So Far, Slightly Good

[Being Jan Kristiansen... 0]

Hi Folks,

I wanted to reply to so many of the posts on the board but I thought rather than doing that I will just state my view of the season so far.

Positives

- At the begining of the season I sat down and worked out how many points NCFC should get from every game. By this stage in the season I had them down as having 4 and their overall total to be 48 (comfortable saftey).

- Not to be bottom when 6 out of the 7 teams we have played are in the top half of the table and 5 out of the 7 teams finished in the top 6 of the Prem last season is an achievment.

- Hux looks like he can terrify the hell out of most defenders.

- Bentley is a rough diamond (am I allowed to use this word?) but looks like he has the potential to get better and bettter as the season goes on.

- In Safri we might have a player who can tackle like Holt while passing it like Mullers.

- Green has proved us all right.

- The guts shown in the come back against Newcastle and the draw with Spurs shows the team has the right attitude.

- The fact that when we are losing NW will stick on 3 strikers.

- Southampton''s form.

 

Negatives

- At the begining of the season I thought that if we bought a good center back and a good striker we would be fine. We are still waiting for the striker.

- Players who I was excited about at the begining of the season not being given a decent run: Jonson, Helveg, McK.

- Hux looks to be to isolated. Teams will be comfortable defending deep and putting 2/3 men on him as the rest of the team has little threat.

- We have yet to start with the 4-3-3 formation which served us so well last season. (IMO the diamond is NW trying to get the best out of the 4-4-2 formation and 4-3-3 one).

- Evertons form

Sum Up

 

If we dont beat Pompy and then get beaten by WBA our season will be finished but if we beat both we will be mid-table. Looking at the fixture list our 2 easiest periods are Oct/Nov and Apr/May. Its in these periods that next seasons status will be decided.

[At last? 0]

Great post. Balanced, sensible and level headed.

Can some of you other posters take note ? I swear we have a couple of wind up SCM fans on here at the moment.

[sonyc 5,481]

This is spot on and 4 points was my prediction at this stage (I expected us to have beaten Palace and I suppose our 4 draws are to the good when I only expected one - against Villa). I would add Jarvis to the mix too as a negative - I know Bentley  has all the publicity but Jarvis is another young''un who deserves a trial at Premiership level and I''m disappointed he has yet to make the bench - especially in any last 30 minutes of any game and any 4-3-3 Worthington may try in future (you never know).

48 points and 15th is my prediction.

[Tumbleweed 106]

The most worrying thing here was the comment about Hux being isolated. I agree with you that he is, but unfortunately he is virtually our only weapon.

However if the oppo do put 2/3 men on him then why cannot we exploit the space created? If we put 2 or 3 on Thierry Henry or Rooney, you can bet that Pires, Reyes (which they did at CR) or Giggs, Scholes, Ronaldo will utilise that extra space.

So, Nigel must know that using Hux creates a threat but he needs to be more creative about putting men into those spaces. Doherty? I don''t think so. McVeigh/Bentley/Leon possibly. My point is that we should be able to use Hux''s ability to draw defenders, but we have no game plan for this and our midfielders just don''t get forward enough.

I just hope the heads don''t go down too much- 3-0 is not great but is not a humiliation at Anfield. We must take heart from snatches of matches against Man Utd, Newcastle, Spurs and Newcastle to know that we CAN compete.

[ZLF 271]

Good post but the crunch starts now. Our fantasy introduction to life at the top is over (6 of the current top 9 have played us) and it is time to start winning, which means looking like we will actually score a goal - 4 prem games since we scored in open play tells its own story.... The defence looks solid (sat apart and a definite positive) but we need more flair in midfield and better support for hux.If we have designs to stay in this league we must get a good result against Pompey.OTBC