| 2nd on January 1st 22:21 - Jan 1 with 1616 views | Zx1988 |
Interesting how the story of the last four months has very much influenced the mood of the fanbase.
2nd is 2nd, regardless, yet I'm sure the mood would be a lot more buoyant in certain quarters had we spent most of the season in 2nd, behind Coventry.
It doesn't matter how we get/got there, all that matters is staying there. |  |
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| 2nd on January 1st on 22:38 - Jan 1 with 1518 views | ashtonscoffeecup |
can’t believe we are sat second, and i’m so so happy about that. there is a sickening feeling in my stomach though, had we not wasted so many games in this first half we could be well up there like coventry are.
still no time to dwell on it. we’ve got here now so firmly on us to remain focused, strengthen in this window, and push on to achieve our goal pre season, which was automatic promotion. | | | |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:45 - Jan 1 with 1459 views | sohamblue74 |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:38 - Jan 1 by ashtonscoffeecup |
can’t believe we are sat second, and i’m so so happy about that. there is a sickening feeling in my stomach though, had we not wasted so many games in this first half we could be well up there like coventry are.
still no time to dwell on it. we’ve got here now so firmly on us to remain focused, strengthen in this window, and push on to achieve our goal pre season, which was automatic promotion. |
Agreed.
We are 6 to 10 points off where we probably should be.
But we are in good form in the last few months, even without hitting top performance levels.
Hopefully we will bring in another striker and another central midfielder. Then can we please show some consistency and go on a longer winning run.
Far less worried about full backs now, given the very strong performances of Furlong, and with Greaves as a very strong alternative to Leif. | | | |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:46 - Jan 1 with 1463 views | squiz |
Surprised at how quick we've caught them up. The gap was 8 points a couple of weeks ago. Hoped we'd close the gap by March time.
Be interesting to see how we cope with being 2nd now. Hopefully we can continue with the momentum and start to build a gap. [Post edited 1 Jan 22:56]
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| 2nd on January 1st on 22:48 - Jan 1 with 1444 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:38 - Jan 1 by ashtonscoffeecup |
can’t believe we are sat second, and i’m so so happy about that. there is a sickening feeling in my stomach though, had we not wasted so many games in this first half we could be well up there like coventry are.
still no time to dwell on it. we’ve got here now so firmly on us to remain focused, strengthen in this window, and push on to achieve our goal pre season, which was automatic promotion. |
Coventry's team has been together longer. That's why. We haven't deliberately wasted any games. |  |
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| 2nd on January 1st on 22:48 - Jan 1 with 1450 views | ElderGrizzly |
Agree, 2nd is 2nd but knowing we are there while still mis-firing is actually a positive for me.
January can strengthen a couple of areas too. |  | | |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:49 - Jan 1 with 1430 views | ashtonscoffeecup |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:46 - Jan 1 by squiz |
Surprised at how quick we've caught them up. The gap was 8 points a couple of weeks ago. Hoped we'd close the gap by March time.
Be interesting to see how we cope with being 2nd now. Hopefully we can continue with the momentum and start to build a gap. [Post edited 1 Jan 22:56]
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i’m the same, maybe 2 weeks back i posted about needing a winning run to over turn Boro. 3 games later we are above them!
cautious of watford i must say! | | | |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:52 - Jan 1 with 1388 views | ashtonscoffeecup |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:48 - Jan 1 by The_Flashing_Smile |
Coventry's team has been together longer. That's why. We haven't deliberately wasted any games. |
of course we haven’t deliberately wasted games, would be an obscene thought/statement to make. i don’t believe that was the message i was putting forwards in the post either.
i would ask, if their squad has been together longer, why have we been able to thump them twice in quick succession? i’ve my thoughts into that (lampards arrogance being a key contributing factor) | | | |
| 2nd on January 1st on 07:21 - Jan 2 with 990 views | homer_123 |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:46 - Jan 1 by squiz |
Surprised at how quick we've caught them up. The gap was 8 points a couple of weeks ago. Hoped we'd close the gap by March time.
Be interesting to see how we cope with being 2nd now. Hopefully we can continue with the momentum and start to build a gap. [Post edited 1 Jan 22:56]
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Our main rival for 2nd place.. by homer_123 9 Dec 2025 17:40The situation at Coventry is interesting. Next door neighbour but one is a Sky Blue and, therefore, we talk football and we both spend a bit of time watching each others teams.
Whilst Coventry have gone off like a steam train. Recent performances have seen this ship a lot of goals, often conceding first but getting themselves back into matches. I've felt they were due a loss and we were due a performance - the two coincided at the weekend.
What's interesting speaking to my Sky Blue neighbour is that many Cov fans are critical of Lampard. Lampard has set them out as a really attacking team but many fans feel he leaves them wide open to a counter attack or open to any team with a half decent attacking group. A lot of talk about them being 'found out' of late - which does coincide with injury and availability issues but that speaks to a wider problem at Cov - squad depth and rotation (or lack thereof).
I'll call it now. They won't get automatic promotion and I would not be at all surprised is Lampard is out of job if they don't get promotion.
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| 2nd on January 1st on 08:13 - Jan 2 with 848 views | ITFC_Forever |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:46 - Jan 1 by squiz |
Surprised at how quick we've caught them up. The gap was 8 points a couple of weeks ago. Hoped we'd close the gap by March time.
Be interesting to see how we cope with being 2nd now. Hopefully we can continue with the momentum and start to build a gap. [Post edited 1 Jan 22:56]
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The gap is 8 points now, not a couple of weeks ago.
