10 games in

[CiderHeadDan]

Okay so I know tonight wasn't what we expected after the last 2 games but some inconsistency should be expected, especially in the championship.

What's the overall view after the magical 10 games? are we behind or ahead of where you thought we would be?

Personally I feel that before the start of the season I would have taken 21st as I always thought we'd struggle this season, especially as most of this squad were here from the end of last season. I think it's steady progression. I know all supporters want instant success but its all about the proccess (yes I'm sounding like O'Driscoll now) but it's how we will achieve long term success in a competitive league! I feel adjusting my predictions, I would take a 14th placed position and give Nige more time to develop his own squad. 

Verdict: Nige is doing an okay/slight above average job with what his terms are and I fully expect him to transform this team in 18 months...

Edited September 29, 2021 by CiderHeadDan

[Kid in the Riot]

The reality is before the season started no-one would've predicted we would have been 10th after 10 games. 

It's clearly better than expected and the progress in a relatively short space of time is obvious.

 

[CiderHeadDan]

1 minute ago, Kid in the Riot said:

The reality is before the season started no-one would've predicted we would have been 10th after 10 games. 

It's clearly better than expected and the progress in a relatively short space of time is obvious.

 

Agreed but I’m more talking performance based. Are you happy with how we are performing this season, regardless of the results?

[BCFCGav]

10th after 10, very good. We’d have all taken that. Overall, the improvements this season have been vast.

[slartibartfast]

1 minute ago, Kid in the Riot said:

The reality is before the season started no-one would've predicted we would have been 10th after 10 games. 

It's clearly better than expected and the progress in a relatively short space of time is obvious.

 

The injury jinx didn't help tonight, we were a lot better than them (certainl) in that spell in the second half, before the pen ) I think we would have got AT THE VERY LEAST a point.

[slartibartfast]

3 minutes ago, CiderHeadDan said:

Agreed but I’m more talking performance based. Are you happy with how we are performing this season, regardless of the results?

Pretty much so. At least we're competitive under Nige .

[Northern Red]

For me the main thing is that we're competing in every game, it feels like we can always get something from a game even when not playing particularly well.

[Kid in the Riot]

21 minutes ago, CiderHeadDan said:

Agreed but I’m more talking performance based. Are you happy with how we are performing this season, regardless of the results?

Oh christ, yeah. I specifically remember the Millwall home game in December last year under Holden. We couldn't even get the ball out of our half against a team that hadn't won in 10 games. Winning a corner or having a shot on goal was a distant dream. 

So far this season it has been a level above and I believe we are currently 10th in the table on merit. 

I'm happy with the style of play, bodies put on the line at the back, fast direct counter attacking, and occasionally some well-worked passing. 

That's fine for now. You can't build as easily for the Premier League from League 1. 

[Selred]

8 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

You can't build as easily for the Premier League from League 1. 

Unless you're Sheffield United... 

[Kid in the Riot]

1 minute ago, Selred said:

Unless you're Sheffield United... 

You missed a sitter there cus Nige has actually done it with Leicester! 

[mozo]

Yeah, happy to be top half and to see the right attitude in games. We don't have the squad to achieve better imo.

[Malago]

If you’d have offered me 13 points from the first 10 games at the start of the season I’d have snatched your hand off, so from that point of view a satisfactory start. The obvious pluses are HNM, Rob Atkinson, Cam Pring and the signing of George Tanner.  We’re short up front but we all knew that before the season started.  Our set plays are poor, we’re vulnerable down our right hand side and we lack composure in the final third.  Not great, but not bad either. 

[Swede]

Pretty much average which is a massive leap from last season's debacle.

We are competing which is the main thing. There is a method and I can see progress being made on and off the pitch.

If we can maintain this upper mid table position throughout the season I will be more than happy and this gives Nige the time and platform to build on.

 

[Northern Red]

24 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Oh christ, yeah. I specifically remember the Millwall home game in December last year under Holden. We couldn't even get the ball out of our half against a team that hadn't won in 10 games. Winning a corner or having a shot on goal was a distant dream. 

 

That game and the Rotherham one a few days earlier were the absolute nadir for me. There were heavier defeats last season but those two were the worst for sheer ineptitude and hopelessness against mediocre opposition.

