Will we end up needing another miraculous second half season?

Discussion in 'Bulletin Board ARCHIVE' started by Orsen Kaht, Dec 2, 2016.

  1. Ors

    Orsen Kaht Guest

    Must say, Birmingham and Norwich look tough games, and although Wednesday aren't much better than us they often seem to get some luck against us at Hillsbrough. We may enter the new year in the drop zone again. Thankfully we can't be bottom as Rotherham seem to have made a firm reservation for that seat.

    I wouldn't change too much though. But I'd still love to see us rescuing Kevin Long from bench-warming duties at Burnley in order to help shore us up at the back - especially if Roberts goes. Having Aidy White and Stefan Payne back would also give us a boost.
     
  2. twi

    twillo Well-Known Member

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    Over the last decade, we've been superb in the second half of the season. I wouldn't be surprised if we had another one this season but I am expecting us to be one of those sides who are around the relegation battle without actually being in danger. Always looking over our shoulders but not really getting involved with the bottom three.
     
  3. Marc

    Marc Administrator Staff Member Admin

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    I don't think we need anything miraculous like. Current PPG ratio leaves us on 56 points, which I think would be enough to keep us safe.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  4. Ors

    Orsen Kaht Guest

    The problem is that 15 of our 22 points came in the first 7 games, with only 7 points from the next 11. A continuation of those last 11 games' form would see us on only 39 points overall. So I think it depends on what we mean by "current". Hopefully we can level out a bit.
     
  5. Red

    Red Rain Well-Known Member

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    Not surprisingly, I'm with you on this one for the same reasons as you have given above. Our points were gained by playing cup-tie football at the start of the season, but you cannot play that way for long. It is just too exhausting. You rely upon your team developing the experience to play within themselves, and yet to continue to garner points in a different way. We have not yet reached this point, and when you consider that 4 of our points were gathered as a result of last minute goals, when we sacrificed our system in pursuit of a points saving goal, our current league position looks somewhat fortuitous.

    As you are well aware, I was in favour of realism right from the very start, but I have to admit that even my plans fail for want of a big man up front, and consequently, such a man would be top of my January shopping list. It has now become clear that the opposition has a consistent plan to defeat us. It involves marking up our wide players to take them out of the game and forcing us to hit long balls down the centre to forwards who are not suited to that style. It has also resulted in the ball being played more along the line of the back four, something that is seen as a tactic by many on here, but which is simply a symptom of a system that is not working properly because no player in front of the ball is open for the pass. As a student of footballing ways and means, I am finding it all a bit frustrating.

    So that is what I would like to see happen. I would like to see less reliance placed on any one system, with a team that is more flexible and open to change, and in order to facilitate that, I would like to see the arrival of a big centre forward.
     
  6. Sta

    Stahlrost Well-Known Member

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    I'm sure a big centre forward would be an improvement, but any football team can be improved, as any level, by recruiting better players, in any position.

    As I've said time and time again, our problem is not scoring goals, nor is it creating chances. We've created loads and scored loads. Our problem is conceding.
     
  7. Red

    Red Rain Well-Known Member

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    You are right, of course, our problems are in defence. But I look at our back line and think there are some decent players there, and I analyse what went wrong for the goals that we concede, and most of the time, they are not the fault of the back four. Four of the five that we conceded in the Forest game were from errors by our midfield players, and two of those came from delayed clearances. I believe the errors are symptomatic of a system that is failing to work properly, and that for a cure, we need to look further forward. We need to be able to attack without getting out of shape defensively.
     
  8. Archey

    Archey Well-Known Member

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    Really?

    I'd say more often than not, particularly in this division, we struggled after Christmas. We certainly used to under Davey, Robins and Hill. Since then we've had stronger 2nd half seasons, Particularly under Flicker and Hecky.

    This league is so tight at the minute, that a little purple patch of form would see us up by the play-offs.

    #TeamsLikeBarnsley
     
  9. Sta

    Stahlrost Well-Known Member

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    I think the central defenders are decent players, I agree. I do think we could do better at full back though, opposing teams get too many crosses in. I know we've got injuries and the lads playing there look OK, but the fact remains that we're conceding too many goals.
     
  10. Hem

    Hemsworth Tyke Well-Known Member

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    No we haven't. Last time in the champ the second half of the season was shocking. Only Davey when he took over and fktcroft again when he took over led us to good second halfs.

    Davey Robins Hill Wilson all had shockers in the second half of the season. Often under the first 3 we had or were touching playoffs November December. Davey led us to 1 loss at home against cov pre Christmas.

    Then the Christmas tree went down and the slump appeared.
     

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