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Could we have done anything different?

Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Messages
433
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darn sarf
Now firstly don't get me wrong, I am absolutely over the moon with us if we finish second and I would of taken it at the beginning of the season but the way the season has panned out do you think we could have done anything differently over the course of the season that could of won us the title? This league is very very poor as we all know and a wolves or a Brentford in this league would have wrapped the title up by Christmas so what could we have done?

Better summer signings?
Different formation?
Different tactics?

Or is it simply we're not good enough to win it and never would be?

PS. Don't say we could have won more games because that's obvious...
 
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but if we loaned Johnstone instead of Jones, brought in Robinson and Johnson back in the summer then I reckon we'd be up there with Bristol City
 
Now firstly don't get me wrong, I am absolutely over the moon with us if we finish second and I would of taken it at the beginning of the season but the way the season has panned out do you think we could have done anything differently over the course of the season that could of won us the title? This league is very very poor as we all know and a wolves or a Brentford in this league would have wrapped the title up by Christmas so what could we have done?

Better summer signings?
Different formation?
Different tactics?

Or is it simply we're not good enough to win it and never would be?

PS. Don't say we could have won more games because that's obvious...

It's "have" not "of" you illiterate Toad.

Carry on.
 
Johnson has been the missing piece. If we had signed him in the Summer things might have been better than what they already are. We're more adventurous now. We dropped 7 points against the bottom three in January. That shouldn't and probably wouldn't have happened if we were playing as fluidly as we have of late.
 
The goalkeeping situation was a bit of a mess. Jones turned out to be a shocking signing but fair play to Grayson for admitting his mistake and bringing Johnstone in.
 
Today was good for the dreamers who've been banging on about the title for too long. Bristol are a good team, as good as us if not better but they have had 'one of those seasons' where everything clicks, every decision the manager makes has worked, they've had good luck and some amazing performances. We, on the other hand, have really had to work at it, we've had a horrible January and some unlucky results. What's wven more credible about our season is that the manager has seen faults with the team at the right time and fixed it. The signings of Johnson, Johnstone and Beckford (sounds like a solicitors!) have been pivotal and we will now go up in second place, no question.

In any to your question then, who cares? Hindsight is pointless to me. There were problems with this team and the management team need to be applauded for fixing them rather than burying their heads in the sand and hoping for good fortune
 
It's all ifs, buts and maybes now. 11 more points and we're up no matter what.

The fact that Johnson was on loan at Chesterfield at the start of the season makes me wonder why he wasn't on our radar sooner.

Hindsight says that Jones was Grayson's first choice keeper in the summer but nevertheless he didn't cost us on too many occasions.

Signing a Beckford type striker would have been nice in the summer but the budget probably wasn't there for either a six figure transfer fee and £5-6k per week in wages.

If we'd have had Johnstone, Johnson and Beckford in the team from August then today would probably have been a proper title decider. Alas, we've been on average been 8 points behind Bristol all season but we're certainly the second best team in the division.
 
Now firstly don't get me wrong, I am absolutely over the moon with us if we finish second and I would of taken it at the beginning of the season but the way the season has panned out do you think we could have done anything differently over the course of the season that could of won us the title? This league is very very poor as we all know and a wolves or a Brentford in this league would have wrapped the title up by Christmas so what could we have done?

Better summer signings?
Different formation?
Different tactics?

Or is it simply we're not good enough to win it and never would be?

PS. Don't say we could have won more games because that's obvious...

This for me. Small forest, Reid, Little and Jones were not signings that represented a statement of intent from a club that had just missed out in the play offs.
 
If we'd have had Johnstone, Johnson and Beckford in the team from August then today would probably have been a proper title decider. Alas, we've been on average been 8 points behind Bristol all season but we're certainly the second best team in the division.

We were only 1 point behind them after Boxing Day but alas January sunk us in terms of the title
 
We were only 1 point behind them after Boxing Day but alas January sunk us in terms of the title

I'll hold my hands up and say that I thought that January had sunk us in terms of 2nd place but a 14 games unbeaten run since then shows why I'll never be regarded as a football expert in these parts. I can remember coming back from the Coventry game in September and noticing that we were 8 points behind Bristol, all be it with a game in hand and Bristol have been in the top two since September so they deserve to be Champions.
 
This for me. Small forest, Reid, Little and Jones were not signings that represented a statement of intent from a club that had just missed out in the play offs.

True but all will be easy to offload after promotion. Beckford, Johnson and Johnstone are and I think there is a case to made for Johnson being, relatively speaking, one of the best permanent signings any team in the country has made this season.
 
True but all will be easy to offload after promotion. Beckford, Johnson and Johnstone are and I think there is a case to made for Johnson being, relatively speaking, one of the best permanent signings any team in the country has made this season.

I agree. My point was that signings of this standard should have been made in the close season.
 
To err is to be human
And there's nothing more uncertain than a human
Probably the joy of football is the unpredictability
There wouldn't be much to talk about post match in the pub if it all went swimmingly

You actually frequent pubs, I thought that might be a little beneath your status Sir !! ;)
 
To err is to be human
And there's nothing more uncertain than a human
Probably the joy of football is the unpredictability
There wouldn't be much to talk about post match in the pub if it all went swimmingly

Very true but having followed the team for so long I think I could stand a few boring conversations!
 
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