we beat a Swansea, Brentford, Watford, Norwich, or Bournemouth then I think I'll get excited.

Our next three are

away to Barnsley

away to Forest

Home to Middlesborough

and we could genuinely have 6 wins and not play anyone good.

Then it's

Home to Swansea

Away to Bournemouth

Home to Norwich

And then I'll be pretty comfortable assessing where we are.

9 wins from 9 then

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Probably not any promotion contenders in the 3 but similarly no relegation threatened either. Well, SW might be in the mix but probably wouldn’t be without the deduction. 
 

With that in mind, it has been these type of sides that have held us back. Not only have we not conceded in the last two games but we have killed the game with second goals. The team has a different feel to it. More ruthless perhaps and a bit tougher. Not horrible blokes but really professional and no passengers in a game. Look first half it was quite poor but no one gave up for any amount of time. Got to say DH has done an impressive job because I don’t think even the most optimistic would have seen this start. 

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57 minutes ago, cityexile said:

Last 8 days of October we have Swansea, Bournemouth and Norwich on the bounce. Three teams you would fancy should all be challenging the top positions come the end of season. Think that week will tell us a lot.

Really good point.

Tough run of games.

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Coventry were very decent. They buzzed around and looked neat. I think they can be in the top half, if they make a couple of decent signings. This could include Walsh

Stoke flattered to deceive. Played ok but no product. Sign a decent striker and a ball player and they will do ok. Morrell fits that bill.

Shef Wed are a good side. They will haul their points total past the final bottom three I am confident of that. Today is an excellent result as they will pick up points against top half clubs, particularly if they can pick up a forward.

We are a good team playing well. Thats clear. The first half it was a bit toe to toe, but it was clear we only lacked the killer ball which came eventually to Martin who nodded back across for the first. 

Bakinson is a good player, helped by having good players around him and Chris Martin is playing out of his skin. Vyner and Taylor Moore were excellent as was Morson. 

Role on Forrest! They don’t want us right now. I watched them against Huddersfield and they could have lost 5-0. They were dodgy everywhere. A good time to play them....?....Yes I think so!

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27 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Yeah, it had all the hallmarks of the type of game that we've lost in the last couple of years, especially in the first half.

It did. Last season we would have stood off them and let Bannan run the show, gone 2-0 down and ended up losing 2-1 after bombarding their goal for the last fifteen minutes.

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2 hours ago, CiderHeadDan said:

Okay so this is based on obviously an extremely small sample size, but what do we make of the opposition we have played so far?

Coventry (H) Promoted last season, with a very solid record for league one's sakes. Probably had the better of the play against us (especially first half) but we managed to grind out a performance regardless of being at our best. This was obviously our first game so there were a lot of unknown quantities so personally I believe this could be a very good result against a team who will finish mid table.

Stoke (A) For me this was the game that initiated the hope, along with a very competent game with our reserves against Northampton. At the start of the season I thought Stoke would be up there with their squad and they might still be, but now I'll change my prediction to a top 10 side. They won yesterday against Preston, althought Preston played a large amount of the game with 10 men. Preston are a team I think may struggle this year after overperforming in previous years.

Sheffield Wednesday (H) A team who I find very hard to decide on. I think they will have enough to stay up this year, even with the 12 point deduction. I would probably say they are the best team in terms of performance that we have seen so far this year, with the obvious quality in term of Bannan. The substitutes today were a fresh of breath air and instead of bringing on defensive players when being 1-0, we brought on Famara, Semenyo and Sessegnon. Instead of putting us under pressure, we done the opposite... hindsight is a good thing with subs, but it worked perfectly today, with us eventually getting the 2nd with a well taken goal by Patterson. Verdict: Sheffield Wednesday will win more games than they lose. 

In summary, so far we have won 3/3 and all of the teams we have played against, we have been the only team that they have lost to. We have played (in general) good football and more importantly I feel like we have been solid. As the cliche goes "clean sheets win championships" this has been an area of the squad I have been most impressed with (especially with injuries to Kalas and Baker). As someone who was sceptical at best of the appointment of Holden, I have to say I couldn't have wished for a better start and would have probably taken 5 points before a ball was kicked. 

My question to you is how good are the opposition we have played so far and where would you predict them to finish at the end of the season?

 

The key thing for me is keeping clean sheets and the successful teams are those who concede the least goals 

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3 hours ago, cityexile said:

Last 8 days of October we have Swansea, Bournemouth and Norwich on the bounce. Three teams you would fancy should all be challenging the top positions come the end of season. Think that week will tell us a lot.

Agree, of course. 

Although whilst some wish to belittle our start to the season because we've "only" belated potentially mid table teams - it's worth noting that Norwich, Bournemouth Swansea and Brentford have all failed to beat what could just as easily be described as being "mid table/average" championship teams. 

Everyone is fully aware that it's nothing other than a good start, but to dismiss the results as meaningless, until we've beaten bigger teams is just daft, when we've not had the opportunity to play them yet. 

Nobody's cracking open champagne yet, but surely it's OK to revel in 3 good results against teams that all look like they should compete this season. 

It's not like we've brushed aside Wycombe, Luton & Barnsley (all due respect to those teams) who'd be most peoples bet for bottom 3 places. 

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We can only beat who’s in front of us and we can’t expect anything more from the squad so far. However, I always insist the time to judge a side is after 10 games and until then, my feet are on the floor. We’ve had a favourable run of fixtures to start the season, let’s see where we are in November.

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