Other teams so far…

[Foxdiamond]

26 minutes ago, Jobyfox said:

I agree with others on the VAR debate. I was a strong advocate for it, but it just seems to be a protracted form of refereeing with the same amount of human error. If we’re going to get the decisions wrong anyway I’d rather it be swift and keep the game flowing. 
 

Personally I think the bar should be set much higher on when the VAR officials intervene. Clear and obvious should really be clear and obvious - even for offsides. I’d like to see the football equivalent of umpires call (in cricket) brought in. 
 

A final grumble is the amount of times I see 50/50 decisions sent over to the monitor and 99% of the time the referee just changes the decision. Unless it’s “clear and obvious” I’d like to see more have the balls to just stick with their original decision. 

I largely agree. Only disagree regarding offside. Assuming lines drawn correctly and when ball played offside is off. Doubt we would have won FA Cup without the Chilwell moment. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

Hull have been the best I've seen and they were extremely lucky still. 

[OntarioFox]

Well, somewhat ironically our fellow passengers on the Relegation Express in Southampton were the worst we've played. Makes me incredibly grateful for the job Enzo is doing with similar resources - this league is a clear step down in quality but they are living proof that if you get it wrong, you'll be a laughing stock.

 

I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw from Rotherham to be honest. For the shoestring they operate on, they played some decent stuff and caused us a few problems. Hugill looks a decent player at this level.

 

Standard of defending overall has been pretty poor though, in that same game you could point out the mad space Kasey found for both goals as a good example - Tyler Blackett rolling back the clock to the 5-3! Bristol City are the only ones who have actually looked resolute so far, albeit balanced out by zero attacking threat. Even for Hull, the clean sheet was more a case of them riding their luck and some very dodgy officiating. We got our boots mixed up with the other bunch of Tigers across town.

 

Cov probably the best all round opposition we've faced and would be surprised if they don't bag a playoff spot again this season - though couldn't say if that was partially them playing up to the derby occasion as their results have been mixed since.

 

My ranking (best to worst)

 

Coventry 

Rotherham

Bristol City

Hull

Huddersfield

Cardiff

Norwich

 

 

 

Southampton 

Edited 25 September 2023 by OntarioFox
Forgot to give Cov any credit. Easily done. 😏

[Fox92]

2 minutes ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

Hull have been the best I've seen and they were extremely lucky still. 

We only had one shot on target that game. One shot. I don't think Hull were great but I wouldn't call them lucky either.

[Stuntman_Mike]

2 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

We only had one shot on target that game. One shot. I don't think Hull were great but I wouldn't call them lucky either.

Well it depends how you view luck. 

 

I'd say 21 shots to their 7 is lucky and it was a deflected goal.

 

But yeah, of course they deserved it because ultimately we didn't score.

 

[5waller5]

On 24/09/2023 at 09:35, Happy Fox said:

We are comfortably better than Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United.

That will be irrelevant next season … they’ll have swapped places with us

[Jobyfox]

5 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

I largely agree. Only disagree regarding offside. Assuming lines drawn correctly and when ball played offside is off. Doubt we would have won FA Cup without the Chilwell moment. 

Yep - you could make the argument that offside is an absolute that can be measured definitively. Ideal as a VAR decision.

 

I was thinking that if it takes 2 or 3 minutes to draw lines to prove that somebody’s toe is ahead of the last defender then it’s probably within the realms of “acceptable margin for error”

 

It is one, however, that might evolve as technology improves 

Edited 25 September 2023 by Jobyfox

[Fox92]

2 hours ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

Well it depends how you view luck. 

 

I'd say 21 shots to their 7 is lucky and it was a deflected goal.

 

But yeah, of course they deserved it because ultimately we didn't score.

 

21 shots but only one on target is poor for me. Of course shots add to the statistics, but a player could shoot from 40 yards and it'd still go down as a shot. Team could have 20 shots. Yet the opposition could only have 3 shots but all thse are in a more dangerous position. So I only really take notice of the shots on target stat.

[JimJams]

2 hours ago, 5waller5 said:

That will be irrelevant next season … they’ll have swapped places with us

True. So long as we're comfortably better than the 2 that come up with us and one other, we're set.

[Finnegan]

People, Cov are 19th with one win. They're fvcking shit. 

 

They looked dangerous because we were very under cooked and it was our first ever competitive game trying to play a brand new defensive system. 

