Spike

Naive to think any game is a walk but bottom of the table vs top, if you want to get promoted you need to be a team who can win those games without breaking much of a sweat. Another thing title winners do is capitalise on their opposition slipping up, with Swindle losing we should be looking to get as many points as possible to build that gap.

Game isn't over yet but it's asking a lot from the lads to get a result now. Would say this is now the most likely time to see the run come to an end.

Clean sheet is what I wanted today, great result and Preston being slowed down is a great bonus. A lot happier after today.

Oh I value him, but I still think we need a natural leader, someone who will shout and command where people should be etc I do think Flint could be that man in the future but right now we need that leadership.

You think he's a leader? I'm not so sure, I don't see him controlling the defence the way we need it controlled. Big and strong he is, a leader, I'm not so sure.

Yes he did but he also seemed pretty unhappy when we drew against Bradford which would lead me to believe he was not happy with that result and being as yesterday we gave up the lead to go behind I doubt very much that was in his plans either. Yes at the moment we are drawing rather than losing but teams who get automatic promotion win games more than anything, I fail to see how we're going to keep winning games when we're conceding so much. As I said before you can go all season long without losing and get relegated, winning games is more important than not losing and there will come a point where we lose. Looking at the winners and automatic promotion spots of previous seasons they've all had 24-31 wins, I fail to see how we'll reach that number if we can't secure up the defence as Bradford should have been a win but we dropped the ball there and yesterday we did not look like a team who could win that match either. You can argue that right now "we have the best points per game ratio per game in the entire football league" but that is because we're on the best run in our history since 1909 according to what was said yesterday, do you really think that is going to continue all season long? The simple fact is that we're not going to maintain this run all season long, not with the defence we have right now. I also know Cotterill will be wanting to stop us conceding so much, I'm sure he's already looking into it but I'm also sure Arsne Wenger is trying to get Arsenal to win the league and has been doing so for the past 11 years, doesn't mean they have the answers. Cotterill has shown us he can put confidence into the lads and motivate them but I'm still waiting to see us look capable and confident at defending. With regards as to why I'm worried about Cotterill retaining players, I'm not, I'm worried he may not have a choice. This club has a history of shutting the purse when we're doing well and then overspending when things look like they need to be perked up, I'm worried that Cotterill may be told he has a squad capable of winning the league or gaining automatic promotion and being as we're undefeated this season he may have a hard time persuading the board/club otherwise. I'm not criticising Cotterill like you think I am, I'm more worried about how our board will work with him, he may be restricted from adding to the squad. My concern is how the club as a whole will react to the situation we have of our defence not being up to scratch as a whole, training, transfers, motivation etc It's great to be where we are now but until the defence looks better I'm always going to want us to improve, I honestly don't remember the last time we had a solid defence that I was confident of, well unless I go back to the defence with Shaun Taylor which is what I think we're missing, a big strong, confident leader of the back line.

Again the glass half empty line, how is it being a glass half empty to identify a weakness and want to improve on it?! A glass half empty person would identify a weakness and be more than likely to think "well that cannot be fixed". As I've said before and you seem to ignore, our record is great, our position is great but our defensive performance is not and whilst being top of the league and unbeaten is great I can't see us being top of the league when it counts at the end of the season which is why I want us to take action now. If there is one thing I've learned about this club is that we are more often than not too slow to react to issues that will affect us in the long run and I don't want to see that happen now as everything is finally starting to come together. If anything I'm wanting us to take positive action, to fix an issue before it gets out of hand, if you consider that being a glass half empty kind of person then you have a strange outlook on life from my point of view. It is extremely rare for a team not to have a bad patch in a season, I'd much rather we didn't but realistically there is going to be a part of this season where we're struggling, especially when we've started in the manner we have. I never said the goals will dry up entirely but there will be times when we struggle to score and if our young defence can't handle the pressure when we're scoring for fun then how will they deal with the pressure when they need to perform more than ever? The defence may come good but personally I'd rather we took an approach we haven't done for as long as I can remember and be ruthless, replace players who don't perform with players who can. I'm still a little irritated at how long we held onto some players who dragged us down, especially Fontaine, I'd rather too many players who are good than not enough, after all squad depth is a good thing.

I've never once made any claims that we should walk every team in this league, that is your interpretation of what I wrote. What I said was our defence needs to improve, we're conceeding a lot of goals and it's resulting in us getting draws when a win was on the cards. Would you be happy to throw away a historic start to a season because we started off with low expectations?! The most successful managers never do great and say "good enough", they strive to improve. I'm not complaining about our record, it's a great record but I am worried that this whole unbeaten streak is being used as a comfort blanket for some of our fans because they're afraid to admit we're not the dominate team we're being made out to be. Success doesn't come from maintaining what you have, it comes from constantly trying to improve on it.

