Excellent performance

[Super]

I said it after the Oxford game the Defence and Midfield are still a worry. Not a huge fan of Williams but we do look stronger when he plays but then do you drop one of Knight or Bird. People will say we are missing Dickie and of course we are but the games i watched with him playing this season we haven't looked completely secure.

[cidercity1987]

1 minute ago, Super said:

I said it after the Oxford game the Defence and Midfield are still a worry. Not a huge fan of Williams but we do look stronger when he plays but then do you drop one of Knight or Bird. People will say we are missing Dickie and of course we are but the games i watched with him playing this season we haven't looked completely secure.

The main difference this season is moving Knight back instead of James.

I'd like to see Williams or Mcguane alongside Bird to see if we can be more solid without losing some forward passing

[frenchred]

If we swapped keepers we win that match

O Leary has never ever been good enough for any team that wants to progress in this division

[supercidered]

When I saw our line up I thought that it looked good. Then I watched our line up and couldn't believe how poor we were at the back and I include Max in that. He made one good save but apart from that he looked like he was on Spice. Vyner's f@ck up another example of our lethargic defending.

We did deserve at least a point but Swansea looked bang average and their crowd were shite, no hostility at all. 

[mozo]

10 hours ago, Fuber said:

Becoming a theme under Manning.

We can manage a good 45 minutes, but that's it.

Millwall, it was the first 30 and final 15.

Oxford poor first half...

Won't Millwall, Oxford and Swansea fans be saying exactly the same then? Because they didn't dominate those games either. I don't think many Championship teams put in 90 minutes dominant performances? It's usually nip and tuck and fine margins.

[Silvio Dante]

7 minutes ago, mozo said:

Won't Millwall, Oxford and Swansea fans be saying exactly the same then? Because they didn't dominate those games either. I don't think many Championship teams put in 90 minutes dominant performances? It's usually nip and tuck and fine margins.

You’re just a “Cat and Mouse” away from a full line of bullshit bingo there!

[downendcity]

16 hours ago, BeggyBlaggers said:

Excellent performance?

 

I havent seen such a frail defence since the OJ Simpson trial

You mean the frail defence that got him off the murder charge? 

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

12 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I have always said I would give it until 10 games to draw any firm conclusions.  

However after 7 games we are going to need to win 2 out of 3 just to equal last seasons 15 points from 10 games. With 2 winnable games coming up then thats entirely possible. Is it possible to win 3 out of 3? Yes but not probable.

Also our first 10 games this season are not 100% comparable to the first 10 games last season. We've had a bit more of a favourable first 10 games this season. 

For us to be pushing forward, especially with the money spent then we do need to improve our ppg total from the next block of 10 which on paper is a tougher block of 10 games. 

Given the investment, I think 15 points are par and the minimum we should aim for. I would have liked to have seen 18+ points from this group of 10 as it's soft. If we can get two wins and something from Boro, that's an improvement from the first block of 5. For comparison, in the next group of 10, we have Burnley, Leeds, Norwich, and Sheffield Utd, along with bastard boogie teams like Preston and Stoke.

For comparison, we had 15 last season and played Leicester and West Brom in the first block of 10.

[W-S-M Seagull]

5 hours ago, FNQ said:

I’m actually a little worried about the Cardiff game, I watched the full replay yesterday and to be honest the 4-1 result hugely flattered Hull, they not going to be a pushover. Cardiff like us also drew 1-1 at Swansea this season, and losing go Cardiff last year was the final straw for our knowledgeable owners.

Like you though I’m not drawing any conclusions on the first 10 games either, for me it’s where we’re at after the first 14 that will be the true acid test.. 18 points last year was deemed nowhere near good enough.. So at the half way mark after 7 games we’re on 9 points, it could go down to the wire.. Liam really needs to win these next two.

I'm worried about Wednesdays game too.

If you look at all the stats. Our home record vs Wednesdays away record then it should be a relatively easy win. However, historically we do struggle with the next two type of games. 

But Wednesday had a very good result on Saturday and they have an extra days rest. 

Agree with you about the Cardiff game too. Maybe they will have a née manager by then? 

[cidercity1987]

@ExiledAjax or anyone else into expected goals.

I've seen we're third in the EG table, is that right?

Symptomatic of buying a striker with Armstrongs great attributes for creating chances without any ability to actually finish them, I think.

Probably shows Manning is doing the best with what he has though 

 

[Davefevs]

12 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

@ExiledAjax or anyone else into expected goals.

I've seen we're third in the EG table, is that right?

Symptomatic of buying a striker with Armstrongs great attributes for creating chances without any ability to actually finish them, I think.

Probably shows Manning is doing the best with what he has though 

 

5th according to two sources

Bottom third for xG conceded

There’s your yin-yang!

[cidercity1987]

17 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

5th according to two sources

Bottom third for xG conceded

There’s your yin-yang!

Are we 5th on EG scored?

Where are we on EG net of scored and conceded? 

[Silvio Dante]

35 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

@ExiledAjax or anyone else into expected goals.

I've seen we're third in the EG table, is that right?

Symptomatic of buying a striker with Armstrongs great attributes for creating chances without any ability to actually finish them, I think.

Probably shows Manning is doing the best with what he has though 

 

To be fair, he can get them to the position where they have the chances to score goals but after that it’s up to them.

