Bs4Red Posted January 4 Posted January 4 3 points, game management much better. Some really good passages of play. 4 unbeaten. We are 3 points off play offs and very much in the mix. Slate him all you want, he’s giving us a chance. 17 Quote
PortInTheMorning Posted January 4 Posted January 4 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Bs4Red said: 3 points, game management much better. Some really good passages of play. 4 unbeaten. We are 3 points off play offs and very much in the mix. Slate him all you want, he’s giving us a chance. Absolutely we are...8th now 3 points off. 89th minute vs Plymouth - Bird takes a normal corner - leads to a Plymouth goal 89th minute vs Derby - Bird plays short to Mehmeti- they get no where near our goal Edited January 4 by PortInTheMorning 5 Quote
NewquayRed Posted January 4 Posted January 4 Imagine what we could do with a decent striker 5 1 1 Quote
AshtonGreat Posted January 4 Posted January 4 Yes. Had we not conceded that very late goal against Plymouth, we'd be two points off fifth. Whisper it, but he's currently fulfilling his remit... 6 Quote
Bs4Red Posted January 4 Author Posted January 4 2 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said: Yes. Had we not conceded that very late goal against Plymouth, we'd be two points off fifth. Whisper it, but he's currently fulfilling his remit... I’m sure people will find a reason why he isn’t mate. But he is and month to month we are improving 9 Quote
joe jordans teeth Posted January 4 Posted January 4 We are doing the job against the teams we should be let’s be honest,interesting times ahead 3 1 1 Quote
Bar BS3 Posted January 4 Posted January 4 4 minutes ago, joe jordans teeth said: We are doing the job against the teams we should be let’s be honest,interesting times ahead It's half the season gone & we are 3 points off the play offs. We've played everyone, not just weaker sides. 8 Quote
ChippenhamRed Posted January 4 Posted January 4 I wonder if being in the mix as we are might make us more likely to go and buy a striker in January? 2 Quote
cidercity1987 Posted January 4 Posted January 4 No problems with Manning here but I don't think we are particular in it. Table is illusionary as we've played only weak teams in the second half the season and we are still someway behind the line. Coventry, Sheff Wed, Blackburn after the cup tie, we will need at least 6 points there and I'm sure I've seen this story before, pretty much every season in fact. 4 Quote
REDOXO Posted January 4 Posted January 4 15 minutes ago, Bs4Red said: I’m sure people will find a reason why he isn’t mate. But he is and month to month we are improving Oh Shut Up!....Just Enjoy it! 1 2 Quote
marmite Posted January 4 Posted January 4 19 minutes ago, PortInTheMorning said: Absolutely we are...8th now 3 points off. 89th minute vs Plymouth - Bird takes a normal corner - leads to a Plymouth goal 89th minute vs Derby - Bird plays short to Mehmeti- they get no where near our goal Exactly what I said we should be doing. Seeing games out in the opponents half. Much better this game. 3 Quote
Lew-T Posted January 4 Posted January 4 22 minutes ago, Bs4Red said: 3 points, game management much better. Some really good passages of play. 4 unbeaten. We are 3 points off play offs and very much in the mix. Slate him all you want, he’s giving us a chance. I know it’s unlikely but I think it’s obvious we’re gonna need some extra firepower in the forward areas to mount a serious challenge. Fally isn’t the answer and Wells is 34, no idea what is up with Armstrong? Quote
Open End Numb Legs Posted January 4 Posted January 4 A bit off topic but the bottom half is interesting. 12 teams covered by 10 points. Quote
CyderHead92 Posted January 4 Posted January 4 6 minutes ago, joe jordans teeth said: We are doing the job against the teams we should be let’s be honest,interesting times ahead Thing is nobody has the right to just beat anybody in this league and for the first time in a while I feel confident we can perform and mix it with anyone! If only fally or sincs hit the ground running, we be top 6 for sure! 1 Quote
marmite Posted January 4 Posted January 4 1 minute ago, cidercity1987 said: No problems with Manning here but I don't think we are particular in it. Table is illusionary as we've played only weak teams in the second half the season and we are still someway behind the line. Coventry, Sheff Wed, Blackburn after the cup tie, we will need at least 6 points there and I'm sure I've seen this story before, pretty much every season in fact. The higher the table we are, the more games against teams that are below us. Obvious really. Quote
