Stay calm it’s a long season (7 Viewers)

[Hobo]

Nobody thought it would be easy did they? Everybody knew it would be a long hard season batttling to stay up, surely?

It is still early days and we can stay up. We have shown we can compete at this level, but no games are going to be easy. Yes of course we have to learn from our mistakes and we ave to improve. But we have had a tough start and created problems for ourselves with a little bit of indiscipline. We have had our fair share of injuries too - but that is football.

Days like yesterday can happen and I don't think it tells us a lot. 75 minutes with 10 men is a long time and a second goal was always going to kill us mentally.

 

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[oscillatewildly]

Nobody thought it would be easy did they? Everybody knew it would be a long hard season batttling to stay up, surely?

It is still early days and we can stay up. We have shown we can compete at this level, but no games are going to be easy. Yes of course we have to learn from our mistakes and we ave to improve. But we have had a tough start and created problems for ourselves with a little bit of indiscipline. We have had our fair share of injuries too - but that is football.

Days like yesterday can happen and I don't think it tells us a lot. 75 minutes with 10 men is a long time and a second goal was always going to kill us mentally.

We were convincingly thrashed by a team many would not regard as being play off contenders for this league.
There's a big difference between being soundly whooped and holding your own with some positives.
I totally understand the concern - even at this early stage.

 

[Terry_dactyl]

We were convincingly thrashed by a team many would not regard as being play off contenders for this league.
There's a big difference between being soundly whooped and holding your own with some positives.
I totally understand the concern - even at this early stage.

Sorry, my understanding is that Blackburn are being considered as genuine playoff contenders. I think they’ve scored 4 or more on 3 occasions this season already.
The sending off ruined us.

 

[Grendel]

Sorry, my understanding is that Blackburn are being considered as genuine playoff contenders. I think they’ve scored 4 or more on 3 occasions this season already.
The sending off ruined us.

The only 3 they’ve beaten are in the bottom 5 and they’ve lost to Forest

 

[Terry_dactyl]

The only 3 they’ve beaten are in the bottom 5 and they’ve lost to Forest

Ok. I’ll put it another way...I think that most of the teams in this division have better players than us. Hence why I think it will be one long relegation battle. Losing to a better team when we have 10 men is not a surprise to me. We looked good, and the better team, for the 15 minutes we had 11 men on the pitch. That should give some hope.

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

I think we've had a few niggly small injuries this season that haven't helped getting a settled team, matched with some stupid suspensions. It made a big difference last season and the L2 season that we improved when we had a settled side and didn't get many injuries to disrupt that momentum.

 

[Tommo1993]

Agree that we can stay up. Disagree about playing as we are though. That means gifting goals every game.

 

[SlowerThanPlatt]

 

[Esoterica]

Ok. I’ll put it another way...I think that most of the teams in this division have better players than us. Hence why I think it will be one long relegation battle. Losing to a better team when we have 10 men is not a surprise to me. We looked good, and the better team, for the 15 minutes we had 11 men on the pitch. That should give some hope.

Did you really think we were the better team in that 15 minutes? Their press was highlighting exactly the same issues as in every other game we've played a team that presses. We barely got out of our own half except for that one incisive counter for Godden's chance. I mean we were coping ok with it until the penalty and they hadn't created any serious chances but it's a bit of a leap to suggesting we either looked good or were the better team.

 

[Terry_dactyl]

Did you really think we were the better team in that 15 minutes? Their press was highlighting exactly the same issues as in every other game we've played a team that presses. We barely got out of our own half except for that one incisive counter for Godden's chance. I mean we were coping ok with it until the penalty and they hadn't created any serious chances but it's a bit of a leap to suggesting we either looked good or were the better team.

Right you are...we weren’t the worst team though and should’ve been leading.

 

[AFCCOVENTRY]

The saving grace is we have a team as poor Wycombe in the league

Also we have Weds on -12 but they are slowly working through that.

Reality is we’ve shipped in too many goals and scoring hardly any. We need to either stop conceding or scoring more than we concede to help us pick up points.

 

[Tommo1993]

Wednesday will be safe with games to spare

 

[AFCCOVENTRY]

Wednesday will be safe with games to spare

Yes. So in my opinion we will be fighting to stay out of the remaining 2 spots.

 

[Londonccfcfan]

The only 3 they’ve beaten are in the bottom 5 and they’ve lost to Forest

Thrashing the bottom 5 is not to be sniffed at Doubt many teams at top will hand out thrashings to those at bottom.
Its a strange league. Blackburn will in all probability finish top 10 season.