[ExiledAjax]

40 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

@ExiledAjax or anyone else into expected goals.

I've seen we're third in the EG table, is that right?

Symptomatic of buying a striker with Armstrongs great attributes for creating chances without any ability to actually finish them, I think.

Probably shows Manning is doing the best with what he has though 

 

Fbref have us 5th, Fotmob have us 6th for total aggregate xG for. One penalty for.

As @Davefevs says, we're then on the bubble between the mifdle third and the bottom third for xG against. 2 Penalties against.

Goals - xG, aka the difference between what we've scored and what we 'might' have scored, yes we are bad. 6th from bottom.

4 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

To be fair, he can get them to the position where they have the chances to score goals but after that it’s up to them.

And to be fair, the non-penalty post-shot xG per shot is 0.11, which is good. Best in the division are West Brom on 0.13, then there's three clubs on 0.12 and then a bunch on 0.11 with us. The shooting is fine if jusdged on these numbers.

[Charlie BCFC]

7 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

Had we won we would have been two points off the top six but we didn’t. 

Genuinely wouldn’t have guessed that, with how poor the Blackburn and Derby games were!

[Davefevs]

25 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Are we 5th on EG scored?

Where are we on EG net of scored and conceded? 

Yes.

12th.

[Davefevs]

7 minutes ago, Charlie BCFC said:

Genuinely wouldn’t have guessed that, with how poor the Blackburn and Derby games were!

That’s the nature of a league table 7 games in.  A defeat pushes you back, a win pushes you up.  A draw moved us down 1 place.

[downendcity]

20 hours ago, BeggyBlaggers said:

Excellent performance?

 

I havent seen such a frail defence since the OJ Simpson trial

 

3 hours ago, downendcity said:

You mean the frail defence that got him off the murder charge? 

Perhaps @BeggyBlaggers meant to say that he thought our defence has been getting away with murder!

[Open End Numb Legs]

I am not having a go at those who are into their data to see how we are doing, but for me, not getting to games like most of you do, what I look for on TV are small indications.

The chase back when the ball is lost, encouragement by team mates to a player when we concede because of his mistake, the all in celebration when we score, the want to carry on playing when the physio says no, the dummy runs, just general body language sometimes.

That looked ok to me on my fast forward viewing at midnight so I am still hopeful this season. Possibly it hasn't been good in other games?

[mozo]

2 hours ago, Charlie BCFC said:

Genuinely wouldn’t have guessed that, with how poor the Blackburn and Derby games were!

After those defeats, we'd have been reassured to know we'd then pick up 4 points from the next 2 games.

I said I wanted 8 points from the next 4 and we're on track for that.

[MarcusX]

23 hours ago, FNQ said:

I’m actually a little worried about the Cardiff game, I watched the full replay yesterday and to be honest the 4-1 result hugely flattered Hull, they not going to be a pushover. Cardiff like us also drew 1-1 at Swansea this season, and losing go Cardiff last year was the final straw for our knowledgeable owners.

Like you though I’m not drawing any conclusions on the first 10 games either, for me it’s where we’re at after the first 14 that will be the true acid test.. 18 points last year was deemed nowhere near good enough.. So at the half way mark after 7 games we’re on 9 points, it could go down to the wire.. Liam really needs to win these next two.

The problem is we all know that what they came out with publically about the sacking was rubbish, but by doing so they've created a rod for their own back. Anything less than the same points total at the same point would be deemed insufficient.

Same reason the expectations are high amongst fans, we were told this was a squad capable of pushing the "top end of the table", and it's been greatly improved (in terms of numbers / money spent) since then

[MarcusX]

23 hours ago, supercidered said:

When I saw our line up I thought that it looked good. Then I watched our line up and couldn't believe how poor we were at the back and I include Max in that. He made one good save but apart from that he looked like he was on Spice. Vyner's f@ck up another example of our lethargic defending.

We did deserve at least a point but Swansea looked bang average and their crowd were shite, no hostility at all. 

I can excuse Vyner, he's generally been much better last 18 months and unfortunately those things will happen at any level if you want to play out (especially in horrendous conditions). There's premier league defenders who make the same mistake

[MarcusX]

17 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

To be fair, he can get them to the position where they have the chances to score goals but after that it’s up to them.

And lets also be fair, you'd always rather have strikers getting in good positions multiple times per game and maybe not putting them away, than rarely having chances and having an over-performing goals to xG record like we did not long ago.

I'm almost certain it's easier to improve someone's finishing than it is to teach them how/when to make runs and get in the scoring positions (and they build up play that leads to it). Not to mention natural pace and strength that can't be taught.

[mozo]

22 minutes ago, MarcusX said:

And lets also be fair, you'd always rather have strikers getting in good positions multiple times per game and maybe not putting them away, than rarely having chances and having an over-performing goals to xG record like we did not long ago.

I'm almost certain it's easier to improve someone's finishing than it is to teach them how/when to make runs and get in the scoring positions (and they build up play that leads to it). Not to mention natural pace and strength that can't be taught.

Agree. And he can finish, we saw power his way through on goal and tuck the ball into the bottom corner in pre season. 

It's just composure in the heat of a game with 20k expectant people around you imo.

We saw the experienced Weimann go from having very dubious composure in his early time with us to having top quality composure all of a sudden. The Semenyo comparison has also been made a fair bit.

He'll be alright IMO.