Inconsistent league one

[Bordeaux Bee]

With the Bees, Bradford, MK Dons, Preston and Rotherham all losing this weekend, only Leyton Orient, Peterborough and Wolves are showing real early season consistency in the top half of the early season table.

Yes, the Bees form is currently worrying and as Uwe pointed out we are in a slightly better points tally after 11 league games this season compared to last. There are many things wrong, but it is difficult to blame a hangover from Wembley as we started the league season brightly in August.

There are still 35 league games to go to get it right and Uwe, Alan K and Peter F are paid to sort out a team, attitude, confidence and start developing a winning mentality again. We need a winning run of the next 3 league games to counter the latest losing run of 3 games.

It is not impossible, players, fans and management need to stick together, there is no abandoning ship at this stage.

 

[dbee3]

Good attempt. One of the better ones I've seen.

 

[SmiffyBee]

This looks like a very thinly veiled attempt at rose tinted optimism. Put on your tin hat and expect some incoming.

 

[GP200]

.............yep..............good observations.............

 

[beebopalula]

I think what we are seeing is that potentially most teams can beat [ or lose] to anyone. A consistent run please.

 

[dbee3]

.............yep..............good observations.............

I thought the one about having slightly less points than at this stage last season was particularly good, despite the fact we are 13 points off the automatic promotion places rather than the five we were last season.

 

[kainiemi]

its clear that peterborough and wolves are going to fill the top 2 slots withy massive pts totals, so even 90 points this season might only get you 3rd place..Therefore no point in trying..would make a really nice change for us to slip into 6th place and end our play-off hoodoo by beating Orient at Wembley

 

[bees66]

end our play-off hoodoo by beating Orient at Wembley

another smaller club that we lose to at Wembley, no thanks..

 

[GP200]

its clear that peterborough and wolves are going to fill the top 2 slots

...................there are 35 games left,the filling of the top two places is not a foregone conclusion............

 

[sonofabee]

its clear that peterborough and wolves are going to fill the top 2 slots withy massive pts totals, so even 90 points this season might only get you 3rd place..Therefore no point in trying..would make a really nice change for us to slip into 6th place and end our play-off hoodoo by beating Orient at Wembley

Clever strategy and play rubbish football losing games at places like Stevenage on the way there to lull teams into a
false sense of security. Genius plan.

 

[spirebee]

I think what we are seeing is that potentially most teams can beat [ or lose] to anyone. A consistent run please.

Apart from the top three of course.....

 

[spirebee]

I thought the one about having slightly less points than at this stage last season was particularly good, despite the fact we are 13 points off the automatic promotion places rather than the five we were last season.

Could you write in to Mr Rosler @ Breamar Rd, Brentford and point that out.

 

[hanworthbee]

if we can get nine points out of the next three games will be right back in the mix and I think we can do it

 

[spirebee]

another smaller club that we lose to at Wembley, no thanks..

And in front of 10,000 Bees that have the stomach to go..

 

[shepperton bee]

If we get to Wembley there is no way I am going....by missing it that almost guarantees we'll win.

 

[Voice from the Braemar]

theres no argument about the amount of games left,,,,,,the argument is whether we have the right management team to tackle those games......change now and we have a chance of playoffs at best, keep on going down the same route with uwe and we cant rule out a relegation battle either,,,,,as been mentioned everyones beating each other and that includes the teams under us

 

[smiffy superbee]

With the Bees, Bradford, MK Dons, Preston and Rotherham all losing this weekend, only Leyton Orient, Peterborough and Wolves are showing real early season consistency in the top half of the early season table.

Yes, the Bees form is currently worrying and as Uwe pointed out we are in a slightly better points tally after 11 league games this season compared to last. There are many things wrong, but it is difficult to blame a hangover from Wembley as we started the league season brightly in August.

There are still 35 league games to go to get it right and Uwe, Alan K and Peter F are paid to sort out a team, attitude, confidence and start developing a winning mentality again. We need a winning run of the next 3 league games to counter the latest losing run of 3 games.

It is not impossible, players, fans and management need to stick together, there is no abandoning ship at this stage.

Good attempt. Obviously a glass more than half full (of Bordeaux red) man...........admire your optimism and yep, things never look so bad from this side of La Manche. (Well, after a bottle or two anyway!)
Come on, wake up you BEES!

 

[aawharris]

its clear that peterborough and wolves are going to fill the top 2 slots withy massive pts totals, so even 90 points this season might only get you 3rd place..Therefore no point in trying..would make a really nice change for us to slip into 6th place and end our play-off hoodoo by beating Orient at Wembley

Did you really just say theres "no point in trying" to catch Boro and Wolves???

 

[JTofBFC]

Its clear the top 3 this year are miles apart from the rest of the division and I doubt anything will change. Last year, there wasn't much between the top 6/7 for much of the season with the lead changing nearly every week and at one point well into the new year anyone in the top 8 could have finished as Champions.

