I've commented about becoming disengaged from what's going on at RFC with so many new faces but watched the Ipswich game (on TV of course) and was instantly engaged.
Considering there are lots of new faces still settling in I thought that was a fantastic performance and promising of loads more to come.
Mark my words - this team is going up.
The "We Are Going Up" Thread
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Royal Rother
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Sutekh
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Royal Rother I've commented about becoming disengaged from what's going on at RFC with so many new faces but watched the Ipswich game (on TV of course) and was instantly engaged.
Considering there are lots of new faces still settling in I thought that was a fantastic performance and promising of loads more to come.
Mark my words - this team is going up.
While I hope you are right, let's not get carried away with just one game. This next month or so will certainly prove our credentials with visits from Derby and Middlesbrough plus an awkward trip to Burnley (not to mention a bit of derby against what will be a very pumped up Bristol City).
If we dismantle that lot then just perhaps....
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Royal Rother
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Just a bit of fun putting it out there - I can handle the ridicule later on!
But I really liked what I saw and although not everything came off, as Vydra gets to know Sa, Blackman & Co better his little one touch vision touches will produce dividends. even so, we looked capable of creating chances at will against one of the best teams in the league.
And converting them.
And the defence looks solid.
Bond is my only concern. I don't like the look of him at all at the moment. Not commanding at all. But I'm sure he'll improve.
But I really liked what I saw and although not everything came off, as Vydra gets to know Sa, Blackman & Co better his little one touch vision touches will produce dividends. even so, we looked capable of creating chances at will against one of the best teams in the league.
And converting them.
And the defence looks solid.
Bond is my only concern. I don't like the look of him at all at the moment. Not commanding at all. But I'm sure he'll improve.
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urz13
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It's not just one game though. We took Brentford to pieces, we're defensively superb and we were very unlucky not to pick up wins against Birmingham and Wednesday - plus we should have beaten MK Dons too! The performances have been there all season and now the results are starting to come, with the new signings further improving us. I've got 3 bets on - Champions at 50/1, promotion at 12/1 and a top 6 finish at 5/1. All look good value!
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Royal Rother
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That's all great punting but 50/1 - wow!
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Royal_jimmy
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Glad I lumped on us finishing in the top 6 at 6/1 now. That's a decent bet!
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urz13
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Royal Rother That's all great punting but 50/1 - wow!
Put it on only a week ago as well - when Vydra was about to sign. Now down to around 20/1!
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Libertine
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I don't know if we definitely will go up but from what I have heard, read and saw lately...it is a distinct possibility.
I have been impressed with our play as of late but was even more encouraged by what I read on the Everton BFTG thread. We were missing key starters in Sa, Vydra and Norwood along with McCleary and Williams on the bench to start but still looked good enough to have won the game. I agree with the people who think Clarke was more interested in seeing some of the new guys play than he was in winning the thing. And tbf I hear, and agree, that he was impressed with what he saw.
Clarke has a deep, talented, squad of players to choose from who will probably be pushing each other for the playing time each of them think they deserve. The emergence of Tish would probably be the biggest, most pleasant, surprise so far this season, if it weren't for Nick Blackman. I have no idea how this seemed to happen, and seemingly overnight, for Nick but long may it continue. Getting back to Tish, I can see both he and Williams pushing each other trying to get their share of starts. John and Fernandez booth sound like they could easily slot into the starting XI at any time. Cooper is showing he is a viable option at CB and Taylor helped his own cause also. It will allow Clarke to have more flexibility to tactically match-up better from game to game. Having selection problems due to having too many good options is a great problem to have.
The player I think will have a monster year is Norwood. I think our style of play this season couldn't be better for him...it plays to his strengths. And with more talented players around him I think he will start living up to the hype he had never been able to live up to from earlier in his career.
As others have noted elsewhere I am concerned with goal. Al-Habsi and Bond have both been shaky at times and aren't filling anyone with confidence. I think Bond will be ok but the jury is still out. There is always the January window if we need to improve in goal.
This could be a scary good team if they play up to, and possibly beyond, their potential. Will they win the league? A bunch of very good sides this season from the looks of the league so far but I think we could easily be in the mix to do so.
I have been impressed with our play as of late but was even more encouraged by what I read on the Everton BFTG thread. We were missing key starters in Sa, Vydra and Norwood along with McCleary and Williams on the bench to start but still looked good enough to have won the game. I agree with the people who think Clarke was more interested in seeing some of the new guys play than he was in winning the thing. And tbf I hear, and agree, that he was impressed with what he saw.
Clarke has a deep, talented, squad of players to choose from who will probably be pushing each other for the playing time each of them think they deserve. The emergence of Tish would probably be the biggest, most pleasant, surprise so far this season, if it weren't for Nick Blackman. I have no idea how this seemed to happen, and seemingly overnight, for Nick but long may it continue. Getting back to Tish, I can see both he and Williams pushing each other trying to get their share of starts. John and Fernandez booth sound like they could easily slot into the starting XI at any time. Cooper is showing he is a viable option at CB and Taylor helped his own cause also. It will allow Clarke to have more flexibility to tactically match-up better from game to game. Having selection problems due to having too many good options is a great problem to have.
The player I think will have a monster year is Norwood. I think our style of play this season couldn't be better for him...it plays to his strengths. And with more talented players around him I think he will start living up to the hype he had never been able to live up to from earlier in his career.
As others have noted elsewhere I am concerned with goal. Al-Habsi and Bond have both been shaky at times and aren't filling anyone with confidence. I think Bond will be ok but the jury is still out. There is always the January window if we need to improve in goal.
