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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken 14:08 - Oct 28 with 5782 viewstractorboy1978

Heard him say after the game last night that he looked at the table before the game and couldn't see the top 8 changing. This was:

Lincoln
Hull
Peterborough
Ipswich
Portsmouth
Charlton
Sunderland
Doncaster

I'd probably put Fleetwood in that mix too but I don't think he's wrong. The table is already taking shape and I can't see anyone below that having the kind of consistency to break into the pack. Unless we have a catastrophic run a la last season we are going to be in/around the top 6. But it makes the games against the other 8 teams listed key and we've already lost to two of them.
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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:09 - Oct 28 with 3618 viewsKeno

therein lies our major problem, we cant seem to get results against good teams

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:10 - Oct 28 with 3605 viewsfactual_blue

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:09 - Oct 28 by Keno

therein lies our major problem, we cant seem to get results against good teams


But, despite the battering we got from Gillingham last night, we managed to carve a winner from the tiny amount of possession we had.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:15 - Oct 28 with 3564 viewsMullet

From memory the next team after us to have lost two on the bounce were down in 10th or 11th, so realistically there needs to be an upturn in our form especially as every team is susceptible to COVID hitting the squad and there being delays or games played at partial strength.

You just know we are likely to feel the full force of a scenario like that and it allow our rivals some breathing space. Anything outside of the top two really isn't good enough based on what we've seen thus far, but we don't look deserving of that just yet do we?

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:25 - Oct 28 with 3493 viewsblueislander

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:15 - Oct 28 by Mullet

From memory the next team after us to have lost two on the bounce were down in 10th or 11th, so realistically there needs to be an upturn in our form especially as every team is susceptible to COVID hitting the squad and there being delays or games played at partial strength.

You just know we are likely to feel the full force of a scenario like that and it allow our rivals some breathing space. Anything outside of the top two really isn't good enough based on what we've seen thus far, but we don't look deserving of that just yet do we?


Is there a precedent for postponing a match due to Covid? How many of the squad have to self-isolating and unavailable to merit a postponement.?
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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:26 - Oct 28 with 3495 viewsJammyDodgerrr

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:09 - Oct 28 by Keno

therein lies our major problem, we cant seem to get results against good teams


But it's weird isn't it? Doncaster hammer us and then lose two in a row to clubs you would expect them to beat. Peterborough draw with bottom of the table.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:28 - Oct 28 with 3481 viewstractorboy1978

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:15 - Oct 28 by Mullet

From memory the next team after us to have lost two on the bounce were down in 10th or 11th, so realistically there needs to be an upturn in our form especially as every team is susceptible to COVID hitting the squad and there being delays or games played at partial strength.

You just know we are likely to feel the full force of a scenario like that and it allow our rivals some breathing space. Anything outside of the top two really isn't good enough based on what we've seen thus far, but we don't look deserving of that just yet do we?


Doncaster have just lost two on the bounce against Crewe and Plymouth.

Realistically there are several clubs (us, Pompey, Sunderland, Hull, Charlton, Peterborough) which will probably see being outside the top 2 as a failure and every loss will be seen as a disaster. I'm not sure any of those are more deserving than us at this stage.
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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:31 - Oct 28 with 3467 viewsMullet

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:28 - Oct 28 by tractorboy1978

Doncaster have just lost two on the bounce against Crewe and Plymouth.

Realistically there are several clubs (us, Pompey, Sunderland, Hull, Charlton, Peterborough) which will probably see being outside the top 2 as a failure and every loss will be seen as a disaster. I'm not sure any of those are more deserving than us at this stage.


Apologies, I meant before the latest set of games. Only really Charlton out of that lot have a similar claim to us in that respect. All of the others are down here longer/smaller budgets/bigger upheaval etc

I think fans need to stop talking ourselves into such acceptance of this current mess frankly. Especially given it's such a turn around from what came before relegation. We looked incredibly poor at times last night, especially given how wretched Gillingham are. With a few players back from injury we really should be tearing things up sooner rather than later.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:40 - Oct 28 with 3420 viewstractorboy1978

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:31 - Oct 28 by Mullet

Apologies, I meant before the latest set of games. Only really Charlton out of that lot have a similar claim to us in that respect. All of the others are down here longer/smaller budgets/bigger upheaval etc

I think fans need to stop talking ourselves into such acceptance of this current mess frankly. Especially given it's such a turn around from what came before relegation. We looked incredibly poor at times last night, especially given how wretched Gillingham are. With a few players back from injury we really should be tearing things up sooner rather than later.