 

[Londonccfcfan]

Did you really think we were the better team in that 15 minutes? Their press was highlighting exactly the same issues as in every other game we've played a team that presses. We barely got out of our own half except for that one incisive counter for Godden's chance. I mean we were coping ok with it until the penalty and they hadn't created any serious chances but it's a bit of a leap to suggesting we either looked good or were the better team.

Your moments will come in this league, the point is we hung in there for those first 15 mins and definately came closest to scoring with a great move and was unlucky not to score.

The hanging in part and wethering the storm is important as the Swansea game showed. at 1-1 it looked like they would walk all over us for first 30 mins in 2nd half. We hung in wethered the storm and then we were desperately unfortunate not to get the winner with chance after chance in last 15/20mins, denied by offside/ Off the line and hit the post etc.

 

[DionDublinsJockstrap]

I’m still optimistic.
If we hadn’t been promoted last season and this is how we started in League 1 then I would be concerned.

In League 1 it would not have been a good start for a promotion challenge. Our aspirations this season are realistically much lower.

Robins will know what his best team and best formation is. The players are on a steep learning curve, and we have been unduly hit by injuries. Hamer OTT suspension not helped either.

PUSB

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Your moments will come in this league, the point is we hung in there for those first 15 mins and definately came closest to scoring with a great move and was unlucky not to score.

The hanging in part and wethering the storm is important as the Swansea game showed. at 1-1 it looked like they would walk all over us for first 30 mins in 2nd half. We hung in wethered the storm and then we were desperately unfortunate not to get the winner with chance after chance in last 15/20mins, denied by offside/ Off the line and hit the post etc.

Brentford also offered up a small number of very good chances which we passed up. We also had chance after chance against Bristol but didn’t take them. In L1 Godden was pretty clinical but he and others need to be sharper as in many games we won’t get more than a couple of clear cut chances

 

[SBT]

Of the 7 games we've played so far, three have been against the current top 6 (plus Brentford and Blackburn)

There are 7 other teams in the league who have won only one game or fewer this season. We've played against two of them so far, and didn't lose either game.

The early results and our goal difference show we are going to be in a relegation dogfight all season. Getting thrashed when we lose does us no favours, given how tight it could be at the bottom. But not all games are of equal importance. Our season is going to be won or lost in games against Rotherham, Wycombe, Forest, Derby, Birmingham, Wednesday, Barnsley and QPR.

We've shown we're out of our depth against most of this league - can we show that we're better than three of the teams listed above?

 

[SlowerThanPlatt]

The only one I’m sure on is Wycombe. Rotherham we didn’t beat over two games last season and other clubs like Derby and Forest you expect to improve.

From that list I think you can narrow it down to 4 . Wycombe, us, Barnsley, Rotherham. The 4 lowest budgets I would presume

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Of the 7 games we've played so far, three have been against the current top 6 (plus Brentford and Blackburn)

There are 7 other teams in the league who have won only one game or fewer this season. We've played against two of them so far, and didn't lose either game.

The early results and our goal difference show we are going to be in a relegation dogfight all season. Getting thrashed when we lose does us no favours, given how tight it could be at the bottom. But not all games are of equal importance. Our season is going to be won or lost in games against Rotherham, Wycombe, Forest, Derby, Birmingham, Wednesday, Barnsley and QPR.

We've shown we're out of our depth against most of this league - can we show that we're better than three of the teams listed above?

This is true, but we equally can’t afford to drop points against the higher teams when the chance presents itself, as against Swansea and Brizzle

 

[Winny the Bish]

McFadzean partially at fault for 3 goals. Oof.

 

[Esoterica]

Your moments will come in this league, the point is we hung in there for those first 15 mins and definately came closest to scoring with a great move and was unlucky not to score.

The hanging in part and wethering the storm is important as the Swansea game showed. at 1-1 it looked like they would walk all over us for first 30 mins in 2nd half. We hung in wethered the storm and then we were desperately unfortunate not to get the winner with chance after chance in last 15/20mins, denied by offside/ Off the line and hit the post etc.

Agree with that completely with regards to the Swansea game and yes we did well to weather it and yes we should have won in the end but the reason we did is that they gave us time and space to play, which was almost their downfall.
Swansea's spell of dominance came from scoring right before half time and grabbing the momentum that often comes with getting back into a game right before halftime. But.... it was a result of great individual moment from Ayew, rather than a result of nullifying us tactically. These teams like Blackburn, Brentford, Bournemouth have nullified us tactically, which is what all these teams that are pressing us are doing by pinning our wing backs back into a back 5, which in turn sucks all the creativity out of our play.

