samo II

Nothing to do with the constant SO'D/SC Civil War on here, but just had to highlight this and ask; are you serious? Not deriding you or anything Nick, but I seriously doubt we will come even close to this on current form. Swindon and Preston alone are two games I think we'll be lucky to get anything on our form, and in terms of away; Peterborough currently looks utterly unwinnable, while Wasall and Rotherham are pushing for the playoffs. We need to be realistic; we're likely to get stuffed several times before the season is out. It is the matches against the teams sharing the bottom of the table that will need our focus.

I'd have been delighted with a draw at Orient, regardless of the Oldham result. My thinking is, and was before yesterday, that we are still in a very dangerous position, and that the real test will be the next four games. Exactly. Yesterday's result and most importantly PERFORMANCE (by all accounts; I wasn't there) has set us up nicely for these utterly crucial games. For me, we need an absolute minimum of two victories (the home games) and at least one draw over the next four in order to give ourselves a chance, ideally 8 or 9 points in order to give us a true fighting chance. The games in hand that those below us hold is not nothing; until the likes of Stevenage, Sheffield United, Crewe, Tranmere and Shewsbury have played out the matches they have in hand we cannot start thinking we are anywhere close to safe. People were saying how our league position was an advantage pre-Coventry; one defeat put paid to that. When we cannot be drawn back in by other teams results THEN we can start talking about safety.

For me, this win is a bonus, an unexpected and excellent one, but a bonus never the less. The next four games were always more important than yesterday; a good performance there, even if we'd lost, that set us up for facing our fellow relegation scrappers was the most important factor. Brilliant to have another three points on the board of course, and that the team seemed to have 'gelled' in this formation, but if we don't aggressively build on it, will be about as meaningful as our impressive win over Nottm Forest was last season. Tranmere are on a relatively decent run, so we'll need to come flying out of the traps again, and impose ourselves.

Now I'm a Brentford fan tomorrow night; hope they keep Sheffield United below us for at least a few more days.

Well, I'm delighted and shocked. Fully expected a loss, though obviously hoped for more. Been proved TOTALLY wrong, and happy about it. Roll on the weekend; makes it an even bigger game, but I'd rather we faced it two unbeaten than not!

What the hell is going on..?

This is going to be a long last half hour...

I know it seems early, but throw on Burns; we rarely get the chance to test teams on the break, and this is custom-made for his running.

Two nil up in 12 minutes at Orient... wait... I'm dead now, aren't I?

I expect nothing; would be genuinely delighted with a point; three might induce some form of euphoric coma. What I do hope happens is we are at least try hard in all departments for 90 minutes, and that if we're beaten it is by the opposition playing better football, rather than blowing our own foot off early-doors via mistakes and poor play, then having to start actually performing with a handicap, al la pretty much all recent matches (including Carlisle, where at least our response was strong enough to recover). Think we'll miss both Wagstaff and Marv tonight, and we desperately need the forwards (all of them, including Barnett) to start producing again, It's now five games since any of them have scored from open play (not counting Burns, who has been played at a winger rather than up top). The fact we're getting defensively worse, while our at least once reliable goal scorers are not contributing is worrying, and with our only two real midfield goal threats now crocked, we cannot afford to have 'huff-and-puff' players like Barnett in the line-up, unless they contribute something tangible (does he even have an assist yet?). Part of me thinks that the fickle football gods will probably give us a nil nil tough, just to piss off the bookies...

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Two words; Back three. I'm out for the night folk; got stuff to do tonight and work tomorrow, so need not to be too depressed.

Well, that is our quota (2 goals a game) reached nice and early! And to make it worse; Andy Fbomf Webster has to get it too...

Let's hope they are the first team's picture of Dorian Gray tonight...

Tiredness perhaps? And GIllett has had more than just 45 minutes of decent football for us; he was excellent against both Walsall and Stevenage.

Only thing I would say is that at least all the players in it (bar Gillett) have scored this season, so we might have a bit more goal threat. Agreed, it does look potentially slight, but there is more creativity I'd say, and certainly more pace across it than if Pack and/or Wade Elliott had started.

I'd expect Bryan would tuck in, possibly; Wagstaff - Gillett - Elliott - Bryan - Cunningham

With the risk of being a League Two club next season still very real, I'd imagine we are neither in a strong position or able to really offer him what he'll likely want at his age (i.e. more than a year, wage assurance). Personally, I think he'd be a decent player at this level next year, so would want to keep him if we stay up. But if we go down, although I think he'd be excellent in League Two, I also think we could get someone cheaper in the summer to do a job there.

It focuses more on Elliot getting a move due to his performance, and suggest that the win is effectively meaningless unless we beat Coventry, sidetracking to speculate on the negative reactions that would have emerged towards Cotterill if we'd lost. Wish I'd not read it, wish you'd not posted that clickbait. Why not screenshot stuff like that in future, so as to deny the Post the hits?

Same result in terms of points though, wasn't it? And that was my point about the next game; we need to beat teams we've already beaten if we expect to get out of this mess. Losing or drawing to Carlisle, one of just four teams we've got wins against, is a sign we are not improving. In fact, of the teams we've played twice, using your same 'reasoning' we have actually done worse; Bradford = 2-2 then 1-1 (though brilliantly improved defensive performance there...) MK Dons = 2-2 then 2-2 (and in the first fixture we took the lead twice; second time we went 2 nil down) Wolves = 2-1 then 3-1 Brentford = 2-1 then 3-1 Conceded more, scored less, (albeit one either way) but most importantly; no extra points. So, yeah; not sure you could say we've improved by that reckoning. But sniping that not beating Carlisle means naff all is stupid in a good number of ways; primarily that if we don't start picking up maximum points from our remaining home games, that is a pretty bright warning light flashing that we've no right getting out of this mess.

Thanks for the assessment Alex. Out of interest; was El Abd actively bad, or simply part of a problematic whole? My concern is that not only has he thrown the equilibrium out but that he, individually, isn't beginning to show any quality.

Don't agree. If we're unable to beat teams we previously have, even with the added advantage of being at home and a transfer window to strengthen sine, then we are clearly a worse team. Not sure where the confusion is there.

I placed significantly more blame on McInnes last season than SOD, and was absolutely behind him this season. By the same logic, if we go down I'll believe it will be more SOD's fault than Cotterill's, though SC has had more time to correct course.

I think if we don't beat/lose Carlisle it will indicate... ummm.... that we're in trouble. What a bizarre statement.

My thoughts exactly. I'm behind whoever is in the dugout, and have felt positive since Cotterill turned up and seemingly lifted the squad. But the selection tonight stunk, and the only surprise is that we've scored, considering how negative the line up was. We line up in a similar manner in future I expect the same results; we need to focus on our positive aspect, namely our attack, and build around that, not sacrifice this single shining light.

Considering we beat Carlisle 4-2 away this season, Saturday will be a key barometer on whether we've got better or worse.