Poorest league we've seen

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

I've said it from day 1.

Wigan top
Sheff Utd second

Remember it's a marathon not a sprint. Wigan & Sheff Utd haven't even started playing anywhere near their potential.

Both clubs had a poor start but it's ominous for the league that both are on the edge of the playoffs.

After Christmas both clubs will show their quality. Mark my words.

Posted last week that Adkins lost just 2 games after Xmas when in charge of both Scunthorpe and Southampton.
 



Something most of us have been aware of for about 2 years now. However a lot of people say that we don't need anybody else up front. I disagree. Against Millwall - and a lot of other games - we're pretty toothless.
Understand NA has gone for more stability in the middle, but I didn't see why he broke up the Sharp-Sammon partnership before it really had chance to get going.
 
Every time I look at that league table I smile and think, we should win this league.

The teams above do not have the longevity to keep up performances over another 30 games. Suspensions and injuries will do them in.

Maybe I am guilty of underestimating the opposition, but to my mind we will not have a better chance, and there is still plenty of time.

HH
 
I've said it from day 1.

Wigan top
Sheff Utd second

Remember it's a marathon not a sprint. Wigan & Sheff Utd haven't even started playing anywhere near their potential.

Both clubs had a poor start but it's ominous for the league that both are on the edge of the playoffs.

After Christmas both clubs will show their quality. Mark my words.

Wigan have Sheffsteel.
 
why just looking at a league table like the op does how can you define it as shit
on what criteria is it based
arent the teams in it all better than the league 2 clubs on merit
arent all the current teams there as they missed out on going up or fell from the championship like every other season

when teams like wigan wimbledon northampton carlisle etc all climbed to the top division from here , didnt the division look just as shit then

just looking at team names and declaring it poor is not really based on anything ,,, is it

arent there 2 reasonably recent fa cup winners in there coventry and wigan
didnt millwall play in europe not long back, after getting to the fa cup final
people are very poor on giving any credit to some clubs it seems
 
why just looking at a league table like the op does how can you define it as shit
The what criteria is it based
arent the teams in it all better than the league 2 clubs on merit
arent all the current teams there as they missed out on going up or fell from the championship like every other season

when teams like wigan wimbledon northampton carlisle etc all climbed to the top division from here , didnt the division look just as shit then

just looking at team names and declaring it poor is not really based on anything ,,, is it

arent there 2 reasonably recent fa cup winners in there coventry and wigan
didnt millwall play in europe not long back, after getting to the fa cup final
people are very poor on giving any credit to some clubs it seems
There is a step up in class to the championship but contrary to what some say on here there is some good football played in L1 .
 
It’s difficult to assess when looking at a 3-4 year period. Let’s face it, the YC final team are still only 21 so it’s hard to say we should have had a load more come through since then. I think given the variable nature of player development, you’d need a bigger sample to say whether there has been a decline. You’d probably have to leave it another 5 years and see if anyone has broken in before we can assess the productivity. There have been lulls in the past. Whitehouse/Ward etc- big gap, then Woodhouse and Morris- Big gap- then Monty, Jags, Tonge- gap- then Quinn- gap- then Naughton, Walker and Lowton- gap- the YC final team.


It’s not like every year group produces a first team regular and for every Phil Jagielka we see plenty of Kingsley James, Ryan Mallon, Ben Doane, Adam Burley, John Reed, Matt Harriett, Ian Ross, Dominic Roma, Jonathan Forte, Nicky Law, Elliott Whitehouse, Nathaniel Foster, Evan Horwood, Kevan Hurst, Travis Binnion, Connor Brown etc. type players that for one reason or another, don’t make it.


For what it’s worth, I think we would have our next academy superstar on our hands (probably sold by now) if DdG hadn’t suffered that horrendous injury. Jamie McDonagh’s leg break will have certainly set him back too. We now have Reed and DCL who look very promising. Let’s hope they kick on.


My only concerns are


1. When players het to 17/18 and start getting involved with the senior squad, the standard we are playing at will not help their development as much as if we were in the top two tiers. Same goes for the players they are training with.


2. EPPP means that there is less financial value in producing players meaning we might scale back academy expenditure thus making us less productive.


3. There’s a pressure to get out of this league every season leading to managers going for experience much of the time and not giving these kids a chance to gain valuable first team experience. League 1 & 2 sides are less likely to loan players not getting in League 1 teams when they can go for championship youngsters. Ottis Khan looked very useful in his cameo v Rotherham and I was looking forward to seeing him as a regular on the bench in 2014/15 and hopefully forcing his way in but we signed JCR, Davies, Coutts etc on top of Flynn and Murphy which left him nowhere near.


4. A lot of our academy players do seem small. We seem to be looking for the next Xavi. I think it’s an admirable way to bring the youth through (focusing on skills over size and strength) but perhaps a better balance could be drawn to look for some raw athletes to mould like Kyle Walker.


5. The chopping and changing in management both in academy and first team level means there is less continuity in the way the players are being developed and this might hinder their progress.
 
^^^^ Posted the above in the wrong thread by mistake.



I don’t think the division is as weak as it was in 2012/13. Wilson lost Lowton, Quinn, Evans, Williamson, LJF etc from the previous season replacing them with McMahon, McCallister, Blackman, Kitson etc. and still had us right up there at the top until losing Blackman and Miller. That league was even more wide open than this one with Donny, Bournemouth and Yeovil going up. Donny and Yeovil have since shown how bad their promoted teams were. Bournemouth finished strong and went from strength to strength but they were only good that year after bringing Eddie Howe back.

You could similalrly look at the bottom half of the table and say the league must be tougher than ever with teams like Donny, Barnsley, Bradford etc all finding it hard going.


Personally, I tend to agree with Neill Collins in saying that it’s a tighter division. There’s less likely to be runaway teams at the top but there are also fewer gimmes. Small clubs like Colchester and Bury have established quality in the likes of Sordell and Clarke. Wigan have assembled a strong squad but have a rookie manager. Coventry have some big names (Fortune, Cole, Ricketts etc) and some young talent like Armstrong. Gillingham just seem incredibly well set up in terms of balance and the right attributes for the division rather than big name players. Wallsall have developed a team over time and for once hung onto their better young players like Bradshaw and Sawyers. Millwall seem to have a decent balance between youthful enthusiasm and wily old cheats. I think the overall standard is probably getting higher with the exception of odd years like our first one down here where there were a few big clubs and Wolves’ one season down here. There are less in the way of big clubs who don’t belong and are expected to bounce back up but I think the overall standard of player is higher which is why the players we have which look decent enough on paper are struggling to impose themselves.
 
The trouble is. We can't up our game in the 3rd division, because we play like a 3rd division side, we are in 6th place if we give another 20% effort we will piss this league.
 
The trouble is. We can't up our game in the 3rd division, because we play like a 3rd division side, we are in 6th place if we give another 20% effort we will piss this league.

Think you are spot on with the 20% - but that 20% is when we haven't got the ball.

We need to work as hard as the opposition do and get it back - then settle down to how we play.

We DO have better quality players, we don't work hard enough without the ball and let the opposition out play us.

Don't think it's too much to ask either.

UTB
 
and I'm told he would have come as well, as would lefondre, who was another one we dallied over and lost out on...

Vardy, the Wendy fan, who used to spend his spare time with his Wendy mates in Wendy pubs, following Wendy?

Would have played for us? Really?
 

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom