Top Of The League!!!

Anything yellow and blue
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SmileyMan
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Top Of The League!!!

Post by SmileyMan »

Just when I was beginning to thing losing to Wilder was going to haunt us all season, the Daggers break the usual bottom team habit by also playing a blinder against our rivals.
YF Dan
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Re: Top Of The League!!!

Post by YF Dan »

To be fair to Dagenham, I thought they looked a decent outfit, not a struggling team playing a blinder. Assuming they don't sell all their talent to Peterborough or Luton I think they'll pull clear of the bottom. I didn't go to Hartlepool, however, and I couldn't get the commentary to work at work yesterday so I'm going by what highlights I've seen.

20 games, 40 points is a really decent return, puts us well on course for 85-90 points which should be enough to secure one of the three automatic spots. Although we have been in good positions before at this stage of a season...

Pluses:

Goals are being shared around, plus we have a couple of reliable sources.

Defence looks solid. Chey's improvement is incredible. Strength all over pitch and in reserve.

We also have a creative midfield with energy and stamina.

And I think we've now sorted out the goalkeeping slot too.

Pleased Hylton got the goal yesterday. He needed that.

It's not like we've been overly lucky either...yes we've had penalties and sendings off in our favour, but we've hit the woodwork a lot, and when you attack a lot, you get penalties and fouls. This certainly doesn't look like an average team having a lucky run as I've thought on previous campaigns.

Negatives:

How frustrating the points dropped from missed penalties. And how did we lose to Barnet? Although, all teams lose and generally I don't like long unbeaten runs...they tend to make teams play to not want to lose rather than win. Our response to losing to the Bees has been excellent.

It looks a strong division this year. It's tight at the top and while it's hard to see some teams sustaining their form, there are a few other teams who are clearly underperforming, such as Luton, Bristol Rovers, Portsmouth and Wycombe and we're not miles ahead of any of them. Let's also hope Wilder's previous in stuffing up in the second half of the season bites him in the bum again.

Wish Appleton had slightly more experience at managing at this end of a table. But fair play, he's done a great job this year.

The interest in Roofe is not unexpected. He has the X-factor. Presumably we'd only sell for big dollars, which I imagine this chairman would re-invest some of. While he would be a huge loss, I think we have enough elsewhere to cope without him.

But congratulations to everyone at the club, let's keep this going.
slappy
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Re: Top Of The League!!!

Post by slappy »

I thought Buchel had a good game (apart from the picked up back pass) and Slocombe may have to warm for the bench for a few more weeks. Or will it be Buchel who gets rested for the cup games and Slocombe comes in? I do like the Rat Race bar too.

also how is Buchel pronounced? Is it boo-shell, or buchel (with a -ch like in loch) or even boo-kel?
Old Abingdonian
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Re: Top Of The League!!!

Post by Old Abingdonian »

Being pedantic, I don't know how it is pronounced, but it is spelt 'Büchel'
OUFC4eva
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Re: Top Of The League!!!

Post by OUFC4eva »

Image

Boo-kel I understand.
SmileyMan
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Re: Top Of The League!!!

Post by SmileyMan »

YF Dan wrote:To be fair to Dagenham, I thought they looked a decent outfit, not a struggling team playing a blinder.
I didn't mean a slight against D&R, just pointing out our history with being the first team to play a struggler that get a massive investment or new manager and suddenly become brilliant - right after they've lost 5-0 to all our rivals.

Probably some confirmation bias there :P
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