2022/2023 Promotion Thread

[northstandexile]

Stags vs Lorient postponed, too much snow

 

[shoddycollins]

Are you arctic hordes going to manage to ski to the CG on Saturday?

Don't know what you're talking about. Lovely and sunny up here mate.

 

[Indian Dan]

It’s the bit in between that’s the problem

 

[shoddycollins]

It’s the bit in between that’s the problem

It'll be fine. We're strapping Carver to the front of the supporter's coach so he can defrost the road ahead with his torrent of hot air.

 

[Conker]

Stags vs Lorient postponed, too much snow

Those who suggest it’s injury related, without bothering to look at the -10 Saturday morning forecast are really stupid.

 

[Carver]

We’re all shite. Let’s be honest.

We aren't shit, we're 2nd and are having a really good season and are aiming for promotion.

Just because you support a team of mid table no hopes, doesn't mean we're shite too.

 

[Indian Dan]

In the grand scheme of things L2 is shite in the extreme this year - yourselves included.

 

[Carver]

In the grand scheme of things L2 is shite in the extreme this year - yourselves included.

Yes it's never been a glamorous league and never will be, but why are you saying my team is shit? What is your definition of shite?

 

[Indian Dan]

I’m not singling Carlisle out. I’ve seen every game so far this season that my team has played. Orient apart, everyone has been horrendous - some laughably so. It’s a definite downgrade on last season and I reckon next seasons L1 relegation slots are those that go up. I’d say it’d be a case of 3 out of the 4 being ‘Forest Greens’.

 

[AdamStag]

I don’t think i’ve seen any top side this season tbh,

Salford looked good but given the injuries we had for the game the result was expected.

Carlisle looked great at our place and got a 0-0 but we went and spanked them up there.

Even though we lost to orient 1-0 in august we should’ve been out of sight before they scored.

 

[shoddycollins]

Most teams are inconsistent to a degree. Even Orient when they came to our place were outplayed for the most part and won in part thanks to some shocking refereeing. They've obviously been much better against most other opponents. Mansfield fans who travelled to Brunton Park the other week witnessed by some distance our worst performance of the season and a complete outlier in an otherwise very good season. Rochdale looked like a decent outfit when we played them at our place earlier in the season while when we went down to Salford we faced a team that just looked poor all round.

If everyone were to rank the opponents they'd seen this season from best to worst there'd be some interesting rankings for sure.

 

[Indian Dan]

We’ve played 12 times against the current top 8 and only lost twice - Stevenage and Cobblers. Yet we’ve been beaten by some right old shite teams toward the bottom.

 

[Stocky]

I’m not singling Carlisle out. I’ve seen every game so far this season that my team has played. Orient apart, everyone has been horrendous - some laughably so. It’s a definite downgrade on last season and I reckon next seasons L1 relegation slots are those that go up. I’d say it’d be a case of 3 out of the 4 being ‘Forest Greens’.

Mate moved down not far from Burton and has been to a couple of their games this season when he's been at a loose end, he reckons low end League One is poor aswell.

Speaking as a team who's just come up from the NL, I would say top 7-8 NL is the same as most of this division. It's just every team in L2 is of that general level so you don't get as many easy weeks where you can rack up wins against like Maidenhead or Aldershot. Really wouldn't surprise me if bottom half League One isn't much different.

I know it's Cup and one off games but look at Grimsby. We beat Charlton pretty comfortably in the cup too.

I'd say Championship and high end L1 aren't far off and then low end L1 down to whole of L2, top few NL teams, there really isn't loads in it. Don't forget Grimsby actually finished 6th in the NL and did a proper, last minute smash and grab job all the way through their NL play off campaign and they're fine at this level plus cup run. Boreham Wood aswell in the cups.

Basically, if you got low end L1 sides, whole of L2 and top 6 or 7 NL teams put them in a tombola as to what level they'd play at, I don't think there would be a startling difference.

 

[shoddycollins]

Mate moved down not far from Burton and has been to a couple of their games this season when he's been at a loose end, he reckons low end League One is poor aswell.

Speaking as a team who's just come up from the NL, I would say top 7-8 NL is the same as most of this division. It's just every team in L2 is of that general level so you don't get as many easy weeks where you can rack up wins against like Maidenhead or Aldershot. Really wouldn't surprise me if bottom half League One isn't much different.

I know it's Cup and one off games but look at Grimsby. We beat Charlton pretty comfortably in the cup too.

I'd say Championship and high end L1 aren't far off and then low end L1 down to whole of L2, top few NL teams, there really isn't loads in it. Don't forget Grimsby actually finished 6th in the NL and did a proper, last minute smash and grab job all the way through their NL play off campaign and they're fine at this level plus cup run. Boreham Wood aswell in the cups.

Basically, if you got low end L1 sides, whole of L2 and top 6 or 7 NL teams put them in a tombola as to what level they'd play at, I don't think there would be a startling difference.

I tried to say this exact thing a few months ago and was roundly ridiculed for it.

There's a gradient of quality from mid-L1 down to upper-NL, Shrewsbury are I'm sure a better team than D&R but the big jumps in quality are within L1 and NL, rather than between L2 and those leagues. Similarly there's not much between the rank and file Premier League teams and the teams at the top of the Championship, a gradual increase in quality but no big jump.