A couple weeks ago, it was 15. |  |
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| 2nd on January 1st on 08:15 - Jan 2 with 847 views | Churchman |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:52 - Jan 1 by ashtonscoffeecup |
of course we haven’t deliberately wasted games, would be an obscene thought/statement to make. i don’t believe that was the message i was putting forwards in the post either.
i would ask, if their squad has been together longer, why have we been able to thump them twice in quick succession? i’ve my thoughts into that (lampards arrogance being a key contributing factor) |
We were able to turn them over twice because we have mostly better players and more of them.
Our team is gradually coming together too, but still blows a bit hot and cold and is still a little short of what we are capable of. Coventry, as the best team in the division to date, felt they had enough to take us on in a more open game and in a sense they had to. They are not at the top by being timid. They were just not good enough to do it and it’s more that than Lampard’s arrogance in my view.
The pattern of results and how we’ve played season to date paints a clear picture for me. New team, learning McKenna’s possession based style. The first five games were three draws a loss and a win plus the Bromley debacle. Next five two wins two losses and a draw, trampling on them up the road being the best of them. But the signs were there and since then it’s been progress, albeit not linear, and playing catch up.
This is why I’ve not had patience with the dismals slaughtering players and the manager. It’s not the players fault they cost a fee. Just because they did will never guarantee instant success. Human beings just don’t work that way and no amount of thumping Ipswich’s players and management over the head with Sunderland’s fantastic, rare achievement will alter that.
Yesterday was interesting in that it was clear Oxford, like Wednesday, had poorer players by some margin. But they were professional footballers, well organised and playing for their careers. They didn’t roll over, as I thought they might after 20 mins beating up, which is credit to them as well as leaving me scratching my head as to why we suddenly lost rhythm.
However we won both games and deserved to. We might not have done earlier in the season and of course made a right dogs of it at Oxford.
To finish this rant, I’m perplexed as to why so many ‘supporters’ feel no affinity with the team. They represent the club, they wear the badge and are giving 100%. No, they are not the class of 2023. But that was a new team that took about a year to form and nobody was yearning for the mob they replaced.
Some of the current squad are the best players we’ve seen here for very many years and plenty of them are real characters. There is nothing wrong with criticism. It’s part of life but there is a time, place and way of doing it which adds, not hinders. I wish more people would get behind them a bit more on a match day. It could only help and who knows, make a half percent difference that made all the difference.
Apols for digressing. [Post edited 2 Jan 9:55]
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| 2nd on January 1st on 08:29 - Jan 2 with 771 views | tonybied |
Exactly, this is why so many on here have been calling out the "flapping" from so many in the fanbase, when we have a dodgy result, or run of games.
The season will be seen as just as much of a success if we sneak into 2nd on the last day of the season, or if we stay there from the first few weeks of the season.
I understand when people get emotional during a game or for the rest of a matchday, but the negativity that has lingered this season has been bordering on ridiculous from some. The past couple of weeks have proved that, and people really should have learned this from years gone by. How far were we off Sheff Wed and Plymouth at a much later point in the 22-23 season, and similar happened in the same period in 23-24. How did that pan out?
"It's a marathon not a sprint", this is a cliché, but it's true. It is also true that a season is much more memorable, and satisfying, when it's hard-fought, rather than won at a canter. It may be easier on the mind and heart to do it at a stroll, but it will never have the same emotion as a last game or two of the season promotion.
Watching a team build, learn and become better together, as links and partnerships are built, is a much more sustainable way to keep breeding success in the group. You can see it being built in front of your eyes and understand that it has happened through hard work, shared knowledge and nurtured talent being encouraged to come to the fore. It might be fun for the fans when a team clicks from the off, but more often than not, this is just luck, and often switches off as quickly as it turned on in the first place, and leaves a club no further than it found it, with no answer from the management on how to fix it.
McKenna 100% had questions to answer after the first 10 months or so of 2025. This was the first time the success had fallen away for a sustained period in his tenure, and he needed to prove that he could turn the ship back around. He looks to be doing this, slowly and surely. If he manages this successfully, then for me, he truly belongs as a full-on hall of famer (he will be just for the back-to-backs, but he's still not currently anywhere near as legendary Sir Bob of Sir Alf, but he will be on their coattails if he manages to rebuild a second team and find success again). |  | | |
| 2nd on January 1st on 09:08 - Jan 2 with 634 views | Blue_Heath |
I'm amazed we are at second spot given how the league looked a fortnight ago.
As you say it's about staying there and hopefully mounting a challenge to Coventry.
If we are not going to Wembley we really need to win the league but will Coventry's wobble continue and can we keep up the 2+ppg average? | |
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| 2nd on January 1st on 09:43 - Jan 2 with 565 views | billlm |
| 2nd on January 1st on 22:48 - Jan 1 by The_Flashing_Smile |
Coventry's team has been together longer. That's why. We haven't deliberately wasted any games. |
This is for you McKenna in, happy new year, |  | | |
| 2nd on January 1st on 12:44 - Jan 2 with 413 views | patrickswell |
If - and it’s a big if - this team mimics George Burley’s late 90s teams from say 96/97 or 97/98 which used to put lengthy unbeaten runs together over the second half season to make the top 6, from much further back, then we’ll go up comfortably. They are certainly capable of it. |  | | |
| 2nd on January 1st on 12:51 - Jan 2 with 394 views | Smoresy |
| 2nd on January 1st on 08:13 - Jan 2 by ITFC_Forever |
The gap is 8 points now, not a couple of weeks ago.
A couple weeks ago, it was 15. |
We were 8 points off 2nd after 21 games, now 1 point above 3rd after 25. Superb time for Boro to creak, aligning perfectly with the start of the January window. | | | |
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