| Not getting carried away, but... 07:08 - Sep 24 with 4110 views | tractorboy1978 |
We've got a hell of a chance of the top 6 now this season. At worst we are going to be 8 points clear of 7th by the close of today. That's not an inconsiderable lead at this stage. We've already got 10-14 point leads on the likes of Blackburn, Southampton, Watford, Coventry - teams tipped to be up there.
6th is currently tracking at 75 points, which is where you'd roughly expect it to be, meaning 54 points needed from 38 games. If we are pretty average from here on in we are going to be right up there.
We are obviously not going to maintain this ridiculous level of form, but can anyone really see us having the type of run where we lose 3 in a row or fail to win in 5 games? I certainly can't see it!
[Post edited 24 Sep 2023 7:10]
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 07:58 - Sep 24 with 3906 views | Churchman |
Sorry, but yes I can see us losing three in a row or at least going through periods of not winning. It happens.
However the key to this is that if you have a load of points in the bin when your form inevitably dips, you are going to be in a reasonable position when you start winning again. It’s why a good start to a season is so important. Playing catch up is always do-able, but you go through the season a bit on a knife edge.
I get the feeling the team is still finding itself a little bit at this level and I think it’ll get stronger second half of the season, just as it did last season. For all our faults defensively, some of our play was brilliant yesterday. Almost unstoppable. Somebody is going to take a real hammering at PR before the season is out.
We’ve had a dream start and I agree - we have a hell of a chance of top 6 now, but let’s get to 45 points first and banish any thoughts of the League One swamp. |  | | |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:21 - Sep 24 with 3773 views | MK1 |
We will have a dip in form. This is a very long hard season where injuries and suspensions will play a massive part. We have a strong hungry squad who will deliver, but we will get a period of say 7-8 games when results fall away a bit. On the plus side, so will everybody else except Leicester and we already have a healthy points cushion. See us certainly top 8 now, if not top 6. I thought we might be mid table come the end, so all of this is a massive bonus for me. Enjoy and hopefully it is just the beginning. |  | | |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:22 - Sep 24 with 3770 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 07:58 - Sep 24 by Churchman |
Sorry, but yes I can see us losing three in a row or at least going through periods of not winning. It happens.
However the key to this is that if you have a load of points in the bin when your form inevitably dips, you are going to be in a reasonable position when you start winning again. It’s why a good start to a season is so important. Playing catch up is always do-able, but you go through the season a bit on a knife edge.
I get the feeling the team is still finding itself a little bit at this level and I think it’ll get stronger second half of the season, just as it did last season. For all our faults defensively, some of our play was brilliant yesterday. Almost unstoppable. Somebody is going to take a real hammering at PR before the season is out.
We’ve had a dream start and I agree - we have a hell of a chance of top 6 now, but let’s get to 45 points first and banish any thoughts of the League One swamp. |
I can see why you take that view for your own mental self preservation but you sort of contradict yourself when you say this team will only get better and we are still finding our feet! | | | |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:33 - Sep 24 with 3713 views | BlueBoots |
* Posts League Table Top 6 on 24/09/2022 *
1 Sheffield United 10 4 0 0 11 1 3 2 1 8 4 14 23
2 Norwich City 10 2 0 12 5 2 0 2 4 4 7 20
3 Reading 10 4 0 1 8 5 2 0 3 2 9 -4 18
4 Burnley 10 2 3 0 9 6 2 2 1 8 4 7 17
5 Sunderland 10 1 2 1 6 4 3 1 2 10 7 5 15
6 Queens Park Rangers 10 2 2 1 7 5 2 1 2 7 6 3 15
Thought I'd add this fart in a lift post to the thread just to put things into perspective; not saying it will happen to us, but there's a relegated side, an almost relegated side and the moribund budgies in that list. Even with our "one game at a time" mantra carried over from last season, we could lose key players to injury / suspension and we're very likely to lose key players to AFCON / Asian Cup in January; I think we've built a squad to be able to cope with that, but we've played 8 with (as you say) 38 to go, so it's going to take a colossal effort to stay in the Top 6. I'm not planning to start thinking about where we'll end up this season until the final whistle at Carrow Road... |  |
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:40 - Sep 24 with 3642 views | Churchman |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:22 - Sep 24 by tractorboy1978 |
I can see why you take that view for your own mental self preservation but you sort of contradict yourself when you say this team will only get better and we are still finding our feet! |
Oh I’m full of contradictions. But my wonky thinking is that as the team settles into the rhythm of the season it will get stronger, just as it did last year albeit at a lower level. | | | |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:44 - Sep 24 with 3600 views | DarkBrandon |
I think we are much more likely than not to go on a bad run. As indeed is every team in the league (with the possible exception of Leicester).
