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Midtable mediocrity


sideshowbob

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Who would of you of? English is mutating into something ugly, that's for sure. 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />

Bloody awful opening post. Referring to Nigel as 'NLN' as well... get off our board, poochy. Injuries have once again ****** us over something rotten. Perhaps the lads should be doing more barbell work to strengthen up instead of constant running. Then again, I am not privy to what goes on in training, so ******** to me.

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2 points out of the last 12 suggests so. Obviously I'd like top ten but realistically mid-table beckons and I'd be happy with that. If we can keep the likes of Hendrick and Bennett we can kick on next year with (fingers crossed) the likes of Barker, Davies and co fully fit.

Still think we missed a trick sending Addison out on loan as he can cover various positions (and he's not getting the games to raise fitness levels which was the original idea). And on another unrelated issue, Varney seems to be on fire at the moment ahead of our next game!

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Maybe, after enough games are lost, and we're constantly giving goals away, maybe sometime in mid February, a few of these players will learn that hoofball only invites pressure. We are hardly EVER dominating a match. Yet almost every team we have played has enjoyed long periods of pressured possession or control of the game.

Head it and kick it, hard work, commitment and desire are all well and good, but any fan inside Pride Park could give you that. These are footballers. Some are pretty decent players (as we see on occasion). So get rid of this silly seige mentality and try to influence the game.

Was our last win Millwall? Well being hard to break down is lovely, but the way we surrender the ball is a joke. It's not a deadly viper. It's a football. Control it.

What are they scared of? Losing?

Were making everyone look like Arsenal. There's no need. We're as good as any of them.

Hoofball. Atleast loan Howard and make it worth bothering! We're all about 5ft 6" ffs!!

O'Brien is the worse one. But how long before any of them figure it out? Use their heads!!

Its not asking for Barcelona. Just give the along the floor stuff a try first.

Sick of seeing volleys and headers when not even under pressure

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to me you have to look around at others and see what they have spent, our team last season wasn't a million miles away from mid table in terms of quality. So to spend 2.8 million in this league where few teams have spent that then i would want to see a good deal of improvement both in league position and in how we are playing. Our wage budget when clough came in was the biggest in the league and should have been trimmed, and plenty of teams in this division lose their best players bris, it happens to many clubs. Of course you take gambles, you take calculated risks, i think with how much nigel has spent and how many players he has bought in he has been very hit and miss. But to say nigel has no money when he has spent almost 3 million this season is just wrong.

We may have spent more this season than a few others, granted, but for the past 2 seasons we've been declining when 90% of the league has been improving.. Look at our opponently today.. McDonald ($3.5mill) and Emnes ($3.2mill) cost more than our whole team put together..

$2.8mill is bugger all when it comes to forming a team to compete with the likes of teams that possess single players with a value of more than $2.8mill..

Our team, minus Ward, Theo and Fielding towards then end of last season was diobolical.. Absoloutely woeful and would have gone down had it not been for them 3.. So even with them 3 we were still a bottom 6 team..

Now a bottom 6 team plus $1.8mill isn't going to get you far, esepcially when $1mill of that was spent on a defender we needed because we simply don't have any others that are fit enough to play.. So $800k spread around the rest of the team, what exactly were you expecting..

Midtable is the best we can hope for, anything higher and people are living in dreamland..

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Succinctly and eloquently put Alpha. We saw a resurgent Rams side today for 45 mins, that renaissance only advertised after the game had fell away from us. This is endemic of our away performances over the last 2 or 3 seasons. We were good enough to affect the game from the start. I fear the harvest isn't going to be great on the road this year due to a negative set-up and reactive rather than proactive substitutions/tactics.

With regards to injuries, whether we can list certain players as croques or injury-prone is immaterial, what stands are the statistics. And they are horrific. The injury situation went beyond farcical about 12 months ago and seems in no mood to compromise. It is perfectly legal that some question certain contract extensions and offers in the light of the experiences we've had.

Disappointingly but rather predictably we're left with the familiar debate. Money/Board and Clough. I just hope we keep context, we're in for quite a stay in this division in my opinion, we have a manager who still makes mistakes but is learning and a board which doesn't jeapordise the club's existence but seems to raise little/no external investment for players. In the words of Duracell, "in an ideal world" we'd have Jose Mourinho and Leicester's money but we don't, I'm starting to come to terms with it slowly and we'd all do better if we understood, like it or not, we're a million miles away from where most of us want to be. This season could be tough ride, we've almost cruelly set ourselves up for a fall (again) by pulling off a sequence of results which is unsustainable with our squad.

