6 hours ago, Zico said:

we have a big run of 8 games coming up largely against teams above or just below us

we cannot afford to falling any further behind in those games or letting them below get past us

 

The next 11 games upto 21st Jan - I'm not underestimating anyone, there are no gimmes apart from arguably Cambridge (H) - but taking the difficulty of Wycombe (A) out of it, 10 of the next 11 are against teams that IMO aren't going to be finishing in the top 6.  We can't be putting games against Bristol, Mansfield, Lincoln and Exeter in the same category as Wrexham, Huddersfield etc, we should be aiming to average 2 PPG in these, not coming out the other side saying we've played a load of our toughest fixtures, they aren't.  

1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

 We could go to Wrexham or Huddersfield, win 2-1 coming from behind, then beat Birmingham 2-0 and Stockport 3-1 at home. 

None of those results would be far fetched for a side heading for promotion.  Shows how far expectations have fallen when I can't for the life of me see us winning any of those 4.

11 hours ago, ianofcleveleys said:

Not necessarily the strongest, more that it'd be competitive, with more teams of a similar level taking points off each other and teams coming up ready to have a go. It's largely panning out like that, with a top 8 slowly starting to form. An odd one will drop out and another push their way in no doubt

That's why we said this is the strongest the league has been - lots of decent sides rather than 2/3 outstanding ones. Given our record against in big games against promotion rivals I still stand by this being the toughest league we've been in.

Rather than 5/6 tough opponents we've got 9/10 this season, so more games where we'll drop points. Now we're over our run of playing all the dregs of the division we'll start dropping away from the top 6.

9 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

The next 11 games upto 21st Jan - I'm not underestimating anyone, there are no gimmes apart from arguably Cambridge (H) - but taking the difficulty of Wycombe (A) out of it, 10 of the next 11 are against teams that IMO aren't going to be finishing in the top 6.  We can't be putting games against Bristol, Mansfield, Lincoln and Exeter in the same category as Wrexham, Huddersfield etc, we should be aiming to average 2 PPG in these, not coming out the other side saying we've played a load of our toughest fixtures, they aren't.  

Yeah, while not the absolute toughest, they're a significant step up from our last 11 (apart from Birmingham and Stockport which we lost).

2ppg should be the aim but I've seen nothing to suggest we're capable of it.

On the face of it this is a tough month coming up, though still hard to predict, as our form is all over the place and there are some ups and downs being seen in other sides, who are either going off the boil or finding themselves after a slow start. 

We've gone from a shameful capitulation to a win against a bogey side then being scared shitless by 5,000 Cambridge Ultras in three games. No idea what the next three games will bring or the next three after that.

That combination of us being so unreliable form-wise and other teams ups and downs make it another month of win/draw/lose, win/draw/lose for me, though not necessarily all in that order. 

52 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

 

We've gone from a shameful capitulation to a win against a bogey side then being scared shitless by 5,000 Cambridge Ultras in three games. 

Point of order. Blackpool are not a bogey side. Not at home anyway! 

2 hours ago, Stig said:

That's why we said this is the strongest the league has been - lots of decent sides rather than 2/3 outstanding ones. Given our record against in big games against promotion rivals I still stand by this being the toughest league we've been in.

Rather than 5/6 tough opponents we've got 9/10 this season, so more games where we'll drop points. Now we're over our run of playing all the dregs of the division we'll start dropping away from the top 6.

Not necessarily Stig, it’s sometimes hard for the players to get “up” for the lower teams so I’m hoping the bigger teams will push them on a bit more? I may be being a bit optimistic but time will tell. All six pointers anyway that’s for sure.

Remember Pud getting slashed at Cambridge in the cup.

They fear no foe.

19 minutes ago, Duck Egg said:

Point of order. Blackpool are not a bogey side. Not at home anyway! 

Point noted and accepted 😄. Should have maybe said 'in a derby game' 

38 minutes ago, Duck Egg said:

Point of order. Blackpool are not a bogey side. Not at home anyway! 

And it was a dreadful performance where we were bailed out by an even worse opponent in the 2nd half - bit of a stretch to portray the last 3 games as a mixed bag - we've been way below what the level of investment should be delivering.

29 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

Not necessarily Stig, it’s sometimes hard for the players to get “up” for the lower teams so I’m hoping the bigger teams will push them on a bit more? I may be being a bit optimistic but time will tell. All six pointers anyway that’s for sure.

Based on our first seven matches against top half sides - W1 D1 L5 - we can’t seem get up for the higher teams, either!

1 hour ago, maaarsh said:

And it was a dreadful performance where we were bailed out by an even worse opponent in the 2nd half - bit of a stretch to portray the last 3 games as a mixed bag - we've been way below what the level of investment should be delivering.