RoystonFoote'snephew Posted January 4 Posted January 4 3 points off the play offs as things stand but could be 4 points were blackburn to win their game in hand. Either way the frustration is the points dropped from late goals. Had we only conceded half of the late goals we'd be in the top 6. Given we're not massive scorers I'm not too sure what that says about the strength of the league, not that I care if we end up in the playoffs. Quote
Lorenzos Only Goal Posted January 4 Posted January 4 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Bs4Red said: I’m sure people will find a reason why he isn’t mate. But he is and month to month we are improving 31 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said: Yes. Had we not conceded that very late goal against Plymouth, we'd be two points off fifth. Whisper it, but he's currently fulfilling his remit... 32 minutes ago, PortInTheMorning said: Absolutely we are...8th now 3 points off. 89th minute vs Plymouth - Bird takes a normal corner - leads to a Plymouth goal 89th minute vs Derby - Bird plays short to Mehmeti- they get no where near our goal 31 minutes ago, NewquayRed said: Imagine what we could do with a decent striker I mentioned this in another post that we are in a soft block of ten games, if we want to hit top 6 we need to be picking up wins/draws between now and the Oxford away game, because we have a much tougher run of games in the next block of ten. We really should be beating Derby a little more convincingly, if we eeeek out a 1-0 win over Blackburn on the 25th after good results against Sheffield and Coventry then I'll be shitting my pants about a possible promotion push If we had a decent striker without everything sitting on Anis and Wells we would be able to say our squad is promotion worthy. Edited January 4 by Lorenzos Only Goal 4 Quote
Alessandro Posted January 4 Posted January 4 Let’s see where we are after the next 3 (till end of Jan) Coventry, Wednesday and Blackburn - and see what the window brings (or takes). 2 2 Quote
PortInTheMorning Posted January 4 Posted January 4 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Lorenzos Only Goal said: I mentioned this in another post that we are in a soft block of ten games, if we want to hit top 6 we need to be picking up wins/draws between now and the Oxford away game, because we have a much tougher run of games in the next block of ten. We really should be beating Derby a little more convincingly, if we eeeek out a 1-0 win over Blackburn on the 25th after good results against Sheffield and Coventry then I'll be shitting my pants about a possible promotion push If we had a decent striker without everything sitting on Anis and Wells we would be able to say our squad is promotion worthy. Can you stop being rational for a moment, Lorenzo and just let me enjoy it? You're right, of course Edited January 4 by PortInTheMorning Quote
Mr Popodopolous Posted January 4 Posted January 4 We needed 10 from 4 to keep realistic hopes alive. 3 Home Wins without conceding..very important. It was what we needed though to tife ourselves the best possible chance of a meaningful Play-off push. We've played ourselves back into contention, that's about it so far. Made up some lost ground. 2 Quote
Fuber Posted January 4 Posted January 4 34 minutes ago, Bs4Red said: I’m sure people will find a reason why he isn’t mate. But he is and month to month we are improving I've been critical of Mannings shortcomings. Namely his lack of adaptability (some could call it stubbornness). But as long as there's evidence of them being addressed? - such as the case today? - Long may it continue. 4 Quote
W-S-M Seagull Posted January 4 Posted January 4 11 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said: We needed 10 from 4 to keep realistic hopes alive. 3 Home Wins without conceding..very important. It was what we needed though to tife ourselves the best possible chance of a meaningful Play-off push. We've played ourselves back into contention, that's about it so far. Made up some lost ground. I still think considering the money spent, being +1 point after the same amount of games isn't good enough. 7 2 2 1 1 Quote
Bris Red Posted January 4 Posted January 4 (edited) 19 minutes ago, Alessandro said: Let’s see where we are after the next 3 (till end of Jan) Coventry, Wednesday and Blackburn - and see what the window brings (or takes). My thoughts exactly. Lets see where we are after the next 3, where are at the start of february will be a better indicator IMO. All it currently takes is a bad run against Cov, Blackburn and Wednesday and we will be well out of the picture again. Edited January 4 by Bris Red 2 1 Quote
BobBobBobbin Posted January 4 Posted January 4 You've got to caveat the good run with the fact it's been a fairly easy run. The true test of our credentials will be the next three league games. But the performances more than the results over the last couple of games have been more than encouraging. We are playing to our strengths, we aren't trying to dominate possession but trying to play forward with a lot more urgency. I feel bad for McGuane as he doesn't deserve to be dropped but the midfield box has been absolutely immaculate recently. Not getting carried away; just hope we stick with this game plan. It's the best of us. 4 Quote
