2020/21 General Match Thread

[PuB]

3-1 down to Sunderland at half time. It goes without saying that we're going to win 4-3.

Lump on it now lads.

 

[Robert Molenaar]

My oh my. Barnsley gave us as good a spanking as I can remember in 40 years watching us.

They were just miles ahead of us in every department.

Unless that was a one off, that's likely to be one of the promotion places sorted out.

This is what I thought when they played us. Probably the best team I've seen at this level in god knows when.

 

[Jamo]

My oh my. Barnsley gave us as good a spanking as I can remember in 40 years watching us.

They were just miles ahead of us in every department.

Unless that was a one off, that's likely to be one of the promotion places sorted out.

Really appreciate the praise and honesty. It was a superb performance from us but I thought we'd fare better than vs Wimbledon because I know how Keef sets his teams up - you were never going to try and keep it tight like they did and tried to play more openly, but that just left gaps that we exploited again and again. I think Dale will be alright this season, although i see Hill is doing his usual trick and having a pop at the fans for daring to complain at a 4 nil defeat.


Edit: we're definitely losing at Scunny on Saturday

 

[Bottega Don]

Just to show how bad our attack and defense are, we've had more shots than Fleetwood and lost 5-0.

Barnsley could be double figures on Saturday

 

[Bobbin']

Fleetwood and Barton proving a few people wrong or honeymoon period?

 

[Bottega Don]

Fleetwood and Barton proving a few people wrong or honeymoon period?

They've beaten the two teams that will finish 24th and 23rd this year, hasn't proved that much yet.

 

[Craig]

Not gonna lie, I'm really looking forward to Saturday.

 

[Kenneth E End]

It wouldn’t surprise me if the top 4 as it is now remains the same in May albeit not necessarily in that order.

 

[joethegill]

4-1 definitely doesn't tell the story of the game, although Sunderland deserved to win. We had 6 very presentable chances other than the goal but didn't put them away, Sunderland had 5 decent efforts and scored 4. We also hit the post and could easily have had a penalty in the second half, but I'm not going make any excuses as we were 2nd best tonight. Teams with better attacks than ours will put away chances against that Sunderland defence though, but our frontline other than Eaves isn't the best.

 

[GFC4EVA]

Well played Sunderland thought you were a class above tonight.
With some better finishing from us it would have been a closer game
Sunderland will be promoted I have no doubts about that.

 

[Dale4ever]

Been said already but Barnsley were the best side I’ve seen us play at this level since we’ve been here in both spells. We were absolutely dire too and 4-0 flattered us. Wish KH would stop messing around with strange lineups and not playing his strongest available side. Also a couple of our summer signings are yet to play this season yet. I think we will be ok this season. Should have more than we had last season as we do seem to have strengthened overall. The defence at the moment is a huge worry though. We’ve let in 11 in 4. And 8 in 2 home games. Strange really as the defence isn’t that much different to last season, only Wigan & Blackburn kept more clean sheets. It’s our toothless attack that let us down last term.

 

[Dale4ever]

To add to the above, if anyone finishes above Barnsley they will win the league. For what it’s worth I think the title is theirs if they remain injury free.

 

[Bottega Don]

Could easily be very similar to last year with who goes up. All three relegated teams went back up last year and I can see two of the three going straight back up this year.

The gap between the two leagues is just widening.

 

[Pugwash]

Was hoping for a solid peformance by the cods but never expected that result. Could not attend or listen to the commentary so don't know if we got our act together or Scunny were pants or a mixture of both. Now hoping Charlton have one of those days on Saturday.

 

[Stanleyfan]

Delighted with a 3-2 win at Oxford and to see us win both our away matches in the League so far.
Not seen any Oxford fans comments on here since the game but I thought they played OK and the result could have gone either way. Took us a while to get into the game.
Blackpool away on Sat (just planning the journey there bearing in mind the Northern Rail strikes)

 

[Kenneth E End]

Could easily be very similar to last year with who goes up. All three relegated teams went back up last year and I can see two of the three going straight back up this year.

The gap between the two leagues is just widening.

For sure it is when you’ve got teams in the league above are spending £10m++ on a group of players every summer. You’ve got Sunderland down here probably with something like a £20m budget - probably 7-8x their opponents yesterday.

Not sure how you compete with that.

 

[PuB]

Our budget is less than £2m, absolutely no way we can compete with Sunderlands level

 

[K-Win]

Yes, Sunderland and Barnsley are starting to flex their muscles. Not sure if us and Posh will be able to keep pace with them as the season progresses. There is some ridiculously good talent in the Championship now, not to mention the finances so this pattern looks like it will continue for a while.

Could be interesting if we're both still in touch come January, though. Both of us may well be in a position to invest in the team a bit more if we're in with a chance, unlike the Shrews last season.

Early days though. We'll probably go and lose the next four.

 

[nelsonpfc]

Yes, Sunderland and Barnsley are starting to flex their muscles. Not sure if us and Posh will be able to keep pace with them as the season progresses. There is some ridiculously good talent in the Championship now, not to mention the finances so this pattern looks like it will continue for a while.