[RedLionLad]

We are doing ok…..and that’s better than most of us expected.

[alexukhc]

4 minutes ago, RedLionLad said:

We are doing ok…..and that’s better than most of us expected.

Doing better than we thought 

[RedLionLad]

4 minutes ago, alexukhc said:

Doing better than we thought 

Yeah, and that 

[Selred]

36 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

You missed a sitter there cus Nige has actually done it with Leicester! 

That's what happens after watching Martin for 90 mins tonight! 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, CiderHeadDan said:

Agreed but I’m more talking performance based. Are you happy with how we are performing this season, regardless of the results?

Yes. I expected middle-eight, kinda hoped for 13th.  We will improve too as tweaks are made, players evolve partnerships etc.

[CiderHeadDan]

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Yes. I expected middle-eight, kinda hoped for 13th.  We will improve too as tweaks are made, players evolve partnerships etc.

Personally love your optimism but have to disagree on where I think we should be. If we finished top 8 with this squad I would be astounded however think we will be middle / lower half of the pack, probably 14th.

[Fuber]

1 hour ago, CiderHeadDan said:

Personally love your optimism but have to disagree on where I think we should be. If we finished top 8 with this squad I would be astounded however think we will be middle / lower half of the pack, probably 14th.

middle 8 Dan. Re-read Fevs post.

If he'd suggested top 8, I'd have just quoted him and posted this:

 

[Wanderingred]

Nobody promised us a rose garden right? We knew this was going to be an inconsistent season of rebuilding and I’m satisfied so far. We’ve seen two very poor performances in tonight and the Luton game.. a few pretty average ones and a couple of decent displays at Reading and vs Fulham. We don’t look like relegation fodder and that’s good enough for now.

I think we are all on a downer after tonight but I think the injuries and forced changes tonight and not having Pearson’s experience there cost us and contributed to that dire second half. Pretty sure we’d have nicked it or at least got a draw had we not lost Williams and Baker.

 

 

[pillred]

3 minutes ago, Wanderingred said:

Nobody promised us a rose garden right? We knew this was going to be an inconsistent season of rebuilding and I’m satisfied so far. We’ve seen two very poor performances in tonight and the Luton game.. a few pretty average ones and a couple of decent displays at Reading and vs Fulham. We don’t look like relegation fodder and that’s good enough for now.

I think we are all on a downer after tonight but I think the injuries and forced changes tonight and not having Pearson’s experience there cost us and contributed to that dire second half. Pretty sure we’d have nicked it or at least got a draw had we not lost Williams and Baker.

 

 

I beg your pardon!

[WolfOfWestStreet]

It's better than expected, but not great on the eye. Boring players but effective, sometimes. 

Expect attendances to tumble but we won't go down so at least there is that. 

[Fammyfan]

It’s been a positive start to the season, with the league position and the number of points we have picked up.

Last season we were being dominated week in week out and this season, the performances have been much stronger.

We have to remember that this summer was about cutting costs which has resulted in numerous players outgoing and only a handful of players incoming.

For Nige to manage us to such a huge improvement despite losing some quality players who have not been replaced, he deserves great credit.

It’s great to see the progress we have made at this stage, despite Nige saying that this is a three year project.

It’s refreshing to be excited of what we can achieve this season, as oppose to being terrified of relegation  as we all were last season.

Edited September 30, 2021 by Fammyfan

[Robbored]

We’re pretty much where I thought we’d be after 10 games. Win a few, lose a few and draw a few and I imagine that’ll be a familiar story all season.

Last was a poor performance by recent standards and I reckon the absence of Nige was a significant factor. The guy is a motivational influence and had he been there we may had seen a better result 

Im not criticising Fleming at all but I doubt he has the same respect that Nige has amongst the squad.

[the1stknowle]

8 hours ago, BCFCGav said:

10th after 10, very good. We’d have all taken that. Overall, the improvements this season have been vast.

Exactly. And if there weren’t blips like last night then we would go the rest of the season undefeated which, hopefully, everyone accepts is a little bit unlikely. 

[oldstandrobin]

Looking more positive for me, it will take time but at least we have a real skipper at the helm. 

[ralphindevon]

As long as we keep improving, which we should as long as we don’t go down the getting loads of injuries road, then things are much better than I expected.

