DaveInSA Posted November 21, 2020 Report Share Posted November 21, 2020 I like to break the season up into ten game chunks. Well actually I don't, I like breaking it up into 12 game chunks, because after 10 it didn't look as good as it does after 12 After 12 games then, we are competitive in this league. Which, after getting hammered by Norwich I'm finding a little surprising. We bounced back, and didn't lose seven in a row. We've only conceded 11, three of those against Norwich. We're tight at the back. For me, this is essential for building off. We still have argualbly our best midfielders not yet playing. Deano has got City playing effectively, without playing well. If we continue in this vein, we'll be in or about the Top 6. Which in my most humble opinion is punching above our weight. And if we eventually play well and effectively, who knows what can happen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hampshire Red Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 Next two games will be good indicators even if the last 10, or 12 haven't been!! Lets hope the return of Walsh, Williams, Massengo and Bako will add more to a midfield that is really failing to provide service to our front men, hence the disappointing number of chances we are creating, even against woeful teams at the bottom of the table Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipps69 Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 26 minutes ago, Hampshire Red said: Next two games will be good indicators even if the last 10, or 12 haven't been!! Lets hope the return of Walsh, Williams, Massengo and Bako will add more to a midfield that is really failing to provide service to our front men, hence the disappointing number of chances we are creating, even against woeful teams at the bottom of the table Pinning your hopes on two players that have had fairly lengthy injuries & haven’t played for us this season could be a bit naive? And when you consider the current situation at the club, I think we’re doing ridiculously well, a rookie manager that most were waiting to fail, a team that was probably weakened from last season’s rather than strengthened & then all the upheaval with injuries to what could probably be regarded as important first team players & then the recent Covid-19 disruption. Surely the hope would now be that we’ve had our injuries for the season (we’ve certainly had enough of them) & most of those players regarded as potential first team regulars could be back in the next month or so & will hopefully all work us more options. What needs to be guarded against is when the likes of Baker, Mawson, Walsh & Williams ever come back, they are managed properly to take a little bit of the injury risk away from them & this should also restrict the risk on the others currently playing as we will be able to rotate more. What will need to be remembered though, is that these players returning from injuries, along with Brunt & Marriappa never had any real form of pre-season so it is likely to take them longer to get match fit & there is a big difference between our ‘fit’ & a professional footballers ‘match fit’, so while the players may be reported as being injury free, they may not actually be ready to return to playing at this standard at that time. I think January could be a massive month for us, if players haven’t recovered from injuries (and we even get some more) & players haven’t signed new contracts, we could see a few moved on & require a few incomings, which isn’t particularly easy under the current circumstances throughout football & if we are in a similar league position to where we find ourselves now there will be expectations to be met. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unan Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 I hate to be negative but one comment I don't like, and this isn't aimed at you specifically, is that "we are winning without playing well which is a good sign". Is it a good sign? We said the same with LJ, but then we didn't play any better and stopped winning. At that point everyone said "it was obvious to see, we never played that well we were just lucky". I'm not saying this is going to happen again, but playing poorly is always a cause for concern in my opinion. Let's hope Holden doesn't follow the same path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanterne Rouge Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 5 minutes ago, Banned User said: I hate to be negative but one comment I don't like, and this isn't aimed at you specifically, is that "we are winning without playing well which is a good sign". Is it a good sign? We said the same with LJ, but then we didn't play any better and stopped winning. At that point everyone said "it was obvious to see, we never played that well we were just lucky". I'm not saying this is going to happen again, but playing poorly is always a cause for concern in my opinion. Let's hope Holden doesn't follow the same path. The difference for me is that we appear more capable of digging in if we`re not playing well - we don`t just roll over. I know it`s an oft-used statement but there have been games that we have won or drawn this season that I am convinced we would have lost last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltons Army Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Hampshire Red said: Next two games will be good indicators even if the last 10, or 12 haven't been!! Lets hope the return of Walsh, Williams, Massengo and Bako will add more to a midfield that is really failing to provide service to our front men, hence the disappointing number of chances we are creating, even against woeful teams at the bottom of the table For somebody who had to be surgically recovered from LJs rectum and who praised him and anything he did to a ridiculous degree , your current negative posts are hilarious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshthomson Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 Fingers crossed we are competing in the second half of the season. I hate the way we seem to fall away. Nothing like a run in with it all to play for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 We are significantly overachieving so far in my book. As others have pointed out, we tend to slide from January onwards & at present are (shades of the League Cup semi final season) flogging the same 14 players due to injuries. That cannot go on indefinitely. Think how many of those now absent who return & then make a contribution will be the key to the rest of the season. We know Weimann is out for it, I am very doubtful we will see Mawson in a City shirt again either, so Baker, Sessegnon, Walsh & Williams are really the 4 in question here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshthomson Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 @GrahamC try and look at the glass half full. Not half empty, you will enjoy the game much more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyTonyTony Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 If we are overachieving who cares? Would you rather be playing flowing footy but in the relegation