1team Posted January 4 Posted January 4 We still have to go to Burnley, Sheffield United and Leeds which will probably deliver 0 points. Behave yourselves. 2 Quote
Mr Popodopolous Posted January 4 Posted January 4 3 minutes ago, Bris Red said: My thoughts exactly. Lets see where we are after the next 3, where are at the start of february will be a better indicator IMO. All it currently takes is a bad run against Cov, Blackburn and Wednesday and we will be well out of the picture again. We can't afford another bad run. 11 Points and 2 wins in 9 was 1 1 Win in 7 albeit with strong indicators v QPR and resilience v Sunderland yeah plus Plymouth. Another dodgy run and it really is curtains. We've got to intersperse good runs with consistency or solidity and a minimum of losses. 2 Quote
JBFC II Posted January 4 Posted January 4 7 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said: I still think considering the money spent, being +1 point after the same amount of games isn't good enough. Considering there were people asking for Manning to be sacked a week ago I think he's doing fine. I still think it's unfair people judging Manning based off of comments from an out of depth chairman. Considering our budget, we're doing well 3 1 Quote
cidercity1987 Posted January 4 Posted January 4 22 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said: We needed 10 from 4 to keep realistic hopes alive. 3 Home Wins without conceding..very important. It was what we needed though to tife ourselves the best possible chance of a meaningful Play-off push. We've played ourselves back into contention, that's about it so far. Made up some lost ground. Given how far we came back we were I felt we needed 4 wins from the 4 easier games Christmas until Wolves. We are gonna have to find those missing points somewhere whether it's a surprise win away to a play off challenger or picking up unexpected points of any kind against the top three. Quote
Son of Fred Posted January 4 Posted January 4 1 hour ago, NewquayRed said: Imagine what we could do with a decent striker It's what will cost us.. Quote
joe jordans teeth Posted January 4 Posted January 4 45 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said: It's half the season gone & we are 3 points off the play offs. We've played everyone, not just weaker sides. We have played Plymouth and Portsmouth twice in this half of the season Quote
Upper Mid Table Posted January 4 Posted January 4 Two tough away games to come and then Blackburn at home, if we can win 2 and lose 1 of those then I think we would be serious contenders for top 6 I think but whilst I think we will beat Blackburn the two away games are going to be tough. Quote
Upper Mid Table Posted January 4 Posted January 4 9 minutes ago, 1team said: We still have to go to Burnley, Sheffield United and Leeds which will probably deliver 0 points. Behave yourselves. In theory but those games with a solid back 3 and hitting on the counter could well suit us! 1 Quote
joe jordans teeth Posted January 4 Posted January 4 42 minutes ago, CyderHead92 said: Thing is nobody has the right to just beat anybody in this league and for the first time in a while I feel confident we can perform and mix it with anyone! If only fally or sincs hit the ground running, we be top 6 for sure! There is no middle ground with otib is there,win a few it’s top 6 lose a few and the bloke should be sacked 4 Quote
JBFC II Posted January 4 Posted January 4 11 minutes ago, 1team said: We still have to go to Burnley, Sheffield United and Leeds which will probably deliver 0 points. Behave yourselves. What about the other 17 games we have to play? Every side has to travel to those places 1 Quote
east sussex red Posted January 4 Posted January 4 A decent striker and a bit more composure at the back and we will be flying! Quote
mozo Posted January 4 Posted January 4 41 minutes ago, Alessandro said: Let’s see where we are after the next 3 (till end of Jan) Coventry, Wednesday and Blackburn - and see what the window brings (or takes). As much as I'm a happy clappy optimist, I think this is sensible. We've had our revenge against Portsmouth and Derby, so I'd like to see us beat Blackburn too. Wednesday are probably the team most evenly matched with us. Six pointer! 26 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said: I still think considering the money spent, being +1 point after the same amount of games isn't good enough. Didn't you used to judge us on the number of points we were off the top 6? 4 1 Quote
