Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

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1964white
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Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

Post by 1964white »

Good morning everyone

Who'd have thought Wolves would be 17 points & Cardiff 13 ahead of us by early December?

Have we gone forward, backwards or sideways since our progression last season?

Leeds have drawn Newport in the FA Cup 3rd Round at the Rodney Parade stadium...Cushty

Demolition or banana skin?
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Re: Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

Post by HarryofOz »

Overall, the two squads are close in ability. Unfortunately in two key positions - goalscorer and goalkeeper we are definitely weaker. But the addition of Saiz and Alioski is a huge plus.

We will defeat Newport comfortably.
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Re: Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

Post by 1964white »

HarryofOz wrote:Overall, the two squads are close in ability. Unfortunately in two key positions - goalscorer and goalkeeper we are definitely weaker. But the addition of Saiz and Alioski is a huge plus
Plus centre-back & left-back positions where we are considerably weaker

Bartley & Taylor were much better than any alternatives we have at our club now

This season I expected us to build on 2016/17's squad & challenge for a promotion spot. Truth is we haven't as we are weaker. Also we have no game-changers on the bench.
This is a sad reflection of the state of our unit when you operate on the cheap which has been the case ever since we were relegated from the Premiership.
We may go on a good run accumulating several points for a period but I really can't envisage us seeing out this season when fatigue/injuries/suspensions kick in with such a slender/fragile squad
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Re: Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

Post by Cjay »

Well we are 2 points worse off then at this stage last season. From game 20-27 we didnt lose last season.

So big few games coming up.

I think its hard to decide if we are vetter or worse tbh.

This season when we win we win well, we play better football then last season where we were defensive and pretty dull.

Theres been individual improvements.
Phillips and Vieira are better then last season.
Alioski and Saiz are better then what we had last season.
Ekuban has the makings of a quality forward, his pace, workrate and movement are far ahead of Doukara and Wood, just needs to find some goals.

The complaints about defence while valid are difficult, If you take out Lonergans shockers which accounts for 4 goals roughly then we have conceded about the same as last season.

Individually we miss Bartley, but nobody could have expected the drop in form of Ayling, Berardi and Pontus. They arent playing anywhere near the levels of last season.

Our squad is pretty similar to last season, both just required 3 or 4 signings. I prefer this seasons side though, find them much more exciting to watch.
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Re: Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

Post by Cjay »

Also, Rob Green was Motm often for his shot stopping, when you think about it that means he had a lot of work to do.

Wiedwald has hardly had any work to do, so that suggests as a team we are a better unit.

Attacking wise last season, shut down Hernandez and Wood and it was game over.

This season we have Saiz, Alioski, Ekuban and Phillips all getting forward causing problems.
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Re: Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

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Cjay wrote:Well we are 2 points worse off then at this stage last season. From game 20-27 we didnt lose last season.

So big few games coming up.

I think its hard to decide if we are better or worse tbh.

This season when we win we win well, we play better football then last season where we were defensive and pretty dull.

Theres been individual improvements.
Phillips and Vieira are better then last season.
Alioski and Saiz are better then what we had last season.
Ekuban has the makings of a quality forward, his pace, workrate and movement are far ahead of Doukara and Wood, just needs to find some goals.

The complaints about defence while valid are difficult, If you take out Lonergans shockers which accounts for 4 goals roughly then we have conceded about the same as last season.

Individually we miss Bartley, but nobody could have expected the drop in form of Ayling, Berardi and Pontus. They arent playing anywhere near the levels of last season.

Our squad is pretty similar to last season, both just required 3 or 4 signings. I prefer this seasons side though, find them much more exciting to watch.
The midfield was our major problem last season putting our defence under pressure & uncreative attacking-wise, this season we have improved massively in the centre of the park but too many calamity jane moments at the back & playing without a proven goalscoring striker has been our achilles heel.

The plus is Pontus is back to his best & I love Ekuban's attitude, pace & skills, hopefully the goals will follow in order for the young lad to cement his place upfront

Berardi should be our RB, pretty sure his form would return playing in his right position

Ayling has been very lucky to keep his place imo !

