Looking forward now

Well all dealings done and our team is now in place....so on the back of that who do we think will be our main opposition for top six in the league this season, many comments of how open things are this year and on the back of two away wins and nobody ripping the place up yet we could develop the squad into a possible play off unit........

 

I think we'll have some very inconsistent results, great performances like Wigan and then stinkers like Oxford.

I have no idea as to whether or not this is a team capable of pushing into the play offs or not. My heart says it's been a good window and you never know, my head says that you can't lose your entire central defence, replace with younger and more inexperienced players, and then expect to replicate or improve on the previous season.

I remain to be convinced by Collins, I thought he Schlop MkII after Oxford - but back to back wins suggests I might have been hasty in my assessment.

I think it's very much a suck it and see season and our placement will probably be decided by form.

Top punditry eh!!! )

 

I think start of the season with games saturday tuesday saturday tuesday was a sticking point with collins not being able to get the preferred style sorted proper in training maybe caused the indifferent results but last 2 games he has had a full week to work on the pitch with the squad and I can see more consistency compared to peterborough and oxford games which were shocking and I was thinking relegation material but we seem to be starting to turn it round a bit, long way to go but he has 2 weeks on the training ground now so bring on burton albion now hopefully more improvement

 

Don’t think you can underestimate the importance of having time on the training ground with new players and getting to know what Collins wants from them so having the pompey game called off will work out better in the long run and will give him another couple of weeks to prep the squad , plus the pizza trophy game will be used to get more players up to speed so it’s all good.

 

Derby, Bolton, Pompey, Blackpool l think will all be up there this season.

 

If we gel as a team, get that camaraderie that we had last season going again who knows. If Duff had stayed and only Mads sold I'd have put us in automatic spots no question. As it is, we've shown we can beat the poor teams, those challenging for promotion we've lost to.Yet we're 8th with a new manager and half the team. Definitely not in the relegation spotts.

 

I think we've got some real firepower upfront and the inexperienced players should only get better. Defence is an issue but if the coach can get them better organised quickly, I think we should be up there fighting. Oh and the inexperienced bit also applies to the coach. No way should he have tinkered at the 60 minutes mark when we went 1-0 up against Peterborough but he'll learn quickly bout managing the english game. Current pace setters, Exeter and Stevenage (without being all wendy) probably dont have the squad depth to stay there and may have benefited from a kind initial fixture list. Old saying is give it 10 or 11 games for the league to sort itself out. Personally, I think Portsmouth and Bolton most likely for top spots but no absolute runaway teams like Ipswich and Plymouth this year

 

I’d say Pompey and Bolton are favourites for top two. Think other competition for top 6 will come from Derby, Posh, Blackpool, Oxford and Charlton.

 

Agree with those four.
Wonder who the surprise team will be?
Stevenage don't look bad at the moment.

 

Only 4 points inbetween top and 14th.. way too early to say.. whoever can string a few wins together will be up there but everyone is beating everyone else.

 

Give Collins time same as we did MLH ,Collins has started off better.

 

And wendies.

 

This year we have a great chance of top two because everyone is beating everyone. As long as we can string a few 3 and 4 win sequences together. We'll be up there. This won't be a 100 point season.

More teams will be involved but it will be who gets that little consistency that prevails.

 

The team and the manager are still getting to know each other and with the changes from the window I expect that performances will continue to fluctuate for a bit.
Despite that we are only 3 points off the top so see every reason to be optimistic!

 

Agree, no runaway leader. Wigan will be up there with Bolton.

 

If you are looking forward now, which way we're you looking before?

 

Had mi head in mi hands as...
Mads
Kitch
Norwood
Thomas
Collins
and a number of others were sold or not retained..but as I said in the OP it's time to look forward and support the players we have and the club we love
even if we disagree with the Board's actions..

 

I’d say hang in and about the top 10 until January the reassess. Play offs would be a good achievement for us. Bolton & Derby to go up. Blackpool, Portsmouth, Charlton up and about. Rest including us any 1 from 5 or 6

 

I think we've got some great players and should be capable of a solid promotion challenge, just need to find a cohesive way of playing to get the best out of everyone and with the added bonus of having money to spend in January should we need to add anything specific.

 

Yesterday's opening goal was very reminiscent of a number we scored under Daniel Stendel at this level. Defending a corner and bring everyone back to try to ensure a goal isn't conceeded. Then, when counter attacking from the corner, having numerous players breaking forward creating problems for our opponents. Cole's superb finish is indicative of a very condident lad playing at the top of his game.