Deadline day : January 2017

[Ravi]

Yeah. Against a top 4 side that's exactly what I'd expect though mate. Key thing is we held our own, and as you say with the new additions I think we'll be comfortably safe from relegation.

Fawaz has, yet again, saved us

Yes, he's saved us from being a respected and professionally run club we can be proud of.

 

[JordanForest]

I can understand some of the sceptical responses to the signing of Ross McCormack, especially given the negative publicity he's recently attracted, however, he's now been given an opportunity to go some way to addressing those issues by delivering on the pitch, where the threat he can pose with the football is undoubted.

For me though, a real statement of intent from yesterday is the permanent signing of Ariyibi and Clough, both young and (hopefully) hungry, and both with much needed attributes. That touch of guile and trickery in the case of Clough, and genuine pace from Ariyibi.

When has a player ever come here with something to prove and actually proven themselves?

Sent from my FRD-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Barry]

We kept Leeds at bay for 45 mins, but it was a regulation home win according to a Leeds ST I know (as was to be expected) - "we just didnt get going as an attacking force in the first half but stepped it up in the second".
Whilst I agree we are defensively much more organised now, we've still only created a handful of chances since Lansbury has been out. It's essential that we start creating more from now on - as I said this aspect can't reasonablly be any worse than it has now that we have new creative/flair/attacking options.

As for the tongue in cheek stuff about Fawaz - he's made a few signings but it really was urgent to spend a little of the £16m otherwise the club would be worth far less in league one.

Did Leeds just not get going or was it because we didnt allow them too?

When discussing Leeds with a Leeds fan its very rare you get a non bias opinion.

 

[Alf-engelos Mindminackers]

Yes, he's saved us from being a respected and professionally run club we can be proud of.

He was Billy's puppet all along Rav.

 

[Rockabilly]

I'm looking forward to the Villa game a hell of a lot more now we've made a few signings.

Yep same here.

 

[Ravi]

Did Leeds just not get going or was it because we didnt allow them too?

When discussing Leeds with a Leeds fan its very rare you get a non bias opinion.

Or any football fan.
Everyone tends to only view it in terms of what their team does or doesn't do. I was just pointing out that it was a regular home win in the Championship - plenty of teams can compete in terms of organisation etc but offer little else.

 

[Rockabilly]

Marketing. Getting Clough 10 printed will appeal to the young uns and the old uns alike.

Clough 9 would look better

 

[Raymondo Ponte']

When has a player ever come here with something to prove and actually proven themselves?

Sent from my FRD-L09 using Tapatalk

There cant be many? Thuz plenty fell from grace though, rapidly some, after boasting they're going to do this and going to do that.

Pie crust promises.

 

[Rockabilly]

When has a player ever come here with something to prove and actually proven themselves?

Sent from my FRD

Stan Collymore?

 

[account deleted]

Or any football fan.
Everyone tends to only view it in terms of what their team does or doesn't do. I was just pointing out that it was a regular home win in the Championship - plenty of teams can compete in terms of organisation etc but offer little else.

Leeds are top of the form table at the moment though. Villa are near the bottom so it's a good time to play them, especially given the new signings.

Norwich, Weds and Fulham are all above us so can see draws at best from those. Depends how much the new guys bring to the team though.

 

[Rzar]

We're in a good spot at the moment, I think we'll avoid relegation just because the numbers are in our favour.

- We need 17 points from 17 games to hit the magic 50 mark. A point a game, a trajectory we've managed all season, even before the new signings.
- Rotherham can't catch us. Even if we only got 10 points from our final 17 games, that'd mean they need 27 from 17 just to draw level on points with us. So effectively the relegation slots for us are cut down to 2.
- Blackburn are 8 points behind us and averaging less than 1 point a game. To overhaul that gap, even with an upturn in form, you're talking 5 or 6 games. That's 1/3 of the remaining games, they're running out of time to fit that in.
- Bristol City in free fall.
- Our games against the top sides are all at home (Brighton, Wednesday, Derby, Huddersfield, Reading). Difficult fixtures, but not automatic losses.

