Rivals to the "106" team?

[melonhead]

SSC can't have done it from a lower base. If we are saying Roberts has changed our season then McD has somthing SSC never had. Money.

£1m on Lita says otherwise

whole squad cost less than 5 million

even with inflation, ours costs more now

[TBM]

I would say the league was a lot easier back in 2005 than it is now....

[melonhead]

bah!

although there are alot more parachute payments flying around nowadays

[TBM]

Stoke finished 13th that season........now look at them

[URZZ]

I would say the league was a lot easier back in 2005 than it is now....

Yeah I happen to agree, it was substantially easier imo. Plymouth, Luton and Crewe being involved for starters.

Although, a point worth making would be that 14 of the Championship's teams of 2005/06 are in it this season also. That being marginally more than half of the league, so technically it is arguably no more competitive. Though you have to of course take into account how some of said teams have improved emphatically, with 4 of them appearing in the PL since, [Reading, Watford, Hull, Burnley] and whatever... so yeah, I'd say the league is far more difficult than it was in 2005/06.

The teams being [including ourselves]:

Reading
Watford
Leeds
Palace
Coventry
Cardiff
Southampton
Ipswich
Leicester
Burnley
Hull
Derby
Millwall
Brighton

And that goes without looking at otherwise competition... i.e, Blackpool, West Ham [lol], Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Forest... The league has un-comparable potential to what it did in 2005/06 imho.

[Ian Royal]

A Sidwell & Karacan partnership would ave been my preference.

Harper, Leigertwood and Sigurdsson for me.

As far as I remember Sigurdsson was not in the 106 team

artistic licence for our best midfield rather than limiting to 06 / 12. I think those three would complement each other perfectly, although I would rate Sidwell as better than either Harps or Ledge.

[Ian Royal]

The current squad is definitely better and more balanced, we were very lucky regarding injuries to key players in 2006.

Apart from Lita, Little, Shorey, Kitson & Sidwell all spending time out at the least. Lita broke his leg ffs.

Utter myth that we didn't have injuries to key players.

[Snowball]

Play pre-January Karacan along with Harper

Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...

99% possession stats

[Ian Royal]

Play pre-January Karacan along with Harper

Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...

99% possession stats

Harps worked the ball to Shorey and Murty or Little and Convey for pacey wing based attacking fun. He didn't just return it to Hahneman / Ivar / Sonks to launch.

[Snowball]

The current squad is definitely better and more balanced, we were very lucky regarding injuries to key players in 2006.

Apart from Lita, Little, Shorey, Kitson & Sidwell all spending time out at the least. Lita broke his leg ffs.

Utter myth that we didn't have injuries to key players.

46 (0) 46/46 Ivar Ingimarsson
46 (0) 46/46 Ibrahima Sonko
44 (1) 45/46 James Harper
45 (0) 45/46 Marcus Hahnemann
45 (0) 45/46 Bobby Convey
41 (4) 45/46 Kevin Doyle
40 (0) 40/46 Nicky Shorey
40 (0) 40/46 Graeme Murty

Those are pretty amazing stats

Almost a full season of the same back 4/5.


34 (1) 35/46 Glen Little
29 (4) 33/46 Steve Sidwell
27 (7) 34/36 Dave Kitson
22 (4) 26/26 Leroy Lita

[Snowball]

Play pre-January Karacan along with Harper

Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...

99% possession stats

Harps worked the ball to Shorey and Murty or Little and Convey for pacey wing based attacking fun. He didn't just return it to Hahneman / Ivar / Sonks to launch.

I didn't know that. I thought his job was to keep taking it back to Hanheman

[SCIAG]

Play pre-January Karacan along with Harper

Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...
Feds kickout, then those two could slowly work the ball back to Feds...

99% possession stats

Harps worked the ball to Shorey and Murty or Little and Convey for pacey wing based attacking fun. He didn't just return it to Hahneman / Ivar / Sonks to launch.

I didn't know that. I thought his job was to keep taking it back to Hanheman

You're thinking of everyone under Rodgers. Except that was Feds, not Hahnemann.

[Woodcote Royal]

Anyone who doesn't put Sidwell in that team shouldn't be allowed to post on this forum

Same applies to anyone who selects Harper.

[melonhead]

'k off

[Z175]

106 team didnt have a bad patch. I know our first 6 games were excuseable, but most teams have an excuseable bad patch. The 106 team went down in history as they didn't. They kept it going all season (well the last 45 games!).

While this season has been remarkable, if we make it to a maximum 6 wins, that will take us to 94 points. Looking over the previous 40 games, that would be 2.25 pts/game and equate to a 104 point season. Remarkable, but not 106!

