January will give us an opportunity to restore our squad to strength with transfer options and players coming back from injury. Until then, we have to cope with what we have so, with Bishop now out, December is looking like a particularly challenging month. Six games starting with Northampton on Saturday who beat Blackpool last night then Bolton, Shrewsbury, Fleetwood, Bristol Rovers and Exeter.
After Northampton, we have Morrell back alongside Pack which is great news and with Lowery almost in the frame, our midfield is almost back to full strength.
Bishop has been the elephant in the room for the whole season. The 'what if..' that has been frequently mentioned on this board has now happened and Mousinho has to to find a solution. Not a system that again involves reliance on one player but an approach that is going to yield more chances for midfield. We have the players to do this, we just need to tweak the system.
(29-11-2023, 06:29 AM)Gerry Hatrick Wrote: [ -> ]January will give us an opportunity to restore our squad to strength with transfer options and players coming back from injury. Until then, we have to cope with what we have so, with Bishop now out, December is looking like a particularly challenging month. Six games starting with Northampton on Saturday who beat Blackpool last night then Bolton, Shrewsbury, Fleetwood, Bristol Rovers and Exeter.
After Northampton, we have Morrell back alongside Pack which is great news and with Lowery almost in the frame, our midfield is almost back to full strength.
Bishop has been the elephant in the room for the whole season. The 'what if..' that has been frequently mentioned on this board has now happened and Mousinho has to to find a solution. Not a system that again involves reliance on one player but an approach that is going to yield more chances for midfield. We have the players to do this, we just need to tweak the system.
Agreed, and time now for Yengi & Saydee to finally prove themselves up front. If they can't then the next transfer window is going to be vital, except there aren't usually quality forwards available in Jan.
Wonder how keen Jonson Clark Harris is on moving to Bristol Rovers.
(29-11-2023, 08:11 AM)simonfkwit Wrote: [ -> ]Wonder how keen Jonson Clark Harris is on moving to Bristol Rovers.
Rovers were paying north of 800K.
We won't lay out that sort of investment.
Are any of our youngsters out on loan ready to step up?
Hopefully Bishop is back for the majority of the December games. Let's wait and see what his scan reveals.
Can Yengi or Saydee play Bishop's role? If not do we have to change the system? maybe play both and be more 4-4-2 with less reliance on wingers? Not sure. Maybe Saydee better suited to being a lone striker but I feel Yengi is the more likely to give us a goal return. Tricky one.
Let's hope we can keep him away from the Minced pies & pigs in blankets. Its a tricky time of year to be off!
I managed to stuff myself every Christmas and I don’t feel it affected my professional career in football. Hic.
(29-11-2023, 06:05 PM)Cunninglinguist Wrote: [ -> ]I managed to stuff myself every Christmas and I don’t feel it affected my professional career in football. Hic.
Did you play for Wales, as a goalkeeper?
I think his goal looked smaller, as his career went on.
Rory Allen has returned from The Ashes!
We are currently on 42 points with 19 played, with 5 league games in December.
We should try and win every game, but I'll be content if we can get to 50 points by the end of the month.
8 points from 15 available will get us to 50 points by 2024 and then we can strengthen in January where neccesary.
We probably would then only need 40 points ish for automatic promotion from 22 remaining league games. 90 points should be enough.
The only teams I could see getting to 90 points are us, Bolton and possibly Derby if they maintain their current form.
I do think 90 points will be enough for a top 2 finish though. 48 more points required for us.
after Bolton, I hear that we have a run of games that we would expect to do well.
(03-12-2023, 02:55 PM)TitchfieldBlue Wrote: [ -> ]We should try and win every game
Der, isn't that what all teams try to do
(03-12-2023, 04:11 PM)Hammie Wrote: [ -> ]after Bolton, I hear that we have a run of games that we would expect to do well.
I agree.
(03-12-2023, 04:12 PM)foxleyblue Wrote: [ -> ] (03-12-2023, 02:55 PM)TitchfieldBlue Wrote: [ -> ]We should try and win every game
Der, isn't that what all teams try to do
Not all, some teams play for a draw depending on circumstances.
And.we won't win every game. We have to be realistic about points targets.
Looking ay the rest of the December fixtures I reckon:
Home v Bolton. Draw - 1 point
Away v Shrewsbury. Win - 3 points
Home v Fleetwood. Win - 3 points
Away v Bristol Rovers. Draw - 1 point
Away v Exeter. Win - 3 points.
11 points to leave us on 53 points at the end of the year. 22 games to get 44 points to guarantee automatic promotion ( Sheff Wed got 96 and finished 3rd last year). Personally I think 90 would probably be enough but Bolton and Derby are both looking strong so by no means certain.
It’s currently in our hands to finish top. Just have to stay there.
Beat Bolton and go 6 pts clear even if they have a game in hand.
Pompey will be pushing on the stress whilst alleviation of our own occurs.
I agree about 90 being a realistic target for thr automatics however this season is not going to require anything like the points total of 2022/23. Actually, I think it's going to be nearer the average which I think is 87.
I couldn’t give a flying one as to how many points are needed. As long as we have more than 2nd place, I couldn’t give a monkeys.
Multiply the number of games we have left by three and I might be content with that.
More than third place will do me