The only thing not working in our favour is that we have to play Wigan and Burton away and losing those six pointers could be a big swing. I think we'll be safe though.

Realistically, we are going to have to be absolutely awful to go down (even worse than we have been when we have had bad spells) and everybody else below us have to improve drastically. As long as we don't lose against those around us, we pretty much stay up.

8 points at the top of the league can be caught easy, but at the bottom it's going to take a huge shock. Worst case scenario, we only win 4 and draw a couple of our last 17 games, Blackburn still have to win about 10 out of 17.

You have to be truly awful to get relegated, our defence has got much better in the last few games and with players like Assombalonga and the addition of McCormack the chances of relegation are very very slim simply because with that firepower and solid base you will pick up unexpected points. You compare the strikers that our relegation rivals have, you are looking at Anthony Stokes, Marvin Emnes & Chris O'Grady.

I remember last season when we sacked Dougie, we had 10 games left and picked up 10 points which is pretty bad form and we didn't even creep closer to the relegation zone because they kept losing at the bottom.

 

[Ravi]

Leeds are top of the form table at the moment though. Villa are near the bottom so it's a good time to play them, especially given the new signings.

Norwich, Weds and Fulham are all above us so can see draws at best from those. Depends how much the new guys bring to the team though.

I agree it's a good time to play Villa with all those new players to bed in.

 

[Rockabilly]

Goal difference can be worth an extra point too. Ours has improved recently, Forest -7. Looking around us, Rotherham -36, Blackburn -13, Burton -12, Wigan -8, Bristol City -4.

I think Wigan will beat the drop, Rotherham have gone, Burton will go down too.

 

[CaptainBlack]

Yeah. Against a top 4 side that's exactly what I'd expect though mate. Key thing is we held our own, and as you say with the new additions I think we'll be comfortably safe from relegation.

Fawaz has, yet again, saved us...

...from himself.

I do think though that for the time being calling the deal off was the right thing to do if at the 11th hour terms were being renegotiated. It should all have been signed and sealed well before the Jan window.

JJM was in the states and Fawaz was pissing about in Kuwait with some local tournament while everyone here was just operating in Zombie mode not know who was staying or going.

The long term future is still up in the air but for this season at least the focus seems to be back on the football.

 

[MASE]

I'd expect a win over a Wigan, but the other 4 I think will be losses.

Id have agreed before deadline day.

Truth is we now have a side that should be able to contribute at both ends of the pitch. Credit to Brazil & Lester for tightening the thing up, but there are no excuses now for us not to ask serious questions of teams in the middle of the park & going forward.

Not getting over excited, but we should now be taking points from some of those games. The new management team will now have to prove we can be multi functional against decent sides.

 

[Cortez the Killer]

I think it's impossible to predict a sudden upsurge in wins due to the signings. But we should be more competitive at least so maybe a few losses would be transferred to draws.
I don't think we'll go down.

Sent from my SM-G357FZ using Tapatalk

 

[Alf-engelos Mindminackers]

...from himself.

I do think though that for the time being calling the deal off was the right thing to do if at the 11th hour terms were being renegotiated. It should all have been signed and sealed well before the Jan window.

JJM was in the states and Fawaz was pissing about in Kuwait with some local tournament while everyone here was just operating in Zombie mode not know who was staying or going.

The long term future is still up in the air but for this season at least the focus seems to be back on the football.

Ironic though that Fawaz's haphazard approach is yet to see us in L1 for 3 years, but the professional 5 year plan we had last decade did.

 

[account deleted]

Ironic though that Fawaz's haphazard approach is yet to see us in L1 for 3 years, but the professional 5 year plan we had last decade did.

We're serious about League One, are you?

 

[CaptainBlack]

 

[account deleted]

Nice to see One True Voice back together

 

[Lee]

Nice to see One True Voice back together

It's Shit Direction