Xmas L1 Table 2022

Good post mate......I wish folks would shurrup about saying we’ve beaten nobody of worth.....probably same folks that said same last season before we hammered the top sides as you say.......people tend to forget that you can play teams when they are in form and lose choose where they are in league......we slaughtered Port Vale 7 nil and then they went on a long unbeaten run.....hows that work out eh!........end of day try to beat beat who you up against regardless of league position

 

In some respects, with the defence we had last year, we should have done even better.

The fact that Collins is doing well this season, with a new back 4, speaks volumes.

Like others say - a couple of decent additions this window and I think we could start that final push.

Up to a point, it’s best to be the hunter, rather than the hunted. Different mindset.

 

We got into a decent position too early last season and pressure showed towards the end.

 

We finished Port Vale off twice!

 

I wouldn't call them a scalp.

 

Are there any scalps in league 1 now we have no derbies!?

 

Peterborough, Derby, Oxford, Charlton, Blackpool, Portsmouth.

 

Lose tonight and you just know certain posters on here will be calling for hin to be sacked despite having a better record that MLH at the same stage last season.

 

You wouldn't get me doing something fickle like that. The tinkers.

 

Eric Tinkers.

 

I've not said we are poor. But we are lower in the table than we were this time last season. Teams aren't judged on how many points they get compared to the previous year, they're judged on how many points they get compared with the other teams in the league, and so far, 6 clubs have gotten more points than us, albeit a couple of those have played a game or two more.

Given the level we were at in the second half of last season, I'd say other clubs have had considerably better summers than us.

 

Win the 4 very winnable home games we have in Jan and I fancy our chances.

 

I think that sums up why this season feels inferior to last, for me. I can't recall going into any fixture where I expected us to lose last season, other than the re-arranged Ipswich home game.

I've got the same expectation as you for tonight's game, with a draw or a victory feeling like it would be a real achievement for us (and a massive confidence boost for the squad too, if they could reverse the home result against them).

For whatever reason, our away form has been excellent this year, and has propped up the relative mediocrity of our home record. Tonight feels slightly odd in that I've got more hope of a positive result than if we'd have been playing at Oakwell. That's probably as good a summary as any as to why I don't have the same optimism at this stage of the season as I did last year.

Last season's table showed that we were one of 4 or 5 teams (taking Bolton's games in hand into account) that were a distance ahead of the rest, albeit there was a bit of a gap to the top 3, which ultimately played out that way over the full season. This season, we're somewhere within a group of 7 teams that are better than the rest, albeit I don't think any of them are close to the quality of last season's top 3. Where we truly sit among the 7 isn't clear due to the games in hand we have, especially as they are games against two of the teams above us, but the current position of being 7th in the rankings feels like a fair reflection of our season so far, to me.

 

I didn’t mean you saying we were poor(although I do accept it reads like that) but as I said to SD you can’t use a league position as comparison yet as there are too many variables in place.
Better Summers or not is another conversation altogether that I wouldn’t be best placed to comment on as I don’t know enough about the other teams in the league.
I would say though comparing where we are now to where we were after the January transfer window is not comparable, hence why I only compare to how many games we have played.
Come the Summer if we don’t end in the play offs or promoted then I would agree about comparing league positions.

 

It just feels like every good run of form we have is just to keep pace and then when we have chance to kick on. We're unable to. A bit like last season really.

 

That seems a very reasonable and fair analysis so therefore bound to annoy the extremists on all sides!

 

For me we need to bring in an imposing central defender & get Williams in his natural position. If Roberts goes back, we need a keeper. I would have thought if we got promotion we may be able to resign Williams & Kane. They haven't really proved themselves at Championship level, but who knows. It's always a roundabout.