True, no suggestion that the win v Blackpool was any sort of a triumph, it was rank for 45 mins at least and just about enough after that

16 hours ago, Duck Egg said:

None of those results would be far fetched for a side heading for promotion.  Shows how far expectations have fallen when I can't for the life of me see us winning any of those 4.

Agreed, that was the point I was making, that whilst failing to win promotion will be "failure", I'd be more inclined to back Evatt if there was just some evidence that we would turn up for games like those and take teams on instead of wimping out.

Win some, lose some, draw some, score some, concede some - like most other promotion contenders. 

Instead we expect to lose away without scoring or even getting to H-T level, and maybe on a good day draw at home, 1-1 or 0-0 without looking like winning.  

Let the heat die down . Yup Im still Evatt in . An away point isnt going to change that no matter the circumstances "Always harder to play aginst 10 men than 11 " Unless its Wigin .

Coulda Woulda Shoulda  obviously . But shit happens , we are not playing well and havent all season but we are 3 points off 5th . When we kick into gear we will kill this league ....if we can kick into gear 

We are the post Tranmere playoff but doing better .  We need to play better , faster , sharper than we are doing at the moment and we show it in 15 mins a game .

Obviously its not enough , but its not a million miles away . I still want Evatt to do it for us  and with a bit more pragmatism  it can be done and won. 

23 hours ago, Rival Son said:

Based on our first seven matches against top half sides - W1 D1 L5 - we can’t seem get up for the higher teams, either!

Very good point. 😁

1 hour ago, Krimzon said:

Let the heat die down . Yup Im still Evatt in . An away point isnt going to change that no matter the circumstances "Always harder to play aginst 10 men than 11 " Unless its Wigin .

Coulda Woulda Shoulda  obviously . But shit happens , we are not playing well and havent all season but we are 3 points off 5th . When we kick into gear we will kill this league ....if we can kick into gear 

We are the post Tranmere playoff but doing better .  We need to play better , faster , sharper than we are doing at the moment and we show it in 15 mins a game .

Obviously its not enough , but its not a million miles away . I still want Evatt to do it for us  and with a bit more pragmatism  it can be done and won. 

This is where I'm at

Yet Again 

Going round in circles 

Be happy when we win the next two, convincingly

Then I'll be confident we can beat Wigan this time

This is where i am at swop brand Evatt for Brand Woolworths..........Stay the same year upon year and you go under.

Swop Pick and Mix  for 5/3/2 and 5/2/3 

Edited November 29, 20241 yr by masi 51

6 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

This is where i am at swop brand Evatt for Brand Woolworths..........Stay the same year upon year and you go under.

Swop Pick and Mix  for 5/3/2 and 5/2/3 

Sounds a pretty shit plan tbf.

9 hours ago, Zico said:

This is where I'm at

Yet Again 

Going round in circles 

Be happy when we win the next two, convincingly

Then I'll be confident we can beat Wigan this time

Me too I'm afraid. 

Sometimes I wonder if that is what goes through IEs head. 

43 minutes ago, FrancisFogarty said:

Me too I'm afraid. 

Sometimes I wonder if that is what goes through IEs head. 

 

13 hours ago, Krimzon said:

Let the heat die down . Yup Im still Evatt in . An away point isnt going to change that no matter the circumstances "Always harder to play aginst 10 men than 11 " Unless its Wigin .

Coulda Woulda Shoulda  obviously . But shit happens , we are not playing well and havent all season but we are 3 points off 5th . When we kick into gear we will kill this league ....if we can kick into gear 

We are the post Tranmere playoff but doing better .  We need to play better , faster , sharper than we are doing at the moment and we show it in 15 mins a game .

Obviously its not enough , but its not a million miles away . I still want Evatt to do it for us  and with a bit more pragmatism  it can be done and won. 

'When we kick into gear we will kill this league.' Is pretty much what we were saying this time last year. 

13 minutes ago, Ani said:

'When we kick into gear we will kill this league.' Is pretty much what we were saying this time last year. 

We would have killed the league last season but injuries killed us post Xmas…we’re still suffering from key injuries this season, I’m still convinced with a fair run of injuries we go up this season.

1 hour ago, Zico said:

 

Very good @Zico, if this doesn't sum up exactly my thoughts I don't know what would.

"We're on a road to nowhere

Come on inside

Takin' that ride to nowhere

We'll take that ride

I'm feelin' okay this mornin'

And you know

We're on a road to paradise

Here we go, here we go"

29 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

We would have killed the league last season but injuries killed us post Xmas…we’re still suffering from key injuries this season, I’m still convinced with a fair run of injuries we go up this season.

Not the injuries excuse again... I thought we'd heard the last of that.

It would hold some weight if our results were different against big teams/in big games but we lost exactly the same games  first and second halves of the season as you would have expected us to lose.

The issue was our second half of the season was harder 

Same this year

8 hours ago, Ani said:

'When we kick into gear we will kill this league.' Is pretty much what we were saying this time last year. 

We Dont Start Playing Till JAN Remember