Are we dark horses this season

[Chezzy Blades]

In 24 games against the teams that finished in the top 12 last season we took 13 points from a possible 72.

So far this season we've taken 2 points from a possible 18 against teams currently in the top half.

Since we lost the playoff final we've settled into our role as flat track bullies. We beat the rubbish but tactically and player for player we struggle against better sides. I haven't seen enough yet to suggest we're going to improve on the 15 points from 90 against top half teams. Unless we do we won't get into the playoffs in my opinion and we'll be nowhere near the top two.

 

[SB_90]

i dont want to be pessimistic. but we need to revisit this on fa cup 3rd round day. if we are at worst 10th. then yeah we can be optimistic.

but we have got a ridiculously tough run of fixtures upcoming

 

[jt64]

i dont want to be pessimistic. but we need to revisit this on fa cup 3rd round day. if we are at worst 10th. then yeah we can be optimistic.

but we have got a ridiculously tough run of fixtures upcoming

Realism isn't pessimism. That half the board have zero concept of context behind stats they blurt out is a them problem.

 

[FTPE]

But we haven't shown we're capable of beating the better teams which is what we'll need to do fairy consistently to be in the top 8

I get your point, but if the top teams like Boro DONT beat the dross that we do, its still the same.

 

[Maltby_blade]

We played 10th, 15th, 16th, 19th, 23rd and 24th in that spell, 10th overachieving by miles and being the team to beat us. That spell also included playing 4 of the bottom 5 in the image you list. And we play the fifth of those on Saturday. For the love of god, please don't tell me you posted this with the idea that it somehow indicates we're a good team?

And the chances are the 1 game we lost we wouldn’t have done had it not been for a shocking refereeing decision to send Choudhury off. Yes we have had a favorable run of fixtures but you can only beat what’s in front of you and we have been doing for the most part.

 

[jt64]

And the chances are the 1 game we lost we wouldn’t have done had it not been for a shocking refereeing decision to send Choudhury off. Yes we have had a favorable run of fixtures but you can only beat what’s in front of you and we have been doing for the most part.

True (the last sentence, the whining about referees, maybe not so much). But it is pure cherry picking. I am sure the same poster will grab the same table at some point near Christmas when we've played six teams in a row that don't completely suck and make the assumption we're doomed.

 

[ben1987]

I get your point, but if the top teams like Boro DONT beat the dross that we do, its still the same.

It’s not really though is it.

Wrexham were pushing play offs last season and spent like £30 million in the summer so logic suggests that at some point they’ll improve a bit

Boro won’t win every game. Sometimes bottom of the league will beat the top of the league in football but that is an anomaly rather than the norm.

The difference is that Boro have demonstrated that they can match / better the best sides in the division and have played really well on some occasions. They’ll have off days and so will everyone else.

We have not demonstrated we can go toe to toe with the best sides at all.

Comparing one result against Wrexham doesn’t suddenly mean we are on the same level or better than them just because we bettered their result.

We’ve probably deserved to win 3/4 times this season. The Lincoln first half was as bad as we’ve played in years but got the 3-0 win in the end with a better second half but they probably have the weakest squad in the division

We beat Bristol when they’d lost and failed to score in several home games. We were the better side undoubtedly but it was a very scrappy game lacking any real quality.

Against hopeless Preston we did our best to let them back into the game despite being comfortably the better team for the vast majority of the game.

The one game for me where I think we played well for a full game was the Wrexham one.

 

[Rodley]

I'm more inclined to think there will be talk on here about getting sucked into a relegation battle by next year rather than promotion.

We could lose one game being top of the league, and there’d be people posting about relegation.

 

[Rodley]

It’s not really though is it.

Wrexham were pushing play offs last season and spent like £30 million in the summer so logic suggests that at some point they’ll improve a bit

Boro won’t win every game. Sometimes bottom of the league will beat the top of the league in football but that is an anomaly rather than the norm.

The difference is that Boro have demonstrated that they can match / better the best sides in the division and have played really well on some occasions. They’ll have off days and so will everyone else.

We have not demonstrated we can go toe to toe with the best sides at all.

Comparing one result against Wrexham doesn’t suddenly mean we are on the same level or better than them just because we bettered their result.

