Half Way There!

[Rammy]

Most of us have now reached the half way point, with all but two to follow tomorrow. So, how do we feel at the half way point? Happy, depressed, or indifferent?

Obviously as a Derby fan, I'm happy. Top of the league, albeit because Middlesbrough's game was postponed. Hopefully we can avoid another spectacular implosion this time round.

I can see us and Boro running away with it, although I'm still not quite sure on Hull. I expect Brighton to slowly lose touch through continuing to draw far too many games.

 

[BCFC Jordan]

We're livin' on a prayer.

 

[Dazza]

Disapointed given how we started the first few months of the season. Looking good for at least a playoff place back then. Now i am not convinced we will finish in the top half. The last couple of performances have been better and will be interesting to see who we bring in in January.

 

[MagpieBee]

First quarter, terrible. Second quarter, superb.

Averages out to an OK season so far. Still feels like we've regressed a little from last year, and I don't think we're clinical enough for a top 6 place, though you never know. Would like our striking problems to be addressed in January, otherwise get people fit and ready for a proper push next season.

 

[Luke_ciderhead]

We've had an utterly miserable season so far. I don't think anyone could have predicted it being this bad, even after a poor transfer window. The only consolation I can think of is that at least we aren't Bolton. Us, them and Charlton to go down.

 

[Turkey]

It's been a brilliant 23 games for us. We look a much better side than our last crack at the playoffs and it feels like automatic could be possible this year with this set of players and if not we've got a side who could have a reasonable chance in the playoff lottery. Derby and Boro are in fine form but it's hard to maintain that. Fair play to them if they do but we're going through a rough patch and a tough month fixture wise and other than losing to Boro still putting points on the board every week. Exciting times.

 

[markwwfc1992]

Given the expectation at our club on how we finished last season, this campaign has been largely depressing. Luckily I don't think were bad enough to go down, but a 17th or something place at the end of the season isn't much to shout home about.

 

[Bobbin']

Most of us have now reached the half way point, with all but two to follow tomorrow. So, how do we feel at the half way point? Happy, depressed, or indifferent?

Obviously as a Derby fan, I'm happy. Top of the league, albeit because Middlesbrough's game was postponed. Hopefully we can avoid another spectacular implosion this time round.

I can see us and Boro running away with it, although I'm still not quite sure on Hull. I expect Brighton to slowly lose touch through continuing to draw far too many games.

What do you fucking think Rammy?

 

[Tom_ITFC]

Despite playing poorly in my view, we've still got a good half season points tally! The Boro/Derby points just make ours look rubbish!

Positives are that we've got Fraser back, Bru back and Hyam making a return! Play offs have been realistically the aim again for us so we're on course for that

 

[Walkley_Owl]

It's difficult to assess, football wise it's been aesthetically pleasing, some of the inter play has been a joy to watch. Bannan, Lee and Forestieri are superb footballers to watch but it's a bit of what if, we had a poor first seven games Bristol City aside, and we continue to play catch up now, a slight tweaking of the away form and we definite play off contenders.

 

[Luke_1884]

Happy but apprehensive.

Long way to go, Hull and Brighton are three points off us and Boro with Burnley still capable despite being 9 behind.

It'll be interesting to see if we can keep our form up. Could be a couple of late comers to the party if somebody can put a run together as per.

 

[Madejski]

Amazing for 8 games, shite for 8 games with a lot of meh in between.

We'll finish 10th.. I just hope the second half of the season gives us more to believe in than the past couple of months has. Currently with all of our loans and contracts ending I don't know how we'll stand next season. At least most of our best players are tied up I suppose.

 

[KevinMcallister]

midtable form continues

 

[lee Stand]

Paul Clement is growing on me ALL the time ( Not literally) ...

After a slow start ( tho we were drawing not losing) we now sit at the top of the christmas tree , ephemeral maybe, but we are there,so yes I'm very happy.

I don't think we have actually been playing anywhere near our best so I'm wondering if that is a good thing or bad thing...


We've Boro coming up and some other very tricky away games ... half way there but a looooong way to go ...


