Johnnyrotten

32 appearances under Southgate! I was only counting midfielders, so I didn't include Dele Alli's 24 caps or Eric Dier's 35.

Hopefully. A joke for a team just out of the championship, realistically for one season, to spend that much in one go, hope they have a load of massive contracts they have to honour when they go down.

Fabian Delph, Harry Winks and Jake Livermore have got 27 caps between them, just under Southgate. Madison has made one sub appearance, the same as Jack Cork. Although if Madison gets picked we might have to take one of the 8 right backs out of the squad.

Never had a chance of a Prem club for me, it would be a hard sell for any Prem team to unveil their new manager as one that has very recently finished bottom, and being English doesn't help. I agree he might still get a Championship club but he's probably gone from top of a lot of big clubs lists (WBA for eg) to having to go to a Millwall, Bristol C, Hull or Birmingham to prove himself again.

I agree on that. See Paul Warne, Leam Richardson, John Coleman, Gareth Ainsworth (possibly staying at Wycombe too long though?), Michael Duff at Cheltenham now Barnsley, Mark Bonner at Cambridge. Some are a bit of an unknown quantity like Schumacher at Plymouth but he seems to be proving himself in his own right and not just continuing what Lowe started, and McKenna at Ipswich seems to know what he's doing. Counts for so much in lower divisions compared to Championship where much of it seems to be about how much money you've still got from Prem parachute payments.

I thought he might not last the week, but he didn't even get through the day. His CV has took a battering from the lofty heights of a couple of years ago, a disastrous last season at Sheff U, 8 points from last 8 games last season to fail to get into play offs behind Luton, and left Boro in the bottom 3 after 2 wins in 11. He had his pick of championship clubs not long ago, he might have to start again lower down now (after the obligatory few months as a TV pundit).

Attendance 34,662. Their best attendances are about 40k, so not that bad? I've very little knowledge of Italian football but they've never got huge crowds have they? 35-40k for routine league games seems decent enough for a team not pulling up any trees.

If Sheff Wed, Plymouth, Ipswich or Pompey had those fixtures I would expect them to get at least 14 points, anything less would be below par, given that 2 home games are against bottom half and FGR are conceding 3 every week, so there's the first 9 points. Only 1 win from the other 3 would be disappointing; on the other hand it just takes a sending off, a dodgy pen or a defensive brain freeze to change any game.

Over/under achievers was just me searching for a phrase to describe teams being higher than expected, going off pre-season predictions. Maybe surprisingly successful/disappointing would be a better description. Re criteria, purely based on general expectations and bookies odds. I based mine on last season and transfers in/out or managerial changes; the one's I've misjudged are Oxford (a mystery), Wycombe (play off hangover?) and MK Dons (I underestimated the effect of losing some good players). Plymouth are "over achieving" for me because last season they finished with 2 wins in their last 9 (and 0-5 last game) and had also lost Ryan Lowe mid season. I think we all expected them to be top 10, I don't think one person had them above Sheff Wed and Ipswich. Not only that, they have played 6 of the top 8 and won 5 of them, leading the other till the last minute. And that doesn't include winning at expected top half teams Wycombe and Oxford. Really impressive results so far, but we're only a quarter of the way into the season.

Nothing, just they are 3rd bottom with 10 points from 11 games and just given Coventry their 1st win, after a 0-0 v Rotherham. I'd just be surprised if he's still there in a week if they don't beat Brum or Millwall.

Interesting to read some of this thread through again to see how it compares to the table after 2 months. Loads expected Sheff Wed and Ipswich to be top 2. Clearly Plymouth are the current over achievers but most of us had them in the top half and there isn't one surprise in the top 8. Its already looking like last season when you had to win just to maintain your current position. Only good away wins or home games beating a top 8 team will feel like real progress. Accy, Cambridge and Exeter over achieving and the clear under achievers/surprise strugglers are Wycombe, Oxford & MKD. I still expect Wycombe to recover but not so sure about the other 2. Nobody mentioned Burton for the drop but the other 3 were expected to struggle, I suspect Port Vale may join them if others recover.

Will be interesting to see if Steve Bruce and Chris Wilder survive the week. WBA play PNE and Luton, and Boro have Birmingham and Millwall. They can't afford any defeats surely.

That was the pass of the season so far in the games I've seen. Full back did great to beat Bradley to the ball otherwise it may have got the coverage it deserved if it had resulted in a goal or even near miss. If someone had said 2 months ago Tomo would be consistently picked ahead of Morley and Dempsey I wouldn't have believed it for a second.

Agreed always on the offensive, created problems but final ball and decision making was poor. Often tries to beat a man instead of passing simply, and often gets tackled. Crossing is average, a bit hit and hope. Don't get me wrong, he's got loads of qualities, especially his energy and speed of thought, just think he's not at his best currently.

We do all see the game differently. I would have paid the admission fee just to watch Lee in the first half, outstanding for me but did drop off 2nd half although nearly scored a similar goal to the Charlton one. To name 2 passes, the one with outside of right foot to put Bradley through (but full back got back), and the lofted one to Kachunga in inside left position. And the ability generally to find space when there was none. Pure quality. But made wrong decision a couple of times and it was right to sub him.

I was just chatting about that game a couple of days ago with a City fan. In the May, we could have been 2 divisions apart if we'd beaten Watford and Dickov hadn't scored in injury time. Then early the following season they were buzzing to be visiting the Reebok instead of league one grounds. Couldn't believe we lost at home to them at the time.

Once the 3rd sub came on (Dapo), we couldn't make any more subs. It was only 1-0 at the time and I thought it was a bit risky with 15 minutes left (incl injury time) that if we had an injury we'd be down to 10 men.

I'm struggling to remember when he scored from open play, then again I'm struggling to remember what I had for my tea yesterday.

Agreed MJ was fantastic. Also Thomasson for his ability to pass incisively and accurately, Lee just sublime in the first hour, and Johnstone as good a defensive performance as he's produced for us. Under par performances from Iredale and Bradley for me, he's not been at the levels of his first few games recently, a bit wasteful and making wrong decisions.

Agreed. Lincoln as bad as any team I've seen here that haven't been relegated, from their point of view not sure what's happened, they looked so attack minded and slick when we played them earlier this year. I couldn't work out what their style of play was supposed to be, reminded me of our worst away performances a few years ago, no ambition or talent or gameplan. Re flat crowd - isnt it wierd that "its flat" just happens from minute 1 in some games, and whatever happens in the next 90 it never shifts, flat from start to finish and a game to get 3 points from and move on.

I'd pick JDB (if fit) above Kachunga every day of the week. Simply a better footballer in my opinion, and that's without adding that he is more likely to score. But its all about opinions, we don't have to agree. And I'd pick Santos as first outfield player on team sheet.

That's the price we're paying for the cheap kids S/Ts, seats are spoken for but loads not being used.

There's a lot of "its who you know" in football and Bridcutt was signed by Appleton for Lincoln. And Blackpool have Callum Connolly, Keshi Anderson and Madine and I wouldn't have them in our league one team either.

Agreed, quality player with class on the ball and bite in the tackle. Criminal of Hill to put him in defence. Also captain material which over the last few years has been few and far between. The only others in that category in recent times are Gary O'Neill and Karl Henry, that I can recall.

They seem to be one of those clubs that just doesn't do famous players either on their way up or on their way down. The only exception I can think of is John Fashanu, 36 games and 11 goals 83-84. I was surprised their record transfer fee received was £500k for Gareth Ainsworth in the 90s and even more so that the buyers were the mighty Port Vale.