The Swan and Cemetery Posted January 4 Posted January 4 The 20 games remaining split reasonably clearly between next 10 relatively easy, final 10 relatively difficult. Average league position of opponents next 10 is 14.3, final 10 is 8.6. Of the 7 teams currently above us, we play 2 in the next 10 games and 5 (including the top 4) in the final 10. Whilst odd results happen, we probably need to be relatively comfortably top 6 by the time we’ve played 36 games, to have a decent chance of securing a play off place. With a fair wind the momentum/positivity generated by getting to 36 games in the top 6 would mean better than expected results against the top teams towards the end of the season, but a buffer would be nice! 8th/9th/10th after 36 games and think it will be difficult to get into the play offs, as we won’t have great momentum and will still have the best teams to play. 1 1 2 Quote
Bar BS3 Posted January 4 Posted January 4 24 minutes ago, joe jordans teeth said: We have played Plymouth and Portsmouth twice in this half of the season Yes. And Derby. 2/4/6 games won't give you true position in any league table. 26 games will do. 1 Quote
W-S-M Seagull Posted January 4 Posted January 4 36 minutes ago, JBFC II said: Considering there were people asking for Manning to be sacked a week ago I think he's doing fine. I still think it's unfair people judging Manning based off of comments from an out of depth chairman. Considering our budget, we're doing well The reality is with the money spent. We should be doing better. Manning has not got the best out of his signings. 2 Quote
JBFC II Posted January 4 Posted January 4 Just now, W-S-M Seagull said: The reality is with the money spent. We should be doing better. Manning has not got the best out of his signings. I'd say Twine is starting to come into form, Mehmeti is also playing the best he's played for us. McNally is part of a defence that have kept 3 clean sheets in the last 4 and he's a threat at set plays, Manning is clearly getting something out of him. We spent the 8th most in the league in the Summer and we are currently 8th. So really we shouldn't be doing any better than we are currently 3 Quote
W-S-M Seagull Posted January 4 Posted January 4 4 minutes ago, JBFC II said: I'd say Twine is starting to come into form, Mehmeti is also playing the best he's played for us. McNally is part of a defence that have kept 3 clean sheets in the last 4 and he's a threat at set plays, Manning is clearly getting something out of him. We spent the 8th most in the league in the Summer and we are currently 8th. So really we shouldn't be doing any better than we are currently Fally? Armstrong? Yu? 3 Quote
Bris Red Posted January 4 Posted January 4 1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said: I still think considering the money spent, being +1 point after the same amount of games isn't good enough. Can't argue with that and its my feelings aswell. Manning has done/is doing a 5/6 out of 10 job IMO. With the investment and rhetoric after Nige was sacked current league position is barely good enough really is it, may sound harsh but the bar was set by the powers that be and not the fans. 3 2 1 Quote
Upper Mid Table Posted January 4 Posted January 4 9 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said: The reality is with the money spent. We should be doing better. Manning has not got the best out of his signings. So I’m going to relate this to ‘real life’ I.e. my job, when I offer my opinion (I’m a FD) my boss always says ‘keep it factual please’ so facts are, we have the 13th highest wage budget (or did last time they calculated and don’t think it has gone up since) and we are currently 8th in the league, we did spend money but did sell, our money was mostly spend on young ‘investment’ signings, I think the two strikers plus Stokes are the ones that are specifically ‘investment signings’ I.e. signed because they will be sold for more in the future, whilst Fally and Sincs have yet to deliver much (if anything) you will still put them on the balance sheet as ‘assets’ (for now!) If we had signed 2 strikers late 20s or 30s then they need to deliver now and Manning needs to deliver the plays offs-now. Much like Tampa Bay when they singed Tom Brady, they were on the Super Bowl champs (I’m going American football now) but if you choose to invest in ‘College players’ (not experienced pros) you need to give it time and actually today I saw Fally actually look better and that he could potentially become a player, so think keep to the facts, people like McNally and Twine need to deliver now (which both seem to be)and the investment signings need to be given time to develop, a think this is fair, no? 4 Quote
