| Are we good enough to finish top 2? 13:17 - Feb 17 with 4690 views | Chrisd |
Forget who we have in our squad, do we feel confident that we can genuinely finish in the automatic places? I like to think we can, but I’m also not wholly convinced by us either. In one way, I think great we aren’t playing well and getting results, that’s something to be encouraged about there’s more to come. Then, there are times we make it bloody hard work, look pedestrian in the way we play, we can be excruciatingly painful to watch at times. I appreciate that the club is under enormous pressure to get promoted due to the potential funds we will miss out on if we fail to get back to the EPL and everyone must be feeling that from the management down to the players. It must have an impact? I feel I’m quite 50/50 about our chances. Thoughts? |  |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 16:14 - Feb 17 with 653 views | NthQldITFC |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 14:51 - Feb 17 by _CliveBaker_ |
Quite. Remarkable group, sum greater than its parts, togetherness, momentum, call it what you like, but at least half of that squad had no right to be there and we desperately lacked depth.
We'll add a lot in the summer if we go up, its not unthinkable that Greaves, Matusiwa and Philogene are bench options 12 months from now, rather than Edmundson, Luongo and Al-Hamadi. Therein lies the difference. |
Completely agree with your point in general, but if we have a better DCM than Matusiwa next season, I'll eat my hat. |  |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 16:19 - Feb 17 with 636 views | Wright1 |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 14:05 - Feb 17 by blueoutlook |
We have also had a ridiculous amount of money to throw at it unlike Coventry and Middlesbrough. So we should be walking this division. We aren’t though,because we are too predictable. Teams no exactly what to expect,just watch Wrexham this weekend. I fully see us bottling it there. |
There's a lot of this sentiment around and i'm not sure I fully agree with it.
Yes on the surface this is an expensively assembled squad for the level... but Coventry and Borough will have spent more in the seasons prior to our promotion to the PL and over a prolonged period of time to build up Championship squads. In 23/24 and 22/23 our net spend was about £6m. So we were playing catch up big time.
Of course we invested heavily last season but come this summer we lost our 2 best attackers and 2 of our biggest outlays from the previous summer in Delap and Hutchinson. We also lost key players on free transfers (a PL right back in Tuanzebe, our captain in Morsy and a reliable CB in Burgess). After all of that Transfermarkt still has us making a £30m net profit in the summer. | | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 16:26 - Feb 17 with 621 views | _CliveBaker_ |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 16:14 - Feb 17 by NthQldITFC |
Completely agree with your point in general, but if we have a better DCM than Matusiwa next season, I'll eat my hat. |
I did say 12 months from now :)
You have to remember the Matusiwa & Hackney partnership does pretty well in the first half of the season, but the £70m we drop in January '27 to help with the top 4 push might put a bit of pressure on the boy Azor. |  | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 16:27 - Feb 17 with 620 views | ElderGrizzly |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 13:31 - Feb 17 by Herbivore |
This. And for all the talk that we move it too slowly and don't create enough, all the attacking stats suggest that's not really the case. And for all that people say we're winning without playing well, we dominate most of our games across most metrics. If anything we should have more points on the board than we do based off performances and underlying metrics. The fact we've been the best side in the division since the end of the summer window speaks for itself but people have a narrative about this season that they're reluctant to let go of for some reason. I think we'll go up as champions personally as I think we're the best team in the division and there's signs it's starting to click. If that continues I can see us ending the season in not dissimilar fashion to how we ended the League 1 promotion season. |
I don't think anyone (with any knowledge) thinks we don't create enough. It's more that we aren't finishing some of those very good chances.
Yet, that's still good enough to have us within touching distance of the top 2 with 2 games in hand. |  | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 17:39 - Feb 17 with 566 views | Smoresy |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 16:19 - Feb 17 by Wright1 |
There's a lot of this sentiment around and i'm not sure I fully agree with it.
Yes on the surface this is an expensively assembled squad for the level... but Coventry and Borough will have spent more in the seasons prior to our promotion to the PL and over a prolonged period of time to build up Championship squads. In 23/24 and 22/23 our net spend was about £6m. So we were playing catch up big time.
Of course we invested heavily last season but come this summer we lost our 2 best attackers and 2 of our biggest outlays from the previous summer in Delap and Hutchinson. We also lost key players on free transfers (a PL right back in Tuanzebe, our captain in Morsy and a reliable CB in Burgess). After all of that Transfermarkt still has us making a £30m net profit in the summer. |
If blueoutlook's a Town fan then he isn't a very cheery one.
Surface or deep dive, I don't think it's viable to frame our outlay as more akin to "catch-up" on those two, honestly. Higher or lower, where would you set the figure to make the following a difficult guess: how much more did our current squad cost to assemble, transfer fees only? I'd plump for £100m over Coventry, including players we've elected to send on loan. And the deeper dive, often overlooked when people speak of spending or available funds, our wage bill will be much higher. We earned the right to spend what we have of course, climbing out of this division in the heaviest of conditions.