 

They've also sold their one good player since then who was a motm candidate on that day. 

[Dan LCFC]

On 24/09/2023 at 10:05, Izzy said:

No VAR is the best thing about this league. Feels like we've got the original game back. 

 

Just goes to show it's all a complete waste of time and just let things even themselves out over the season like they used to.

It's telling how you hear basically nobody 'ever' say they wish they had VAR back. It's been a complete and utter disaster for the sport, why can they not admit it?

[Gamble92]

4 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

People, Cov are 19th with one win. They're fvcking shit. 

 

They looked dangerous because we were very under cooked and it was our first ever competitive game trying to play a brand new defensive system. 

 

They've also sold their one good player since then who was a motm candidate on that day. 

I was just about to post that I'm surprised everyone is tipping Coventry for play offs with 1 win to their name. They have been in all of their games though and I think Hamer would have been massive for them to get over the line in a lot of them. Similar to how Izzet won us those scrappy games with not much in it in 02/03.

 

 

[Dan LCFC]

On 24/09/2023 at 10:18, Matt said:

I was an advocate for VAR.

 

I thought it was needed and naively thought it'd bring the correct decisions and be a leveler as there would be no way for it to be weighed in the top clubs favour.

 

Correct decisions aren't being made and things are going even more in the top teams favour.

 

Dare I say it, I think the refs seem to be better for not relying on VAR in this league, albeit card happy.

It's added extremely little, and even those who advocate for it concede that it isn't going to bring about 100% of correct decisions. So it isn't foolproof. Yet the negatives are unavoidable. The bias hasn't been taken away - if anything it's just highlighted it even further.

 

Having every goal / decision sanitised in that way really is killing the sport as a spectacle. 

 

The refs in this league are no good but honestly I've seen the alternative and bad referees are the far lesser of two evils here.

[jayfox26]

On 24/09/2023 at 09:40, Jobyfox said:

My biggest worry so far is that I see so many people saying: “… when we get out of 2nd gear”, “…. when it clicks…” and “… when we get used to the new style” etc.

 

What if it doesn’t get better? What if this is our peak? Would it be enough? It has been so far …. 

We've already improved from the first few games. We haven't been conceding as many chances as we did in the first few games. We still have work to do in the final 3rd with decision making and being more clinical,  but even us in 2nd gear are better than the rest of this league. If we do improve in the final 3rd, we could hand out some serious wallopings this season.

[MattFox]

4 hours ago, Finnegan said:

People, Cov are 19th with one win. They're fvcking shit. 

 

They looked dangerous because we were very under cooked and it was our first ever competitive game trying to play a brand new defensive system. 

 

They've also sold their one good player since then who was a motm candidate on that day. 

Don’t underestimate the local derby effect too

 

They were all well up for it

[Samilktray]

4 hours ago, Finnegan said:

People, Cov are 19th with one win. They're fvcking shit. 

 

They looked dangerous because we were very under cooked and it was our first ever competitive game trying to play a brand new defensive system. 

 

They've also sold their one good player since then who was a motm candidate on that day. 

Can’t believe their record signing is Ellis Simms, a man who FIFA23’s AI always sold to Kerala Blasters  

[Beachyboy]

On 24/09/2023 at 09:40, Jobyfox said:

My biggest worry so far is that I see so many people saying: “… when we get out of 2nd gear”, “…. when it clicks…” and “… when we get used to the new style” etc.

 

What if it doesn’t get better? What if this is our peak? Would it be enough? It has been so far …. 

If we were to go up, I was thinking about this the other day. The starting 11 for me needs 2xCB, 1xCM, 1 forward.

[Beachyboy]

7 hours ago, 5waller5 said:

That will be irrelevant next season … they’ll have swapped places with us

OK I think we are currently better than Everton, Wolves and Bournemouth who I think next season will be somewhere in the bottom half. With a year to improve, sure they can also improve in that time also.

[Lionator]

I think Blackburn were the best team we’ve played so far. Very well drilled but they just couldn’t stick at it for the full 90.

[Foxaholic ME]

On 25/09/2023 at 13:01, 5waller5 said:

That will be irrelevant next season … they’ll have swapped places with us

if we are that much better than  Burnley  record number of points indicated and when was the last time all 3 promoted sides were relegated 

[Guest Col city fan]

It’ll be us and Leeds I suspect