I don't fear our luck running out at Wembley, I will worry about Wembley when we get there. What we have to develop is being hard to score against, then we will become very hard to beat.
Compared to the last team? The one that had Josh Parker and Ben Purrington in it (sorry Ben I did like you)?
We’re not as far away as some think in my opinion.
Yep, that team. The one that also had Pearce, Bauer, Leuth's mate, Cullen, Bilek, Taylor, Aribo, Tumbledown Williams, etc. That team.
And at least Purrington was a left back playing in his favoured position.
If you took the two teams and try to be objective, I think 4-5 of the current group would get in the starting line up across the twenty two. We do tend to look at promotion teams with rose tinted glasses…
Ash or Dillon is a 50/50 (remember Dillon hardly played senior football for us before Jan that season)
Dijksteel or Tennai - not seen enough of Tennai to say for sure. Dijksteel was out of position at right back.
Bauer or Hector - Bauer wins this one
Pearce or Jones - on recent form I’d rather have Jones, Pearce has a good shout for his leadership qualities
Purrington or Edun - two different types of full back, I like what Edun brings going forward, don’t think he’s been any better or worse than what we became used to seeing from Purrington
Cullen or Dobson - Cullen
Bielik or Watson - Bielik for now, though Watson is very tidy and has already grown a lot in a dozen games, it took Bielik a while to become the monster he was
Aribo or May - I’m 50/50 on this because I think Aribo was better for the team he was in and May is definitely better for this current team. Hard to ignore May’s goals.
Williams or Blackett-Taylor - Williams very skilful for the level but at the rate CBT is contributing goals and assists, you have to take him.
Parker or T.Campbell - T.Campbell
Taylor or Leaburn - Taylor was our talisman that year and probably edges out Miles on the latter’s current form. But as soon as he finds his shooting boots again, Leaburn can become multiple times the player Lyle ever has been.
That playoff winning team would hammer the current team.
But would the version of that team from November 2018 also hammer the current team? Or was that team good because they found their groove and were in good form at the time?
Why can't the 2023/24 version of this team also become something better than they are currently? We have lots of good players and young players with potential to grow and improve between now and the season's end.
The 2018/19 promotion winning side lost 8 games before the New Year. When we lost back to back games against Coventry and Barnsley around the Christmas period, I'd be surprised if anyone said that that team was good enough to get promoted. And yet it happened.
The November team was viably better as you could take out Parker and add KAG in your list above. My expectation/hope is this season we strengthen in January rather than weaken.
Kind of proves my point to an extent… football isn’t played on paper and teams can get better (or worse) over the course of a 46 game season.
The team with KAG lost 8 games. The team with Parker lost twice.
And your conculsion is what ? Parker had one decent game for Cafc which was at Wembley. No goals from 10 matches. He was the 6th choice when we signed him. Grant with Taylor would have smashed the 2nd half of that season especially with the more excellent form of Bielik who people forget was hot and cold as he was moved between CB and Midfield in the 1st half of the season.
More quality in the last team for Cafc last promotion but Parker really wasn't one of those even if he did run around and try.
Karlan Grant has had a decent career in the Championship where Josh Parker was a national League/league 2 quality player in his journeyman career. Josh is still playing for Oxford City in the National League at 32 which is his level.
Despite the last couple of games if I was a Championship club manager(😂) I would want Corey Blackett-Taylor in my 18 and pick and choice if he starts or comes on from the bench. A low block by a team and he would be on the bench but any game where there is space he can be deadly and his critics( "waste of space") are talking bollocks if they can't see how easy he can go past full backs. If he's double marked then more space for others.
Dobson, May and CBT are cafc top players in this division and Miles has the potential to be a Championship player if he can continue to learn and progress. Difficult to know the ceiling for Leaburn and our other under 21's as the learning curve can plateau or even go down at times. Even Ness is still a work in progress at 21.
Because of the mandatory injuries to players which regularly affects our momentum, we still need to convince we are more than a mid table team with a goal scorer in Alfie May.
Compared to the last team? The one that had Josh Parker and Ben Purrington in it (sorry Ben I did like you)?
We’re not as far away as some think in my opinion.
Yep, that team. The one that also had Pearce, Bauer, Leuth's mate, Cullen, Bilek, Taylor, Aribo, Tumbledown Williams, etc. That team.
And at least Purrington was a left back playing in his favoured position.
If you took the two teams and try to be objective, I think 4-5 of the current group would get in the starting line up across the twenty two. We do tend to look at promotion teams with rose tinted glasses…
Ash or Dillon is a 50/50 (remember Dillon hardly played senior football for us before Jan that season)
Dijksteel or Tennai - not seen enough of Tennai to say for sure. Dijksteel was out of position at right back.