It's totally viable to compare our spending and performance favourably with Southampton. Or Leicester, whose wage bill likely still brings tears to their owners' eyes. And to remember Norwich, Watford, West Brom, nay most of the league, who have been in our position themselves and not stuck the landing. Some ballsed it right up, landed on their head. We have every chance to land on our feet at the first attempt. | | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 18:50 - Feb 17 with 525 views | blueoutlook |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 16:11 - Feb 17 by NthQldITFC |
Binner! |
You really are a strange one. This site is for discussion,if you don’t agree have a decent answer,not the usual claptrap. Forums are for opinions. The guy that runs it wouldn’t have the site if we didn’t have discussions about topics. One word stupid answers does no one any favours,in fact you look a bit of a fool for it more often than not. |  | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 19:06 - Feb 17 with 513 views | Kieran_Knows |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 13:47 - Feb 17 by tractorboy1978 |
This squad needs to earn its corn over the next 16 games now. Last 16 games of 23/24 we W11, D3, L2. Lets see how the class of 25/26 do under pressure. |
Do you know what our form was in the 16 previous games to that? We’re currently at won 9, drawn 4 and lost 3. |  |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 19:08 - Feb 17 with 507 views | BlueBadger |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 18:50 - Feb 17 by blueoutlook |
You really are a strange one. This site is for discussion,if you don’t agree have a decent answer,not the usual claptrap. Forums are for opinions. The guy that runs it wouldn’t have the site if we didn’t have discussions about topics. One word stupid answers does no one any favours,in fact you look a bit of a fool for it more often than not. |
Interesting that you only want to offer a negative opinion on 'your' team and only show up here after a poor result. |  |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 19:15 - Feb 17 with 496 views | armchaircritic59 |
Home games left to play against Middlesborough, Millwall and Hull, might play a big part, along with our very inconsistent away performances, Right this minute I'm about 50/50 too. If one or two players get back to the performance levels they should be at, I'd be quite a lot more confident. | | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 20:17 - Feb 17 with 468 views | WinchBlue |
“Forget who we have in our squad, do we feel confident that we can genuinely finish in the automatic places?”
No idea, but I’m utterly engaged and enjoying every minute. Final 1/3 coming up!!! |  | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 00:34 - Feb 18 with 398 views | armchaircritic59 |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 14:42 - Feb 17 by TRUE_BLUE123 |
3-0 Town
Hirst, Azon, Mcateer. |
Hell, that would shut a large number of people up, for a few days at least. But if they failed to score in the next one. Then it would be back to usual! | | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 04:30 - Feb 18 with 358 views | IPS_wich |
Whilst points per game at the end of the day is the only stat that matters (and as others have observed we have the most from game 5 onwards); but another way to use stats to answer the question is to look at how teams are performing for goals scored (GS) and conceded (GC):
1: Coventry - GS 1st; GC 5th
2: Boro - GS 3rd; GC 3rd
3: Millwall: GS 13th; GC 6th
4: Ipswich - GS 2nd; GC 1st
5: Hull GS 3rd; GC 15th
6: Derby - GS 6th; GC 8th
We've scored the second most and conceded the least in the division. Does this translate to our place in the table, of course not - but I would suggest it shows we are definitely good enough to finish top 2.
It also shows that Cov and Boro are comfortably the most balanced sides alongside us, and that Derby probably deserve to be in the play offs.
Millwall are the complete anomaly, there's no way a team 13th in goals scored should be doing so well in the league - especially as their defence isn't super miserly. | | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 07:07 - Feb 18 with 340 views | ringwoodblue |
Even with my blue-tinted glasses on, I just don’t think we have enough to get into the top two. A poor start and too many dodgy away performances have left us too much to do imho. Really hoping I’m wrong though. |  |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 07:33 - Feb 18 with 322 views | Swansea_Blue |
Yes.
We’re still comfortably top in the form table since 1st November with a game in hand over that period. Win that and we’ve gained 5 points more than Boro and 7 points more than Cov over 20 games. Get close to replicating that over the last 16 games and we’re up amd possibly even Champions. |  |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 07:36 - Feb 18 with 320 views | Benters |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 07:07 - Feb 18 by ringwoodblue |
Even with my blue-tinted glasses on, I just don’t think we have enough to get into the top two. A poor start and too many dodgy away performances have left us too much to do imho. Really hoping I’m wrong though. |
I think we will finish 3rd or 4th. |  |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 07:42 - Feb 18 with 302 views | NthQldITFC |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 18:50 - Feb 17 by blueoutlook |
You really are a strange one. This site is for discussion,if you don’t agree have a decent answer,not the usual claptrap. Forums are for opinions. The guy that runs it wouldn’t have the site if we didn’t have discussions about topics. One word stupid answers does no one any favours,in fact you look a bit of a fool for it more often than not. |
I'll always keep a bit of an open mind, so I realise I may be wrong, but after reading your contributions and assessing their tone and timing I have significant doubt about your affinity and motive. Like I say, I may be wrong, but we all consider and form our opinions based on what we see don't we? Good luck to you. | |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 07:45 - Feb 18 with 287 views | Herbivore |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 07:07 - Feb 18 by ringwoodblue |
Even with my blue-tinted glasses on, I just don’t think we have enough to get into the top two. A poor start and too many dodgy away performances have left us too much to do imho. Really hoping I’m wrong though. |
You must be a massive pessimist if even with your blue tinted glasses on you can't see how we finish top 2. We're top 2 since the 1st of September, top in terms of points per game over that time. We've strengthened in a couple of key areas in January. It's mad to say that, even being optimistic, you don't think we have enough to get into the top 2. The optimistic take is we win the league with a couple of games to spare, not we still won't make the top 2. |  |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 08:16 - Feb 18 with 271 views | Bluefields |
Quite comfortably and they will and should be targeting the title tbh. | | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 08:55 - Feb 18 with 248 views | Wright1 |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 17:39 - Feb 17 by Smoresy |
If blueoutlook's a Town fan then he isn't a very cheery one.