It feels good and DCFC fans have had a happy xmas.. Will we have a happy new year tho ?

 

[AnkleBiter]

Probably where everyone expected us to be, but not with the manager we thought we'd still have. Nice to have a bit of interest for the first time in a while, and a very intriguing January window to come.

 

[Magic]

Looking good for 15th so decent stuff really.

 

[BCFC David]

Fuck off!

 

[El Guapo]

Overachieved for the first half and dismal for the second.

 

[SF_]

Bored.

 

[Rochdale White]

Bored.

I'll take bored over whatever the Bristol fans are feeling

 

[Gerry Gow]

It's difficult to assess, football wise it's been aesthetically pleasing, some of the inter play has been a joy to watch. Bannan, Lee and Forestieri are superb footballers to watch but it's a bit of what if, we had a poor first seven games Bristol City aside, and we continue to play catch up now, a slight tweaking of the away form and we definite play off contenders.

It's always been Bristol City aside!

We're the division's whipping boys...

 

[JJH]

I'll take bored over whatever the Bristol fans are feeling

Eh? They're top of the division again mate!

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/the-english-championship/table

 

[Gerry Gow]

I'll take bored over whatever the Bristol fans are feeling

League one title and a JPT medal. Bet you wish you were us....

 

[Veggie Legs]

Despite playing poorly in my view, we've still got a good half season points tally! The Boro/Derby points just make ours look rubbish!

Positives are that we've got Fraser back, Bru back and Hyam making a return! Play offs have been realistically the aim again for us so we're on course for that

Completely agree with this. I think we've been underperforming since August, despite results being good recently, so there's room for improvement in the second half of the season.

 

[Camdenite]

I think we massively underestimated the physicality of this league in our summer business. A belief that "our football will see us OK" was naive from Robbo, but coupled with the sad loss of Andy King last summer, which will have had some impact on our decision making regading recruitment, we've been shown up for the youthful football club we are. No old heads around to steer the club any more. The additions of Kevin Gallen and Greg Abbott to the scouting team have hopefully addressed that.

You really need robust players (even in the wide positions) and can only get away with one or two waifs in the team. We regularly have three or four out there. Regularly getting into promising positions, but find the door slammed shut too easily by most decent defenders. Defensively it isn't much better. Most teams have someone capable of bullying one of our centre halves, even if it's someone off the bench.

Due to the aforementioned summer transfer dealings and contract extensions we're now lumbered with a handful of players who could form the nucleus of a half decent League 1 campaign next season but are surplus to requirements at this level. That's going to affect any business we do in the next month.

As for the performances themselves, we've obviously struggled at times but that's often been due to that inability to compete physically and a defence with very little pace. We've payed some very decent stuff at times but whoever leads the line for us has usually not seen more than a couple of chances per game come their way. That's not enough. With the the squad as it stands we'll probably go down as others will spend to get themselves out of trouble, but I'm hopeful we're improving as a team all the time and that the return of Joe Walsh at the back will address some of the issues concerning pace. Transfer business will be crucial though. We really need those promised four additions to the squad to be of the right calibre to make a difference, however, I don't see how we're going to improve massively with the funds we have.

 

[MagpieBee]

I think we massively underestimated the physicality of this league in our summer business. A belief that "our football will see us OK" was naive from Robbo, but coupled with the sad loss of Andy King last summer, which will have had some impact on our decision making regading recruitment, we've been shown up for the youthful football club we are. No old heads around to steer the club any more. The additions of Kevin Gallen and Greg Abbott to the scouting team have hopefully addressed that.

You really need robust players (even in the wide positions) and can only get away with one or two waifs in the team. We regularly have three or four out there. Regularly getting into promising positions, but find the door slammed shut too easily by most decent defenders. Defensively it isn't much better. Most teams have someone capable of bullying one of our centre halves, even if it's someone off the bench.

Due to the aforementioned summer transfer dealings and contract extensions we're now lumbered with a handful of players who could form the nucleus of a half decent League 1 campaign next season but are surplus to requirements at this level. That's going to affect any business we do in the next month.