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Milwall beat Leicester 3-0 away today, thought they were unbeatable and were going to walk the league?

No one ever claimed that.

You're not telling me Leicester played today how they did against us.

Leicester will walk the league if they play to their ability every week. They did against us, they didn't against Milwall.

I don't think the players really want to play for Sven. Not exactly the charismatic motivator, is he...

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Milwall beat Leicester 3-0 away today, thought they were unbeatable and were going to walk the league?

Whilst I'm enjoying their recent plight, don't you think it is probably short-term Cumbrian? I think they will make the playoffs where I presume the aim for them was top 2. I think they'll churn out the odd sequence of results that'll be enough for them.

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I was making that point to people who think going to these places and getting a draw with no attacking intent is alright.

Anyone can beat anyone in this league.

I agree with that much.

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We may have spent more this season than a few others, granted, but for the past 2 seasons we've been declining when 90% of the league has been improving.. Look at our opponently today.. McDonald ($3.5mill) and Emnes ($3.2mill) cost more than our whole team put together..

$2.8mill is bugger all when it comes to forming a team to compete with the likes of teams that possess single players with a value of more than $2.8mill..

Our team, minus Ward, Theo and Fielding towards then end of last season was diobolical.. Absoloutely woeful and would have gone down had it not been for them 3.. So even with them 3 we were still a bottom 6 team..

Now a bottom 6 team plus $1.8mill isn't going to get you far, esepcially when $1mill of that was spent on a defender we needed because we simply don't have any others that are fit enough to play.. So $800k spread around the rest of the team, what exactly were you expecting..

Midtable is the best we can hope for, anything higher and people are living in dreamland..

again 90% of your post is pointless, middlesborough were the big spenders last season, how many teams have spent 1 million on 2 players in 2 season? my guess is not many apart from the top 6. Would i say we declined over the two years? i have to say i am not to sure, could it have gotten any worse when jewell left? and the job of the manager is to improve the team whether on a pittance or on a fortune. I am expecting higher mid table with the amount we have spent and anything less will be a disappointment. If clough hadn't signed so many injury prone players would we have problems?

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I have never been convinced by NC, he was appointed by the board because of a mixture of reasons,that we have discussed....

but, he is by all accounts and intelligent guy,and he is learning as he grows into this job, i find it no suprise that bearing in mind he has had no money to spend, he has made a few signings that haven't worked out.... but he has made some that have, listed above.

I think that anyone who thought that to add a few players, at low cost, to a side that nearly got relegated last season and we would compete at the top end of this league was deluded. That said, i think that given his resources we havent had many bad performances this season, some not sparkling ones but we got some points out of most, and to go to boro, who havent lost at home and only lost 1 all season, hit the woodwork that often and make Steele make a couple of quality saves against them isnt a bad day at the office !

So to sum up, ok it may not be what we all hoped for in terms of investment or a manager, but there is progress and the club seems to be going in the right direction, but slightly too slowly for some......

Ultimately, i think that mid table is better than relegation, and add 3 decent signings in Jan, and who knows 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wub' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wub:' />

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As far as the topic goes - midtable mediocrity was what I was hoping for when the season started.

After the last couple of seasons it’s what dreams are made of.

Clough seems to see things in the same way. When we were winning, he consistently said we were punching above our weight and that finishing somewhere/anywhere in the top half is the realistic aim for this season.

I still think we’ll finish somewhere 10-14th and so I expect we’ll probably lose again this season 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':o' />

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Clough can't be criticised for bad signings when he's buying from the bargain bin. Some will work and some won't. He doesn't have the budget, either transfer fees or wages, to buy proven Championship players (despite the fact that the board said that he would, they're annual lie at season ticket time!). Clough is doing an excellent job on meagre resources. Mid table this season would be a good result for a club trying to compete with one hand tied behind its back!

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Clough can't be criticised for bad signings when he's buying from the bargain bin. Some will work and some won't. He doesn't have the budget, either transfer fees or wages, to buy proven Championship players (despite the fact that the board said that he would, they're annual lie at season ticket time!). Clough is doing an excellent job on meagre resources. Mid table this season would be a good result for a club trying to compete with one hand tied behind its back!

Not being antagonistic, just asking,are you saying that if we get up, say by the playoffs, Clough has done a great job, but if we were to be relegated, it would be nothing to do with him, is that correct ?
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