Top of the league

[Van der MoodHoover]

How quickly some of you forget! We were 7 points clear in this table from Feb 2007:

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-championship/2006-2007/table/2007-02-10

 

Not sure if that was our biggest lead that season, but I'd guess so. Of course that was just as the January transfer window closed during which some short Scottish person decided Craig Fagan, Jay Mceveley, Tyrone Mears, Darren Currie, John Macken, Gary Teale, etc were the players to fire us to promotion and dropped pretty much the whole team that had put us top.

 

Still bitter? Definitely. But also confident we have rather more sensible management this time around.

One bizarre inference from that table is that our goal difference at that time was +12 and we had won 19 and lost 7.

 

Ergo, ALL of our wins and losses must have been by a single goal....how rare must that be?

[eddie]

How quickly some of you forget! We were 7 points clear in this table from Feb 2007:

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-championship/2006-2007/table/2007-02-10

 

Not sure if that was our biggest lead that season, but I'd guess so. Of course that was just as the January transfer window closed during which some short Scottish person decided Craig Fagan, Jay Mceveley, Tyrone Mears, Darren Currie, John Macken, Gary Teale, etc were the players to fire us to promotion and dropped pretty much the whole team that had put us top.

 

Still bitter? Definitely. But also confident we have rather more sensible management this time around.

 

Albeit with the benefit of hindsight, I get the impression that Davros was already working on his exit strategy. What subsequently happened regarding his 'victory speech' at Wembley AND the way he fell from grace at the Council Tip TWICE leads me to the conclusion that no manager, before or since, has made such a great success out of being a failure.

 

Except Arry, of course.

[Ovis aries]

Only team in the league that have not lost in the last 10 games , but that is only because we have played no one any good , unlike all the other teams.

[PrivateDerby]

Woke up and had a mad ten minutes. Total chaos it was, jumping about, brew flying through the air.

 

la la la laaaaa

[Guest]

How quickly some of you forget! We were 7 points clear in this table from Feb 2007:

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-championship/2006-2007/table/2007-02-10

 

Not sure if that was our biggest lead that season, but I'd guess so. Of course that was just as the January transfer window closed during which some short Scottish person decided Craig Fagan, Jay Mceveley, Tyrone Mears, Darren Currie, John Macken, Gary Teale, etc were the players to fire us to promotion and dropped pretty much the whole team that had put us top.

 

Still bitter? Definitely. But also confident we have rather more sensible management this time around.

 

 

And our last 14 games gave us record of

W6

D3

L5

 

With a Goal Difference of +4 over those games !!!! ( we hammered Colchester hence the uplift in GD vs results )

 

BD was always a joke ! I wanted him sacked on way home from Wembley. Mardy arse, disruptive. Then he employed his Scottish scouting mate Craig Brown ...Trevor Birch (ex Chelsea Chief Exec ) came and left within weeks of working with him

 

YET amazingly at time many fans still supported BD.  We lost 4 nil at home to a rank poor west Ham team shorn of many first team players in October.  was at best 50% who wanted the dwarf out. 

 

Football is a strange old game ...but seeing what got us promoted back then vs what we have now leaves me very very confident we can go up. And do not require a further 11 players to survive.

 

Keogh, Christie, Thorne  definitely Premier League class

Will, Jeff will be - just a matter of will next year be a little too early for them

Martin - more than capable ( but way Dunne nullified him is a worry as PL teams will cut off source of balls into him )

Bryson - will help with his energy and be worthy of a PL place

Fozzie quite possibly will be OK.  Is quick, good control and defending much better

[MuespachRam]

Keogh, Christie and Thorne DEFINTIELY Pemier league class.... you really think so..? Christie was playing in the 3rd tier a year ago, has had a decent start so far but that's it, Keogh...do you  think he is better than, lets say Shackell who is getting pulled all over the place up there....and Thorne couldn't break his way into a rubbish West Brom side..

 

Will and Hendrick are class.

 

Martin...his level is where he is at now, but could grab us 10 goals a season.

 

Bryson...average....defintely not good enough.

 

Fozzie...on a steep learning curve.

[StaffsRam]

Crazy to think we have a better GD after just 13 games than that side after 32 games.

 

Goes to show how many games we won by sheer doggedness luck compared to our more freeflowing style.

 

To coin a phrase from Billy Davies, our side now would pummell that shower back in 2007/08.

 

The side we have now, and the side we had then, could hardly be more unalike if they tried. 

 

Best thing is, we're top, with a number of players out, and without really hitting top gear across 90 minutes so far. 

 

At some point, someone, some poor fookers, are going to catch us when we're really in the mood, and really turn it on, for the whole game. I just hope it's Forest, or Leeds.

[Donny Ram]

Most promoted teams have extensive changes to make if they want to stay up however its about the team performance and not just individuals.

 

The above being said, my thoughts are:

 

• one additional CB is required
• Christie looks like he will be ok, Fozzie is steady, Keogh will be ok
• Thorne wasn't given a chance at WBA - think he will be ok
• Hughes and Hendrick fine
• Bryson - not hit his best this season yet but needs to do this to prove he is good enough to step up a level
• Front 3 - Ward (injury prone), Russell (not good enough), Martin - not good enough

You never really know until you are playing Premier League competition week in week out if you are good enough. I would like to think our game play is similar to Southampton when they went up and that we finish mid table, if we get promoted.