We’ve probably deserved to win 3/4 times this season. The Lincoln first half was as bad as we’ve played in years but got the 3-0 win in the end with a better second half but they probably have the weakest squad in the division

We beat Bristol when they’d lost and failed to score in several home games. We were the better side undoubtedly but it was a very scrappy game lacking any real quality.

Against hopeless Preston we did our best to let them back into the game despite being comfortably the better team for the vast majority of the game.

The one game for me where I think we played well for a full game was the Wrexham one.

The reality is you can start the season like a train and falter at the end. Or you can build form through the season.

I think we’re a winger and a striker away from having a serious tilt at top 4, if we’re in and around the playoffs come January I’d push the boat out for a couple of loans of that nature.

IMHO, my expectation was mid table after a sluggish start with the sales of key players. We’re above par for me and who knows, maybe we can make a charge to the top 8 rather than be the team bumbling into the playoffs with the burden expectation.

 

[Roygbiv]

We could lose one game being top of the league, and there’d be people posting about relegation.

I remember when we were 5th in The Prem and people would shit themselves if Norwich got a point and say "going to need a big points total to stay up this season"

 

[Carlton Blade]

We won't know how good this team can be till Boxing Day. 23 games in and the toughest stretch of matches of the season completed.

My guess is, mid table mediocrity

 

[ben1987]

The reality is you can start the season like a train and falter at the end. Or you can build form through the season.

I think we’re a winger and a striker away from having a serious tilt at top 4, if we’re in and around the playoffs come January I’d push the boat out for a couple of loans of that nature.

IMHO, my expectation was mid table after a sluggish start with the sales of key players. We’re above par for me and who knows, maybe we can make a charge to the top 8 rather than be the team bumbling into the playoffs with the burden expectation.

I think we’ve got the foundations of a decent team with a few players I’d consider to br excellent on their day compared to the division. (Cooper, Philips, Peck, Donovan, Bamford, Burrows, Seriki)

I don’t think it’s as simple as being another winger and forward off though. The drop off in quality if any of those key players get injured, suspended or have an off day is fairly alarming and most of the players mentioned do have iffy injury records.

I don’t particularly like this 442 formation. The wide men are starting too deep to be at their most dangerous and I think the midfield can smg will be exposed against the better sides who seem to be sticking with the 433’s or the 4231 formation. Peck and Philips will be outnumbered.

There are still question marks over our overall fitness.

I don’t think we are dynamic and mobile enough when in possession to match the best teams. A lot of our passing is done from pretty static positions to static players.

I still think we could be good in a 433 with Philips holding behind a Peck and Arblaster with fewer defensive responsibilities (if we get the Bristol city version of Ollie) then Donovan and BBD as wide forwards in position to hurt the opposition more. We wouldn’t be overrun in midfield this way and it means we potentially swap the absolutely anonymous cannon for a midfielder.

 

[UddersBlade]

Think we’ll finish around 12th and get the 62pts needed to allow for any points deduction. Injuries will stop us going much higher. No danger of relegation (without a pts deduction) as there are a lot of weak squads in the Champiobship this year.

 

[ben1987]

Think we’ll finish around 12th and get the 62pts needed to allow for any points deduction. Injuries will stop us going much higher. No danger of relegation (without a pts deduction) as there are a lot of weak squads in the Champiobship this year.

The points deduction narrative was heavily pushed by the Prince.

We’ll be fine

 

[blackydog]

I don't think we're a dark horse at all. I'll tell you who is a dark horse though... Black Beauty

 

[SwitchBLADE Smiles]

I love the optimism and I’m all for folk looking up and thinking we can do it. However, outside of the Wrexham game, I’ve seen absolutely nothing to suggest that we’ll be entertaining a top half finish this season.

The performances have been pretty shit all season. We don’t play with any kind of intensity and once again, we’re left in a position where we are reliant on someone doing something brilliant to get us goals rather than having an idea on how we want to attack. Tack on the fact that we’re defensively quite fragile and allow opposition teams time and space on the edge of our own area - it’s unsurprising that we’ve ‘allowed’ so many long range goals against us.

We’ve been quite fortunate in that the season in which we’ve been forced to cut out cloth financially, just so happens to coincide with one of the worst collection of championship sides in recent history. There are plenty of sides who are worse than us so it’s not going to be a disaster to finish in 13th place.

