| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project 07:19 - Sep 30 with 4781 views | LegendofthePhoenix |
Three games, and we all feel a lot more positive.
When PC joined, we had ME at the helm, and he must have thought he would be able to turn last year's squad into something with a decent promotion chance, albeit there were no doubt discussions about the potential for ME to sell the club. PC must now think he is one lucky manager - the sale of the club went through, Gamechanger came in and he was supported by a new regime to completely change the squad. And supported in his vision of the brand of football he wants to play, and tolerance whilst the squad gelled.
Some on here were calling for PC to go - "toast" I recall one or two posters calling him. But Accrington on Saturday is going to be a crucial game to demonstrate that this is no flash-in-the-pan of playing the worst team in the division, that we can sustain the brand of attacking football the fans have been craving for a decade, and get results.
I love way we are playing. Quality and back-up in every position, and players we had barely heard of who we got free or for peanuts, who are now looking like they would easily cope with the Championship. Free scoring, exciting. Well done PC, Gamechanger and all the fans who have been tolerant of the early results. |  |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:43 - Sep 30 with 2999 views | You_Bloo_Right |
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. |  |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:45 - Sep 30 with 2976 views | suffolkpoker |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:43 - Sep 30 by You_Bloo_Right |
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. |
The runaway train is now leaving the station... |  |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:47 - Sep 30 with 2977 views | Herbivore |
I think it's a bit early for a celebratory tone to be honest. We had 6 really poor results at the start of the season, followed by two decent results, and one blinder. We're still 19th with a big gap to make up to the top 2, which was our goal at the start of the season. There are promising signs now but it's really very early days still. Lose at Accrington and suddenly things don't look very rosy again. We have to put together a decent run through October and undo the damage of our poor start to the season, if we don't do that a mini run of three better performances will mean very little. |  |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:51 - Sep 30 with 2965 views | Steve_M |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:47 - Sep 30 by Herbivore |
I think it's a bit early for a celebratory tone to be honest. We had 6 really poor results at the start of the season, followed by two decent results, and one blinder. We're still 19th with a big gap to make up to the top 2, which was our goal at the start of the season. There are promising signs now but it's really very early days still. Lose at Accrington and suddenly things don't look very rosy again. We have to put together a decent run through October and undo the damage of our poor start to the season, if we don't do that a mini run of three better performances will mean very little. |
I got a flurry of down arrows yesterday for similarly urging caution yesterday. Ten points from nine games is not spectacular, even if seven from the last three is very good. |  |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:57 - Sep 30 with 2916 views | Herbivore |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:51 - Sep 30 by Steve_M |
I got a flurry of down arrows yesterday for similarly urging caution yesterday. Ten points from nine games is not spectacular, even if seven from the last three is very good. |
I think those who have spent months shouting down the imaginary mob baying for Cook's blood haven't had much to shout about in recent weeks so are trying to make the most of it. It's all very odd. We're all pleased that we've strung three decent results together but if someone had told me at the start of August that we'd be 19th at the end of September with 10 points from our opening 9 games I'd be wondering what the hell had gone wrong. All of us hope this is the start of promotion form and that we get ourselves in the mix quickly, but at the moment it's three better games in an overall poor start to the season. Time to make it more than that, not time to celebrate as though the project is now well and truly on the rails. | |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:04 - Sep 30 with 2892 views | LegendofthePhoenix |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:47 - Sep 30 by Herbivore |
I think it's a bit early for a celebratory tone to be honest. We had 6 really poor results at the start of the season, followed by two decent results, and one blinder. We're still 19th with a big gap to make up to the top 2, which was our goal at the start of the season. There are promising signs now but it's really very early days still. Lose at Accrington and suddenly things don't look very rosy again. We have to put together a decent run through October and undo the damage of our poor start to the season, if we don't do that a mini run of three better performances will mean very little. |
completely agree with that, BUT...