 

Concerning factor in the above is that there are too many should be ok's and not enough they will be fines.

 

Nice concerns to have though...!

 

COYR -- WAToTL 

[CheltenhamRam]

Keeping it warm for forest surely?? I thought they'd won it in Aug?

[Guest]

Keogh definitely in my eyes good enough. Much more mobile and quicker than Shackell.

 

Christie is as good as Wisdom ..better going forwards, not yet as good at the back.  BUT Wisdom was so obviously told to stay back ...and if Christie did not raid forward as much sure his defensive work would improve further. 

 

Christie played a whole season in Championship aged 19.  And was highly rated. Yes, then two seasons in league 1

We wanted him 12 months ago, but would not pay the

[Duracell]

Keogh, Christie and Thorne DEFINTIELY Pemier league class.... you really think so..? Christie was playing in the 3rd tier a year ago, has had a decent start so far but that's it, Keogh...do you  think he is better than, lets say Shackell who is getting pulled all over the place up there....and Thorne couldn't break his way into a rubbish West Brom side..

 

Will and Hendrick are class.

 

Martin...his level is where he is at now, but could grab us 10 goals a season.

 

Bryson...average....defintely not good enough.

 

Fozzie...on a steep learning curve.

So we need 11 new players to stay up in the Premier League?

 

"Player X couldn't get into team Y so he's rubbish". "Player Y can't be any good or else he wouldn't have been playing in league X". Come on, how long have you been watching football? You know it doesn't work like that.

[MuespachRam]

i never said we needed 11 players, far from it....but to say that Keogh, Christie and Thorne are DEFINITELY premier league class is just laughable.

[Duracell]

i never said we needed 11 players, far from it....but to say that Keogh, Christie and Thorne are DEFINITELY premier league class is just laughable.

Fair enough, but isn't it equally laughable to dismiss one of our better players as "definitely not" Premier League class?

 

The point is we don't know.

[Ambitious]

Thorne is definitely, definitely, definitely Premier League class. 

 

He's an outstanding player; the best I've seen in any team in this division for the past decade. 

[Guest]

i never said we needed 11 players, far from it....but to say that Keogh, Christie and Thorne are DEFINITELY premier league class is just laughable.

 

Can we identify PL players better than the above ? Yes

Do I think they would be players we would look to replace when playing in the PL ? No

 

We cannot replace our entire Team.

We can all select players from the Top6 and say we would select those instead of our current players.

 

I maintain they would all play in our team in the PL and not see us relegated.  ie they are PL class

 

Time will tell ..... 14months from now we will actually know. So watch this space. I have a good memory and will be gutted if I am wrong

[Duracell]

I'm not sure what "Premier League class" means anymore. It's 2014, not 2008. There are a lot of poor teams in that league which wouldn't walk this league if they went down and played with the squads they have now. 

 

Yes, they all have a lot of money, but they have too much money. No matter how much money a club has, there's a finite amount of players good enough which you can sign with that money. The result being, clubs in the Prem aren't buying better players, they're just paying higher transfer fees and going for more panic buys.

 

Sunderland, QPR, West Brom - they have better man-for-man squads and maybe we don't have a player apart from Hughes who would get into their starting XI. But we're a team, they're not, and even if we played in the same league as them with the same squad we had now I'd be bitterly disappointed to finish below those three.

 

We finished above one of them last season.

[MuespachRam]

Ambitious....(sorry my computer wont allow me to "quote" anyone).... you think Thorne is THAT good...? and you can judge this on...watching him a maximum of 8 games??

 

I agree, he looks decent, but to say he is the best player in the league for the past decade is crazy......he isn't the best player in our team in the past SEASON never mind all the other teams over the last decade...

[valleyram]

i never said we needed 11 players, far from it....but to say that Keogh, Christie and Thorne are DEFINITELY premier league class is just laughable.

ur quote on Bryson is just laughable , player of the year 2 out of 3 and no good enough for the premiership , what a clown , this team are probably better suited to premiership than the championship , this is a tough league to get out of but once uve done it you will be allowed to play in top league

[RLACML]

Thorne is definitely, definitely, definitely Premier League class. 

 

He's an outstanding player; the best I've seen in any team in this division for the past decade. 

Agreed. If he can get over the injury, he'll play for England. Insanely good player

[Ambitious]

Ambitious....(sorry my computer wont allow me to "quote" anyone).... you think Thorne is THAT good...? and you can judge this on...watching him a maximum of 8 games??

 

I agree, he looks decent, but to say he is the best player in the league for the past decade is crazy......he isn't the best player in our team in the past SEASON never mind all the other teams over the last decade...

 

In the 15 games he played for us, I had him as man of the match in about 11 of them. 

 

He can be compared to Osman, who played 17 games for us, but Thorne was a class above him still. 

 

He's certainly the best player I've seen play for us since I got a season ticket in 02/03 - no question. 

 

He could pass a basketball through a cheerio without touching the sides and his presence on the game was unbelievable. I can't think of a player, maybe other than Nolan during Newcastle's promotion season, to do that.