Halfway point

[Silent Blade]

No crystal ball but we can’t go on throwing games away or rather not putting teams away when we’re on the front foot.

That is right, still we are doing much better that you and I expected before the start of the season. Wouldnt surprise me if you thought we were going to be relegated!

 

[Silent Blade]

I could say the same to you! I don't see how you can say we are stronger when, no matter how bad they played, we haven't replaced Clarke or Brooks yet!

We might do next month!

 

[Roygbiv]

Because we’ve got where we are without them this season. Last season we needed them to get us to the same point but when they both fell away, we did.

Do you think we are stronger though? Not looking for an argument just wondering how people are seeing things

 

[Dec]

I have been waiting and seeing for every close seasontransfer window for the last 40 years. Usually to be let down! With the current boardroom turmoil not sure I have any faith this one is going to be any different.

We are going for Prem loans it seems. Does anyone think any of the current top 6 plus Villa, Stoke etc will not have far greater spending power than us to get these same players from the small pool of quality we will be fighting for. Heard Dowell is going back to Forest for instance who will blow us out of the water in wages. We simply won't or can't compete with likes of Villa (Abraham etc). I hope I am wrong but I see others as getting much stronger and us just doing what we normally do and scraping and scrambling for whats left or the odd lower league punt.

Weren't a lot of these teams in for Woodburn?

 

[John Street West Terrace]

38 points from 23 games is better than I expected before the start of the season and especially after the first two games of the season. Another 38 points from the next 23 games should see us in the play off places at the end of the season.

With the January transfer window to come, we do not seem to have injury problems like we did at this stage last season also the squad is stronger than we were at this stage last season.

We have 12 home games to play and 8 of them are against teams who are currently in the bottom half of the table (all the bottom 5 placed teams have to play at the Lane)

#staypositive!

We’re still in the mix at the halfway point , we set ourselves high standards nowadays so tend to get bit disappointed when we don’t get our just desserts .
We’re competing with some of the big with big budgets and not doing too badly at all .
Let’s get behind the lads come what the JTW brings and see where it takes us

UTB

 

[Silent Blade]

I have been waiting and seeing for every close seasontransfer window for the last 40 years. Usually to be let down! With the current boardroom turmoil not sure I have any faith this one is going to be any different.

We are going for Prem loans it seems. Does anyone think any of the current top 6 plus Villa, Stoke etc will not have far greater spending power than us to get these same players from the small pool of quality we will be fighting for. Heard Dowell is going back to Forest for instance who will blow us out of the water in wages. We simply won't or can't compete with likes of Villa (Abraham etc). I hope I am wrong but I see others as getting much stronger and us just doing what we normally do and scraping and scrambling for whats left or the odd lower league punt.

Higher wages isnt a guarantee for promotion

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Higher wages isnt a guarantee for promotion

But you have to pay for quality. We can’t.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

I am not sure where this 'we have a stronger squad' comes from. We forget Blackman was great last season for the most part and even though Henderson is better the keeping positon was fine las year. Coutts and Norwood not much in it for the first half. Bith have been very good. Coutts might have been more consistent. Egan is better than Stearman but we had Clarke and Brookes last year on form. The bench options are still very poor. Not sure there is much in it but we had Brooks around most of the season. Donaldson v Washington - not much in it. The former at least got some goals.

We have a slightly better starting eleven but as Roy says Clarke was scoring for fun. Outside of the eleven the drop off is huge.

I’d say we’re marginally stronger in some areas of the squad and probably the squad overall. Henderson is clearly an upgrade on Blackman, and while there will be debate on how much Egan has added over Stearman, those two are stronger than Stearman & Wright for covering that role in the squad. Similarly with the addition of Cranie we at least have someone able to deputise reasonably in that role. The rest of the defence is as you were. Midfield I think we are much stronger if you consider Brooks would have continued off the striker again had he stayed. Norwood-Fleck-Duffy-Lundstram-Coutts is stronger in quality (though clear not in number) than Coutts-Fleck-Duffy-Evans-Leonard-Holmes-Carruthers. It’s up front where the issue is. We had hoped McGoldrick would have been the upgrade on Donaldson we wanted, not as effectively stepping into Brooks’s shoes to fight with Sharp & Clarke for a forward role. This is where we’re certainly weaker, and unfortunately I worry a focus on getting bodies in there won’t address some of the other areas we’re needing to address.

Wilder’s approach has been to incrementally improve the squad, and I think that’s what he’s done this season.

 

[thehet]

Defensively we are abject. We need to keep clean sheets.

 

[BushBlade]

Do you think we are stronger though? Not looking for an argument just wondering how people are seeing things

Yeah. Second season is always harder, if you stay still you go backwards and other cliches. Probably not strong enough to go up, even if we add a couple in the JTW but it’s not easy to keep challenging at the top of this league without significant investment. Preston, Bristol City and Millwall all had good seasons and are all below us this season. That’s not happened by accident.

