ViewsFromTheMiddle Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Expected a transitional midtable season. Was probably in a minority of fans more gutted about the sale of Ince than Hughes, not easy to come across a winger as prolific as him at this level. Was hopeful Lawrence would be a good replacement, don't think he's a patch at the moment though, hope I'm proven wrong. Found the Davies and Huddlestone signings underwhelming, and after the first few games didn't really want either in the team, now though I'd be worried if one of them picked up an injury. Wisdom was a good signing and not really a gamble as we knew how good he was on loan here. Could argue he's not any better than Baird, but the latter would struggle to play week in week out. Winnall for Butterfield was a brilliant deal which I'm not sure how we pulled off, a proven scorer who we will miss quite badly for the run in. With the departure of Butterfield and Bryson though and the Kieftenbeld drama, it left us very short in midfield, and if Ledley hadn't been available which was the turning point of our season we probably would be around midtable. Don't find the style of play enjoyable for the most part but we're well placed and difficult to beat so let's hope we can finish the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Tibbs Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Greatly exceeding. Expected 12-10th. Without trying to jinx it I'd say we're pretty much bob on for the play offs and well within the mix for auto's which was certainly above what I thought we were capable of. Pleasing: Like others have mentioned, the signings of Davies and Huddlestone didn't excite me but have been key players, Huddlestone took a while to get going but once he did he's been superb. I like GR's game management despite him being criticised for it recently, Saturday was a very rare occasion when we were all praying for full time to come despite not winning. What he's done with Vydra is top notch, I bet nobody expected him to be getting the likely 20+ he will score come May. Late goals against - seem to have disappeared completely. The defence in general, a solid back 5 with the core being POTY material (Carson, Keogh, Davies). Disappointing: Style of play but hey ho, doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of getting promoted. Lawrence and Wisdom - Both underperformed IMO, was expecting good things from both and they're yet to deliver. Not writing them off but I can't say I think they've had good seasons. Hopefully will turn out to be 10 million well spent, not thrown down another drain. January transfer window. Hopefully come May this can be thrown back down my throat but after the loss of Johnny and Martin I feel we've lost a valuable option or two. Losing Winnall was unfortunate but now looks like we've taken a teams third choice striker to make him our number one, hope it works out. Will have no problem with Rowett and Jerome proving me wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Exceeding expectations....I'm just not entirely sure how. Disappointing performances is the worst aspect to me,as another poster pointed out,it's not at all easy on the eye and is generally dull to watch in my opinion.....from my experience in the crowd in the matches I've attended,this style has not gone down that well but the results have meant that's it's been accepted whilst we are winning... Second disappointment for me was the jan window...losing Russell And Martin is a big second half of the season blow to us which hasn't been eased by our incoming players up to now.... Plus point is our current position in the table and a good solid defence that has developed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramslad1992 Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 I was expecting mid table and would have be pleasantly surprised with the play offs. so at the minute I've put greatly exceeding because we are in the automatic race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViewsFromTheMiddle Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Ok, who voted below? My money's on @McLovin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seaside Sam Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 3 hours ago, Spanish said: yep same here. After Bristol I thought we probably wouldn't finish above Florist after Wolves at home i didn't think we would finish above Burton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimmu Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Both. Exceeding and below expectations at the same time. We are higher on the table than I thought but football is even simpler and boring that I thought it would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archied Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Wasn’t really sure what to expect but was hoping for play off spot so exceeding was my vote , style of play has not been an issue for me as we have scored lots and very varied types of goals and can be bloody exciting when we attack with pace ,also seen some fantastic pinpoint long passes played from hudds to open teams up allied with really good organised defending as a team and yes I know we had spells under Mac where we didn’t concede many but there was always the vibe that we would concede vital goals and you just don’t feel that anymore , we are so so much better off the ball than we ever were for a very long time , pits a style that with better quality players will serve well in the prem because if anybody thinks we have the money to buy the player to go toe to toe with the prem big boy then they are crazy but this style with the right quality players in the right position will do well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