zone? We have played Norwich, Bournemouth and Swansea who will end up at the top end of the table. We have beaten Stoke, Forest and Cardiff away. All of that with a big injury list I really don’t get what some of you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 3 hours ago, Banned User said: I hate to be negative but one comment I don't like, and this isn't aimed at you specifically, is that "we are winning without playing well which is a good sign". Is it a good sign? We said the same with LJ, but then we didn't play any better and stopped winning. At that point everyone said "it was obvious to see, we never played that well we were just lucky". I'm not saying this is going to happen again, but playing poorly is always a cause for concern in my opinion. Let's hope Holden doesn't follow the same path. I’d rather say something like “winning without playing exciting, free-flowing football” I think it’s a maturity / pragmatism that our head-coach has realised / learned you can’t play the same way every game and expect to win. Whether that’s the way the opposition play causing you to compromise or two weeks of nil preparation, he’s decided that there are different ways to win a game. With LJ I didn’t see the same method / purpose, it seems base more on ‘hope’. But we did win ugly under LJ too in fairness. I really think we need to take more note of our opponents too in reflecting on our own performance. Derby 451, retreat into their half quickly if the initial press didn’t work....making it tough to break through. With the ball they played pretty stuff, but they had to revolve it around Rooney which meant it went deep and we got into shape fairly easily. The couple of times we tried to pinch it and didn’t succeed led to Holmes getting between the lines and we looked exposed. But it was rare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuber Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 3 hours ago, Banned User said: I hate to be negative but one comment I don't like, and this isn't aimed at you specifically, is that "we are winning without playing well which is a good sign". Is it a good sign? We said the same with LJ, but then we didn't play any better and stopped winning. At that point everyone said "it was obvious to see, we never played that well we were just lucky". I'm not saying this is going to happen again, but playing poorly is always a cause for concern in my opinion. Let's hope Holden doesn't follow the same path. Alternatively, under LJ we near never kept a clean sheet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoystonFoote'snephew Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 I sometimes think we worry too much about performance. Very few teams at this level put in a free flowing star performance every week (Wolves were an exception). Sparkling performances come from confidence and confidence is gained through winning, and all the more so if you keep clean sheets in the process. Right now we're not free flowing but (like a team managed by Colin) we are effective. So for now let's revel in that and trust that a style more pleasing the eye will follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numero Uno Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 5 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said: I sometimes think we worry too much about performance. Very few teams at this level put in a free flowing star performance every week (Wolves were an exception). Sparkling performances come from confidence and confidence is gained through winning, and all the more so if you keep clean sheets in the process. Right now we're not free flowing but (like a team managed by Colin) we are effective. So for now let's revel in that and trust that a style more pleasing the eye will follow. We’ve got to third in the league after 12 games with a midfield that everyone agrees is unbalanced. We’ve had to be pragmatic and rely on individual moments that the likes of Paterson and Semenyo are giving us. We don’t have the midfield atm to dominate a game with possession so we are doing things a different way. Apart from Forest who did batter us for the most part have we really been “lucky” to pick up points? I don’t think so tbh. I’m sure Holden would love to play a possession based game where our individual players can do even more damage and with comfortable 2-3 goal wins appearing sometimes but with the only players we have available, not able to give the team a proper balance centrally and not even enough to fill a bench, that won’t happen just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveInSA Posted November 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 7 hours ago, Davefevs said: I’d rather say something like “winning without playing exciting, free-flowing football” I think it’s a maturity / pragmatism that our head-coach has realised / learned you can’t play the same way every game and expect to win. Whether that’s the way the opposition play causing you to compromise or two weeks of nil preparation, he’s decided that there are different ways to win a game. With LJ I didn’t see the same method / purpose, it seems base more on ‘hope’. But we did win ugly under LJ too in fairness. I really think we need to take more note of our opponents too in reflecting on our own performance. Derby 451, retreat into their half quickly if the initial press didn’t work....making it tough to break through. With the ball they played pretty stuff, but they had to revolve it around Rooney which meant it went deep and we got into shape fairly easily. The couple of times we tried to pinch it and didn’t succeed led to Holmes getting between the lines and we looked exposed. But it was rare. I think you took the "right" words out of my mouth there Dave... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downendcity Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 10 hours ago, Banned User said: I hate to be negative but one comment I don't like, and this isn't aimed at you specifically, is that "we are winning without playing well which is a good sign". Is it a good sign? It’s a damn sight better than “we are losing without playing well, which is a very bad sign”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 50 minutes ago, DaveInSA said: I think you took the "right" words out of my mouth there Dave... Like Meatloaf? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILINFRANCE Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 1 hour ago, DaveInSA said: I think you took the "right" words out of my mouth there Dave... It was probably when you were kissing him.... Ah, I see that @Davefevs was thinking along the same lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddoh Posted November 22, 2020 Report Share Posted November 22, 2020 38 minutes ago, Davefevs said: Like Meatloaf? 3 minutes ago, PHILINFRANCE said: It was probably when you were kissing him.... Ah, I see that @Davefevs was thinking along the same lines. keep Dean off a bike and out of the blazing sun but please remember that 2 wins out of three ain't bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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