Oh I totally agree. The erosion of standards/expectations has been going on for years and continues to grate on me. It runs throughout the club.
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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:47 - Oct 28 with 3383 viewsChrisd

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:31 - Oct 28 by Mullet

Apologies, I meant before the latest set of games. Only really Charlton out of that lot have a similar claim to us in that respect. All of the others are down here longer/smaller budgets/bigger upheaval etc

I think fans need to stop talking ourselves into such acceptance of this current mess frankly. Especially given it's such a turn around from what came before relegation. We looked incredibly poor at times last night, especially given how wretched Gillingham are. With a few players back from injury we really should be tearing things up sooner rather than later.


Like those same players that were involved last season and looked what happened there? I can see what you're saying about talking things down Mullet, but equally there really isn't justification for talking us up either. There needs to be better results against those sides around us for that to occur. 2 wins in 20 games against the top 10 in L1 isn't a top 2 side in whatever league you're plying your trade.
[Post edited 28 Oct 2020 14:48]

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:49 - Oct 28 with 3365 viewsFoD_Blue

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:25 - Oct 28 by blueislander

Is there a precedent for postponing a match due to Covid? How many of the squad have to self-isolating and unavailable to merit a postponement.?


Swindon supporting work colleague told me that their game last night was postponed due to Oxford players (8 of them apparently) testing positive.
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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:51 - Oct 28 with 3350 viewsMullet

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:47 - Oct 28 by Chrisd

Like those same players that were involved last season and looked what happened there? I can see what you're saying about talking things down Mullet, but equally there really isn't justification for talking us up either. There needs to be better results against those sides around us for that to occur. 2 wins in 20 games against the top 10 in L1 isn't a top 2 side in whatever league you're plying your trade.
[Post edited 28 Oct 2020 14:48]


Bad management. It's very simple. As evidenced last night, last month, last season. When given confidence and stability we are far too good for this league and can win whilst playing badly or even hampered by tactical ineffectiveness.

Winning this league is not too much ask, until we allow ourselves to stay down here long enough for that to become true.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:54 - Oct 28 with 3323 viewsPJH

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:51 - Oct 28 by Mullet

Bad management. It's very simple. As evidenced last night, last month, last season. When given confidence and stability we are far too good for this league and can win whilst playing badly or even hampered by tactical ineffectiveness.

Winning this league is not too much ask, until we allow ourselves to stay down here long enough for that to become true.


Yes. Should have gone up last season so even if we do it this season it is a failure of sorts having been achieved twelve months late.

Failure to do it this season is almost unthinkable.
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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:56 - Oct 28 with 3317 viewstractorboy1978

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:47 - Oct 28 by Chrisd

Like those same players that were involved last season and looked what happened there? I can see what you're saying about talking things down Mullet, but equally there really isn't justification for talking us up either. There needs to be better results against those sides around us for that to occur. 2 wins in 20 games against the top 10 in L1 isn't a top 2 side in whatever league you're plying your trade.
[Post edited 28 Oct 2020 14:48]


It's not about talking us up, it's about talking about us at our level. It was embarrassing seeing people on here talk about Lincoln and Doncaster as if they have a better squad than us. They really don't. They may be better coached than us, that is a different argument and why so many don't want Lambert here.
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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 15:01 - Oct 28 with 3270 viewspointofblue

I think once Oxford get it together they could go on a run and make the Play Offs too.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 15:03 - Oct 28 with 3267 viewsChrisd

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:51 - Oct 28 by Mullet

Bad management. It's very simple. As evidenced last night, last month, last season. When given confidence and stability we are far too good for this league and can win whilst playing badly or even hampered by tactical ineffectiveness.

Winning this league is not too much ask, until we allow ourselves to stay down here long enough for that to become true.


Certainly agree PL has played his part, but the players aren't blameless and I'm not convinced they are too good for this league either. They aren't blowing sides away or even looking a far superior outfit in most games, look at last night against a very average L1 team in Gillingham. More evidence needed for me.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 15:07 - Oct 28 with 3240 viewsChrisd

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 15:01 - Oct 28 by pointofblue

I think once Oxford get it together they could go on a run and make the Play Offs too.


Yes, I feel the same. When you look at what they did last season and their squad, they might be that side that goes on a terrific run as the season unfolds.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 15:21 - Oct 28 with 3154 viewsBent_double

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 15:01 - Oct 28 by pointofblue

I think once Oxford get it together they could go on a run and make the Play Offs too.


MK Dons? They seem to have something about them, whether they can last the whole season is another matter, but they might be up there come May.

It was quite funny listening to MM rubbish Gillingham at half-time - by far the worst team he had seen at PR this season, offered nothing in attack, it was just a matter of when we went ahead, he said. Then we got the usual Brenner excitement as they went close, what 3 or 4 times in the 2nd half as we lost our shape/confidence/ran out of ideas.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 15:34 - Oct 28 with 3070 viewsOldsmoker

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:25 - Oct 28 by blueislander

Is there a precedent for postponing a match due to Covid? How many of the squad have to self-isolating and unavailable to merit a postponement.?