Injuries, suspensions, loss of form, fatigue, poor luck, running into a team which plays brilliantly, fog, can and will happen. We are doing brilliantly but we are winning most games by a single goal. Which is great, but those fine margins will tip the other way at some stage. |  | | |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:51 - Sep 24 with 3510 views | Tractorboy24 |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:33 - Sep 24 by BlueBoots |
* Posts League Table Top 6 on 24/09/2022 *
1 Sheffield United 10 4 0 0 11 1 3 2 1 8 4 14 23
2 Norwich City 10 2 0 12 5 2 0 2 4 4 7 20
3 Reading 10 4 0 1 8 5 2 0 3 2 9 -4 18
4 Burnley 10 2 3 0 9 6 2 2 1 8 4 7 17
5 Sunderland 10 1 2 1 6 4 3 1 2 10 7 5 15
6 Queens Park Rangers 10 2 2 1 7 5 2 1 2 7 6 3 15
Thought I'd add this fart in a lift post to the thread just to put things into perspective; not saying it will happen to us, but there's a relegated side, an almost relegated side and the moribund budgies in that list. Even with our "one game at a time" mantra carried over from last season, we could lose key players to injury / suspension and we're very likely to lose key players to AFCON / Asian Cup in January; I think we've built a squad to be able to cope with that, but we've played 8 with (as you say) 38 to go, so it's going to take a colossal effort to stay in the Top 6. I'm not planning to start thinking about where we'll end up this season until the final whistle at Carrow Road... |
On the other side of that coin, 2 of those sides were promoted and another finished in the top 6.
The other point to highlight is they have played 2 more games than us and only The Blunts have more points than us. Never mind the context of Reading having a points deduction and QPR losing their manager which pulled them down to the bottom of the league. |  | | |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:53 - Sep 24 with 3510 views | Dubtractor |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:33 - Sep 24 by BlueBoots |
* Posts League Table Top 6 on 24/09/2022 *
1 Sheffield United 10 4 0 0 11 1 3 2 1 8 4 14 23
2 Norwich City 10 2 0 12 5 2 0 2 4 4 7 20
3 Reading 10 4 0 1 8 5 2 0 3 2 9 -4 18
4 Burnley 10 2 3 0 9 6 2 2 1 8 4 7 17
5 Sunderland 10 1 2 1 6 4 3 1 2 10 7 5 15
6 Queens Park Rangers 10 2 2 1 7 5 2 1 2 7 6 3 15
Thought I'd add this fart in a lift post to the thread just to put things into perspective; not saying it will happen to us, but there's a relegated side, an almost relegated side and the moribund budgies in that list. Even with our "one game at a time" mantra carried over from last season, we could lose key players to injury / suspension and we're very likely to lose key players to AFCON / Asian Cup in January; I think we've built a squad to be able to cope with that, but we've played 8 with (as you say) 38 to go, so it's going to take a colossal effort to stay in the Top 6. I'm not planning to start thinking about where we'll end up this season until the final whistle at Carrow Road... |
But the point is we've got more points than all but one of those, and from 2 fewer games.
Of course we'll dip in form at various points, but this level of buffer allows for that. Nothing is certain in football, but bloody hell we've given ourselves a good platform to build on. |  |
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:55 - Sep 24 with 3490 views | Mullet |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:53 - Sep 24 by Dubtractor |
But the point is we've got more points than all but one of those, and from 2 fewer games.
Of course we'll dip in form at various points, but this level of buffer allows for that. Nothing is certain in football, but bloody hell we've given ourselves a good platform to build on. |
Yeah quite possible we might draw a couple or only beat Norwich by 3 or so. |  |
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 09:01 - Sep 24 with 3426 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:33 - Sep 24 by BlueBoots |
* Posts League Table Top 6 on 24/09/2022 *
1 Sheffield United 10 4 0 0 11 1 3 2 1 8 4 14 23
2 Norwich City 10 2 0 12 5 2 0 2 4 4 7 20
3 Reading 10 4 0 1 8 5 2 0 3 2 9 -4 18
4 Burnley 10 2 3 0 9 6 2 2 1 8 4 7 17
5 Sunderland 10 1 2 1 6 4 3 1 2 10 7 5 15
6 Queens Park Rangers 10 2 2 1 7 5 2 1 2 7 6 3 15
Thought I'd add this fart in a lift post to the thread just to put things into perspective; not saying it will happen to us, but there's a relegated side, an almost relegated side and the moribund budgies in that list. Even with our "one game at a time" mantra carried over from last season, we could lose key players to injury / suspension and we're very likely to lose key players to AFCON / Asian Cup in January; I think we've built a squad to be able to cope with that, but we've played 8 with (as you say) 38 to go, so it's going to take a colossal effort to stay in the Top 6. I'm not planning to start thinking about where we'll end up this season until the final whistle at Carrow Road... |
I take your point but you could equally argue that 3 of the final top 6 (including two auto promotion winners) are in the top 6 at that point and there was mitigating circumstances with Reading/QPR being absolute sh!tshows as the season went on.