I don't feel like we're losing to these teams just because they have 'better' players than us. More that the formation is fundamentally flawed, with the players we have available in it, against teams who press - our spine is just too slow for it at this level. And I think the bits that are worrying me right now are:
1) We're not maximising our chances to come away with anything in the games we are pressed in - we will need to do pick up some points here and there against the better teams.
2) Even the poorer teams in the division, where we have to pick up points, will be looking at our games and how we struggle against the press.

Will the poorer teams be able to execute it at the levels of the top teams we've played so far? I guess we'll find out soon enough as I don't expect Robins will change things this early. If we do keep the back 3 though, I hope he at least insists the wingbacks play 15 yards higher, drops Allen for Walker and makes him play on the shoulder of the last man.

Sorry for the essay. I do enjoy your posts when you're not drunk and calling everyone a c*nt

 

[lordy_87]

This second goal is pathetic. They passed through us so easily. Absolutely no pressure on the man on the ball and no attempt to cut off the obvious passing lane into the highlighted man. Two men there to deal with it as well. If we allow teams to get in between the lines as easily as that we're going to be in for plenty more hidings.

 

[Deleted member 5849]

Did you really think we were the better team in that 15 minutes? Their press was highlighting exactly the same issues as in every other game we've played a team that presses. We barely got out of our own half except for that one incisive counter for Godden's chance. I mean we were coping ok with it until the penalty and they hadn't created any serious chances but it's a bit of a leap to suggesting we either looked good or were the better team.

Competitive, I'd say. I was hopeful we could nick the first goal, and compete. Wouldn't say we were 'good' though, there was one shocking crossffield ball early on that set the tone for our passing, straight out for a throw-in.

 

[TomRad85]

McFadzean partially at fault for 3 goals. Oof.

He was absolutely awful yesterday.

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[clint van damme]

as I 've said on at least two other threads, the teams from QPR in 15th down (including us) have won a grand total of 5 games between them in their last 5 fixtures. That's a lot of poor teams with poor form.
So while there are some concerns from our start we're hardly alone, and without checking I suspect several of those teams will have had an easier start than us.

We just need to make sure we're at better than 3 of them come May, it's far too early to dismiss that happening. I also can't see any more evidence to suggest the teams in that cluster are any more likely to improve than we are.

 

[Speedies_Chips]

The saving grace is we have a team as poor Wycombe in the league

That won't we our saving grace. We need 2 other teams to be as poor as Wycombe as well.

 

[ccfc92]

Agree 100%.
Any fool who's watched us this season can see we have the ability and squad to stay up. That is the end game.

I'm sorry, but we need to make some serious defensive improvements very quickly.

We definitely have enough about us to stay up, but we are not going to do it by conceding 2+ goals a game on average, giving away stupid penalties and getting red cards every other game.

The defence desperately needs addressing now. Hopefully we can then improve our attacking play.

 

[Paxman II]

We are missing arguably our two best players (Hamer and Dabo) and we have played some of the fancies better teams in this league already (apart from Barnsley) with more to come before we get what looks like a run of 'easier' games. So a tough start yet everyone wants to change it, call out players who are not yet match fit, etc etc. Just bottle it a while. It's very early days and we are a decent squad, still with Walker to come in too. Don't expect much from Middlesborough but may be surprised.

 

[Saddlebrains]

Id add Luton to that group of teams i expect us to be fighting. Also Huddersfield. Decent starts for both but on paper the squads aint great and both teams pretty prone to a pasting

 

[Londonccfcfan]

The only one I’m sure on is Wycombe. Rotherham we didn’t beat over two games last season and other clubs like Derby and Forest you expect to improve.

From that list I think you can narrow it down to 4 . Wycombe, us, Barnsley, Rotherham. The 4 lowest budgets I would presume

Add Millwall to the list of lowest budgets. Probably lower than Barnsley and a par with us and rotherham.

They overactive year on year.

 

[Grendel]

Add Millwall to the list of lowest budgets. Probably lower than Barnsley and a par with us and rotherham.

They overactive year on year.

Wage bill of £15 million

 

[luwalla]

Massive step up, lots of really strong teams in this league... however we had our two marquee signings out , and this is our results same time last year - when we won the league!

Not suggesting we are anywhere close to winning this league, think we will do extremely well to go finish top half, but I’m confident once we get our strong summer signings back and best players of last season firing - we will establish ourselves if we believe and play on front foot!

 

[Londonccfcfan]

Wage bill of £15 million

Must admit that's very surprising.

 

[Fergusons_Beard]

McFadzean partially at fault for 3 goals. Oof.

Player of the season according to some ....


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