So far.....and the season ahead

[sonyc 5,481]

Have we major worries to think about? I don''t think we have. We are learning fast and the team have played two champions league teams and have not been outplayed. We are matching in midfield and look creative. We are building an understanding of how to defend and cutting out mistakes. Players have upper their game...Tierney, Ruddy, Barnett, Hoolihan, Fox, Johnson. Morison has the speed and strength...... Decision making and confidence to shoot will come.

Well we still have Liverpool, Spurs, Man City and Arsenal....but are we that concerned we will be tonked? The reality is that Lambert is building a team that believe in themselves not in reputations....in his own image. Culverhouse is the same as he knows how an unfashionable team in the 90s confounded everyone year after year.

How great is it to go into each new game with even that genuine hope that we can get 3 points? Not like last time. This time in Lambert we have a manager out for winning every game and prepared to make changes, attacking subs unlike Worthington. I think we can compete on the evidence of 7 games. Otbc.

[Cambridge yellow 0]

It''s so difficult to tell.

Tbh i ecpected us to do pretty well again Man u and the the Chel;ski teams as the lads will always try that extra bit but yesterday again showed my biggest concern of putting the ball in the back of the net when given good chances.

It''s against the Villa''s and similar , the mid table teams that i think if would could do well against if we could just do that last 10% better in front of goal.

Midfield is doing great , and even the back is looking ok , even more so when you look at who''s in and who''s crocked.

Ruddy is doing well , so no worries there for me either.

I''m genuinly convinced that we can finish mid table with the squad that we''ve if we could just put in those few missed chances.

[Salopian 1]

It is encouraging, and a point gained per match is almost enough for survival. There does not have to be much improvement before survival looks probable.

We have a young and inexperienced team who are already showing that they are learning. After 7 games including away games at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge, we are in a promising position.

I am coming to think more and more, however, that we need to sign a new striker in January. PL doesn''t have much confidence in Wilbraham or Jackson, and now perhaps even Holt. We are a striker short until at least February, with Vaughan''s injury, and it could be even longer! Morison is a little raw and inconsistent in front of goal. Martin seems to be lacking in pace.

The conclusion seems to be: good progress, improving defensively, creating good chances, but....

[Power Hamster 0]

Look at it this way - we have already had 2 of the 3 most difficult games of the season (Man City away comes up in December) and we are half-way up the table. The only seriously disappointing result was the defeat to WBA, and with 4 of the next 6 games at home, if we win all of those it doesn''t really matter what we do away from home. (Yes I know one of those 4 is Arsenal, but they aren''t exactly the force they used to be!).One really annoying thing - why do we have to have TWO international breaks this early in the season? Surely the powers that be can schedule the season a bit better than that.[:@]

[Cambridge yellow 0]

[quote user="Power Hamster"]Look at it this way - we have already had 2 of the 3 most difficult games of the season (Man City away comes up in December) and we are half-way up the table. The only seriously disappointing result was the defeat to WBA, and with 4 of the next 6 games at home, if we win all of those it doesn''t really matter what we do away from home. (Yes I know one of those 4 is Arsenal, but they aren''t exactly the force they used to be!).One really annoying thing - why do we have to have TWO international breaks this early in the season? Surely the powers that be can schedule the season a bit better than that.[:@][/quote]

Thing is for me we''ve not done as well in these '' easy '' games as i''d have hoped if you look at the way we played in the big games.

A prolific striker would see this team flying. Having said that i''m sure all the other teams in this league would think the same , and there''s not many around at the minute or around that we could afford.

Overall i''d say that defence and midfield are doing way better than i thought they would with the front lads just shy of producing the goods.

The thing i''m interested is will i still be thinking the same after xmas or will they have sharpened up and have a better strike rate ? I''d be happier for the lads to do that than for us to go out and spend £XM as thats not the way PL has worked so far.

I think Jackson is going to come out of this season better than most of us expect.

[PurpleCanary 5,553]

[quote user="Power Hamster"]Look at it this way - we have already had 2 of the 3 most difficult games of the season (Man City away comes up in December) and we are half-way up the table. The only seriously disappointing result was the defeat to WBA, and with 4 of the next 6 games at home, if we win all of those it doesn''t really matter what we do away from home. (Yes I know one of those 4 is Arsenal, but they aren''t exactly the force they used to be!).

One really annoying thing - why do we have to have TWO international breaks this early in the season? Surely the powers that be can schedule the season a bit better than that.[:@]
[/quote]

 

The problem is finalising qualification for Euro 2012. You have to have two weekends off early to leave time for the second-place play-offs before the winter break. You can''t those hanging over until the spring.

 

It would help if qualification was straight-forward (ie there was no need for play-offs) but the numbers don''t always make that easy. This time there are 51 countries. You could split that up into five groups of seven and two groups of eight, with the top two (ie the 14 needed) going through in each, but that would mean some teams playing 14 games, which would mean even more weekends off.

 

[Power Hamster 0]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"]

[quote user="Power Hamster"]Look at it this way - we have already had 2 of the 3 most difficult games of the season (Man City away comes up in December) and we are half-way up the table. The only seriously disappointing result was the defeat to WBA, and with 4 of the next 6 games at home, if we win all of those it doesn''t really matter what we do away from home. (Yes I know one of those 4 is Arsenal, but they aren''t exactly the force they used to be!).One really annoying thing - why do we have to have TWO international breaks this early in the season? Surely the powers that be can schedule the season a bit better than that.[:@][/quote]

 

The problem is finalising qualification for Euro 2012. You have to have two weekends off early to leave time for the second-place play-offs before the winter break. You can''t those hanging over until the spring.

 

It would help if qualification was straight-forward (ie there was no need for play-offs) but the numbers don''t always make that easy. This time there are 51 countries. You could split that up into five groups of seven and two groups of eight, with the top two (ie the 14 needed) going through in each, but that would mean some teams playing 14 games, which would mean even more weekends off.

 

[/quote]If it was up to me I would dispense entirely with qualifying groups completely and play international tournaments on a knock-out basis right from the beginning. But I can''t see that happening in a million years.