When you summarise it as we need approximately 54 points from 38 games, I just struggle to see this side not achieving that. | | | |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 09:02 - Sep 24 with 3377 views | FrimleyBlue |
Be a bit of a failure not to now.
P.s only joking.
It's a cracking start but this league is tough esp when we could lose players to international Cups in the new year.
Still no expectation on where we finish. But given ourselves a great opportunity. |  |
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 09:07 - Sep 24 with 3345 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:44 - Sep 24 by DarkBrandon |
I think we are much more likely than not to go on a bad run. As indeed is every team in the league (with the possible exception of Leicester).
Injuries, suspensions, loss of form, fatigue, poor luck, running into a team which plays brilliantly, fog, can and will happen. We are doing brilliantly but we are winning most games by a single goal. Which is great, but those fine margins will tip the other way at some stage. |
I am definitely not arguing we won't have a tough run of form at some point, I just cannot for the life of me see it being a prolonged one with this team and manager.
What is a bad run? Realistically we've given ourselves such a nice buffer that picking up say 8 points from our next 8 games would very likely still see us in the top 6 at the end of that run. [Post edited 24 Sep 2023 10:28]
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 09:15 - Sep 24 with 3264 views | Churchman |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 09:01 - Sep 24 by tractorboy1978 |
I take your point but you could equally argue that 3 of the final top 6 (including two auto promotion winners) are in the top 6 at that point and there was mitigating circumstances with Reading/QPR being absolute sh!tshows as the season went on.
When you summarise it as we need approximately 54 points from 38 games, I just struggle to see this side not achieving that. |
Reading also took a 6 point deduction without which they wouldn’t have been relegated. | | | |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 09:16 - Sep 24 with 3245 views | BlueBoots |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 09:01 - Sep 24 by tractorboy1978 |
I take your point but you could equally argue that 3 of the final top 6 (including two auto promotion winners) are in the top 6 at that point and there was mitigating circumstances with Reading/QPR being absolute sh!tshows as the season went on.
When you summarise it as we need approximately 54 points from 38 games, I just struggle to see this side not achieving that. |
I've been predicting that we'll finish in the Top 6 since before the start of the season (based purely on the fact that Sunderland managed it after winning promotion the previous season in a far less convincing manner, and had to do a mini squad re-build when they came up which we didn't need to).
Just wanted to point out it's still very early days this season, and fortunes can change very quickly; we've given ourselves a great platform to build on, but as K McK pretty much points out after every game there are always things we can improve on, and that's going to be needed to stay in the mix. | |
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 09:37 - Sep 24 with 3110 views | wellsy700 |
I think it's almost inevitable that we will have a dip in form at some point. Our December fixtures look particularly brutal and I'll be surprised if we don't drop many points then |  |
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 09:43 - Sep 24 with 3083 views | Guthrum |
In a sense, you can't see where the next loss is coming from, given Town's relentless ability to keep getting the victory even from tricky situations.
However, equally, the tightness of results and occasional fragility at the back suggest it might be only just around the corner.
All we can do is keep banking the points and not react too badly when things go the other way, as against Leeds. Because the team has shown it can pick itself up and continue the preceding form. |  |
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 10:21 - Sep 24 with 2861 views | Vegtablue |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:33 - Sep 24 by BlueBoots |
* Posts League Table Top 6 on 24/09/2022 *
1 Sheffield United 10 4 0 0 11 1 3 2 1 8 4 14 23
2 Norwich City 10 2 0 12 5 2 0 2 4 4 7 20
3 Reading 10 4 0 1 8 5 2 0 3 2 9 -4 18
4 Burnley 10 2 3 0 9 6 2 2 1 8 4 7 17
5 Sunderland 10 1 2 1 6 4 3 1 2 10 7 5 15
6 Queens Park Rangers 10 2 2 1 7 5 2 1 2 7 6 3 15
Thought I'd add this fart in a lift post to the thread just to put things into perspective; not saying it will happen to us, but there's a relegated side, an almost relegated side and the moribund budgies in that list. Even with our "one game at a time" mantra carried over from last season, we could lose key players to injury / suspension and we're very likely to lose key players to AFCON / Asian Cup in January; I think we've built a squad to be able to cope with that, but we've played 8 with (as you say) 38 to go, so it's going to take a colossal effort to stay in the Top 6. I'm not planning to start thinking about where we'll end up this season until the final whistle at Carrow Road... |
Bloody typical isn't it. I'm resigned to us losing Burgess and Luongo for 4-7 matches. They're playing too well not be selected and will join up with one of the favourites to go deep. We will lose Baggott for a few matches, who may or may not have been next in line. And I can't see Morsy being ignored by Egypt, given he played minutes in the previous two. I don't think they're favourites but they're obviously not minnows either: 4-7 matches.
