Pretty much a 5th of the way into the seaon now...

[Scapegoat]

9 games in to the league season and 1 cup game, thought it might be worth a discussion on how people think things will pan out now verses pre/very early season predictions.

 

I'll kick off. I'll admit I've not seen that many games this season, but from what I have seen (read / listened to) to date

 

Pre-season: Not confident at all if I am honest, didn't see the squad as one that would significantly improve on the one that finsihed so poorly last season and feared a long and potentially unsuccessful fight against relegation.

 

Early season: The perfomance against Carlisle in the cup (had to work on the Sheff Utd game) had me thinking I was right. It was a terrible game from us and thought that my pre-season prediction might be right.

 

Now: 9 games in, 14 points on the board. Continuing that return will see us finish on 71/72 points which would be likely to see us be just on the wrong side of the play-off cut-off and to be honest I'd be delighted with that. The addition of Kuqi does seem to have livened up the forward line and made the team look more of an attacking threat.

 

However I look at the teams we have beaten and where they are in the league, and I think that we are potentially in a slightly flattering position at the moment. Orient (24th), Scunthorpe (21st), Rochdale (19th and before we got the pen and the red card it looked like they might win) and Walsall (16th).

 

Hudderesfield is probably our best performance / result in terms of playing a genuinely good team this season. So I'd think that my initial thoughts were too pesimistic and we won't go down, but I think we'll be in the bottom half of the table, perhaps the top half of the bottom half, 14th to 16th.

[shefflatic]

if we can keep the 2 points a game / 6 pts out of every 3 games then we will be looking at top 8-10 and with a bit more luck MAY sneak a top 6.

 

To be honest, Sheff U aside I think anyone can beat anyone on their day and wouldn't like to predict any end of season outcome, safe to say I think Sheff U will be one of the top 2 - the rest as always is anyones for grabs.

 

Keep the players fit, a consistent team most weeks and good options on the bench with a good fa cup run boosting the coffers and maybe allowing for one/two more quality additions on loan come the business end and you never know.

 

All i do know is that PD is getting better season by season - just hope we can use the team spirit to keep the key palyers maybe one more year and allow PD to add again should we not manage a promotion this season, were that to be a possibility come May.

 

Potential is there for top 6 given that bit of luck - fingers crossed but anything 12 and above is success this season.

 

KTF and lets believe!

[Roger Ritchie]

Being three points behind Huddersfield in third isn't a bad place to be.

 

Just worried about our depth when the dreaded injury pile up happens.

[Lags]

It's still very hard to say where our squad will finish. It's clear we are not in the top 6 certs bracket due to other teams having massively bigger budgets and players that brings. That said we are squad wise head and shoulders above where we were at the start of the season or even 5 games in. So currently for me I still don't know. If pushed to say one way or the other I'd say bottom of the top half off all showings to date however, if the previous 3 games form is carried on.....who knows.

Edited September 21, 2011 by Lags

[Monty Burns]

Underperforming by about ten places id say.

[Scapegoat]

It's still very hard to say where our squad will finish. It's clear we are not in the top 6 certs bracket due to other teams having massively bigger budgets and players that brings. That said we are squad wise head and shoulders above where we were at the start of the season or even 5 games in. So currently for me I still don't know. If pushed to say one way or the other I'd say bottom of the top half off all showings to date however, if the previous 3 games form is carried on.....who knows.

 

Generally agree, but my point is that we are getting the wins against what according to the table are poor sides so its unlikely that the form will continue against better sides.

 

However, confidence plays a massive part in sport (as last seasons nose dive in results showed) so perhaps we can take that into better performances and results against better teams. I hope so.

[Haribo_man]

<br />Generally agree, but my point is that we are getting the wins against what according to the table are poor sides so its unlikely that the form will continue against better sides.<br /><br />However, confidence plays a massive part in sport (as last seasons nose dive in results showed) so perhaps we can take that into better performances and results against better teams.  I hope so.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

 

you can only beat what is in front of you, just because these teams are languishing now doesn't mean to say they will be come May. It is a marathon not a sprint and the table does not lie!

 

anybody for any more cliches?

[opinions4u]

Higher than I thought we'd be.

 

But I suspect we've hit a peak.

[Twisbrogan]

Just to pick up on us beating poor teams, in the matches immediately following ours Stevenage walloped Sheff Wed; Walsall were on course to beat Scunthorpe only to concede a last minute equaliser and, by the sounds of it, Orient put up a half decent showing last night against B****** Rovers.

 

I think there are a few more than 4 teams worse than us and providing we can stay clear of injuries, there's more to come.

[Stevie_J]

I'm sticking by my pre-season prediction that we'd find some form in the earlier stages of the season but will struggle to cope with injuries and suspensions as the season progresses, finishing lower mid-table.