It is the style of play that is so exciting. Right from the off this season, that is how we were trying to play, we just didn't have all the bits of the jigsaw in the right places. Even if we lose a few, that brand of football is great to watch and will at least send us home with some hope and good memories. | |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:10 - Sep 30 with 2857 views | Herbivore |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:04 - Sep 30 by LegendofthePhoenix |
completely agree with that, BUT...
It is the style of play that is so exciting. Right from the off this season, that is how we were trying to play, we just didn't have all the bits of the jigsaw in the right places. Even if we lose a few, that brand of football is great to watch and will at least send us home with some hope and good memories. |
I'm not sure I agree to be honest, I think some hindsight is being applied there. I've seen a good few of our games and we've been underwhelming for the most part, creating comparatively little and still too much slow passing along the back. There's been the odd flash of quality from individuals but nothing I'd call a clear style of play. We were much more on the front foot for much longer spells against Doncaster but we now need to follow that up against better sides than Donny, who were as poor a side as I've seen at PR. [Post edited 30 Sep 2021 8:11]
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:12 - Sep 30 with 2841 views | Steve_M |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:04 - Sep 30 by LegendofthePhoenix |
completely agree with that, BUT...
It is the style of play that is so exciting. Right from the off this season, that is how we were trying to play, we just didn't have all the bits of the jigsaw in the right places. Even if we lose a few, that brand of football is great to watch and will at least send us home with some hope and good memories. |
The problem with playing well and not getting wins is that the good stuff rarely lasts once the team - any team - is short on confidence. The odd defeat is fine but those to Burton, Cheltenham and Bolton were very disappointing ones.
Hopefully a settled back four plus Morsy provides a solid platform that allows plenty of options going forward. [Post edited 30 Sep 2021 8:36]
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:24 - Sep 30 with 2780 views | quad |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:47 - Sep 30 by Herbivore |
I think it's a bit early for a celebratory tone to be honest. We had 6 really poor results at the start of the season, followed by two decent results, and one blinder. We're still 19th with a big gap to make up to the top 2, which was our goal at the start of the season. There are promising signs now but it's really very early days still. Lose at Accrington and suddenly things don't look very rosy again. We have to put together a decent run through October and undo the damage of our poor start to the season, if we don't do that a mini run of three better performances will mean very little. |
Not sure that the draw with MK Dons was a poor result TBH given their start to the season but I agree with you that we should still be cautious and not be making any wild predictions. The last 3 results have been good but like you say if we lose to Accrington it's going to feel like it's back to the drawing board again.
Having said that there are positive signs and reasons for optimism that we can go on a good run. The next 6 games or so all look very winnable and I don't see any reason at all why we can't go and win at Portsmouth. I'd be more worried about Plymouth away.
Give it another 6 games or so and see where we are at then. We will know full well if we are heading in the right direction or not. Hopefully by then we will have bridged the points gap significantly. Wigan have already helped us by losing at home to Wednesday. |  | | |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:29 - Sep 30 with 2744 views | Basuco |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:10 - Sep 30 by Herbivore |
I'm not sure I agree to be honest, I think some hindsight is being applied there. I've seen a good few of our games and we've been underwhelming for the most part, creating comparatively little and still too much slow passing along the back. There's been the odd flash of quality from individuals but nothing I'd call a clear style of play. We were much more on the front foot for much longer spells against Doncaster but we now need to follow that up against better sides than Donny, who were as poor a side as I've seen at PR. [Post edited 30 Sep 2021 8:11]
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I agree that one spring does not make a summer, but Sam Morsy did appear to make a big difference, how much was Town playing well and how much was Doncaster playing very badly we will find out on Saturday. Against Sheffield we had very poor shape with little attacking threat, I have not seen many games this season so cannot comment on many others. I think we need to wait until the end of October before we can say we are on the up. The final piece of the team, arguably the most important, the defensive midfielder, has had one game. A couple of weeks of training yes but Town need to continue that improvement in shape, balance and attacking threat against better teams. I think they can but October is a big month for Paul Cook. |  | | |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:31 - Sep 30 with 2727 views | Herbivore |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:24 - Sep 30 by quad |
Not sure that the draw with MK Dons was a poor result TBH given their start to the season but I agree with you that we should still be cautious and not be making any wild predictions. The last 3 results have been good but like you say if we lose to Accrington it's going to feel like it's back to the drawing board again.
Having said that there are positive signs and reasons for optimism that we can go on a good run. The next 6 games or so all look very winnable and I don't see any reason at all why we can't go and win at Portsmouth. I'd be more worried about Plymouth away.
Give it another 6 games or so and see where we are at then. We will know full well if we are heading in the right direction or not. Hopefully by then we will have bridged the points gap significantly. Wigan have already helped us by losing at home to Wednesday. |
I'd say a team that wants to be chasing promotion should be looking to beat MK Dons at home personally. Perhaps not as poor as the other results but not a good result either for me.
The next 6 fixtures look kind on paper, but so did the first 6 fixtures and we took a meagre 3 points from those. I am genuinely hopeful that we will now kick on and push up the table but I want to see it happen rather than bask in triumphalism after one big win against a really poor Doncaster side. If we're pushing the top 6 and have closed the gap to the top 2 in 6 games time then we'll all be happy and able to look forward with a bit more confidence. | |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:39 - Sep 30 with 2665 views | Herbivore |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:29 - Sep 30 by Basuco |
I agree that one spring does not make a summer, but Sam Morsy did appear to make a big difference, how much was Town playing well and how much was Doncaster playing very badly we will find out on Saturday. Against Sheffield we had very poor shape with little attacking threat, I have not seen many games this season so cannot comment on many others. I think we need to wait until the end of October before we can say we are on the up. The final piece of the team, arguably the most important, the defensive midfielder, has had one game. A couple of weeks of training yes but Town need to continue that improvement in shape, balance and attacking threat against better teams. I think they can but October is a big month for Paul Cook. |
Morsy definitely made a difference. Got to say though that it worries me that we'd made 18 signings but seemingly couldn't put out a functional side without signing number 19, who only came off in the dying hours of the transfer window. Suggests rather poor squad planning, imo. I agree with you that we'll know more come the end of October, if we have a really good month and we've dragged ourselves up into the mix then we can feel much more positive. For now it's still a case of wait and see for me. | |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:48 - Sep 30 with 2606 views | quad |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:31 - Sep 30 by Herbivore |
I'd say a team that wants to be chasing promotion should be looking to beat MK Dons at home personally. Perhaps not as poor as the other results but not a good result either for me.
The next 6 fixtures look kind on paper, but so did the first 6 fixtures and we took a meagre 3 points from those. I am genuinely hopeful that we will now kick on and push up the table but I want to see it happen rather than bask in triumphalism after one big win against a really poor Doncaster side. If we're pushing the top 6 and have closed the gap to the top 2 in 6 games time then we'll all be happy and able to look forward with a bit more confidence. |
Accrington have conceded 12 goals in the last 3 games so that bodes well. I agree about MK Dons but they could be dark horses this season as they've scored 20 goals already which is the highest in the division. | | | |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:52 - Sep 30 with 2583 views | Herbivore |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:48 - Sep 30 by quad |
Accrington have conceded 12 goals in the last 3 games so that bodes well. I agree about MK Dons but they could be dark horses this season as they've scored 20 goals already which is the highest in the division. |
If we can start fast and get an early goal at Accrington I expect they'll be fragile and we'll go on to win comfortably. If it stays at 0-0 for a while or they go in front it could be a tricky afternoon. It's a game we need to win, we've got to start stringing together back to back wins now to make up some ground. | |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:00 - Sep 30 with 2554 views | BiGDonnie |
I'd say you're about 5/6 wins early for his type of post. We've won two games. |  |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:06 - Sep 30 with 2521 views | Keno |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:43 - Sep 30 by You_Bloo_Right |
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. |
Oh I like a bit of Shakespeare!!
Once more onto the pitch,
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
If ye still a town fan be
Through years Hurst and Lambert P
we sit is awe, Town score another
From today you shall be my brother. |  |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:13 - Sep 30 with 2478 views | Guthrum |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:47 - Sep 30 by Herbivore |
I think it's a bit early for a celebratory tone to be honest. We had 6 really poor results at the start of the season, followed by two decent results, and one blinder. We're still 19th with a big gap to make up to the top 2, which was our goal at the start of the season. There are promising signs now but it's really very early days still. Lose at Accrington and suddenly things don't look very rosy again. We have to put together a decent run through October and undo the damage of our poor start to the season, if we don't do that a mini run of three better performances will mean very little. |
While I'm not sure that, on its own, thrashing the bottom team is really much more significant than Bolton catching us on a very bad day, it is the kind of result which can feel like a breakthrough - not only to the fans, but also the squad. Confidence gets a disproportionate boost, the team feels happier in itself, players know that if they do certain things, the others can work off that. Pressure lifts from the manager, too.
Puts us in a much better position to apply our (hopefully superior, given the money spent and the manager's pedigree) quality and style of play against the next few opponents. |  |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:16 - Sep 30 with 2450 views | dirtyboy |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:47 - Sep 30 by Herbivore |
I think it's a bit early for a celebratory tone to be honest. We had 6 really poor results at the start of the season, followed by two decent results, and one blinder. We're still 19th with a big gap to make up to the top 2, which was our goal at the start of the season. There are promising signs now but it's really very early days still. Lose at Accrington and suddenly things don't look very rosy again. We have to put together a decent run through October and undo the damage of our poor start to the season, if we don't do that a mini run of three better performances will mean very little. |
I do agree with you, that being said, context on those 6 really poor results, in that the first few were definitely not poor performances and we were certainly unlucky with costly individual errors as opposed to a calamitous managerial experiment.
The opportunity to make strides up the league is in our hands, all we have to do is win games, 12 points really isn't insurmountable, it really isn't. |  | | |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:20 - Sep 30 with 2409 views | Herbivore |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:13 - Sep 30 by Guthrum |
While I'm not sure that, on its own, thrashing the bottom team is really much more significant than Bolton catching us on a very bad day, it is the kind of result which can feel like a breakthrough - not only to the fans, but also the squad. Confidence gets a disproportionate boost, the team feels happier in itself, players know that if they do certain things, the others can work off that. Pressure lifts from the manager, too.
Puts us in a much better position to apply our (hopefully superior, given the money spent and the manager's pedigree) quality and style of play against the next few opponents. |
Agreed. You could see it during the game, once the third goal went in the belief in the players seemed to go through the roof and we added another three goals in no time at all and could have added more still. Yes, Donny were already well beaten and looked shell-shocked, but we started to play with a real swagger.
I am actually feeling confident that we'll push on now but we've been here before with people talking up 'the project' before we've achieved anything tangible so I'd rather we start congratulating ourselves once we've sustained some god form and got ourselves in the mix rather than after one good win. | |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:23 - Sep 30 with 2377 views | JammyDodgerrr |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:04 - Sep 30 by LegendofthePhoenix |
completely agree with that, BUT...
It is the style of play that is so exciting. Right from the off this season, that is how we were trying to play, we just didn't have all the bits of the jigsaw in the right places. Even if we lose a few, that brand of football is great to watch and will at least send us home with some hope and good memories. |
Personally, i would rather we win things than play flashy football that means we hang out towards the bottom of the league. |  |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:24 - Sep 30 with 2359 views | Herbivore |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:16 - Sep 30 by dirtyboy |
I do agree with you, that being said, context on those 6 really poor results, in that the first few were definitely not poor performances and we were certainly unlucky with costly individual errors as opposed to a calamitous managerial experiment.