JBFC II Posted January 4 Posted January 4 10 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said: Fally? Armstrong? Yu? Who was the last manager to get the best out of every signing the club made? Reality is, he's doing a decent job but obviously could be doing better. Nobody realistically expected us to be in the top 4 this season, so to be on the edge of the play offs over halfway through the season is a good place to be. If Manning was a top tier coach who got the best out of every player he wouldn't be with us 4 Quote
Davefevs Posted January 4 Posted January 4 Today we built on a solid (wrong word) set of post-Xmas points earned. The championship is such that when you win, other teams seem to drop points, and vice-versa, so today was a “mover”. By the time we play Coventry (a), Watford and Blackburn will have played their game in hand (lose in hand!), so that will bring a bit more clarity. Plus-2 in the wins v losses column and (whisper it) an opportunity to break out of win, lose, draw if we can keep going. 2 Quote
W-S-M Seagull Posted January 4 Posted January 4 4 minutes ago, JBFC II said: Who was the last manager to get the best out of every signing the club made? Reality is, he's doing a decent job but obviously could be doing better. Nobody realistically expected us to be in the top 4 this season, so to be on the edge of the play offs over halfway through the season is a good place to be. If Manning was a top tier coach who got the best out of every player he wouldn't be with us I'd say where we now are is minimum expectation reached based on 1 round of fixtures. We are not a club that has parachute payments. So therefore in order to compete to get into the top 6 we need to excel at recruitment and coaching. As Jon Lansdown would say "we need to outperform our ability" And whilst it is nice to be 3 points off the play offs, we are not even performing to our ability, let alone out performing it. 3 Quote
JBFC II Posted January 4 Posted January 4 7 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said: I'd say where we now are is minimum expectation reached based on 1 round of fixtures. We are not a club that has parachute payments. So therefore in order to compete to get into the top 6 we need to excel at recruitment and coaching. As Jon Lansdown would say "we need to outperform our ability" And whilst it is nice to be 3 points off the play offs, we are not even performing to our ability, let alone out performing it. So in order to be in the position we are currently at we need to excel and yet despite being in that position we are underperforming? Not quite sure I follow 2 2 Quote
W-S-M Seagull Posted January 4 Posted January 4 (edited) 11 minutes ago, JBFC II said: So in order to be in the position we are currently at we need to excel and yet despite being in that position we are underperforming? Not quite sure I follow I did write "based on one round of fixtures" If you want to consider us to be competing based on us getting into this position on one round of fixtures then fair play. If we can remain 3 points off the play offs till late April then that would be meeting expectations and competing. The fact is we spent a lot of money and 3 of those players have not produced. That's a very poor hit rate. If just one of those signings are a hit then maybe that elevates us. Just because we are suddenly 3 points off the play offs, doesn't mean we can't critique. Edited January 4 by W-S-M Seagull 1 Quote
mozo Posted January 4 Posted January 4 If we beat Coventry we'll be right on track for the 68 points target I set. The current ppg would give us 65 ish. Quote
Full nelson Posted January 4 Posted January 4 £15 million on a striker and I may get excited. Then he'll pull his hamstring after 10 minutes on the ashton gate turf. Quote
petehinton Posted January 4 Posted January 4 2 hours ago, NewquayRed said: Imagine what we could do with a decent striker We certainly have one….Wells! Though we absolutely need the depth. If he picks up another knock, we’re in danger of losing this great momentum. 2 Quote
mozo Posted January 4 Posted January 4 3 minutes ago, petehinton said: We certainly have one….Wells! Though we absolutely need the depth. If he picks up another knock, we’re in danger of losing this great momentum. Huge opportunity for Bell to change the course of career... if he's got what it takes (big IF) 3 Quote
cityexile Posted January 4 Posted January 4 Our track record is we struggle to break the gravitational force of 11th. We hit 8th and drop points, we hit 14th and gain them. Can we change it this time? We are starting to look a bit more creative in open play. Players are looking like they are starting to build real partnerships. That is encouraging. In terms of POs, there is a gnats whisker between so many sides in this league, so probably not, but equally, why not? Quote
