Football League 2023/24 - 10-11th November, 2023

[Stan]

all kick-offs 15.00 (BST) unless stated

Friday 10th November, 2023
Blackburn vs Preston, 20.00

Saturday 11th November, 2023
Sunderland vs Birmingham, 12.30

Cardiff vs Norwich
Coventry vs Stoke
Hull vs Huddersfield
Ipswich vs Swansea
Leeds vs Plymouth
Middlesbrough vs Leicester
QPR vs Bristol City
Sheff Weds vs Millwall
Southampton vs West Brom
Watford vs Rotherham
 

Saturday 11th November, 2023
Peterborough vs Cambridge, 12.00

Bolton vs Blackpool
Carlisle vs Bristol Rovers
Cheltenham vs Wigan
Derby vs Barnsley
Fleetwood vs Exeter
Leyton Orient vs Oxford
Lincoln vs Port Vale
Northampton vs Burton
Portsmouth vs Charlton
Shrewsbury vs Reading
Wycombe vs Stevenage

 

Saturday 11th November, 2023
AFC Wimbledon vs Doncaster
Bradford vs Barrow
Colchester vs Sutton
Crawley vs Accrington Stanley
Crewe vs Notts County
Grimsby vs Morecambe
Newport vs MK Dons
Salford vs Mansfield
Swindon vs Stockport
Tranmere vs Forest Green
Walsall vs Harrogate
Wrexham vs Gillingham

[Dan+]

Need a reaction. We've wobbled a bit the last three games.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

Hopefully we can take advantage of Norwich being shit before Wagner is sacked. Would be good to get a win before the international break and hopefully see Ramsey back.

[Dan+]

14 hours ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Hopefully we can take advantage of Norwich being shit before Wagner is sacked. Would be good to get a win before the international break and hopefully see Ramsey back.

Think I'll be backing Cardiff this weekend. Think get against Norwich wherever possible at the minute but you've been really reliable at home this season and Norwich seem to be going through that motion that we did last season where everyone is just waiting for the manager to go. Although it appears that Webber's replacement has been brought forward to next week so I'm assuming this means Wagner probably goes regardless of the result.

Could have the opposite effect mind you.

I thought Cardiff gave us a decent game in August, better than expected and it's clear there seems to be a bit of method in the madness. I've got a bit of a thing for total unknowns like Bulot with players from Greece & Turkey coming in and making a proper fist of it when plenty will just assume it'll be a disaster.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

5 hours ago, Dan said:

Think I'll be backing Cardiff this weekend. Think get against Norwich wherever possible at the minute but you've been really reliable at home this season and Norwich seem to be going through that motion that we did last season where everyone is just waiting for the manager to go. Although it appears that Webber's replacement has been brought forward to next week so I'm assuming this means Wagner probably goes regardless of the result.

Could have the opposite effect mind you.

I thought Cardiff gave us a decent game in August, better than expected and it's clear there seems to be a bit of method in the madness. I've got a bit of a thing for total unknowns like Bulot with players from Greece & Turkey coming in and making a proper fist of it when plenty will just assume it'll be a disaster.

Thanks for costing us the win this Saturday. 

[Stan]

Good finish by Browne. Preston 1 up. 

[Dave]

Big win for Preston. When Szmodics scored I fancied Blackburn. Hopefully both of those teams push on to have a good season.

[Stan]

Two losses in a row. Hopefully just a short term blip but two games in a row without scoring and a few passengers in each game is slightly worrying. 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

On 09/11/2023 at 09:52, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Thanks for costing us the win this Saturday. 

@Dan, you've been reported and I fully expect @Stan to ban you.

Have a nice day. 

[Lucas]

2-1 on paper looks good for Plymouth but they were battered for best part of 75mins, we just missed so many chances. I suppose you have to give them credit for hanging in there but if it was 4 or 5-0, I don't think they'd have complained.

We just can't seem to shake that lack of concentration/laxidazical part in us. I don't know whether that was because it felt too easy or what but some of those chances we missed were poor. 

Plymouth then bag out of nowhere and we got a nervy last 5mins. Absolutely no need really.

Made a meal out of it but after that Leicester win last week, its important you dont drop anything straight away against a side you'd expect three points from.

Bit of a blow Ipswich and Southampton won again but suddenly we've made 6pts on Leicester and it just gives them a little food for thought.

Ironic really that our man Greenwood has done us a favour today. Seems to be doing well for 'Boro.

[Dan+]

I'm extremely torn now. I can't tell if we've fallen foul of a bit of bad luck or if there are proper red flags with us. I think the biggest criticism you can aim at us, and somebody absolutely nailed this in an article I'll find that somebody wrote about us, is that we keep games far tighter than we need to and when you do that every game, you are eventually going to come out on the wrong side of the odd one. It just takes a moment of magic like today and you can come unstuck.

I think we ought to have scored in the second half before they did, but I think the problem is we're not really battering teams, we're turning games into a battle of endurance and I really don't think we need to do that.

I still think we'll go up but this is officially poor form now. We've lost two on the bounce and we've only scored 3 in our last 4 as well - which is woeful for the attacking talent we have. 

[Lucas]

13 hours ago, Dan said:

I'm extremely torn now. I can't tell if we've fallen foul of a bit of bad luck or if there are proper red flags with us. I think the biggest criticism you can aim at us, and somebody absolutely nailed this in an article I'll find that somebody wrote about us, is that we keep games far tighter than we need to and when you do that every game, you are eventually going to come out on the wrong side of the odd one. It just takes a moment of magic like today and you can come unstuck.

I think we ought to have scored in the second half before they did, but I think the problem is we're not really battering teams, we're turning games into a battle of endurance and I really don't think we need to do that.

I still think we'll go up but this is officially poor form now. We've lost two on the bounce and we've only scored 3 in our last 4 as well - which is woeful for the attacking talent we have. 

I wouldn't be too reactionary to having two defeats against two good sides, I mean, it's not like you've gone and lost to a Stoke or Huddersfield at the end of the day.

And whilst its back to back defeats, thats only off the back of 9 straight wins which is sensational form. Definitely wouldn't say two 1-0 defeats are poor form. Leicester are very much the team in the division to beat for me still, hense why you are 8pts ahead of third.

Still a very good side from back to front, but I think whilst it was going so well, perhaps some of your fanbase got a little swept up in the run believing you were at a standard you could sustain throughout, when perhaps the truth of the matter is, you've got some results without always having the performances. Very easy to gloss over that when winning.

It's natural to have sticky moments abd you were always going to run into them. I'd be more inclined to call it poor form or be worried if it turned into a one win in six or seven scenario, something like that. Then you get a bit concerned.

Might be a good thing for Leicester this. It was all going too well so the break gives them time to lick their wounds and reflect on the defeats that leave a sour taste, and realise that as good as you are, you still beed to go out and earn those points every week. I'd expect them to be proper smarting and put it right first fixture back.

[Dan+]

5 hours ago, Lucas said:

I wouldn't be too reactionary to having two defeats against two good sides, I mean, it's not like you've gone and lost to a Stoke or Huddersfield at the end of the day.

And whilst its back to back defeats, thats only off the back of 9 straight wins which is sensational form. Definitely wouldn't say two 1-0 defeats are poor form. Leicester are very much the team in the division to beat for me still, hense why you are 8pts ahead of third.

Still a very good side from back to front, but I think whilst it was going so well, perhaps some of your fanbase got a little swept up in the run believing you were at a standard you could sustain throughout, when perhaps the truth of the matter is, you've got some results without always having the performances. Very easy to gloss over that when winning.

It's natural to have sticky moments abd you were always going to run into them. I'd be more inclined to call it poor form or be worried if it turned into a one win in six or seven scenario, something like that. Then you get a bit concerned.

Might be a good thing for Leicester this. It was all going too well so the break gives them time to lick their wounds and reflect on the defeats that leave a sour taste, and realise that as good as you are, you still beed to go out and earn those points every week. I'd expect them to be proper smarting and put it right first fixture back.

I suppose saying two defeats is poor form is a sign of how well it has actually gone so far, but I do think we are living a bit more dangerously of late than we should be. I mean we were utterly unconvincing at a dreadful QPR and got bailed out of that by a wondergoal and a massive deflection. I just don't think we have enough goals in the side, which is quite hard to believe when you have Vardy and Iheanacho in your side, we've even had the luxury of freezing out Patson Daka - a player who I think would be considered Preston's best for example.

We're a good side but we are starting to wobble and I've not been impressed by how little he changed during these two defeats. The performance yesterday after going behind was totally inept. I don't think we even entered their box let alone had a chance.

I think Maresca's problem is that we've come down with such high expectations, have lived up to them so far and somehow risen them higher so that the our games now are being viewed through the prism very much of "How would this team cope in the Premier League" - which I know it's early for but you can see why it's happening.

We need a bit of a shake up against Watford. I think individual displays have gone a bit off the boil. Winks being suspended is a big loss, Mavididi is starting to piss me off, and the infrequency of Vardy or Iheanacho having a good game from the start is a concern to me. You have neither of those two playing particularly well, Mavididi isn't really producing, Fatawu is a very fun player but he isn't really producing goals and assists yet. I just think this is a side that should be capable of hitting silly numbers in this league but we're very much doing things by stealth. I don't think you'll finish ahead of us (although I think it's a lot likelier than I did a fortnight ago) but I'm pretty confident you'll outscore us.

[Lucas]

9 hours ago, Dan said:

I don't think you'll finish ahead of us (although I think it's a lot likelier than I did a fortnight ago) but I'm pretty confident you'll outscore us.

I'd be inclined to agree with that. Expect to finish behind you for sure. Think you are more solid across the board, especially defensively and you have the better squad. When we've rotated, its not worked and we look weaker for it. Our First XI are too key.