This is the problem with these forums, realism and negativity are far too often mixed up! I've been taking a bit of flack here and there when I "complain" and by "complain" I actually mean have my own opinion that isn't all happy clapping. As it stands we're now able to drop to second should Preston win both games in hand which is pretty shocking when you consider we're unbeaten this season but it does prove my point when I say that the draws are going to cost us. I said in another thread how the last 3 seasons the automatic promotion teams did not draw more than 11 games (Wolves 10, Brentford 10, Doncaster Rovers 9, Bournemouth 11, Charlton 11, Sheffield Wednesday 9) whilst we're already at 6. Now I know people will say "yes but we haven't lost!" but the truth is we could have lost 2 games and won 2 more instead of drawing 4 and been 4 points better off. The fact is winning games is what gets you promoted and whilst we've won the most in the league Preston, Peterborough and Sheffield United are all on 8 and Sheffield United have a game in hand with Preston having 2. So when I say our defence is not good enough I don't feel I am not justified, we've conceded 12 goals in our last 7 games, that cannot continue if we wish to get promotion because there will come a point where the goals dry up for a period and if we're still conceding at that rate we'll not be worrying about draws but instead about losses! The most successful managers in modern football all have one thing in common, they always have a solid defence and whilst ours is not bad it is nowhere near good enough. Our attack is fantastic, even when we look like we can't get goals we seem to but unless the defence is sorted out there will come a point where our attack cannot bail us out. As the season goes on teams will find us out, we'll get more injuries and teams will get more confident playing against us so we need to be able to stand up to teams in a collected manner without panicking. Now I know at this point this you may say "this is complaining" but it's not, it's worry. It is like the deer in the headlights moment, you see it coming but you worry you won't be able to stop it, the difference is it's glaringly obvious we need to improve in our defending and we do have time to do something about it. If we don't strengthen in the January window I can see us dropping out of automatic promotion, going into the play off and getting beat because we can't soak up the pressure when it's really on us. I'd love to be proven wrong and I know I'm going to get some stick for "being negative" but personally I think there is a difference between being negative and not wanting to see your team throw away something great!

I don't think so, we're still living on borrowed time because the second we stop scoring we'll start losing. I'm happy we're getting results but I will always stand by my statement that the defence needs to improve.

I never said that was the reason we didn't deserve it, our performances have not been that of a team who are dominant, we've had a fair bit of luck to go as long as we have. As I said, our scoring has been great, we've been prolific but what happens when we're not.... today is a good example. We score 1, but concede 2. The best teams always have a good defence, ours is average but has weaknesses and I think come the end of the season we'll be in play offs position, not automatic promotion because we are not solid in defence where it really counts.

In all fairness it's not like we've been a team who have earned a massive unbeaten streak like we have, defending just isn't up to scratch still and we've been relying heavily on winning by scoring high, now we've only got one today and it looks like the run can end. We have to improve as a defensive team, we will not get promoted if we can't defend!

My kids are still recovering from my sudden scream of "YES!!! haha fantastic result and even better that we were the one scoring the late goal for once

Sky saying Chesterfield dominating the possession and that we're not looking so great other than a small period. Pen has been scored, 1-1

Sounds like a bad OG against the run of the play but hell we'll take it, according to Sky Sports News we're playing good counter attacking football now but Elliott missed form 6 yards

Not sounding good on sky sports news "City can't get a hold of the ball, Chesterfield pinging it around them" Hopefully the lads will step it up a gear.

I'm just glad to see it is sour grapes, nothing more frustrating than winning 5-0 and then essentially being called crap :laugh:

Just a quick question, we obviously played better than PV tonight but I was wondering how we played in terms of style? I just read a Port Vale fan calling us a "bunch of hoofball merchants" and having not been at the game I was wondering if this is just sour grapes or an accurate summary of our performance?

29 years old... good age for a central defender but makes me wonder how we're going to be stable if we bring in too many players who have already or are already passing their peak? I'm sure we'll get 4 years out of him which is good but if he pushes Flint out then we lose a player who is only 24 and had a lot of room to improve. I'm very torn with this signing, good for quick stability if he performs but if he's no better than Flint but plays it makes me think we're trading off a younger player against an older one. I guess time will tell.

I wasn't impressed by Cotterill, would like to get behind him but it's hard when his start is barely beating Tamworth and then 1-0 down within 3 minutes of home football. Not saying this is to be expected but I'm certain he is not the man to turn things around, I only hope he proves me wrong, I really do.

I'm a little baffled by the idea of selling JET. I get that money in means more money to spend and some to pay off debts but I also thought the whole point of having the restrictions in wages and so on was to make sure the players that come in are not overpaid and still have quality. With many of the signings it's still time will tell but with JET we have a player on top form and obviously on a contract we can afford and now we're talking about selling him? At what point do the fans get to look at the club as a business? I mean the club now has a stance of value for money so surely the fans can ask for the same? If that is the case then selling our best players less than a year after acquiring them in my eyes is not value for money! I personally think if JET goes the fans have every right to be angry and frustrated as it could potentially be the biggest factor if we do get relegated. All in all if we're going to sell our biggest talents that are within the wage structure then we're never going to get a solid and stable squad that will be consistent.

What I don't understand is why the club can't see that the fans care a lot about the kit, enough to cause a massive debate over numerous threads! If they can see this, which they obviously can, then they need to start interacting with the fans, asking them what they want and pushing to give them it.

Portland is right, the club should be looking to encourage more people to buy the kit and so they should be aiming to please the larger majority. I still don't understand why the club doesn't make more robin stuff, like a retro plain red kit with just the robins logo on it.... that would sell loads and would be a great alternative to the Adidas shirts if that's not something our fans want to buy.

Already did:

The thing is you can make anything sound ok if you only mention the positives... What about our "total domination" and "far superior number of shots" not resulting in any goals? What about another game gone where we've not managed to grab all 3 points? What about dominating the opposition and failing to win? I'm not say there aren't positives in the performance but the fact is we should have won that game. As I said usually I'd say it was a good result, I'd also be happy with the performance but the bottom line is we needed the win with other teams winning. It's not over by a long shot but each game where we don't close the gap is another step towards an inescapable position.