Poor memories or better players?

[GreasyChipBeattie]

This season seems to following a similar pattern to last season.
So, can we/will we maintain it this year or not?
Comments like "They will get found out" "Momentum will be lost" "They will burn themselves out, no team can play a full season at that level of intensity" were a few comments that, to be fair, did end up playing out.

One of those definitely doesn't apply. We carried no momentum on from last year, but what about the other two?

You would have thought that the teams who "Found us out" wouldn't fall for it again wouldn't you?
Did they forget how we play, or as the title suggests, do we just do what we do better than last season.

Personally, I think it's down to a mixture of things. A sprinkling of better players (Deano, Egan, Norwood, Goldie) better form (Bash, Stevens) and a general maturing of the rest.

It's difficult to quantify whether other teams have dropped off from last year. There certainly doesn't appear to be another 'Wolves' this year and teams like Brentford, Bristol City, Millwall look to have had their day for a while, and although you can never write off a late challenge like Fulham last year, we do seem to have more of a chance this year than last.

Teams that could throw a spanner in the works?
Norwich, Brum and an outside Swansea.
Of those already up there, Leeds seem to be providing their annual 'fall apart' West Brom over Derby for me (despite the 1-4 loss last week) and Middlesboro will probably plod along for a place in the play-offs.

Heart says, top 2 for us.
Head says, "Shut the f**k up silly b*****d and don't curse things.

 

[PaulHalfway]

It’s very tight with about 8 teams who definitely will be going for the top two, everyone else beating each other and lots of draws at the moment
For us, we are in a fantastic position now, we need to win the tight games and games against top 6 sides
Can we get stronger in January with say a couple of players who improve the first team rather than squad players
No injuries to key players
But at the moment we are definitely a better side than last year

 

[gavtheblade]

I'm still aghast that we are actually in this position.
Teams would give an arm to even flirt with the top two.
How the last 24 months have panned out are nothing short of a miracle.
We are progressing at a phenomenal rate,and even though we are top now,I believe the best is yet to come from this group of players.

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Time will tell upto January.

In January we need Luke Freeman,surely if we are still top two we need to go get,and surely he would be interested.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

This season seems to following a similar pattern to last season.
So, can we/will we maintain it this year or not?
Comments like "They will get found out" "Momentum will be lost" "They will burn themselves out, no team can play a full season at that level of intensity" were a few comments that, to be fair, did end up playing out.

One of those definitely doesn't apply. We carried no momentum on from last year, but what about the other two?

You would have thought that the teams who "Found us out" wouldn't fall for it again wouldn't you?
Did they forget how we play, or as the title suggests, do we just do what we do better than last season.

Personally, I think it's down to a mixture of things. A sprinkling of better players (Deano, Egan, Norwood, Goldie) better form (Bash, Stevens) and a general maturing of the rest.

It's difficult to quantify whether other teams have dropped off from last year. There certainly doesn't appear to be another 'Wolves' this year and teams like Brentford, Bristol City, Millwall look to have had their day for a while, and although you can never write off a late challenge like Fulham last year, we do seem to have more of a chance this year than last.

Teams that could throw a spanner in the works?
Norwich, Brum and an outside Swansea.
Of those already up there, Leeds seem to be providing their annual 'fall apart' West Brom over Derby for me (despite the 1-4 loss last week) and Middlesboro will probably plod along for a place in the play-offs.

Heart says, top 2 for us.
Head says, "Shut the f**k up silly b*****d and don't curse things.

I think teams are obviously more aware of us this season & how we play, than last. The issue is knowing how we play & stopping us. Derby found a way in the 2nd half of our game, and it is a tactic that might work against us. Our threat is overlapping CB's and WB's, so it's a case of teams finding a way of either neutralising that threat or exploiting the space it leaves in certain areas of the pitch.

The loss of momentum was basically the loss of PC & Freeman, the resultant actual & psychological effect on the team of the next few games and the drying up of goals in the last third of the season. You can't legislate for freak long term injuries but you can bring in cover up front, which I think we have tried to do, but not got it right yet. So, we're still open to a re-occurrence of that.

We have improved the quality of the first 11, and the players that played last season are another season wiser, and it shows.

We can still be very defensively lose, and I thought, save for poor finishing, that Wigan had a go yesterday, and it could've been a 5-5 type scoreline.

The next 5 or some games will show where we are; Forest, Wednesday, Rotherham, Brentford and Leeds, all difficult games & tests in different ways. We've now played 15 games, and are on 29 points, the target is to be on near enough 40 points after those games, and on circa 50 points after our home game v. Blackburn on the 29th December. If we are at that level of averaging 2 points a game, then it's on, and the people at the top level of the club have to realise this and act accordingly.

 

[PokerBlade]

Getting "found out" is a meaningless phrase that fans throw around. Does anyone think there's something so mysterious about our tactics that other Championship managers can't figure it out? No, we just do it well.

Same for momentum. We didn't run out of a mysterious feeling called "momentum". We had a small squad, one of our stars got a long term injury, and the starting eleven that played the second half of the season weren't as good as the first.