 

I'd happily see us exceed my expectations, of course.

[leeslover]

We've got :censored: all off the lower down teams enough times that i'm not taking anything but a positive from beating them! Tbh i think our form has just got better and those teams were the ones we happened to be playing then. Keeping kuqi fit is sooo important to us, if we can then who knows?

[longtimeblue]

Could be anywhere from 5th - 21st, Reckon we'll stay up though. I think we've been inconsistant and will remain so for the rest of the season, I personally think we're about where we'll end up come May.

 

After the Sheff United game there's been an improvement because I thought after that showing (despite them going to be there or there abouts) we were going to be in for a long hard season.

 

Anything above mid-table isn't a bad return and with 3 strikers on the books who seem to be finding some kind of form you never know.

 

If we can have a flirt with the top 6 at any point through the season I'd happily take that.

[Scapegoat]

Just to pick up on us beating poor teams, in the matches immediately following ours Stevenage walloped Sheff Wed; Walsall were on course to beat Scunthorpe only to concede a last minute equaliser and, by the sounds of it, Orient put up a half decent showing last night against B****** Rovers.

 

I think there are a few more than 4 teams worse than us and providing we can stay clear of injuries, there's more to come.

 

I am in agreement with the last comment, and I have changed my mind over the last 5 games or so. I think that we won't get relegated and hopefully will never be genuinely troubled by the spectre of it over the course of the season.

 

Re: the first para. Well Walsall and Scunthorpe are both in the bottom rungs of the table, so the fact we beat both of them and they got a draw doesn't (I don't think) detract from my argument of our wins have come across currently poor teams. Stevenage result - not complaining about that, a draw at home against a mid-table team is about par for the course if you are going to finish in the bottom half.

 

 

 

Overall I think the comments so far about a 'paper thin' squad is about right, so that injury, suspension of a loss of form from a couple of players and we have nothing to compensate for it.

 

Any how - bring on Brentford on Saturday

[the_mighty_bosh]

I generally look back at the season in four parts, the 1st 10 games, split the next two parts at the halfway stage, then the last 10 games. So ask me after Brentford!

 

Seriously though we seem to have settled as a squad this month, which is very pleasing because throughout August I was worried about how the team was shaping up. Dickov certainly left it late but has got the key players that he wanted in and it's beginning to show. We certainly don't look like a team that'll be in a relegation scrap this year and tbh looking back at the beginning of the season I would've been happy with that.

[slystallone]

9 games in to the league season and 1 cup game, thought it might be worth a discussion on how people think things will pan out now verses pre/very early season predictions.

 

Pleasantly surprised is where I'm at.

PD has gone about building a side slowly, steadily and thoughtfully, and I think we're nearing seeing his prefered starting X1 out on the pitch once Furman is back.

 

I said in pre-season I thought even then we'd have enough to beat the drop, and if we could bring in 2 or 3 more we'd be set. With the subsequent additions of Kuqi (massive coup, great signing), Simpson, Clarke, Adeyemi...and Diallo coming into the side too, we look a lot healthier than we did.

 

With a run of wins & the points on the board & the confidence that brings, who knows.

I still have concerns when injuries and suspensions start the bite - but as its the kids who'll be coming in when that happens; Tarky, Burns, Millar etc, who can say how they'll cope and thus how we'll do?? Tarky didnt let us down last season when he was thrown in; so hopefully its more of the same as / when the youngsters are needed this season.

 

It looks a heck of lot more promising than it did, and without getting too carried away, I can see a top half finish within our grasps; rather than the doom & gloom of a relegation scrap

[oafc1955]

if we can keep the 2 points a game / 6 pts out of every 3 games then we will be looking at top 8-10 and with a bit more luck MAY sneak a top 6.

 

To be honest, Sheff U aside I think anyone can beat anyone on their day and wouldn't like to predict any end of season outcome, safe to say I think Sheff U will be one of the top 2 - the rest as always is anyones for grabs.

 

Keep the players fit, a consistent team most weeks and good options on the bench with a good fa cup run boosting the coffers and maybe allowing for one/two more quality additions on loan come the business end and you never know.

 

All i do know is that PD is getting better season by season - just hope we can use the team spirit to keep the key palyers maybe one more year and allow PD to add again should we not manage a promotion this season, were that to be a possibility come May.

 

Potential is there for top 6 given that bit of luck - fingers crossed but anything 12 and above is success this season.

 

KTF and lets believe!

 

Think you're a bit out with your prediction there shefflatic....if we were to average 2 points a game that would be almost 1st div title form and I would be ecsatic with that!!!!!

 

With a return of 2 points a game we would finish up with 88 points which, last season, would have been enough to have finished 3rd behind Southampton and Brighton and ahead of Hudds.