cidercity1987 Posted January 4 Posted January 4 2 minutes ago, cityexile said: Our track record is we struggle to break the gravitational force of 11th. We hit 8th and drop points, we hit 14th and gain them. Can we change it this time? We are starting to look a bit more creative in open play. Players are looking like they are starting to build real partnerships. That is encouraging. In terms of POs, there is a gnats whisker between so many sides in this league, so probably not, but equally, why not? I don't see us as on the same level as Boro or WBA but possibly better than Watford and Blackburn, maybe vying for 7th/8th with Norwich if we go well Quote
AppyDAZE Posted January 4 Posted January 4 1 hour ago, 1team said: We still have to go to Burnley, Sheffield United and Leeds which will probably deliver 0 points. Behave yourselves. There’s no probably with Bristol City.I’m just gonna enjoy the now. 1 Quote
joe jordans teeth Posted January 4 Posted January 4 1 hour ago, Bar BS3 said: Yes. And Derby. 2/4/6 games won't give you true position in any league table. 26 games will do. It won’t clearly on your original opinion,it’s no good saying 26 games when if we had played sheff utd Burnley and Leeds twice we might not be in the same position Quote
JBFC II Posted January 4 Posted January 4 2 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said: I did write "based on one round of fixtures" If you want to consider us to be competing based on us getting into this position on one round of fixtures then fair play. If we can remain 3 points off the play offs till late April then that would be meeting expectations and competing. The fact is we spent a lot of money and 3 of those players have not produced. That's a very poor hit rate. If just one of those signings are a hit then maybe that elevates us. Just because we are suddenly 3 points off the play offs, doesn't mean we can't critique. I’m basing it on 26 rounds of fixtures, and based on those we are competing for the play offs are we not? The only manager with a good hit rate in terms of signings in the past 15 years was Cotts, and even then he made some duff ones as well. As I said, we’re a top half championship club with a championship manager, not every signing we make is going to be perfect. Of course you can critique, but describing Mannings performance thus far as underwhelming because every signing the club made in the summer isn’t producing high level performances is harsher than just a critique Quote
W-S-M Seagull Posted January 4 Posted January 4 26 minutes ago, JBFC II said: I’m basing it on 26 rounds of fixtures, and based on those we are competing for the play offs are we not? The only manager with a good hit rate in terms of signings in the past 15 years was Cotts, and even then he made some duff ones as well. As I said, we’re a top half championship club with a championship manager, not every signing we make is going to be perfect. Of course you can critique, but describing Mannings performance thus far as underwhelming because every signing the club made in the summer isn’t producing high level performances is harsher than just a critique It's only following today's round of fixtures have we got into a position where we could mayve compete. We have not competed for the play offs up until now. Out of 9 signings (I'm including Bird in this) only 3 have been a reasonable success. If you want to include Twine to make it 4 then that's fine. Yu, Earthy, Fally, Armstrong and even Twine at times have simply not delivered what we expected. That's a very high miss rate on transfers at a considerable cost. I will critique because imagine where we would be if the head coach could get a tune out of them or if we recruited better? I'm not going to sit here and celebrate being 3 points off the play offs cos I know we should be doing better. If you accept mediocrity then that's cool. 1 Quote
Bar BS3 Posted January 4 Posted January 4 2 hours ago, joe jordans teeth said: It won’t clearly on your original opinion,it’s no good saying 26 games when if we had played sheff utd Burnley and Leeds twice we might not be in the same position OK. Let's leave this until the end of the season then so we know precisely what the situation is. Quote