As for the performances themselves, we've obviously struggled at times but that's often been due to that inability to compete physically and a defence with very little pace. We've payed some very decent stuff at times but whoever leads the line for us has usually not seen more than a couple of chances per game come their way. That's not enough. With the the squad as it stands we'll probably go down as others will spend to get themselves out of trouble, but I'm hopeful we're improving as a team all the time and that the return of Joe Walsh at the back will address some of the issues concerning pace. Transfer business will be crucial though. We really need those promised four additions to the squad to be of the right calibre to make a difference, however, I don't see how we're going to improve massively with the funds we have.

I don't think you need to be "physical" to do well in this league, we definitely aren't very physical at all, have very few / almost no bullys in the team. I don't doubt that a couple more would probably be beneficial to us, and teams that have a lot of them have been some of the toughest games we've faced (Boro and Ipswich for example, both have a lot of strength and pace, and we struggle to deal with them at all) but you certainly don't need them to do well on a small budget.

However, on the flip side, I think you can "overachieve" in this league just by having a very physical side, solid at the back, who play the long ball well. It's definitely a short cut you can take to do well on a smaller budget, but it would be a shame to see you guys abandon the footballing principles that got you here for that.

 

[Camdenite]

I don't think you need to be "physical" to do well in this league, we definitely aren't very physical at all, have very few / almost no bullys in the team. I don't doubt that a couple more would probably be beneficial to us, and teams that have a lot of them have been some of the toughest games we've faced (Boro and Ipswich for example, both have a lot of strength and pace, and we struggle to deal with them at all) but you certainly don't need them to do well on a small budget.

However, on the flip side, I think you can "overachieve" in this league just by having a very physical side, solid at the back, who play the long ball well. It's definitely a short cut you can take to do well on a smaller budget, but it would be a shame to see you guys abandon the footballing principles that got you here for that.

Fair comments, but it's tough when you're regularly failing to win the 50/50's. A yard dog (like Jonathan Douglas ) harrying in the midfield makes a huge difference If you want to play the way we do. One thing I've noticed in the step up is that so many teams really only have two or three players that can actually hurt you. The rest are just there to do their jobs and feed those players. Unfortunately those kind of players are out of our reach financially and we don't have the scouting network to bring them in from abroad at a cheaper price.

 

[mpmbee]

A bit of a missed opportunity so far for us. A crippling injury list and a poor managerial appointment in the summer really held us back. Since Dijkhuizen was sacked and we've started to get players fit again we are third in the overall form table since the start of October. So promising signs for the second half of the season and a push for the playoffs.

 

[Walkley_Owl]

I don't think you need to be "physical" to do well in this league, we definitely aren't very physical at all, have very few / almost no bullys in the team. I don't doubt that a couple more would probably be beneficial to us, and teams that have a lot of them have been some of the toughest games we've faced (Boro and Ipswich for example, both have a lot of strength and pace, and we struggle to deal with them at all) but you certainly don't need them to do well on a small budget.

However, on the flip side, I think you can "overachieve" in this league just by having a very physical side, solid at the back, who play the long ball well. It's definitely a short cut you can take to do well on a smaller budget, but it would be a shame to see you guys abandon the footballing principles that got you here for that.

McCormack is physical as is the big lad alongside him, can't recall or spell his name mind.

 

[MagpieBee]

McCormack is physical as is the big lad alongside him, can't recall or spell his name mind.

Diagouraga would be our one player aside from the centre backs you would describe as physical.

McCormack doesn't typically play, but he is definitely physical, and we did use him for exactly that reason as a short term measure to get our form back on track when things were going badly.

A bit of a missed opportunity so far for us. A crippling injury list and a poor managerial appointment in the summer really held us back. Since Dijkhuizen was sacked and we've started to get players fit again we are third in the overall form table since the start of October. So promising signs for the second half of the season and a push for the playoffs.

Didn't realise the form was that good (I can remember lots of dropped points since October...).

Jota fully fit, Djuricin back, a new striker (with Hofmann maybe loaned out to get some game time) and no one sold would be an amazing window for us.