I don't expect us to stay top of the table. We still lack the depth because we couldn't afford to lose Duffy for a run of games. Alright, we beat Wigan without him, but we'd struggle against better sides.

And I think you can see the weaknesses we have defensively. Any time a team gets control of the game over us we concede. Games like the Stoke game will likely add up to too many points dropped.

On the other hand, we're stronger than last year and, so far, the division looks weaker. No reason we shouldn't finish a few places higher if luck goes our way.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

I'll tell you at the end of the season, but Chris will have the lads taking it one game at a time. What I will say though, is that his signings have been very good on the little money he has to work with.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Time will tell upto January.

In January we need Luke Freeman,surely if we are still top two we need to go get,and surely he would be interested.

If we NEED Freeman, then QPR will just add another 3 million on to his price tag.
What do you think is a fair price for Freeman £7 million, £10 million? What if they insist £13 million or no deal?

Also we can easily make Freeman interested by doubling his money.
If our top earner is on £12K a week, then what’s a fair wage to offer Freeman? £20K but what if his agent insists on £30K a week?

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

If we NEED Freeman, then QPR will just add another 3 million on to his price tag.
What do you think is a fair price for Freeman £7 million, £10 million? What if they insist £13 million or no deal?

Also we can easily make Freeman interested by doubling his money.
If our top earner is on £12K a week, then what’s a fair wage to offer Freeman? £20K but what if his agent insists on £30K a week?

If our top earner is on £12k/week, that would suggest our wage structure is very much bonus related with a huge wedge for the squad for achieving promotion.
I wonder if that contributed to us falling away last season?
I know we were thereabouts until a couple of games to go, but Wolves and Cardiff were long gone and everyone knew Fulham were nailed on for play-off success, so maybe the drop in monetary incentive knocked a bit of the stuffing out of the team.

 

[DronnieBlade]

The division, as suggested by one or two clever folks, really isn’t that great this year.

Even the “better” sides are inconsistent.

We are in with a more than realistic shot at it

UTB

 

[RammyBlade]

I think the fact the league is so inconsistent might play into

This season seems to following a similar pattern to last season.
So, can we/will we maintain it this year or not?
Comments like "They will get found out" "Momentum will be lost" "They will burn themselves out, no team can play a full season at that level of intensity" were a few comments that, to be fair, did end up playing out.

One of those definitely doesn't apply. We carried no momentum on from last year, but what about the other two?

You would have thought that the teams who "Found us out" wouldn't fall for it again wouldn't you?
Did they forget how we play, or as the title suggests, do we just do what we do better than last season.

Personally, I think it's down to a mixture of things. A sprinkling of better players (Deano, Egan, Norwood, Goldie) better form (Bash, Stevens) and a general maturing of the rest.

It's difficult to quantify whether other teams have dropped off from last year. There certainly doesn't appear to be another 'Wolves' this year and teams like Brentford, Bristol City, Millwall look to have had their day for a while, and although you can never write off a late challenge like Fulham last year, we do seem to have more of a chance this year than last.

Teams that could throw a spanner in the works?
Norwich, Brum and an outside Swansea.
Of those already up there, Leeds seem to be providing their annual 'fall apart' West Brom over Derby for me (despite the 1-4 loss last week) and Middlesboro will probably plod along for a place in the play-offs.

Heart says, top 2 for us.
Head says, "Shut the f**k up silly b*****d and don't curse things.

I think that the fact the league is so inconsistent MIGHT play into our hands as although we are inconsistent we do go for wins instead of draws so we JUST MIGHT have an advantage over other teams who are not as attack minded

 

[Broomhall Blade]

I would say Top six at best at the moment.
We are stronger than last year, i just feel we are a Stricker and a creative Duffy type player short at the moment in my view.
You only have to look at our bench yesterday its basically bringing Washington on if we needed to try to change the game (I'm not including Coutts because i don't see him has a game changer player)
We have so far been touch wood lucky with injuries, but any long term injury to Duffy or Sharp could cost us big time.
Big time coming up in January Prince and McCabe, and Wilder if he gets backing but i am not holding my breath.

 

[broomhillblade]

There doesn't seem to be a lot coming through from the academy at the moment. We need a striker or two who will blossom if given exposure to the first team squad. Another Brooks is probably too much to hope for, but our ageing strikers need some young legs to give them support towards the end of games, with a chance they will become permanent fixtures in the team. I don't think it is realistic that we will be able to afford a top striker in the foreseeable future, and those teams that have splashed out have not always found their millions well-spent. Strikers are human beings, not robots.

 

[Houston_Blade]

The division, as suggested by one or two clever folks, really isn’t that great this year.

Even the “better” sides are inconsistent.

We are in with a more than realistic shot at it

UTB

Agreed, a runaway leader like Wolves looks unlikely so it’s 2 places instead of 1 up for grabs. If we’re still around the top 2 come January we’re in with as good a shout as anyone.

 

[derfblade.3]

We concede quite a few goals because of how we play and i think we have to accept that. Even at 4-2 yesterday i was still on edge because we go at teams and are vulnerable to quick counter attacks. Would i want to change anything? No chance! It's fantastic to watch and i really believe we can maintain our form of plenty of wins with a few defeats but very few draws and clinch promotion.