 

I reckon Hudds and Charlton will be around the automatic places but 88 points could certainly give them a run for their money...we have already won 3 away games which is half last season's total so we are on course to smash that, however, it is our home form which will be the key to our success.

 

If we could turn BP into the fortress it once was then we can definitely secure a playoff place.......it's early days but we are improving all the time and if we can keep Kuqi on the field for the vast majority of games then we have an outstanding chance to be in the mix in May!!! KTF.

Edited September 21, 2011 by oafc1955

[Lookers_Carl]

Call me for lack of ambition if you like but I think given the financial constraints this year, paper thin squad and the attendances we are getting, a top half finish would be a massive achievement.

 

With the squad we had vs sheffield united, I thought we were relegation certs. However, I think the addition of Kuqi, the lad from peterborough and Clarke have just give us that little bit more quality and depth, and providing we can keep most of our key players fit, I think we will have enough about us to stay up, although I still think we could be looking dangerously over our shoulders should the injuries pile up, especially if Kuqi is one of them.

Edited September 21, 2011 by Lookers_Carl

[leeslover]

Is the squad paper thin? We would need someone in at GK in case of injury and we wont get kuqi's class from anywhere else but i think we are fairly ok apart from that. We will need to use the kids but not all the time and they are a versatile bunch so we still have options.

[andy_b_100]

Happy with the curernt squad and I really dont beleive its as paper thin as everyone thinks. The major difference is with Wesolowski and Kuqi. I also beleive Simpson will be a superb addition. The main factor for me is in Kuqi we have a player thats stops the ball coming right back at us after a clearence. Smiths goal at orient is a perfect example. He held the ball long enough and saw the run. Given a few matches on the run I can see Reid banging them in and as the players gel further I can see a team who will fight and fight to stay in or around a good position. With kuqi fit and as an outlet and the team believing they can do well and wanting to perform... Bring it on.

[Fruitygoo]

"He held the ball long enough and saw the run"

 

I've not seen the highlights for a couple of days but if memory serves, it was smith who started the move at the back and then ran box to box. I was suprised at how quick he made up the yards so fair play to him too but yes, kuqi's hold up play will be a massive plus for us

[razza699]

Pleasantly surprised is where I'm at.

PD has gone about building a side slowly, steadily and thoughtfully, and I think we're nearing seeing his prefered starting X1 out on the pitch once Furman is back.

 

I said in pre-season I thought even then we'd have enough to beat the drop, and if we could bring in 2 or 3 more we'd be set. With the subsequent additions of Kuqi (massive coup, great signing), Simpson, Clarke, Adeyemi...and Diallo coming into the side too, we look a lot healthier than we did.

 

 

trick is keeping them for the season , well maybe not so much Adeyemi when Furmans fit but the rest we need IMO dont forget Parker to come back into that aswell

[Macca]

A win against anyone in this division away from home is a fantastic result. They might be in a low position but how many times have we gone to these sides before and lost? To win 3 games away so far is a great achievement. We need to improve our home form and keep Kuqi fit for as long as possible.

 

Dickov has been addressing the problems from last season, we are much more of a threat from set-pieces which is pleasing to see.

[OAFC_Rob]

I'm in a positive mood at the moment, much like most fans at the start of the season I was fearing it was going to be a long old season. But now I can see us finishing about 11th if I'm honest maybe pushing for play-offs but all depends on injuries, suspension and the weather cos last season when we couldn't train properly we seemed to hit a patch of bad form.

[Scapegoat]

I'm in a positive mood at the moment, much like most fans at the start of the season I was fearing it was going to be a long old season. But now I can see us finishing about 11th if I'm honest maybe pushing for play-offs but all depends on injuries, suspension and the weather cos last season when we couldn't train properly we seemed to hit a patch of bad form.

 

Was it that early it went wrong? I thought we were still riding high as late as February?

 

 

Overall opinion so far seems to be pre/very early season looking like a long painful 9 months ahead, but recent additions (especially Kuqi) and some positive results have people being more optistic, but not many thinking its play-offs.

 

About right IMO.

[eyres_28]

Generally agree, but my point is that we are getting the wins against what according to the table are poor sides so its unlikely that the form will continue against better sides.

 

However, confidence plays a massive part in sport (as last seasons nose dive in results showed) so perhaps we can take that into better performances and results against better teams. I hope so.

 

but we have been beaten by Sheff Utd (2nd) Colchester (15th) and Yeovil (18th) which indicates that we are a team that has mixed it with the teams in the lower reaches of the league and been more succesful than not. Making assumptions based on who we've beaten when we've only played teams in the lower reaches is a little early and the season is still very fresh. Brentford will be a test as they will push for the playoffs this term, but who knows how we will perform against the top teams. we have a strike force and a dangerous set piece in us which are both REAL assists at this level. EXCITED, but very aware realism could hit in 48hrs!