 

[Cheesebored]

My guess is, mid table mediocrity.

Which any right minded supporter might find acceptable given our circumstances. The possible points deduction is the elephant in the room.

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

We'll pick up points against most of the teams in the bottom half and lose most of our games against the top teams.

That's what mid table teams usually do and that's what we are.

The bookies still have us to finish 10th to 14th which seems about right.

6 games ago we were 4 points and 4 places off relegation and SkyBet shortened our odds of going down to 9/4.
I think we need to see the improved Blades against a few top half teams before settling for mid table mediocrity.

 

[103SecondsOfMagic]

What words would you use to describe an automatic promotion chasing team losing three consecutive league games in April against teams who were 19th, 9th and 24th?

I'm sticking with spineless and gutless.

Sheffield and United. You'd think you'd be used to it by now

 

[metalblade]

If the table never lies that means we've been the 9th best team so far this season...despite being dreadful for the 1st few games....so how about you cheer up a bit, take a positive pill for a change and start supporting the team a bit...or will you be praying for a home win at Charlton on Saturday so you can come back on here saturday evening a spout a load more negative drivel?

Here's another one of those wilder fan/bigger blade types

 

[The Fox]

I think we need to see the improved Blades against a few top half teams before settling for mid table mediocrity.

Mid table mediocrity is our position.

Actually our average position over the last 30 years is 11th in the second tier .

If we manage that or anything better this season it'll be an achievement.

 

[programmechap]

We weren't inconsistent at the start of last season. We were incompetent. We did kinda recover from that and even had a sniff of the play offs at one point but we looked like relegation fodder under selles. With the extended play offs this year I wouldn't be surprised if we are in the hunt deep into the season.

Expectations after the summer window shut was that we would lack creativity and that's impossible to magic up from thin air unfortunately.

I dunno. Given the difference between 10th and 8th might just be a point, any team with mid table quality could sneak into the play offs

 

[Carlton Blade]

Which any right minded supporter might find acceptable given our circumstances. The possible points deduction is the elephant in the room.

Yep. It's a bit of a ropey situation. Some entertainment, a couple of memorable home wins, get to see Donovan maybe do something special, Peck continuing to improve and maybe a return to form for Arblaster and all in all that's fine

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

I dunno. Given the difference between 10th and 8th might just be a point, any team with mid table quality could sneak into the play offs

Given how rare it was for 6th placed teams to triumph in the play offs I'd say it'll be at least a good ten years before an 8th placed team wins it.

 

[JohnDenver]

Some teams grow into a season. We are doing just that, but I doubt our ceiling is high enough without some extraordinary luck with fitness and some timely blossoming of talent.

I long said that a playoff spot in the first post-parachute season would be a real achievement. It remains possible, but unlikely.

 

[LSF]

Some teams grow into a season. We are doing just that, but I doubt our ceiling is high enough without some extraordinary luck with fitness and some timely blossoming of talent.

I long said that a playoff spot in the first post-parachute season would be a real achievement. It remains possible, but unlikely.

Stop talking sense tinged with a bit of optimism JD, otherwise you'll have Metalblade on your case

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

With an 8th place finish offering a chance of promotion, dark horses wont exactly be thin on the ground.

If everyone is a dark horse, is anyone a dark horse?

We've currently flat track bullies. Usually picking off the worst teams and losing to the better ones. I'm more inclined to think there will be talk on here about getting sucked into a relegation battle by next year rather than promotion. The most realistic outcome is pure mid table nothingness though.

This season, and mediocrity at best, is the biggest threat to our immediate future. I honestly think any remaining quality (Cooper, Peck, Seriki) could be off/sold because we lack any form, investment, resources or ambition. I'm expecting a continued downgrading of the squad.

 

[Jan Age]

No

 

[HighfieldBlade]

I don't think we're a dark horse at all. I'll tell you who is a dark horse though... Black Beauty

 

[Thrice]

At least Wilder seems to have found a working starting formation just in time for the tough games. That gives me hope. But I'm still highly sceptical. There are still question marks, Chong and Choudhury should be upgraded on. And I still have little faith in Wilder playing a style of football that can compete with the better teams in the division.