It was fortunate that last night we only had non-essential staff suspected of having Covid-19. If they had been there we might have lost.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 16:16 - Oct 28 with 2918 viewsdavblue

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 15:07 - Oct 28 by Chrisd

Yes, I feel the same. When you look at what they did last season and their squad, they might be that side that goes on a terrific run as the season unfolds.


they've lost their centre half Dickie in the summer and their central midfielder and wide player last Jan.

Might be a bit of a rebuilding season to go again next year.
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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 16:32 - Oct 28 with 2865 viewsVic

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:51 - Oct 28 by Mullet

Bad management. It's very simple. As evidenced last night, last month, last season. When given confidence and stability we are far too good for this league and can win whilst playing badly or even hampered by tactical ineffectiveness.

Winning this league is not too much ask, until we allow ourselves to stay down here long enough for that to become true.


But what bad management did we see from Lambert in the 1st 6 games? He had a constituent formation and team, we scored goals and several times the substitutions made significant contributions to the game when introduced. Last night he made the calls re personnel that most wanted and still he gets slated.

I don’t get it! Unless we’re saying that his descriptions of ‘really, really great’, ‘really excellent’ are the problem and showing the bar of expectation is set too low. In which case we have to ask the question - how much better are our players than they have shown this season? Maybe most have been playing near to their max and are actually playing ‘really, really great’ because they can’t actually do anything better!

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 17:05 - Oct 28 with 2788 viewsMullet

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 16:32 - Oct 28 by Vic

But what bad management did we see from Lambert in the 1st 6 games? He had a constituent formation and team, we scored goals and several times the substitutions made significant contributions to the game when introduced. Last night he made the calls re personnel that most wanted and still he gets slated.

I don’t get it! Unless we’re saying that his descriptions of ‘really, really great’, ‘really excellent’ are the problem and showing the bar of expectation is set too low. In which case we have to ask the question - how much better are our players than they have shown this season? Maybe most have been playing near to their max and are actually playing ‘really, really great’ because they can’t actually do anything better!


Excluding youth team players from the team photograph, digging Woolfenden out in the press, depending on your view of some/all of the subs he's made (admittedly he can't be blamed for Downes' injury for example) but the comment was not confined to "the 1st games" was it?

We played badly last night. We dominated possession against an awful side and still nearly let them in and struggled to break them down. If this is us at "really really great" then it isn't good enough.

Whether you see something like the Wigan game as riding our luck simialr to say Burton last season or not, top teams don't lose 4-1 then react the way did against Lincoln. We should be better than that and if we're not, that's on him. We've had two years of underperforming to various magnitudes under Lambert.

Struggling past Gillingham does not mean all is forgiven or he's above criticism.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 17:44 - Oct 28 with 2676 viewsSwansea_Blue

I bet he said the same this time last year...

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 18:00 - Oct 28 with 2612 viewsBlueBadger

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 16:32 - Oct 28 by Vic

But what bad management did we see from Lambert in the 1st 6 games? He had a constituent formation and team, we scored goals and several times the substitutions made significant contributions to the game when introduced. Last night he made the calls re personnel that most wanted and still he gets slated.

I don’t get it! Unless we’re saying that his descriptions of ‘really, really great’, ‘really excellent’ are the problem and showing the bar of expectation is set too low. In which case we have to ask the question - how much better are our players than they have shown this season? Maybe most have been playing near to their max and are actually playing ‘really, really great’ because they can’t actually do anything better!


The endless persistence with shoe-horning Judge in out of position springs to mind.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 18:02 - Oct 28 with 2609 viewsKeaneish

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 14:54 - Oct 28 by PJH

Yes. Should have gone up last season so even if we do it this season it is a failure of sorts having been achieved twelve months late.

Failure to do it this season is almost unthinkable.


I haven’t seen anything yet to suggest we’ll go up. We seem to have lost our way after bright games in the opening weeks and we’re not even 10 league games in. Continuity and consistency, two essentials Lambert struggles with.

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Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 18:28 - Oct 28 with 2545 viewsBlueBadger

Mick Mills - top 8 won't be broken on 15:03 - Oct 28 by Chrisd

Certainly agree PL has played his part, but the players aren't blameless and I'm not convinced they are too good for this league either. They aren't blowing sides away or even looking a far superior outfit in most games, look at last night against a very average L1 team in Gillingham. More evidence needed for me.


Much 'worse' sides than us did better than us last season and are doing better than us this season. Mainly because they're being better managed.

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