Its incredible that we are talking about this comparison, given where we were after 6 games.

I think the difference is that back then we were an unknown quantity that turned out very well. The likes of Sidwell, Kitson, Little, Hahnemann had looked good but had not been with us that long, the new signings of Doyle and Lita and the form and partnership of Shorey, Sonko, Ivar and Murty and you look now and realise how good a side that was.

Now we have journeymen like Roberts, McAnuff, Leigertwood, Harte, Gorkss and they are all in the form of their lives. We see the balance, the team spirit, but the real question will be, will we look back in 5 years and say, how that was a great side? Obviously a lot depends on next season, but my hunch is that Brian's motley unsung heroes will be remembered as our second greatest side.

The positive comparision is though, is that Roberts, McAnuff, Leigertwood, Harte, Gorkss will hardly demand moves to Chelsea. This is their swansong, their final achievement, and I think they will make the most of it. Add in the homegrown likes of Federici, McCarthy, Pearce, Karacan who are unlikely to be desperate to move on and we can probably keep this core side together for a couple of years, the evergreen Roberts perhaps excepted.

[BR2]

Anyone who doesn't put Sidwell in that team shouldn't be allowed to post on this forum

Same applies to anyone who selects Harper.

I think you are talking about the Harper of two years later.
At that time he was an integral part of our team.
Let's not forget the 106 team lost just 2 league games whereas the current one has already lost 10.
Doesn't that say something?

[Snowball]

Had we off-loaded our best players in the two seasons prior to 2005-06
or was 2005-06 the culmination of a building-process?

I think this year is a triumph because the manager has had to rebuild "three times"
First a shattered side post-Rodgers, then replacing Siggy, then picking the team up
post-Wembley, and then, very soon after, losing Shane.

Since May 2009, less than 3 years, we have shipped out lost a heck of a lot of players.


Gylfi Siggurdson
Kevin Doyle
Shane Long
Ryan Bertrand
Steve Sidwell
Stephen Hunt

Zurab Khizanishvili
Dave Kitson
Matt Mills
James Harper
Liam Rosenior
Chris Armstrong
Ivar Ingimarsson
Michael Duberry
Kalifa Cisse
Marek Matejovsky
Leroy Lita
James Henry
Bobby Convey
Glen Little
Ibrahima Sonko
Graeme Murty

[Ian Royal]

We didn't sell important players prior to relegation from the Prem. Madejski was determined to get us up and achieve his stated goal, so he was willing to make a modest loss every season. He clearly saw Coppell as the man to build on Pardew's success and get us there so he supported him.

Had we not gone up in 06 I would not have been surprised to see the likes of Shorey, Sidwell & Kitson all going on to bigger and better things as they were all clearly a cut above our level and we'd held on to them for at least a season after that became obvious.

Prior to 05/06 we didn't have the same sort of profile or reputation for developing top quality players that would be of use to bigger clubs.

[Maguire]

Anyone who doesn't put Sidwell in that team shouldn't be allowed to post on this forum

Same applies to anyone who selects Harper.

'greed

[Snowball]

We didn't sell important players prior to relegation from the Prem. Madejski was determined to get us up and achieve his stated goal, so he was willing to make a modest loss every season. He clearly saw Coppell as the man to build on Pardew's success and get us there so he supported him.

Had we not gone up in 06 I would not have been surprised to see the likes of Shorey, Sidwell & Kitson all going on to bigger and better things as they were all clearly a cut above our level and we'd held on to them for at least a season after that became obvious.

Prior to 05/06 we didn't have the same sort of profile or reputation for developing top quality players that would be of use to bigger clubs.

So we weren't a selling club, we were BUILDING

2004-05 Finished 7th, 3 points off the play-offs

The 2005-06 back four, the keeper, two central midfielders, main wingers, main striker (10 players)
were all-bar-one regulars in the season before, and Lita was added to that at the then fair amount of 1 Million
plus we bought Doyle

That's quite a different scenario from Mcdermott's problems.



46 (00) STAYED Marcus Hahnemann
43 (01) STAYED Ivar Ingimarsson
44 (00) STAYED Nicky Shorey
44 (00) STAYED Steve Sidwell
41 (00) STAYED Graeme Murty
39 (02) STAYED James Harper
35 (04) STAYED Ibrahima Sonko
37 (00) STAYED Dave Kitson
29 (06) STAYED Glen Little

04 (14) STAYED Bobby Convey

ADDED Leroy Lita
ADDED Kevin Doyle
ADDED Brynjar Gunnarson

ADDED Shane Long "for future"


This strikes me as forward-looking, lots of stability