Bauer or Hector - Bauer wins this one
Pearce or Jones - on recent form I’d rather have Jones, Pearce has a good shout for his leadership qualities
Purrington or Edun - two different types of full back, I like what Edun brings going forward, don’t think he’s been any better or worse than what we became used to seeing from Purrington
Cullen or Dobson - Cullen
Bielik or Watson - Bielik for now, though Watson is very tidy and has already grown a lot in a dozen games, it took Bielik a while to become the monster he was
Aribo or May - I’m 50/50 on this because I think Aribo was better for the team he was in and May is definitely better for this current team. Hard to ignore May’s goals.
Williams or Blackett-Taylor - Williams very skilful for the level but at the rate CBT is contributing goals and assists, you have to take him.
Parker or T.Campbell - T.Campbell
Taylor or Leaburn - Taylor was our talisman that year and probably edges out Miles on the latter’s current form. But as soon as he finds his shooting boots again, Leaburn can become multiple times the player Lyle ever has been.
That playoff winning team would hammer the current team.
But would the version of that team from November 2018 also hammer the current team? Or was that team good because they found their groove and were in good form at the time?
Why can't the 2023/24 version of this team also become something better than they are currently? We have lots of good players and young players with potential to grow and improve between now and the season's end.
The 2018/19 promotion winning side lost 8 games before the New Year. When we lost back to back games against Coventry and Barnsley around the Christmas period, I'd be surprised if anyone said that that team was good enough to get promoted. And yet it happened.
The November team was viably better as you could take out Parker and add KAG in your list above. My expectation/hope is this season we strengthen in January rather than weaken.
There wasn’t as big a difference as you’d expect, after 16 games we were on 25 points, only 3 more than the 22 we’re on now.
As of November the likes of Bielik, Sarr and Aribo were inconsistent. We didn’t have a proper left back. Dijksteel hadn’t become first choice right back. Reeves, Lapslie, Marshall, Ward and later Parker made plenty of appearances between them that season, players who were definitely not Championship quality.
In January if we can send back some of the loanees that haven’t worked out and replace them with players who have an impact we can close the gap further.
We also have various players who could really step up in the second half of the season as Bielik and Aribo did.
Not saying it’ll definitely happen but there’s potential with this squad. We have the goals in us that many previous squads didn’t have. The 18/19 squad went on a brilliant run in the second half of the season, while they were good they weren’t outstanding like the 11/12 squad were in the first few months of the season. We improved as a team and players as individuals.
Agree. I think our squad today has some potential but the big difference to me is the loanees. Need to send back 4 of our 5 and get proper ones in.
Compared to the last team? The one that had Josh Parker and Ben Purrington in it (sorry Ben I did like you)?
We’re not as far away as some think in my opinion.
Yep, that team. The one that also had Pearce, Bauer, Leuth's mate, Cullen, Bilek, Taylor, Aribo, Tumbledown Williams, etc. That team.
And at least Purrington was a left back playing in his favoured position.
If you took the two teams and try to be objective, I think 4-5 of the current group would get in the starting line up across the twenty two. We do tend to look at promotion teams with rose tinted glasses…
Ash or Dillon is a 50/50 (remember Dillon hardly played senior football for us before Jan that season)
Dijksteel or Tennai - not seen enough of Tennai to say for sure. Dijksteel was out of position at right back.
Bauer or Hector - Bauer wins this one
Pearce or Jones - on recent form I’d rather have Jones, Pearce has a good shout for his leadership qualities
Purrington or Edun - two different types of full back, I like what Edun brings going forward, don’t think he’s been any better or worse than what we became used to seeing from Purrington
Cullen or Dobson - Cullen
Bielik or Watson - Bielik for now, though Watson is very tidy and has already grown a lot in a dozen games, it took Bielik a while to become the monster he was
Aribo or May - I’m 50/50 on this because I think Aribo was better for the team he was in and May is definitely better for this current team. Hard to ignore May’s goals.
Williams or Blackett-Taylor - Williams very skilful for the level but at the rate CBT is contributing goals and assists, you have to take him.
Parker or T.Campbell - T.Campbell
Taylor or Leaburn - Taylor was our talisman that year and probably edges out Miles on the latter’s current form. But as soon as he finds his shooting boots again, Leaburn can become multiple times the player Lyle ever has been.
That playoff winning team would hammer the current team.
But would the version of that team from November 2018 also hammer the current team? Or was that team good because they found their groove and were in good form at the time?
Why can't the 2023/24 version of this team also become something better than they are currently? We have lots of good players and young players with potential to grow and improve between now and the season's end.
The 2018/19 promotion winning side lost 8 games before the New Year. When we lost back to back games against Coventry and Barnsley around the Christmas period, I'd be surprised if anyone said that that team was good enough to get promoted. And yet it happened.
The November team was viably better as you could take out Parker and add KAG in your list above. My expectation/hope is this season we strengthen in January rather than weaken.
Kind of proves my point to an extent… football isn’t played on paper and teams can get better (or worse) over the course of a 46 game season.
The team with KAG lost 8 games. The team with Parker lost twice.
