How happy are you with this season?

[striker]

Apathetic.  Started with a lot of optimism, prepared to accept setbacks along the way, but increasingly less tolerant to repeated mistakes.

 

Having watched every game, points return not good enough . L1 is a better league than last time we were in it, most teams (not Gillingham) now at least try to play some football, but still poor quality wise in comparison with the Championship and we have played some very average/poor teams considering, and still failed. 

 

 

[Blue and white]

[Guest Jack the Hat]

1 hour ago, Owls Loyal said:

Very disappointed.

 

I do not think Moore has a promotion in him and I suspect even some of those who are relatively positive realise that Moore just hasn't got it in him.

 

I would urge DC to do a Milan M now and bring in a manager who can galvanise the squad to play to its ability.

 

With a quality Manager even automatic promotion might still be possible.

^^^^^^^^^^THIS THIS and THIS

[mogbad]

Before we made any signings in the summer in expected a bottom half to mid table finish.
 

Our transfer business filled me with more optimism which was strengthened by our start to the season.

 

However while injuries haven't helped, our team selections, tactics and subsequent performances have killed any optimism I had for success this season.

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

3 hours ago, Jack the Hat said:

Surprised at the responses so far. Most people seem happy. Fair enough, but I think we are underachieving with this squad and , as Moore is going nowhere, will be a long season. Should be top 2 or 3 and ready to pounce with key players back from injury. But instead we are constantly setting up wrong and making ourselves easy to play against resulting in being an easy team to defend against and grab a draw. Particularly at Hillsborough.

 

I think some are overrating our squad a tad.

 

We have some decent players, but not a great deal of strength in depth in certain areas.

 

With Iorfa, Gibson and Hutchinson injured, we're down to Dunkley as a recognised centre-back and have had to use Palmer and Johnson as stand-ins; Luongo is our standout combative midfielder and we have no real replacement when he's out; and despite recruiting a lot of wingers, we seem short of genuine quality out wide, with Corbeanu being the only one beginning to show some form.

 

More importantly than that, we're lacking players with that never-say-die attitude which characterises the best teams.

 

As Laws said in a recent commentary: you can't teach bravery. 

Edited November 15, 2021 by areNOTwhatTHEYseem

[owlprince]

Looking at the table with no context I’d be satisfied. Looking at the actual performances you have to be disappointed we are not doing better. 

[JOHNHARKES]

Frustrating more than anything turgid and no plan b. Willing to give moore the benefit of the doubt still. But patience is waining. 

[Tewkesbury]

20 minutes ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

despite recruiting a lot of wingers, we seem short of genuine quality out wide, with Corbeanu being the only one beginning to show some form.

How do you show form on 10 minutes here, 30 minutes there?

[HillsboroughKer]

I think if DM won at least 15 points out of the remaining 24 in 2021 Wednesday might finish within the top 6. 

[Guest Mcguigan]

2 hours ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

I think some are overrating our squad a tad.

 

We have some decent players, but not a great deal of strength in depth in certain areas.

 

With Iorfa, Gibson and Hutchinson injured, we're down to Dunkley as a recognised centre-back and have had to use Palmer and Johnson as stand-ins; Luongo is our standout combative midfielder and we have no real replacement when he's out; and despite recruiting a lot of wingers, we seem short of genuine quality out wide, with Corbeanu being the only one beginning to show some form.

 

More importantly than that, we're lacking players with that never-say-die attitude which characterises the best teams.

 

As Laws said in a recent commentary: you can't teach bravery. 

Do any teams in LG 1 have any strength in depth. Most seem to have 18 or so senior players and any injuries require youth team/u23 drafts.

[parajack]

6 hours ago, Mr. Tom said:

 

@g-owls

Actually scrap the last line, I didn't read down quite far enough at first, and yes, that's clearly your view. And fair enough.

 

For my money, I also think there's still an issue with the players' mentality though, for whatever reason.

If Hull didn't have that, why not? What's different here?

 

Genuine question, I ask myself it all the time.

Can only come from  the remaining Players cant it?....lack of leadership        on the pitch?..why should a new batch of players have it?

[Ante's Bubbly]

I did not expect us to start moving up the table until the end of October, so to be 8th already has exceeded my expectations at this point.  I still think we will finish in the top 6 and that we are capableof finishing in the top 2, but we need to be more convincing against teams that play negatively.

 

UTO!

[Barnsleyowl1996]

Really depends on your outlook and expectations really. Personally 8th isn’t good enough in my book and performances have on the whole been disappointing . That being said injuries haven’t helped especially to key players such as hutch , iorfa , luongo and Windass .id rate the season as 5/10

[ameylamps]

8 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

What do you think?

Has this season so far given us a fighting chance to succeed by the end of it?

Have all the new players gelled do you think?

Will we get into that top 6 by the end of the season?

Before the players started spouting off about winning the league id have considered 8th to 12th as a good season.