 

[Silent Blade]

Do you think we are stronger though? Not looking for an argument just wondering how people are seeing things

Last Xmas Day we knew Coutts was out for the rest of the season, we were wondering what illness Brooks had and were worried when he would be 100% fit again.

Chris Wilder is very hopeful of two loans coming to us with one we might have to wait for. In Wilder, we trust!

 

[Silent Blade]

But you have to pay for quality.

Just like Wendy?

 

[MobileBlade]

Decent start overall but frustrating that we haven’t got the points we should have. Even more frustrating that our owners continue to hold us back. A little bit more quality and athleticism added in January would make all the difference.

Must have missed all those signings we could have made

 

[Bladesthorpe]

You always try to ruin a constructive thread! Dont believe you are a Blade!

He's not he's a miserable sod who never misses a chance to put the boot into the club he says he supports.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Just like Wendy?

Why use Wednesday as an example ?

 

[robbiez666]

I fear the same is going to happen as last season. We don't do anything in the JTW and gradually slip down the league. Problem with a small and ageing squad.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

38 points from 23 games is better than I expected before the start of the season and especially after the first two games of the season. Another 38 points from the next 23 games should see us in the play off places at the end of the season.

With the January transfer window to come, we do not seem to have injury problems like we did at this stage last season also the squad is stronger than we were at this stage last season.

We have 12 home games to play and 8 of them are against teams who are currently in the bottom half of the table (all the bottom 5 placed teams have to play at the Lane)

#staypositive!

I'm feeling positive but doubling our points might see us one or two points short.

 

[Silent Blade]

Why use Wednesday as an example ?

One of the examples, not just Wendy.

 

[Silent Blade]

I'm feeling positive but doubling our points might see us one or two points short.

What was the highest number of points that failed to achieve a play off spot?

 

[Silent Blade]

We don't do anything in the JTW

Wait and see!

 

[BushBlade]

I fear the same is going to happen as last season. We don't do anything in the JTW and gradually slip down the league. Problem with a small and ageing squad.

Last season we were forced to replace a key player. I suspect if Coutts hadn’t got injured the Evans money would have gone elsewhere. Maybe on a better player than Wilson. But this season we’ve got the crap going off upstairs. So who knows? No point worrying about it though, can’t change owt.

 

[Topplayersleave]

You always try to ruin a constructive thread! Dont believe you are a Blade!

Ruined what ?
We won't sign anybody any good, so I think we should manage with what we've got, manage again in the summer, manage again next January and then in the summer of 2020 we'll have millions to spend on somebody good, as long as he's so good that nobody else wants him of course.
We don't want to get involved in one of those there bidding wars do we ?

 

[Silent Blade]

Ruined what ?
We won't sign anybody any good, so I think we should manage with what we've got, manage again in the summer, manage again next January and then in the summer of 2020 we'll have millions to spend on somebody good, as long as he's so good that nobody else wants him of course.
We don't want to get involved in one of those there bidding wars do we ?

How do you know that?

 

[mattbianco1]

1st time we're in top 6 in championship on Xmas Day since 2008. We finished 3rd that year narrowly missing out on the final day (At palace).

We were 6th that Xmas too. With 1pt less.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

What was the highest number of points that failed to achieve a play off spot?

No idea, just a gut feeling based on us dropping points to those around us.

 

[blade67]

Do you think we are stronger though? Not looking for an argument just wondering how people are seeing things

I think we are stronger. Overall

GK is better, albeit only by a bit
Egan has made us stronger at CB
Norwood is much better than the midfielders we could play in that position last year, as is Coutts ( 12 months ago we put out a midfield 3 of Lafferty, Lundstram and Carruthers)
Brooks hasn't been replaced which needs to be resolved
Yes, Clarke has not had any impact at all but Sharp is having a stronger season to compensate and McGoldrick has been loads better than Donaldson who was rubbish really.

We went into last years JTW needing to rebuild our midfield and with no cover up front.

This year we need a couple of good attacking players.

If feels like progress, sort of

 

[Inter_blade83]

We will fade out just like last year, arguably its self inflicted this year, last year we blamed it on Coutts.

I am sick and tired of us dominating teams but failing to capitalise- god only knows how bewildered Wilder must be.

Tough game at home in Boxing Day.

Bewildered?

I blame the management, they set the tactics, they are the ones who drill the idea in the heads of the players not to take risks around the box, working the perfect opportunity.

More risk, more surprise.

 

[mattbianco1]

Why use Wednesday as an example ?

Think it was more of a 'look how much they spent on shit' and look how much we paid for our superior squad... therefore... you don't 'HAVE' to spend loads.

But, saying that... a clinical striker is a tad harder to find unfortunately

 

[Silent Blade]

No idea, just a gut feeling based on us dropping points to those around us.

Average points for 6th place is 73.8.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Average points for 6th place is 73.8.

Think we'll need a few more.