We do need three or four quality signings which would also create better options on the bench too.
Unconvinced we'll see the right signings in January 2018
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Re: Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

Post by 1964white »

Cjay wrote: This season when we win we win well, we play better football then last season where we were defensive and pretty dull.
Agree we are much more entertaining & better on the eye than the dirge we generally played under Monk

Boro' fans not at all happy with the turgid football they are watching this season
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Re: Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

Post by weasel »

Have we gone forward, backwards or sideways since our progression last season?

One thing worth noting is that we are doing better than the 3 non-promoted teams that made it to the play-offs last season Sheff Wed, Fulham and Reading. This illustrates the sometimes fickle nature of the championship as last season we, like Reading, nicked a lot of games which could have gone either way. Key to that was sometimes luck but often down to Green making a crucial save and Wood scoring a crucial goal. Like has been mentioned we have downgraded in both those areas whilst strengthening in other areas. As such I would say we have probably gone sideways but have missed a great opportunity to go forwards.

Leeds v Newport - Demolition or banana skin?

We beat them comfortably earlier in the season despite going behind. However I would expect it to be tougher with us playing away this time. Really is a toss of a coin as to whether we will win easily or it could be tricky and a potential loss. An early goal for us could be key.
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Re: Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

Post by Cjay »

1964white wrote:The midfield was our major problem last season putting our defence under pressure & uncreative attacking-wise, this season we have improved massively in the centre of the park but too many calamity jane moments at the back & playing without a proven goalscoring striker has been our achilles heel.
Thats one of the best things TC has done imo, allowing our 2 in the middle to get forward more.Still would like to see more creativity from them, dont know if Phillips as the more attacking one has that in him though.
The plus is Pontus is back to his best & I love Ekuban's attitude, pace & skills, hopefully the goals will follow in order for the young lad to cement his place upfront
Agreed, we need Pontus to re capture his form, lot of love for Ekuban, i think he has goals in him. But for a last ditch block in one game and an inch or two in the other he would probably have a couple already, fine margins.

Berardi should be our RB, pretty sure his form would return playing in his right position

Ayling has been very lucky to keep his place imo !
He should, but last season he was very good at left back, so has it in him, need those performances back.
Ayling has been dire, I'm wondering if thats down to his mate not being here. They knew each other inside out him and Bartley. Perhaps a knock on effect of not having Bartley is Aylings form.

We do need three or four quality signings which would also create better options on the bench too.
Unconvinced we'll see the right signings in January 2018
Yep, 4 is the magic number for me.
The left back
Centre back
Creative, experienced midfielder.
An attacking player of quality.
Get those in, even just 3 and forget the centre mid and bring Klich into the fray.
Know ist just rumours, but we have been linked to all the types of players we need, have to hope its genuine.
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Re: Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

Post by 1964white »

1964white wrote:Have we gone forward, backwards or sideways since our progression last season?
Whilst driving this morning I noticed my Leeds United car pennant has gone sideways :lol:
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Re: Tuesday's Breakfast Debate - Wolves/Cardiff/Newport

Post by NorfolkWhite »

If you look at things on the pitch I'm not sure with a best XI out we are that much better, but I would say we are better, mainly with the addition of more variety on an attacking front. Squad wise though we are much better placed., good players are tied down and on decent deals with, in the round, their best years in front of them. Last season our first choice CHs (and probably two of our best players) were on loan (one with a rumoured option to buy), our star FB was running out his contract, our GK was no spring chicken and we relied on one player to get all our goals and he was always a likely target for PL £s. Add in to this that off the field we had an ownership transition going on so no real clear single vision of what we wanted to do on the field and I'm not surprised this season hasn't been a seamless transition to brilliance.

Radz has sorted so much off the field, not least the ownership of the ground, in such a short space of time I think we need to look at where the club is at as a whole, we have a good owner, sound financial base, good management structure, good commercial plan, higher gates - I'm optimistic, it's the first time in many many years we've been able to say any of those things. Yes our recruitment wasn't perfect, but hindsight is a wonderful thing - look at some of the money Boro, Villa etc have pumped out, just spending money is no guarantee (unless you have so much of it it doesn't matter if you get it wrong). I think Radz has a plan in place, it's not just managers and players who need time, owners do too, he's done a great job for me and I think he'll get us where we want to be.
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