 

[Stocky]

I tried to say this exact thing a few months ago and was roundly ridiculed for it.

There's a gradient of quality from mid-L1 down to upper-NL, Shrewsbury are I'm sure a better team than D&R but the big jumps in quality are within L1 and NL, rather than between L2 and those leagues. Similarly there's not much between the rank and file Premier League teams and the teams at the top of the Championship, a gradual increase in quality but no big jump.

Completely agree. And I think you put it a lot more eloquently than me.

Another analogy, we're playing Colchester tomorrow. All our games this season are tight as fuck. Can't really see tomorrow being different either way but of course you do get anomaly's. It'd be tight as fuck if we played Boreham Wood and if we played Burton.

Where I'd really expect us to actually win would be if we were to play Maidenhead and where I'd really expect us to lose is if we were to play Barnsley.

 

[ForzaCounty]

I had that same argument on here months ago when the locals baulked at the idea that Wrexham and Notts would comfortably make this division's top 7.

You know, it can be difficult being right all the time.

 

[Soup Ladle]

Most teams are inconsistent to a degree. Even Orient when they came to our place were outplayed for the most part and won in part thanks to some shocking refereeing. They've obviously been much better against most other opponents. Mansfield fans who travelled to Brunton Park the other week witnessed by some distance our worst performance of the season and a complete outlier in an otherwise very good season. Rochdale looked like a decent outfit when we played them at our place earlier in the season while when we went down to Salford we faced a team that just looked poor all round.

If everyone were to rank the opponents they'd seen this season from best to worst there'd be some interesting rankings for sure.

Best

Orient, Swindon, Carlisle, Bradford.

Worst

Rochdale, Pools, Crawley, Colchester, Newport, Stevenage, Doncaster, Harrogate

Everyone else really mediocre playing the same style of athletic, attritional football that L2 teams mostly seem to churn out

 

[Indian Dan]

That’s just where our problem lies. Out of your worst list we’ve been beaten by Crawley, Colchester, Newport, Stevenage, Doncaster and Harrogate.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

In the grand scheme of things L2 is shite in the extreme this year - yourselves included.

It must be bad then as it was shite last season too

 

[Richard Cranium]

What would it take for a L2 season to not be considered shite though?

 

[LordJord]

What would it take for a L2 season to not be considered shite though?

Thats actually an interesting question.
Every now and then you get a side that are clearly way better than the rest. But in general as someone mentioned the other day, limit your mistakes and be effective from set pieces and you can push towards the top end of the league. Players at this level who try and play more passing football can often come unstuck due to a lack of ability. I cant see a scenario any time soon where there were more than a handful of good sides in this league.

 

[Indian Dan]

You can only tell in retrospect. FGR won the league last season but are rock bottom and adrift this. Exeter, Rovers and Vale all look like staying put with a solid, if unspectacular, season but none have pulled any trees up. Recently, only Plymouth have appeared to have really kicked on. The others are just languishing in L1 with little prospect of doing much.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

What would it take for a L2 season to not be considered shite though?

I dont think it will ever be anything but, in the grand scheme of things. There will be good sides for league 2 but it is still the bottom tier of league football.
We were shit last season until January and the fact we went up automatically says a lot

 

[Soup Ladle]

Thats actually an interesting question.
Every now and then you get a side that are clearly way better than the rest. But in general as someone mentioned the other day, limit your mistakes and be effective from set pieces and you can push towards the top end of the league. Players at this level who try and play more passing football can often come unstuck due to a lack of ability. I cant see a scenario any time soon where there were more than a handful of good sides in this league.

Depends what you define as good. Some teams are very well organised and have the odd quality player to make the difference or good at set pieces etc. They could be classed as a 'good' team but if you're talking purely in football terms then there's not an awful lot of them. I think I read an article some time back in When Saturday Comes or something and it resonated because it had some coach writing that if you watch L2 regularly, you basically watch the same game 80% of the time as all the sides are just coached in a similar manner. They do the same fitness drills and training programmes and manage the game in similar ways. It's probably not far off reality. And that's why you see such tight games and fine margins every week.

 

[masi51]

You can only tell in retrospect. FGR won the league last season but are rock bottom and adrift this. Exeter, Rovers and Vale all look like staying put with a solid, if unspectacular, season but none have pulled any trees up. Recently, only Plymouth have appeared to have really kicked on. The others are just languishing in L1 with little prospect of doing much.

Think you are forgetting a team !!

 

[Conker]

Luke Bolton is terrorising Crewe tonight so far, he tore us a new one the other week too, cracking player.

 

[shoddycollins]

I had that same argument on here months ago when the locals baulked at the idea that Wrexham and Notts would comfortably make this division's top 7.

You know, it can be difficult being right all the time.

Saying Wrexham and Notts would comfortably make the top 7 is an entirely different claim.

 

[Carver]

Think you are forgetting a team !!

Good of you to remind everyone that Bolton were just a L2 club recently.

We promise we will not forget.

 

[masi51]

Good of you to remind everyone that Bolton were just a L2 club recently.

We promise we will not forget.

No problem........A little humility every now and again keep you grounded

 

[Cas]

Not good enough for autos. Need to be beating Hartlepool next week because we'll get nothing against Carlisle. Don't fancy meeting any of the current teams in the playoffs tbh.