JBFC II Posted January 4 Posted January 4 18 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said: It's only following today's round of fixtures have we got into a position where we could mayve compete. We have not competed for the play offs up until now. Out of 9 signings (I'm including Bird in this) only 3 have been a reasonable success. If you want to include Twine to make it 4 then that's fine. Yu, Earthy, Fally, Armstrong and even Twine at times have simply not delivered what we expected. That's a very high miss rate on transfers at a considerable cost. I will critique because imagine where we would be if the head coach could get a tune out of them or if we recruited better? I'm not going to sit here and celebrate being 3 points off the play offs cos I know we should be doing better. If you accept mediocrity then that's cool. I’m really not sure what your first sentence is about, we are currently competing for the play offs, who cares if we weren’t 4 days ago? If we get into the top 6 for the first time on the last day of the season will it mean less because we weren’t there after the previous 45 games? Im not sure how you can judge u23 players as being unsuccessful signings after only 6 months at the club. Players take time to settle, look at Mehemti for example. In 12 months maybe Mayulu does deliver and then we will be looking at doubling our money on him, as he is only 22 who can really say? If the head coach could get a tune out of every single player, he wouldn’t be our head coach. We haven’t had a head coach get a sustained tune out of every player at this level for 17 years. I wouldn’t say 8th and 3 points off the play offs is ‘mediocrity’, that feels unnecessarily harsh 1 Quote
Spoons Posted January 4 Posted January 4 Strange ….. we are in the mix but it’s not very exciting to watch ? But you take 1-0 wins against Luton and Derby at home than exciting defeats if it gets us up the league . Quote
The Masked Man Posted January 4 Posted January 4 I think what the season has shown is that all the elements are there to mount a play-off push (even with our short-comings up front), but to do so we need to cut out the games where half the team has an off-day and close out games when we're on top. I suspect there are ten other teams who have the same issues and it will be the couple who can attain that consistency who'll finish fifth and sixth. We also need to be lucky with injuries. 3 Quote
REDOXO Posted January 4 Posted January 4 (edited) 1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said: It's only following today's round of fixtures have we got into a position where we could mayve compete. We have not competed for the play offs up until now. Out of 9 signings (I'm including Bird in this) only 3 have been a reasonable success. If you want to include Twine to make it 4 then that's fine. Yu, Earthy, Fally, Armstrong and even Twine at times have simply not delivered what we expected. That's a very high miss rate on transfers at a considerable cost. I will critique because imagine where we would be if the head coach could get a tune out of them or if we recruited better? I'm not going to sit here and celebrate being 3 points off the play offs cos I know we should be doing better. If you accept mediocrity then that's cool. A lot of this has resonance. However we do now have a tune out of Mehmeti, Wells looks ten years younger than he is. McNally is getting on the end of things from time to time and we have some good partnerships forming. No one is getting carried away and most supporters are not celebrating being 8th but there is hope we can get in the mix and we could have a bit of excitement in the next few weeks. A free hit at a Premier League team too. Edited January 4 by REDOXO 1 Quote
Topper 123 Posted January 7 Posted January 7 On 04/01/2025 at 17:20, ChippenhamRed said: I wonder if being in the mix as we are might make us more likely to go and buy a striker in January? Hope so Quote
ExiledAjax Posted January 8 Posted January 8 https://theanalyst.com/2025/01/championship-predictions-opta-january-2024-2025 1 Quote
Mr Popodopolous Posted January 8 Posted January 8 10 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said: https://theanalyst.com/2025/01/championship-predictions-opta-january-2024-2025 8th-10th was my prediction and or expectation in Summer, to be in the mix. Sounds like it seems it quite likely. Quote
Major Isewater Posted January 8 Posted January 8 On 04/01/2025 at 18:32, Lorenzos Only Goal said: we eeeek out a 1-0 win over Blackburn on the 25th after good results against Sheffield and Coventry then I'll be shitting my pants about a possible promotion push Is that you Uncle Steve ? 1 Quote
Lorenzos Only Goal Posted January 8 Posted January 8 9 minutes ago, Major Isewater said: Is that you Uncle Steve ? I ******* wish I was Uncle Steve I'd not be worried about the next two financial quarters. Quote
mozo Posted January 8 Posted January 8 2 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said: 8th-10th was my prediction and or expectation in Summer, to be in the mix. Sounds like it seems it quite likely. This is our 10th consecutive season in the Championship and 8th was our best finish, 2018-19. Anything better than 11th would be our second best in that time. 9th feels like a decent enough finish for this season, if we can manage it. Then be better next season. Quote
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