The opportunity to make strides up the league is in our hands, all we have to do is win games, 12 points really isn't insurmountable, it really isn't. |
I thought some of those early performances were poor to be honest. We created little of note against Morecambe and shipped two bad goals. It was a really disjointed showing. The Cheltenham game we had a good opening 20 minutes or so but after that we were abject. I didn't see the Burton game but I understand we played okay in one half and poorly in the other.
I think saying we were unlucky in those games is a stretch, our errors weren't down to luck and we weren't playing well enough to overcome those errors. I do agree though that it should now be in our hands to push on and let's hope that's what happens. On paper we have a decent run of fixtures but that was also the case looking at our opening run of fixtures. There can be no excuses from here on in. | |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:26 - Sep 30 with 2338 views | Darth_Koont |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:39 - Sep 30 by Herbivore |
Morsy definitely made a difference. Got to say though that it worries me that we'd made 18 signings but seemingly couldn't put out a functional side without signing number 19, who only came off in the dying hours of the transfer window. Suggests rather poor squad planning, imo. I agree with you that we'll know more come the end of October, if we have a really good month and we've dragged ourselves up into the mix then we can feel much more positive. For now it's still a case of wait and see for me. |
I agree that getting in Morsy looked critical but infinitely more so for a team that hadn’t settled and the momentum was starting to go the wrong way.
Morsy is a stabilising influence at the heart of the team, like Donacien has been in defence, and solid enough to let the players around settle and build a unit/partnerships.
Once we build that overall team strength, it shouldn’t hinge on individual players quite so much. That’s my untested and hopeful theory, at least. |  |
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:26 - Sep 30 with 2340 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:16 - Sep 30 by dirtyboy |
I do agree with you, that being said, context on those 6 really poor results, in that the first few were definitely not poor performances and we were certainly unlucky with costly individual errors as opposed to a calamitous managerial experiment.
The opportunity to make strides up the league is in our hands, all we have to do is win games, 12 points really isn't insurmountable, it really isn't. |
It's a squad, on paper at least, that should be capable of stringing 6/7/8 wins together - that's what we've never really looked like doing before (start of 2019/20 aside, and even that didn't look convincing). Good teams that win promotion do that. We probably need 25 wins from 37 games to put us in the mix for the automatics. And we probably have no more than 6 losses to play with so we are going to need to find some consistent form. It's very much do-able though with the the squad at our disposal. | | | |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:31 - Sep 30 with 2303 views | LegendofthePhoenix |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 08:39 - Sep 30 by Herbivore |
Morsy definitely made a difference. Got to say though that it worries me that we'd made 18 signings but seemingly couldn't put out a functional side without signing number 19, who only came off in the dying hours of the transfer window. Suggests rather poor squad planning, imo. I agree with you that we'll know more come the end of October, if we have a really good month and we've dragged ourselves up into the mix then we can feel much more positive. For now it's still a case of wait and see for me. |
Yes, that thought has been in my mind as well, and is partly why I said PC must feel lucky. It was clearly part of his plan all summer to pair up Morsy and Evans in midfield, and it only came off about an hour before the deadline closed. And then Morsy was suspended. But he has weathered the storm, hopefully, and once this team gets some confidence into it, then we should be able to cope with the loss of Morsy to international duties etc. [Post edited 30 Sep 2021 9:32]
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| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 09:39 - Sep 30 with 2240 views | Ftnfwest |
| Paul Cook and the Gamechanger project on 07:47 - Sep 30 by Herbivore |
I think it's a bit early for a celebratory tone to be honest. We had 6 really poor results at the start of the season, followed by two decent results, and one blinder. We're still 19th with a big gap to make up to the top 2, which was our goal at the start of the season. There are promising signs now but it's really very early days still. Lose at Accrington and suddenly things don't look very rosy again. We have to put together a decent run through October and undo the damage of our poor start to the season, if we don't do that a mini run of three better performances will mean very little. |
All true and i do agree but the flip side if we do lose at Accrington will see a reaction suggesting that actually it isn't very very early days. |  | | |
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