europia Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 I expected to be hovering around 8th in the table, but secretly hoped we would sneak into the play offs. If Villa hadn't got their act together and gone on their well timed amazing run, we would probably have seen off the others and finished 2nd. After the previous play off disappointments, I am pragmatic and will be happy if we give a good account of ourselves. If we are to eventually gain promotion, we will probably have to learn how to do it via the play offs. As every season their will be a couple of clubs with PL budgets, funded by rich foreign owners to take the top two places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCG Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 I thought Rowett was a good manager, so it has not surprised me that he has done so well with a team of, in the main, average players. With better quality players I would expect us to be able to hold the ball better and therefore have greater possession and threat. The problem we have at the moment is that our players are wasteful when composure is required. We should still be able to break with speed without wasting possession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 17 hours ago, KCG said: I thought Rowett was a good manager, so it has not surprised me that he has done so well with a team of, in the main, average players. With better quality players I would expect us to be able to hold the ball better and therefore have greater possession and threat. The problem we have at the moment is that our players are wasteful when composure is required. We should still be able to break with speed without wasting possession. Not sure about this....we initially had a squad of better quality more skillful players(ince,hughes,Martin etc) that have been sold/loaned out to be replaced by the journeyman,hard grafting types,which gr clearly prefers in his squad and suit his 'style'of play better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssendonRam Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 On 12/02/2018 at 22:15, AdamRam said: Although I put meeting expectations, I have to caveat that with this was I believed the squad we had at our disposal was capable off. I must admit I didn’t (and still don’t) beleive GR was the man that would take us to the PL and therefore he is doing better than I expected, and I hope he continues to prove I am wrong. Really? Take us to the PL or to keep us there? If you’re arguing the latter, I can understand since he’s not proven himself yet beyond the Championship. I must admit I like your honesty (genuinely): out of curiosity, what would he have to achieve for you to concede you were wrong? (Short of actually winning promotion, I mean.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamRam Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 53 minutes ago, EssendonRam said: Really? Take us to the PL or to keep us there? If you’re arguing the latter, I can understand since he’s not proven himself yet beyond the Championship. I must admit I like your honesty (genuinely): out of curiosity, what would he have to achieve for you to concede you were wrong? (Short of actually winning promotion, I mean.) If he took us to the PL then regardless of what happened after that I would concede he has done a great job. Second part of your question, if he continues to keep us around the auto promotion places this year, then I’ll hold my hands up and say good job. I also do feel that there appears to be an air of expectations of failure around both the forum and ground. There are more threads around the play offs than getting autos (I understand that to a certain extend given the type of person that posts) however am slightly confused about the atmosphere at the ground pre and during the game, given where we sit in the league. I’m actually more positive during the game, mainly due to several beverages but do feel that the majority are waiting for the wheels to fall off, which to be fair to GR doesn’t do him any favours. I don’t rate GR as a manager which I state, so I wonder why the confidence in the team is so low, past failures maybe ? Or do others also not rate him ? Even the black and white days appear to have disappeared, empty seats around, just seems that we have accepted that we aren’t going up before we are even finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scarlet Pimpernel Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 4 minutes ago, AdamRam said: If he took us to the PL then regardless of what happened after that I would concede he has done a great job. Second part of your question, if he continues to keep us around the auto promotion places this year, then I’ll hold my hands up and say good job. I also do feel that there appears to be an air of expectations of failure around both the forum and ground. There are more threads around the play offs than getting autos (I understand that to a certain extend given the type of person that posts) however am slightly confused about the atmosphere at the ground pre and during the game, given where we sit in the league. I’m actually more positive during the game, mainly due to several beverages but do feel that the majority are waiting for the wheels to fall off, which to be fair to GR doesn’t do him any favours. I don’t rate GR as a manager which I state, so I wonder why the confidence in the team is so low, past failures maybe ? Or do others also not rate him ? Even the black and white days appear to have disappeared, empty seats around, just seems that we have accepted that we aren’t going up before we are even finished. I agree that we the fans en-masse haven't bought into this season yet. Attendances are down and generally we appear to be waiting for failure. I don't think its performances as such, just seems to be the way it is. Maybe we have tried and failed once too often in the last 3/4 seasons......the team that cried wolf! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Tibbs Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 19 hours ago, KCG said: I thought Rowett was a good manager, so it has not surprised me that he has done so well with a team of, in the main, average players. With better quality players I would expect us to be able to hold the ball better and therefore have greater possession and threat. Is this true? He's spent 15 million pounds in the last two transfer windows to add to a team that has an 8 million pound (league leading) striker in it, arguably the best keeper in the division, one of the best centre backs in the division... is it that average? It shouldn't be average. I bet there aren't many teams around that have been able to offer their manager a financial backing like GR has had. I don't think it's full of creativity or flair but there's some bloody good players in our side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninos Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 6 minutes ago, Mr Tibbs said: Is this true? He's spent 15 million pounds in the last two transfer windows to add to a team that has an 8 million pound (league leading) striker in it, arguably the best keeper in the division, one of the best centre backs in the division... is it that average? It shouldn't be average. I bet there aren't many teams around that have been able to offer their manager a financial backing like GR has had. I don't think it's full of creativity or flair but there's some bloody good players in our side. Maybe. I think by good players he means players that could comfortably slot into a competitive PL side and right now we have one - which is Vydra. You could make a case for a couple of others, but not a compelling case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 2 hours ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said: I agree that we the fans en-masse haven't bought into this season yet. Attendances are down and generally we appear to be waiting for failure. I don't think its performances as such, just seems to be the way it is. Maybe we have tried and failed once too often in the last 3/4 seasons......the team that cried wolf! I honestly think it's the performances.....a lot of fans around me moan about how boring the matches are (not everyone tho,it's horses for courses obviously but I haven't witnessed this attitude since the Clough days). I think the excitement of the Mac 1 days sort of ruined it for many people(esp newer fans?) as they enjoyed the football/excitement so much and it hasn't been replicated.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagerbob Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 is this still a thread about pre season expectations? or expectations because we managed to raise to 2nd at around the halfway point of the season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagerbob Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 1 minute ago, kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong said: I honestly think it's the performances.....a lot of fans around me moan about how boring the matches are (not everyone tho,it's horses for courses obviously but I haven't witnessed this attitude since the Clough days). I think the excitement of the Mac 1 days sort of ruined it for many people(esp newer fans?) as they enjoyed the football/excitement so much. Macs football was as boring as hell for 3/4s of his time here. thats my issue. possesion for possesion sake. to use some mac terms. we had to show Patience. its a full backs game. People think, because we retained the ball well, it meant exciting football, in the same way people say arsenal are exciting. But sideways passing, with no pace, and no ability to break down a well organised defence was not just boring, it was depressing. The reality is people get excited about quite counter attacks, switchin of the play, utilizing the space, tackles flying in, balls put across the box, dodgy refs.... all the things that GRs style is .. and Macs style was not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 9 minutes ago, jagerbob said: Macs football was as boring as hell for 3/4s of his time here. thats my issue. possesion for possesion sake. to use some mac terms. we had to show Patience. its a full backs game. People think, because we retained the ball well, it meant exciting football, in the same way people say arsenal are exciting. But sideways passing, with no pace, and no ability to break down a well organised defence was not just boring, it was depressing. The reality is people get excited about quite counter attacks, switchin of the play, utilizing the space, tackles flying in, balls put across the box, dodgy refs.... all the things that GRs style is .. and Macs style was not! I'm just reflecting on what many people say around me in the east stand(and which I largely agree with)... I personally don't enjoy watching another team having so much possession of the ball on many occasions and now having few flair players doing a little magic on the ball or having a lovely one touch passage of play (even if it doesn't lead to a goal,it's entertaining to me)...I think many fans miss that. The things you enjoy about gr's team play aren't as interesting to me....it seems like quite an old fashioned kick and run style but one man's poison etc.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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