The only reasons we'll keep the three stars for that period are if they're injured anyway or if our form takes a big dip, both of which are less preferable than them hopefully having great experiences with their countries. Will test the squad depth that's for sure! | | | |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 10:26 - Sep 24 with 2814 views | Pendejo |
Does anyone think we've even approached performing to our potential over 90+ minutes yet?
I think there's room and capability for improvement.
We've lived dangerously at times, been unlucky at other times.
There's often a team that continues promotion momentum into the next season, and, thus far that's us. It's a long season and we haven't experienced a true loss of form under KMK, our nadir so far being draws and a defeat?
Strap yourselves in KMK is taking us to infinity and beyond! |  |
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 10:31 - Sep 24 with 2775 views | BigCommon |
I was looking at our December fixtures, and as a typical doomed Town fan, thought that this could be the toughest run of games .... But I don't think the managers mindset is about runs of games, or sequences, or what lies too far ahead. Its purely one game at a time. Set us up to tackle the next opponent. Think weve shown already that we are capable of giving anyone a game in this division.... Barring an horrific injury situation, I cant see us going on too bad a losing run.. I just think we have a manager and staff that will always prepare us well, tweak anything that needs tweaking either in game or for a specific opponent..
We talk about other teams not yet getting into their groove etc.. But I think the same can be said of us. We will definitely continue to improve on things as a team and as individuals. And possibly strengthen , further in January....
Could we lose 3 on the bounce? I think anyone can in this division.. But I think we are "together" enough, so as not to let it develope into a disaster. We've got enough character, and nous in the building to deal with any bumps, and regain any lost momentum, should that happen, imo.
McKenna's not an idiot. He'll be well aware of how quickly things can change. This, no doubt, will be continually driving him and our players, to keep the standards up and keep pushing themselves for a bit more each time.. |  | | |
| Great post Tracters on 11:17 - Sep 24 with 2661 views | Dyland |
I'm also struggling to see us go on a silly sh1te run, and I'm extremely anxious and even pessimistic about Town usually. These days I go to PR expecting to win or at least put up a good fight and give ourselves a chance... and even if I think the oppo may be too strong I'm still looking forward to watching us and the oppo play good exciting football.
However, we need a fair wind and the footballing Gods to smile on us. Not sure our squad is so deep that we can cope with injuries to more than one or two key players? Oh I don't know, whatever, I'm enjoying it day to day until we lose, arf. |  |
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 13:52 - Sep 24 with 2477 views | Illinoisblue |
Football will always find a way to smack you in the mouth. We will come unstuck here and there, no doubt. Stay humble. One game at a time. Enjoy the ride. |  |
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| Not getting carried away, but... on 14:48 - Sep 24 with 2334 views | ArnoldMoorhen |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 08:33 - Sep 24 by BlueBoots |
* Posts League Table Top 6 on 24/09/2022 *
1 Sheffield United 10 4 0 0 11 1 3 2 1 8 4 14 23
2 Norwich City 10 2 0 12 5 2 0 2 4 4 7 20
3 Reading 10 4 0 1 8 5 2 0 3 2 9 -4 18
4 Burnley 10 2 3 0 9 6 2 2 1 8 4 7 17
5 Sunderland 10 1 2 1 6 4 3 1 2 10 7 5 15
6 Queens Park Rangers 10 2 2 1 7 5 2 1 2 7 6 3 15
Thought I'd add this fart in a lift post to the thread just to put things into perspective; not saying it will happen to us, but there's a relegated side, an almost relegated side and the moribund budgies in that list. Even with our "one game at a time" mantra carried over from last season, we could lose key players to injury / suspension and we're very likely to lose key players to AFCON / Asian Cup in January; I think we've built a squad to be able to cope with that, but we've played 8 with (as you say) 38 to go, so it's going to take a colossal effort to stay in the Top 6. I'm not planning to start thinking about where we'll end up this season until the final whistle at Carrow Road... |
Having played 2 less games, we would still be 2nd.
Happy with that! No fart smell that I can detect! | | | |
| Not getting carried away, but... on 06:59 - Sep 25 with 1857 views | tractorboy1978 |
So, 8 points it is after yesterday. Hull look a decent side. Back to back home games against current 3rd/4th coming up - a chance to put down a real marker. | | | |
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