Last nights forced substitutions plus HNM injured showed the squad is a bit fragile, so as with every club, a bit of luck needed but it’s such a tight league anything is still possible 

[Son of Fred]

51 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Im not criticising Fleming at all but I doubt he has the same respect that Nige has amongst the squad

We go again

[Jeez]

Much more competitive this season & enjoying watching us develop, so much so I’d forgotten how we almost always play badly against Millwall.

Last night felt like 2 steps backwards toward the dark days of last season.

We really missed HNM energy & disruption in the centre and Wells pace at the front. We played some good through balls that another finisher will have met.

[RedRock]

To avoid being in the relegation mix, a team need 8-9 ‘dependable’ players. Those who’ll consistently achieve 7/10 performances.

For a large chunk of last season we had only 2-3 who could be placed in that category. This season an improvement, I’d say we’ve 5-6 ‘dependables’. 
 

The bad news is that ain’t enough.

Unless Big Nige can develop some of our youngsters, as he has with Pring, or motivate/ up-skill some of the dross - who have been given chance after chance to prove themselves - we are in for a long old season. 

 

[Negan]

Much better than I expected. I'll be honest, I thought we'd be in a dog fight all season. At the beginning after 10 id of probably said we'd be in the bottom 5 so being 10th is great. So long as we don't drop like a stone like at the end of last season we should be alright. It's clear we need some quality up front though, the defence has been pretty sound and had we had someone more clinical up front we'd probably be in the play offs now. 

[Red-Robbo]

It became clear in the last third of 20/21 season that something radical had to be done. 

Nige carried out that root-and-branch surgery - a quite astounding number of releases - and it's clear that this leaner, fitter squad is better than the bloated Mark Ashton selection that we had back then.

Pearson did talk about wanting a new striker, but because of money and availability,  one did not manifest. That has prevented us being the team he really wants. Just that one player. 

At City, we've had some really good strikers in the past in what have been mediocre teams. Now it is a case of a decent team missing a quality, in-form striker. 

Pearson will know this. He's talked of it being a three- year project here.

I have faith that watching the teams he selects will only improve as time goes by. 

[Lanterne Rouge]

1.3 points per game gives us a shade under 60 come May. About what most of us expected?

[Northern Red]

1 hour ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

1.3 points per game gives us a shade under 60 come May. About what most of us expected?

Probably a bit better than expected for a lot of people.

[mozo]

13 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

It became clear in the last third of 20/21 season that something radical had to be done. 

Nige carried out that root-and-branch surgery - a quite astounding number of releases - and it's clear that this leaner, fitter squad is better than the bloated Mark Ashton selection that we had back then.

Pearson did talk about wanting a new striker, but because of money and availability,  one did not manifest. That has prevented us being the team he really wants. Just that one player. 

At City, we've had some really good strikers in the past in what have been mediocre teams. Now it is a case of a decent team missing a quality, in-form striker. 

Pearson will know this. He's talked of it being a three- year project here.

I have faith that watching the teams he selects will only improve as time goes by. 

Totes agree and I would add to that, we have a fair few players that need a season under their belt, such as Pring, Atkinson and Tanner to acclimatise and Willliams, Weimann  O'Dowda and DaSilva to come back from injury layoffs. Massengo has developed now, but Scott still has a lot to learn still.

Beyond that, we have a succession issue up front and I worry about whether we'll either develop the young uns or have the budget for a quality recruit.

[GBF]

Glad to say like most people that both the performances and results have been better than expected   Unfortunately I still think we struggle this season because unless we catch teams on the break we don’t have any threat going forward and will struggle to score against most teams.

In terms of us using this year as a year for building a team for the future I am struggling to see the plan. Jury out on a lot of the players at present.  Most have showed potential in short bursts but not been able to put in consistently high performances over a sustained period.  We still have too many players in our squad who are either not good enough eg Kasey Palmer or have seen better years and are declining in effectiveness. Eg Chris Martin. On the positive side HNM has the potential to play at the highest level.  If NP can turn this squad into a premiership team within 3 years he will have done a remarkable job. I think of our current squad of around 25 that you would say 4 or 5 are good enough, at least 5 shouldn’t be in the squad and the rest are unproven but with potential to get better with a couple of years experience.