Could be interesting if we're both still in touch come January, though. Both of us may well be in a position to invest in the team a bit more if we're in with a chance, unlike the Shrews last season.

Early days though. We'll probably go and lose the next four.

Its gonna be who can cope with injuries, suspensions in key areas when it comes to xmas and easter time. Without knowing other squads too well, with all the ins and outs I suspect sunderland don't have a huge squad in terms of quality, but Barnsley and Peterborough do. We had Pitman, Burgess, Close and McGee on the bench, Nathan Thompson , Dion Donahue not in the squad on Tuesday. All those were pretty much first names on the team sheet last season as well as Danny Rose, Conor Chaplin, Wheeler all not used.

 

[Gassy]

The amount of money in the Prem is filtering to the Championship. Especially with the TV deal now, it’s worth it spending huge amounts just to get to the Prem for 1 season.

I’m sure in about 7/8 years the same effect will happen in league 1 - but sadly it most probably means more foreign managers & players. How many excellent British managers in the championship/L1 are good enough to step up to the next division only to see teams bring in a coach from Spain who no one has ever heard of?

 

[ThisTinpotLeague]

They've beaten the two teams that will finish 24th and 23rd this year, hasn't proved that much yet.

Speak for your own merry band of idiots. We scored two actual goals and only conceded three, I expect the play offs.

How many excellent British managers in the championship/L1 are good enough to step up to the next division only to see teams bring in a coach from Spain who no one has ever heard of?

would certainly like to see Karl Robinson given another crack at championship management. Any club would do, but if I had my choice it would be Reading.

 

[ccfctommy]

Not sure if we can win at Gillingham tomorrow...

 

[GFC4EVA]

Not sure if we can win at Gillingham tomorrow...

You can but hopefully you won't

 

[Caer]

Finally recovered from the trip to Gillingham. Thought Gillingham played very well with Eaves giving us plenty of problems, he won everything in the air but thankfully Loovens and especially Baldwin were on their game to sort out what happened from his knock-downs. Going 1-0 down with about 60 seconds was a real sobering moment of perhaps things haven't actually changed but equalising straight away and going 3-1 up in no time is maybe a sign that the mantality at the club has finally changed. The 4th goal was massive as I think if Gillingham had scored next the game would have ended very differently.

Other than that Maja scores again, Maguire still class and for now still unbeaten. Wimbledon tomorrow with hopefully Oviedo back.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Shrewsbury up for us tomorrow and the return of Shaun Whalley. Still cant quite believe he has made a career of it at a decent level after leaving us as perhaps the most bog standard conference type winger I have seen (and we have had a few!), so fair play to him. Shows that with the right environment most players of some ability can do well.

Dont really see much cause for changing things from Tuesdays win. Think there will likely be calls for JJ to start in some capacity after his great sub appearance in midfield but we will see, on that, it was a pretty perfect situation for him to come in on Tuesday with Southend leaving a lot of space for him to work in. I liked Lee up front over his more recent No 10 appearances

Would be good to back up Tuesday result here and get the ball well and truly rolling. I think we are going to have to rely heavily on our home record this season from what ive seen so far so important we dont drop points n these sorts of games I think.

 

[BelizeHatter]

They got Gillead too. Another winger we tried to make into a midfielder

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

They got Gillead too. Another winger we tried to make into a midfielder

Could have quite a few ex players for us as they have Angol as well, although he never actually played for us. That was a very odd signing by Still

 

[Kenneth E End]

Could have quite a few ex players for us as they have Angol as well, although he never actually played for us. That was a very odd signing by Still

But still made a profit like...

 

[Maple Hatter]

Should have a bit of confidence going into this game after Tuesday. Not sure however which side NJ will play. Could JJ play in a midfield role after Tuesday impressive performance? Wouldn't mind seeing him given a run. Lee certainly plays better up front than his midfiled role and I would expect to see him and Hylts playing together on Saturday with Collins on the bench. We certainly have options should we need to change things. NJ also mentioned that Luke Berry will be playing in a closed doors friendly on Monday which is excellent news.
Another biggish crowd expected and lets hope they can recreate some of the atmosphere made in midweek.
Shrewsbury impressed last season and can't be underestimated. Its clear however they will need time to get used to a new manager and looking at their odds its seems the bookies don't believe they can repeat last seasons form. Saw they arn't bringing much more than 350 fans to the Kenny. Perhaps their fans aren't that convinced about their chances either.

 

[Bobbin']

Finally recovered from the trip to Gillingham. Thought Gillingham played very well with Eaves giving us plenty of problems, he won everything in the air but thankfully Loovens and especially Baldwin were on their game to sort out what happened from his knock-downs. Going 1-0 down with about 60 seconds was a real sobering moment of perhaps things haven't actually changed but equalising straight away and going 3-1 up in no time is maybe a sign that the mantality at the club has finally changed. The 4th goal was massive as I think if Gillingham had scored next the game would have ended very differently.

Other than that Maja scores again, Maguire still class and for now still unbeaten. Wimbledon tomorrow with hopefully Oviedo back.

Shithole init?