First 20 games (League / Cup)

[Redalert1970]

Our record for the first 20 games (90 mins only) if anyone is interested

Played 20
Won 3
Drawn 8
Lost 9
For 16
Against 30

Clean sheets 5
Failed to score 8

[marky No.1]

Make the most of L1 while it lasts

[vvm]

Compared to last year:

Played 20
Won 5
Drawn 4
Lost 11
For 33
Against 37

Clean sheets 3
Failed to score 3

There's not actually a lot in it, the quality of football is more negative so maybe it feels like we're doing much worse than last year as a result. Derek is classically a defence first manager but it's hard to argue that the defence has really improved much on last year, whereas the attack has really suffered. As I'm sure many would agree I'd like to see us be a bit more positive and try and get at teams a bit more.

[Gone_Shrimping]

This might be slightly controversial but I think O'Connor is a better defender than Rawson.

I think he reads the game better and has more pace.

He should get his chance on Saturday with Rawson suspended.

[black morse]

Compared to last year:

Played 20
Won 5
Drawn 4
Lost 11
For 33
Against 37

Clean sheets 3
Failed to score 3

There's not actually a lot in it, the quality of football is more negative so maybe it feels like we're doing much worse than last year as a result. Derek is classically a defence first manager but it's hard to argue that the defence has really improved much on last year, whereas the attack has really suffered. As I'm sure many would agree I'd like to see us be a bit more positive and try and get at teams a bit more.

The attack has suffered mainly because Stockton is not scoring like he did last year! We relied on him last year and he supplied the goals. For whatever reason he is not the same player now.

[marky No.1]

Yep, Cole had scored 14 by this time last season, he was rested in trophy games, this time he's had more rest than opposition goalkeepers.

We have only scored 11 League goals in total so far

[vvm]

There isn't really much excuse for 0 goals in nearly 900 minutes of football I agree.

Has he downed tools? Maybe.

I don't think he can take the full blame though, if we created more than a handful of half chances in a game I'm sure he'd start finishing a few.

[Little Shrimp]

Two great performances against sides in the top six, coupled with two terrible performances against bottom third sides.

3-5-2 against the 'stronger' sides who are going to want to keep the ball seems to work, and in those games I've also been impressed with how well coordinated we've been defending across the whole of the pitch. Generally relied on counter-attacking to make chances, which had us looking dangerous at times against teams like Ipswich/Barnsley where there are going to be chances to counter-attack.

But against more direct or counter-attacking sides themselves like Burton and Cheltenham, it's just not an effective set-up to play at all. Fane goes from being a vital part of the team in his ability to disrupt the opposition, to largely a massive liability on the ball. There's no width in attack as the opposition have generally got back in wide areas so we're solely reliant on our wing-backs for width in attack, which leaves us blunt and a bit congested in the middle. Also doesn't help that Stockton's lost a lot of his effectiveness as a target man.

We needed more better ball players and more width in the side (Watts, Gnahoua and Connolly all on the bench) to try and stretch Cheltenham to break them down and create chances. We had none of that in the first half and despite having a fair amount of the game, we created nothing while Cheltenham created the two best chances of the half on the counter. Second half was a very messy affair, a half fit Gnahoua, Stockton giving up after a decent first half, structure was all over the place and it looked like there was no real attacking plan.

I'm happy that DA seems to have found a good formula for countering the better sides in the division. But I think it's fair to say that games against sides around us are more important to win, and we've been hugely lacking in our ability to get results in those games. DA needs to crack that quickly.

[Keith]

Fane goes from being a vital part of the team in his ability to disrupt the opposition, to largely a massive liability on the ball.

Spot on! Against Barnsley, he did a fantastic job, killing their creativity.

Break it up
Pass the ball
Reset
Repeat.

Last night, even our players didn't want to pass the ball to him because there would be nothing positive from doing do. On one occasion he found himself on the ball, on the edge of the penalty area. Push the ball forwards and drive in to the box to get a shot away, or even get tripped for a free-kick or penalty? No... ...stop, look around, and play the ball out to the wing, and the danger breaks down again.

Horses for courses. I like Fane's ability to do the dirty work, but in the games that we need to be winning, we need someone else.

[black morse]

If we look at the first 17 league games the breakdown is -

Against top 8 teams - played 6 - won 1 - drawn 1 - lost 4
We've played well against some of the top teams but still lost most of them

Against mid 8 teams - played 4 - drawn 4
We've drawn against all mid table teams we've played and still have half of them to play.

Against bottom 7 - played 7 - won 1 - drawn 2 - lost 4
We've now played the all bottom teams once and made a pretty poor job of it

[Keith]

Against bottom 7 - played 7 - won 1 - drawn 2 - lost 4
We've now played the all bottom teams once and made a pretty poor job of it

And this is going to be our undoing. We've got to go out against the lower sides, the same as we do against the top. It's almost like, we don't expect to get anything from Barnsley, Derby & Ipswich, so we may as well attack them, but do expect something from Burton, Fleetwood & Cambridge, so we try and keep it tight.

We're now third from bottom. Keep FGR & Burton below us and set our sights on two above. With our wafer-thin squad, I'm not too bothered about the FA Cup, just get through without injuries, although, this far in, I'd like to see us progress in the League Cup and hopefully get a good draw in the last 16.

On the other hand, play like we did last night, and an FA Cup run may be really positive for the club and breed confidence?

[Old Man Kensey]

First 8 Home League Games:

Average att. 4660

That would have been unthinkable a few seasons back.

[black morse]

First 8 Home League Games:

Average att. 4660

That would have been unthinkable a few seasons back.

And the 2 reasons are 1) bigger away followings and 2) playing higher grade football attracts bigger home support. For these reasons alone it should be unthinkable that we'll be relegated. EVERY game must be played with the belief that we can win and not with fear that we might lose.

SAS 'Who dares wins'!