As a First XI, I'd probably take our side just, mainly because I think attack wise, those four of ours at the moment are pretty untouchable.

Summerville is the best attacker in this division and equally, most likely to draw heavy attention in January. Rutter has far too much class for this level, Dan James is playing with so much confidence and producing end product whilst Piroe generally finishes the chances when he gets them on a plate.

Gnonto can't get in which says it all.

I'd be inclined to say we have a cracking midfield pair in Kamara and Ampadu too, but defensively we will always carry a question mark with the full backs. Djed Spence when fit, will kick us on massively in that department.

You're ahead because you made a good start and were better prepared to start the season, where as we were about four weeks behind following the takeover and uncertainty around players.

That said, don't think there's a lot between us. If we were level on points at the mo, I think the pundits would be backing us on the eye test, but we've still got some way to go for me.

Personally, I think your squad is better than ours. Will be interesting to see if this Tom Cannon adds a dimension to your game, and I'd expect you to go big in January too.

I think ultimately, Ipswich may fall away whilst Southampton will enter the race.

[Dan+]

On 13/11/2023 at 05:42, Lucas said:

I'd be inclined to agree with that. Expect to finish behind you for sure. Think you are more solid across the board, especially defensively and you have the better squad. When we've rotated, its not worked and we look weaker for it. Our First XI are too key.

As a First XI, I'd probably take our side just, mainly because I think attack wise, those four of ours at the moment are pretty untouchable.

Summerville is the best attacker in this division and equally, most likely to draw heavy attention in January. Rutter has far too much class for this level, Dan James is playing with so much confidence and producing end product whilst Piroe generally finishes the chances when he gets them on a plate.

Gnonto can't get in which says it all.

I'd be inclined to say we have a cracking midfield pair in Kamara and Ampadu too, but defensively we will always carry a question mark with the full backs. Djed Spence when fit, will kick us on massively in that department.

You're ahead because you made a good start and were better prepared to start the season, where as we were about four weeks behind following the takeover and uncertainty around players.

That said, don't think there's a lot between us. If we were level on points at the mo, I think the pundits would be backing us on the eye test, but we've still got some way to go for me.

Personally, I think your squad is better than ours. Will be interesting to see if this Tom Cannon adds a dimension to your game, and I'd expect you to go big in January too.

I think ultimately, Ipswich may fall away whilst Southampton will enter the race.

I do think our midfield is better than yours, defence is a tough one to judge for me because a lot of that is about the system as much as individuals, and I think if there's one thing Maresca can say he's achieved it's that we're good defensively. 16 games gone and we are still yet to concede twice in a league game which is pretty exceptional (albeit we've let in 10 goals, so only 6 clean sheets). I think it was evident somewhat against you, you had the better of us in most places but you didn't really create many clear cut chances, you got into the final third but we were often well positioned to divert or block you off, and I think that's the real perk of the system we're playing.

The flip side is I think it's clearly not getting the best out of our attackers. The strikers aren't massively involved, I get the impression that he doesn't really see Vardy or Iheanacho as his preferred option and the talk is that Cannon was very much his man so I think he could play quite a big part. Vardy you can forgive looking sketchy because he's 37 in January and a striker who did excel a lot due to his pace. Iheanacho I'm having real second thoughts on now, I've given him a lot of benefit of the doubt and I still don't think you can really argue with what he produces per 90 (which even in the PL were good numbers), but he just cannot consistently play well on his own, even in this league.

I think the element of our side that is a bit overlooked is how good the goalkeeper Mads Hermansen is. I honestly think if he played for us last season we'd have probably finished about 12th/13th even despite how poor we were. He's been nearly faultless for me. Really good distributor, a modern goalkeeper in that sense but he's actually a really good shot stopper too. He's a fantastic piece of recruitment. Easily PL standard for me.

You are right about our January too - there were opposition fans wincing in the summer at some of our buys but I can quite easily envisage us buying another 2/3 players for 5/10mil a pop as well. I do suppose when you think about things, up to now we have coped well with losing first team players almost as if we hadn't lost them at all, the drop off in theory should've come sooner.

I think we were quite lucky to have the fixtures we did early doors, we weren't particularly well prepared ourselves. We picked the right time to play those sides, sides we were good enough to just get by on pure quality rather than playing well. You had arguably even more upheval, later in the season and you have clearly turned a bit of a corner now. With both you and Southampton's form, and the fact Ipswich aren't dropping off you really could have a pretty extraordinary scenario at the top. 90 points has been enough for automatic promotion in every Championship season. I think this season it's plausible that you could finish 3rd on 95 - and possibly even 4th on over 90 as well. It's why despite how well we have started, we aren't actually close to home and dry after all. The others are really pushing.

Ipswich are just mental. How a side promoted out of League One is pushing this level is incredible. I have nothing but respect for them. I do wish they would fuck off a bit though