League wide open.

[womble76]

Is it just me or is league 2 bonkers. The league is wide open. Makes for great football. Can't predict week to week. Ruins my accers every week. Fantastic football to watch. Overall we will still finish top ten Imo. Looking forward to more ridiculous resulting the weeks to come.

 

[shoddycollins]

Yeah only 11 points separate top and bottom... Crazy stuff!

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

I think it will spread out fairly quickly this year .... I think Carlisle will find it hard to keep in touch with the bottom this year , they'll be battling it out with us for that coverted 11th place soon

 

[daviejones]

We'll be 14th or something average like that. Good passing football combined with a completely awful defence should make for some good games though, cut out the individual mistakes and we might actually win a game or two.

 

[Womble98]

Leyton Orient surprising most people so far.

 

[AdamStag]

Mansfield have spent all season so far in the top half

CRAZY

 

[Murphy]

The more you look at Orient the more you think they should easily get out of this league with the squad they have at their disposal. Cox could play lower end Championship I reckon and Simpson is probably the best striker around for this level. They've got a solid back line with bags of experience, Dunne in particular is a massive coup for this level. Be very surprised if they don't make top three, although that's easy to say after their start and the fact they dismantled us

Of the rest, I'd agree it looks wide open. Some will come into more form later on - plenty of teams with lots of new faces ie Luton.

 

[shoddycollins]

Orient aren't suprising me... Luton however, are.

 

[E10rifle]

The more you look at Orient the more you think they should easily get out of this league with the squad they have at their disposal. Cox could play lower end Championship I reckon and Simpson is probably the best striker around for this level. They've got a solid back line with bags of experience, Dunne in particular is a massive coup for this level. Be very surprised if they don't make top three, although that's easy to say after their start and the fact they dismantled us .

Actually Murph, the more you look at our squad, the more you realise how fragile it is. 5 teenage youth teamers on the bench today with less than 10 first team appearances between them, one 21 year old and, er, Ollie Palmer. With Dunne injured and McAnuff and Fatty Lowry both unavailable for selection due to them trying to engineer moves away from the club, we actually have one of the thinnest squads in the division.

Can't deny that our first eleven is one of the strongest around, though. Cisak, Baudry, Cox and Simpson are probably the best players in their respective positions in the division, and Bradley Pritchard appears to have been body snatched and replaced with a professional footballer.

Plymouth, Portsmouth, Oxford and a late-charging Barceluton will all be real challengers for auto promotion, and all probably have deeper squads than us.

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

^ I agree with all of that, although I would argue from what I've seen Matt Ingram at Wycombe is better than Cisak, but he's a top goalkeeper for this level.

I presume McAnuff and Lowry will be off, although I'm in a minority of about one who would like to see McAnuff stay. I'd imagine we'll be making three signings before the transfer window closes, I'd be utterly gobsmacked - and pretty pissed off - if we didn't.

I'm not sure there's more unexpected results in this league than any other (save the Premier League) however.

 

[cufc17]

*cough*.....Jabo.....*cough*

 

[RavenBish]

Mathematically, anyone could get relegated or promoted at this point.

CRAZY!!!!!

 

[WAP]

Even after todays blip I'm still confident we'll be up there, credit and all that to Morecambe for going 3-0 up but all 3 of their goals came against the run of play, they were time wasting within the first 2 minutes (true), keeper was booked for time wasting in first half and we had something like 16 corners.

 

[Nickchippenhamgas]

It's nice being outside everyone's radar on here for promotion, we'll just keep going and see where it takes us.

 

[Youpies]

If everyone would stop spaffing themselves in August, that would be great.

Tissue box in the corner of you need it

 

[mowgli]

It's nice being outside everyone's radar on here for promotion, we'll just keep going and see where it takes us.

That's part of the fun of being back in The Football League as nobody expects you to be near the top.
Luton will come good i'm sure and Portsmouth are looking good after being 3-0 down yesterday. I reckon we'll see the biggest relegation scrap for years this season as any one of us could drop down the league and anyone can beat anyone in this division, could be the most exciting league 2 in years.

 

[AdamStag]

I think it's just about not having a bad start, and if you can get off to a solid, if not unspectacular start like we've managed and you can gain confidence from that.

Get off to a bad start and all of a sudden everyone is under pressure straight away

 

[Flaxman's Alibi]

I'm already on the beta-blockers from the sheer craziness of it all.
Who'd have thought, 2 weeks in and everyone could still go up, and get this, even go down!

hashtagmental

 

[miagsygas]

Does anybody really look at the table in August? We've started well but could have played a load of naff teams, impossible to judge so far.

 

[Trapdoor]

if you are top of the league in october the title is as good as won. statistically proven with evidence innit.

 

[Meadow]

Does anybody really look at the table in August?

Exactly. Weren't Cheltenham top at the end of August last season? I would check but my website of choice - Statto.com - is down and has been for ages.

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

Exactly. Weren't Cheltenham top at the end of August last season? I would check but my website of choice - Statto.com - is down and has been for ages.

I think so. So were York the season they went down.

 

[shoddycollins]

I think so. So were York the season they went down.

I think the season Hartlepool got relegated from League One, they were last undefeated team.

On the flipside I think the season Bournemouth went up into the championship, they'd been in the relegation zone in October or even November that season.

 

[Murphy]

I underestimated Orient at the start of the season, hence why I said what I said. Didn't initially realise the core was as strong as it was (or at least as it seems to me), although depth is obviously a problem.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Does anybody really look at the table in August? We've started well but could have played a load of naff teams, impossible to judge so far.

Channel 5 making a big deal of the league table after one match was pretty naff.

 

[mowgli]

I underestimated Orient at the start of the season, hence why I said what I said. Didn't initially realise the core was as strong as it was (or at least as it seems to me), although depth is obviously a problem.

I underested Leyton Orient because most of their fans said they were shit and heading for The Conference, they told lies!

 

[The Terminator]

We don't have much strength in depth right now, mainly because we don't know if Shane Lowry or Jobi McAnuff will be with us by the end of the transfer window. Remember, McAnuff earns £7k a week with us and Lowry £4k.

If both stay, then we only need a central midfielder in. Otherwise another defender and maybe another wide player will be needed as well.

Division will always be wide open, but I can only see around 8 teams with squad depth capable of promotion.

I will just be happy not to get relegated again, our start has suprised me because Hendon is our manager and our owner, although he is making alot of effort to try and improve his own performance this season, is to me anyway still a moron.

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

I underested Leyton Orient because most of their fans said they were shit and heading for The Conference, they told lies!

One fan said that ;D

 

[E10rifle]

Remember, McAnuff earns £7k a week with us and Lowry £4k.

Not true - both had their wages halved by relegation clauses. Still an abject waste of 5.5k, especially as they're both refusing to play.

 

[Kenneth E End]

John Still always says his sides "start slow." Doesn't make it any better of an excuse. We've thrown away 7 points, so really we should be 9 points from 4 games, but we're not. Very un-Luton like, a team built on defence solidity first and foremost.

The year we got promoted we only had 11 points from our first 10 games, winning just 2 of our opening 8. I remember Sunderland getting promoted to the PL in 2007 after losing the first 5 games. A long, long, way to go.