This could be a scary good team if they play up to, and possibly beyond, their potential. Will they win the league? A bunch of very good sides this season from the looks of the league so far but I think we could easily be in the mix to do so.
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Angry Shed Sex
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Top 6 finish 11/8 now.
...and now you're gonna believe ussssssss.......
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Brosef Stalin
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Right need to get the promotion party thread back up and running.
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Royal Rother
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Well, I took my 16/1 this morning - it's looking better this evening.
This thing is on.
This thing is on.
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loyalroyal4life
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Royal Rother Well, I took my 16/1 this morning - it's looking better this evening.
This thing is on.
16/1 to win it?
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Royal Rother
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Woodcote Royal
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As usual, it would appear occasional punters like myself may have missed a very lucrative gravy train.
Just as in the summer when the 106 were about to launch their record breaking campaign, and in every pre-season this century to lesser and greater degrees, the wrist slitters amongst the fan base were dripping their unsubstantiated poison across these pages throughout June, July & August . Oh dear, I almost feel sorry for some of them
Simply put, and despite us yet to reach October in this long arduous campaign, if this squad fails to gain promotion it will have under achieved. Barring a glut of long term injuries, there will not be 3 better squads in this division and, if I was a serious betting man like others here, I would by now have placed money on it showing itself to be the best by the end of the season.
As things are shaping up, I'm not sure how Steve Clarke will sleep at night as he grapples with who will make his starting 11 and to whom he will grant a coveted place on the bench
Very few, if anyone, outside the club would have foreseen what arguably became the best transfer window in our history. I don't expect to be privy to the funds involved here but , while digging ourselves out of a large financial hole (POG) cashing in on a valuable home grown talent yet maintaining his services for the rest of the season (Hector) I strongly suspect that we have assembled this fantastic squad for far less than others will have forked our for one or two quality additions.
Everyone involved from our scouting team through the board and our increasingly impressive new owners deserves huge praise for getting this club back to it's very best in such a short time since it was pushed to the brink of administration by the previous incumbents.
However, and as Sir Alex Ferguson's successors continue to show, all that good work still requires a manager who knows how to get the very best from the assets at his disposal. From the revelation that is Nick Blackman this season, the emergence of Tish and others to a team with 8 changes that produced 45mins against Premiership opposition that was every bit as good as the first choices have been producing in the championship, in Steve Clarke we must have one of the most under rated managers in the country.
I didn't expect the 106 to be surpassed in my life time but now I, too, am starting to dream.
Just as in the summer when the 106 were about to launch their record breaking campaign, and in every pre-season this century to lesser and greater degrees, the wrist slitters amongst the fan base were dripping their unsubstantiated poison across these pages throughout June, July & August . Oh dear, I almost feel sorry for some of them
Simply put, and despite us yet to reach October in this long arduous campaign, if this squad fails to gain promotion it will have under achieved. Barring a glut of long term injuries, there will not be 3 better squads in this division and, if I was a serious betting man like others here, I would by now have placed money on it showing itself to be the best by the end of the season.
As things are shaping up, I'm not sure how Steve Clarke will sleep at night as he grapples with who will make his starting 11 and to whom he will grant a coveted place on the bench
Very few, if anyone, outside the club would have foreseen what arguably became the best transfer window in our history. I don't expect to be privy to the funds involved here but , while digging ourselves out of a large financial hole (POG) cashing in on a valuable home grown talent yet maintaining his services for the rest of the season (Hector) I strongly suspect that we have assembled this fantastic squad for far less than others will have forked our for one or two quality additions.
Everyone involved from our scouting team through the board and our increasingly impressive new owners deserves huge praise for getting this club back to it's very best in such a short time since it was pushed to the brink of administration by the previous incumbents.
However, and as Sir Alex Ferguson's successors continue to show, all that good work still requires a manager who knows how to get the very best from the assets at his disposal. From the revelation that is Nick Blackman this season, the emergence of Tish and others to a team with 8 changes that produced 45mins against Premiership opposition that was every bit as good as the first choices have been producing in the championship, in Steve Clarke we must have one of the most under rated managers in the country.
I didn't expect the 106 to be surpassed in my life time but now I, too, am starting to dream.
Last edited by Woodcote Royal on 27 Sep 2015 11:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Ian Royal
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Good portents:
Brighton are doing well.
In the last 15 years, maybe more, Brighton have finished above Reading twice. On both occasions by one place. While the we've averaged finishing above them by almost an entire division.
So if Brighton stay top we can be reasonably assured we'll finish second and if they drop away then history tells us we'll finish significantly higher than them, so probably at least play offs.
It's ON!
Brighton are doing well.
In the last 15 years, maybe more, Brighton have finished above Reading twice. On both occasions by one place. While the we've averaged finishing above them by almost an entire division.
So if Brighton stay top we can be reasonably assured we'll finish second and if they drop away then history tells us we'll finish significantly higher than them, so probably at least play offs.
It's ON!
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Royal Rother
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Reading still Evens to finish Top 6.
That's a remortgage job that.
That's a remortgage job that.
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Lower West
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Woodcote Royal I didn't expect the 106 to be surpassed in my life time but now I, too, am starting to dream.
Keep on dreaming. This is undeniably a tough league this year. Don't see anyone team walking away with it yet.
Is it still possible for us to finish on 107 points?
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West Stand Man
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There are 37 games left. That is a max possible of 111 points to be fought over. So everyone can still do it in theory. For us to get to 107 we need to drop no more than 29 more points.
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