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12 minutes ago, The Bristol Nest said:

It seems that there are two broad perspectives.

Firstly that we are not going to improve greatly and that that we are an example of the King's (Canary!) New Clothes. 

Secondly that it is all going to gel and promotion beckons.

Both look valid at this stage although we are 5th. 

Spot on.

I'm going with the optimistic view..

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2 hours ago, Nuff Said said:

 Ok, fair enough, I didn't look closely enough at the graph. What I thought was the legend on the right was a separate bar graph (on a side note, I am confused by the reference to Sorensen though - was his xG the highest in the team?? Seems unlikely).

Yes, he won quite a few headers from set pieces, including one at the end of the game. It's not necessarily a reflection of the quality of chances but instead the quantity.

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7 hours ago, sgncfc said:

Some really interesting comments on this thread. Perception is a funny thing. I thought we got a lucky point in the end and that Brentford were much more fluent than us - they then conceded the initiative by taking off Da Silva who was bossing the midfield and bringing on Canos, who was awful, so we were suddenly 10 yards further up the field when we went to 3 at the back and ultimately that brought the space and pressure for the equaliser. Fact is though that Raya didn't make a save - his effort at trying to reach Maclean's shot was like going down in instalments, he was so wrong footed.

But of course Emi created and missed the best chance we had (again). These will eventually start to go in surely?

We didn't compete in the middle (again) where Rupp was frequently on his own. Skipp may have started the season well but he's lost his way since and is now being almost completely bypassed. Maclean for him on Satrurday I suspect. 

And whilst we kept three of our "crown jewels" I'm not sure any of them actually qualify for that sobriquet anymore. Aarons is producing regular 6 out of 10 scores, which is all right;  Buendia an occasional 7 and Cantwell hasn't got above a 5 yet. All three of them should by now be producing regular 8s in this league.

The tactic of Krul kicking wide to the full backs to bypass the press isn't working so I hope that changes. The criticism by some of Sorensen is just ignorance. I thought he did OK.

We missed Idah last night - his pace and directness would have been very useful; and I think we all saw that Vrancic isn't the answer when starting.

Clearly we are still very much a work in progress, and Brentford on that showing are probably further along than we are. But I still think we are on the right track and the number of options available in the squad and the depth of the squad despite the numerous injuries will be telling. Other teams will get multiple injuries too because this season is relentless. Picking up points away from home will be the difference between top 2 and top 6.

Some interesting points here.

 I agree we are a work in progress and I think we will be competitive although it is also clear that teams have done work on how to stop us to a point. It’s only a perception thing but two years ago you felt we could score in any game, Pukki, stipermann, Buendia, Hernandez, Vrancic, McClean and even when Rhodes came off the bench you thought, he’s a threat. At the moment we don’t seem to carry the same intimidating level  and teams are happy to press us pretty high.

I do feel we need to add some pace out wide to keep teams from squeezing us and not being worried about us getting in behind and we still haven’t solved the 10 position which is frustrating, part of Stipermanns appeal that season was he could be an outlet from a clearance as he was big enough to compete in the air and also he could drop into midfield and make an extra man as he had physicality. This gave us so much better balance. Losing Kieran Dowell is unfortunate as I would assume he was bought for that role.

a team will develop for certain but getting the three roles right behind Pukki/Idah is key. I wouldn’t be surprised if we could ship Cantwell out that we bought a more direct wideman with an eye for a goal. Would it be awful if we signed someone like knockart or Tom Lawrence from Derby, someone with more of a strikers instinct. 

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I've just seen the highlights for the first time and we deserved to win that game.

Toney looked good, hung in the air and the movement for his goal was good but Emi looked back to his best.

Sometimes you have to look at how the team is playing.  We are getting there, the EPL rust is coming off and we just need to improve the conversion rate.

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17 hours ago, Big O said:

Some interesting points here.

 I agree we are a work in progress and I think we will be competitive although it is also clear that teams have done work on how to stop us to a point. It’s only a perception thing but two years ago you felt we could score in any game, Pukki, stipermann, Buendia, Hernandez, Vrancic, McClean and even when Rhodes came off the bench you thought, he’s a threat. At the moment we don’t seem to carry the same intimidating level  and teams are happy to press us pretty high.

I do feel we need to add some pace out wide to keep teams from squeezing us and not being worried about us getting in behind and we still haven’t solved the 10 position which is frustrating, part of Stipermanns appeal that season was he could be an outlet from a clearance as he was big enough to compete in the air and also he could drop into midfield and make an extra man as he had physicality. This gave us so much better balance. Losing Kieran Dowell is unfortunate as I would assume he was bought for that role.

a team will develop for certain but getting the three roles right behind Pukki/Idah is key. I wouldn’t be surprised if we could ship Cantwell out that we bought a more direct wideman with an eye for a goal. Would it be awful if we signed someone like knockart or Tom Lawrence from Derby, someone with more of a strikers instinct. 

This marries up with how I've seen it so far- we just don't seem to have the same ability to carve through a defence we had two years ago. Hopefully it comes as players get back up to speed.

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IMO so far ... we have maintained the habit of "we went close yet again but still no goal, damn we just conceded" we saw in the PL.

The former should be solvable as the players get their timing and mutual understanding back. As for the the latter, I'm just not sure of the defensive contribution from Cantwell and Hanley. I have been a big supporter of Cantwell but can't ignore the number of times he gives the ball away that initiates a counterattack, and as for Hanley I must admit I have never been a fan as he just does not react to situations fast enough in my opinion. Sorenson is an interesting option. A back three with Sorenson, Zimmermann (if fit) and Gibson with wing backs and Buendia or Cantwell in the No 10 position might be interesting. 

 

 

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