Surface or deep dive, I don't think it's viable to frame our outlay as more akin to "catch-up" on those two, honestly. Higher or lower, where would you set the figure to make the following a difficult guess: how much more did our current squad cost to assemble, transfer fees only? I'd plump for £100m over Coventry, including players we've elected to send on loan. And the deeper dive, often overlooked when people speak of spending or available funds, our wage bill will be much higher. We earned the right to spend what we have of course, climbing out of this division in the heaviest of conditions.
It's totally viable to compare our spending and performance favourably with Southampton. Or Leicester, whose wage bill likely still brings tears to their owners' eyes. And to remember Norwich, Watford, West Brom, nay most of the league, who have been in our position themselves and not stuck the landing. Some ballsed it right up, landed on their head. We have every chance to land on our feet at the first attempt. |
I wouldn't frame it as ONLY a catch up but I do think it is important context. Our spend is catch up PLUS a team that got promoted to the PL. Of course our squad has been more expensive to assemble than most of the competition however, the spend is definitely not as outlandish as some make out. | | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 09:02 - Feb 18 with 242 views | lazyblue |
This whole idea of being pedestrian now is getting ridiculous as at times we simply carve teams open at will , it just seems some fans would rather take manic game in the hope we get last minute winner . We are a far better team and more in control of games than 2 years ago when playing as the underdogs and only went up as Leeds fell apart.
Enjoy the wins and yes we are more than good enough to be in top two but so are Coventry and Boro and we will need help from them as per Leeds. | | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 09:10 - Feb 18 with 227 views | lazyblue |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 13:40 - Feb 17 by Kieran_Knows |
We wouldn’t have this problem if we still had the 23/24 squad though…. |
You mean against teams who just sit back and hope for a draw every game , this team is far better. We were lucky that Leeds crumbled. | | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 09:13 - Feb 18 with 220 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 09:10 - Feb 18 by lazyblue |
You mean against teams who just sit back and hope for a draw every game , this team is far better. We were lucky that Leeds crumbled. |
Have a day off, that team got 96 points. | | | |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 09:13 - Feb 18 with 219 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 08:16 - Feb 18 by Bluefields |
Quite comfortably and they will and should be targeting the title tbh. |
Agreed. The games in hand are making it look as if we’re in with less of a chance than we are. Win those and we’re 2 points off, the goal difference will be negligible and we’ll have all the momentum.
Of course, don’t win those and have too many more brainfarts and we’ll be POs at best. But let’s not go there. | |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 09:23 - Feb 18 with 208 views | PioneerBlue |
I dont think it is a big over reach for some to suggest we are pedestrian at times, however it is playing through mid to low block where it counts.
At times this season we have been practically incapable of attacking from the centre of the pitch or using the right to properly stretch the game horizontally or laterally in the way Wes has done im seasons gone by, this making us a bit one dimensional in an attacking sense given the lack of hero goals by our strikers.
There are no generalisations here because opposition and game state count but we know at times weve been too slow to enter the final third allowing low blocks to set. And, weve all seen us painfully passing the ball around a low block hardly ever finding ways to pass through or deciding to pass back and go again once the low block is moved up the pitch, we continue to pass around the block and on occasions end up under pressure after a quick transition.
This is our game, score early, control the game all good, otherwise we end up in the controlled state under increasing pressure unable to add the chaos we need to win the game. Balance here is on a few occasions those subs have come on to win games that looked like ending as a draw.
Mehmeti is looking like part of a solution to all this in the final third. We could also do with our forwards/strikers creating a bit more chaos in the box to allow a few more non worldies to win games! | |
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| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 09:25 - Feb 18 with 206 views | SWLondonBlue93 |
| Are we good enough to finish top 2? on 09:13 - Feb 18 by tractorboy1978 |
Have a day off, that team got 96 points. |
I've no idea why but some people have started pushing a narrative that 23/24 was more of a fluke than an incredible achievement, which I find baffling.
The current team is more defensively sound, sure, but I'm yet to be convinced that they are any better prepared for the PL than last time, I just don't see how this team scores enough goals to survive. But if go up we would add plenty of players over the summer anyway, so it's a moot point. [Post edited 18 Feb 9:27]
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