[Guest Andy W]

8 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

What do you think?

Has this season so far given us a fighting chance to succeed by the end of it?

Have all the new players gelled do you think?

Will we get into that top 6 by the end of the season?

No we won't succeed,  not gelled at all, no we won't finish top 6

[bradowl]

A bit disappointed but having players on loan and signing mostly rejected players from other clubs our expectations might be a little bit too high. 

 

Then again with everyone fit I still think we've got a squad capable of finishing in top 6. 

 

If we can keep on fringe of play off places up to January and then strengthen squad I think we can do it. 

[OwlsPilgrim]

5 hours ago, Roy Of The Roasters said:

As things stand today, I'm satisfied (rather than happy).

 

Considering the downward spiral we've been on for the last few seasons and the off field problems that continue to afflict us, I never considered immediate promotion a realistic proposition. For me, this season was all about stopping the rot, establishing a degree of stability, and starting to lay some foundations for turning the club round in subsequent seasons. I believe all these things are actually starting to happen and that we should allow that process to continue.

 

I fully expected some disappointing and frustrating performances, and for 'smaller' teams to take points off us, because we just weren't in a position to hit the ground running, and that's exactly what has happened. It's disappointing, but that's the way it is, and we need to lose this sense of outrage about failing to beat teams like Cambridge and Wimbledon.

 

For me, it's all about continuity, sustainable improvement and patience. As long as the direction of travel is right, then I'm OK with taking a while to get to our destination.

 

The $6MM question, I guess, is Darren Moore. Whatever his critics say, he is not the disaster they claim, as is evident from our league position and decent unbeaten run. There most definitely are worse managers out there, and the danger is that we may end up employing one of them if DM leaves. Of course there are question marks over his team selections and tactical nous, and I can't say with any confidence that he's the man for the long term, but in the short term I think he's doing what the club needs him to do. Our results need to improve, of course, but that unbeaten run is a good platform to build on, and there have been encouraging signs of improvement in form in recent games.

 

I remain cautiously optimistic.

 

This pretty much sums up the way I feel about things. Given the turnaround in players I did think it might have taken a little more time for things to settle into place. 
 

It has underwhelmed and frustrated me that this process of change has taken so long to show some sign that we’re making consistent improvements. The constant changing of game day formation, the lack of a generally consistent starting eleven and the poor style of play showed that the manager was out of his depth or just too stubborn to see that things were not working.

 

Our business in the transfer market was generally very positive taking into account the restrictions placed upon us. Overall some of these new players have proved to be generally decent signings, some however have not. I think factors like the changing of tactics and style of play hasn’t helped to some degree either.
 

Of those permanent signings that have been positive I’ve been most happy with Adeniran and Gregory. Of the loans, Corbeanu has proven to have the drive and ambition to want to succeed. 
 

Unfortunately some of the new players have been hampered by injuries and I can’t really make any judgement on them. 
 

Berahino was seen as the biggest gamble and unfortunately so far his performances have been far from the standard required. I for one thought that he would take the opportunity and prove that he does have the necessary ability to get the goals for us. Unless his form makes a marked improvement I believe he should be looking for another club come the winter transfer window.

 

The fact we have lost so few games is a positive but we must turn these draws into wins and show that we have a stronger attacking mentality. We have a huge stadium for this league and a much larger home attendance than most of clubs. We should be turning this into our advantage and making Hillsborough a place that opposition teams feel that they cannot expect to get a result at.

 

We have seen a move away from over complicating things in the past couple of weeks and we’re seeing positives from this. In particular the performances of Dunkley have been highlight and his leadership is showing to be a major asset too. 

[Barnsleyowl1996]

an 11 of 

 

Wildsmith

 

Iorfa

Dunkley

Hutch

palmer 

 

Baz

Adenrian

Luongo

 

Theo

Gregory

Windass 

 

would IMO take us around the automatic players , BUt unfortunately seeing that 11 together and fully fit for a long period of time seems unlikely 

[brando]

9 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

What do you think?

Has this season so far given us a fighting chance to succeed by the end of it?

Have all the new players gelled do you think?

Will we get into that top 6 by the end of the season?

We have been awful,

Set up incorrectly,

Square pegs in round holes,

Tactically awful,

Better last couple of games,but nowhere near good enough..

We should be where Rotherham are,crushing teams easily..yes we beat em but anyone who was there will tell you how lucky we were..sorry but..

MOORE OUT..unbeaten in so many but draws regular are no good...

[brando]

1 minute ago, brando said:

We have been awful,

Set up incorrectly,

Square pegs in round holes,

Tactically awful,

Better last couple of games,but nowhere near good enough..

We should be where Rotherham are,crushing teams easily..yes we beat em but anyone who was there will tell you how lucky we were..sorry but..

MOORE OUT..unbeaten in so many but draws regular are no good...

Ps a win ratio of 1 in 3 will get you nowt..