And your conculsion is what ? Parker had one decent game for Cafc which was at Wembley. No goals from 10 matches. He was the 6th choice when we signed him. Grant with Taylor would have smashed the 2nd half of that season especially with the more excellent form of Bielik who people forget was hot and cold as he was moved between CB and Midfield in the 1st half of the season.
More quality in the last team for Cafc last promotion but Parker really wasn't one of those even if he did run around and try.
Karlan Grant has had a decent career in the Championship where Josh Parker was a national League/league 2 quality player in his journeyman career. Josh is still playing for Oxford City in the National League at 32 which is his level.
It’s in the sentence above the one you highlighted.
“football isn’t played on paper and teams can get better (or worse) over the course of a 46 game season”
To have faith in the team you need to have faith in the manager. Sadly I have neither.
once again players in the wrong position. We finally get a 20 goal a season striker & we play him out wide right. We have T.Campbell who can play wide right. Until this is sorted we wont win enough matches to get top 6.
We’re already 11 points off 5th place (7th points off 6th). The top teams are starting to run away from us. We need to get a strong points return out of the nice run of fixtures we have coming up. 5 of our next 6 league games are against lower placed opposition.
Anything less than 12/13 points from the next 6 games & there’ll continue to be a big gap between us & the promotion contenders.
We’re already 11 points off 5th place (7th points off 6th). The top teams are starting to run away from us. We need to get a strong points return out of the nice run of fixtures we have coming up. 5 of our next 6 league games are against lower placed opposition.
Anything less than 12/13 points from the next 6 games & there’ll continue to be a big gap between us & the promotion contenders.
IF we have any thoughts of getting into the top 6 we will need more than 12 or 13 points from those 6 games. we will need 15 or 16 points, preferably 16 or 18 points. And why not, other teams go on winning runs and its about time we do, Anything less than 6 points from Cheltenham & Cambridge just wont do.
We’re already 11 points off 5th place (7th points off 6th). The top teams are starting to run away from us. We need to get a strong points return out of the nice run of fixtures we have coming up. 5 of our next 6 league games are against lower placed opposition.
Anything less than 12/13 points from the next 6 games & there’ll continue to be a big gap between us & the promotion contenders.
Let me remember, where was Carlisle in the league before we played them 🤔
Basically if the front three don’t perform to their highest level we don’t have the back up to succeed. Once May 12 goals,CBT 6 goals and Leaburn 3 goals are main Goalscorers the lack of goals coming from the rest of the team is very poor. If one or two of the forwards does not do the business we are at best just average.
That’s a pretty decent chunk of the team though... Most of the rest of the division would kill to have three (four if you count Aneke) decent goalscoring options to call on.
Any team in the division is going to struggle without their three top goalscorers lol
Basically if the front three don’t perform to their highest level we don’t have the back up to succeed. Once May 12 goals,CBT 6 goals and Leaburn 3 goals are main Goalscorers the lack of goals coming from the rest of the team is very poor. If one or two of the forwards does not do the business we are at best just average.
True. But at League One level at least you aren't going to find many teams if any you couldn't say exactly the same thing about. No team would look impressive if you just arbitrarily dismiss their three highest scorers.
Only one team has more than one player in the top 10 goal scored this season and that's Peterborough, and both of them are on 7 each (only one more than CBT.)
Comments
And your conculsion is what ?
Parker had one decent game for Cafc which was at Wembley. No goals from 10 matches. He was the 6th choice when we signed him.
Grant with Taylor would have smashed the 2nd half of that season especially with the more excellent form of Bielik who people forget was hot and cold as he was moved between CB and Midfield in the 1st half of the season.
More quality in the last team for Cafc last promotion but Parker really wasn't one of those even if he did run around and try.
Karlan Grant has had a decent career in the Championship where Josh Parker was a national League/league 2 quality player in his journeyman career. Josh is still playing for Oxford City in the National League at 32 which is his level.
If he's double marked then more space for others.
Dobson, May and CBT are cafc top players in this division and Miles has the potential to be a Championship player if he can continue to learn and progress. Difficult to know the ceiling for Leaburn and our other under 21's as the learning curve can plateau or even go down at times. Even Ness is still a work in progress at 21.
Because of the mandatory injuries to players which regularly affects our momentum, we still need to convince we are more than a mid table team with a goal scorer in Alfie May.
Agree. I think our squad today has some potential but the big difference to me is the loanees. Need to send back 4 of our 5 and get proper ones in.
“football isn’t played on paper and teams can get better (or worse) over the course of a 46 game season”
once again players in the wrong position. We finally get a 20 goal a season striker & we play him out wide right. We have T.Campbell who can play wide right. Until this is sorted we wont win enough matches to get top 6.
One game without a goal and suddenly it’s all wrong and the fans knew it all along…
Anything less than 12/13 points from the next 6 games & there’ll continue to be a big gap between us & the promotion contenders.
Any team in the division is going to struggle without their three top goalscorers lol
Only one team has more than one player in the top 10 goal scored this season and that's Peterborough, and both of them are on 7 each (only one more than CBT.)
👏Thank you Callum for the best post on Alfie May.