This year it looks to me that the current top 3 will fill positions 1,2,3 I'm quite sure. However, there isn't much else to shout about in the division and it could well be that a late run from someone to get in the play offs might result in a surprise promotion with Orient by then starting to run out of steam in 3rd.

That surprise late run could be from anyone from Brentford to Coventry to Sheffield United. No bets are off at this stage (except for the ones I have for us to be Champions ! ).

Its a stronger league this year in that the top 3 are much much stronger than anything we saw last year. I thought we might have been in that Group but was deluded. Other than the top 3 though the league is no stronger.

 

[hanworthbee]

orient have started well but it's a bit early to be suggesting they've got third place wrapped up

 

[Artixbee]

Unfortunately, the top three have been consistently good so far.

 

[maddogging]

Orient won't be in the top 3

 

[spirebee]

theres no argument about the amount of games left,,,,,,the argument is whether we have the right management team to tackle those games......change now and we have a chance of playoffs at best, keep on going down the same route with uwe and we cant rule out a relegation battle either,,,,,as been mentioned everyones beating each other and that includes the teams under us

What's the chances of Sheff Utd finishing above us? I'd fancy a tenner on it....

 

[sonofabee]

Strange as when I napped Wolves for automatic promotion, plenty of GPGers told me no chance. They're skint, have spunked the £16M parachute, club in turmoil etc and no team ever gets straight back up.

 

[NorthamptonBee]

I'm amazed, teams in the 3rd division are all beating one another, it's simply amazing and unheard of.

 

[Stofer]

Quote taken from the GPG interview with MB -
" I'm not saying they were playing above their level. They were playing at their level, but getting results – and that does happen a lot. That a team plays as a mid-table team and they happen to go on a run of ten or fifteen games where they get a load of wins and everyone says, “Oh it's because of a change of tactics or because of this or that,” and an awful lot of times it's just noise. Just statistical chance."

Its MB's job to know statistics & facts when it comes to football but with all the money he has graciously handed over for wages etc you would expect more of a return then assembled mid-table team.
Uwe has a statistical chance of still turning this around :looks:

 

[cheshire bee]

No doubt wolves and boro have the quality and budget to be there at the end and will probably take first two places.
Orient are this years tranmere, they are heavily dependent on Lisbie and there squad will be found out when injuries / suspensions kick in,
Arguably we are only 4 points off the play offs, I guess it the way we are toothless and unable to gel.
Something fundamental has to change, either on or off the pitch, is the season over, of course not.
But we need to start winning games and doing it convincingly very soon.

 

[MetalBee]

Wolves and Peterborough were early season favourites and have started that way. Logical thinking suggests they'll remain up there.

Leyton Orient however will have their bubble burst at some point sooner rather than later and it is yet to be seen how they cope with that.

Obviously ourselves but also Preston and MK Dons have been fairly inconsistent this season so far.

Coventry were hampered by the points deduction but they have a strong 3 attacking players in Moussa, Clarke and Wilson. Despite not looking much cop against us they look a decent attacking side when they're on song.

Sheffield United have money burning a hole in their pocket. Weir admirably/foolishly rejected to use it and it cost him his job. Be interesting to see how much of a turn around Clough can bring to them. They have the large crowds to potentially boost them at home too.

Bristol City are the real shockers so far this season. Reverse of Orient though, when they do get that elusive win, will they go on a run?

Throw in the solid if unremarkable Bradford and Notts County into the equation too.

It's still very early days and there's 11 teams Ive named here who could/have suddenly look threatening if they string a few results together.

The few comments about "6th place is the best we can hope for" and other tripe is ludicrous at this stage.

Our biggest concern is our lack of form at present. If we do get it back we can and likely will go on a decent run of results that would then sit us in a more favourable position in the table.

 

[jimbo85]

Its clear the top 3 this year are miles apart from the rest of the division and I doubt anything will change. Last year, there wasn't much between the top 6/7 for much of the season with the lead changing nearly every week and at one point well into the new year anyone in the top 8 could have finished as Champions.

This year it looks to me that the current top 3 will fill positions 1,2,3 I'm quite sure. However, there isn't much else to shout about in the division and it could well be that a late run from someone to get in the play offs might result in a surprise promotion with Orient by then starting to run out of steam in 3rd.

That surprise late run could be from anyone from Brentford to Coventry to Sheffield United. No bets are off at this stage (except for the ones I have for us to be Champions ! ).

Its a stronger league this year in that the top 3 are much much stronger than anything we saw last year. I thought we might have been in that Group but was deluded. Other than the top 3 though the league is no stronger.

Both Wolves and Peterborough have played poorly so far this season and still managed to grab a late equaliser or winner. They are both beatable sides and I fully expect Leyton Orient to drop off slightly like Tranmere did last season (although perhaps not quite as dramatically!).

There are some clear and fundamental issues with how we are playing and I think a large part of it is down to our loss of a naturally left sided player which has meant narrowed the way we play and as such closed up the space available for our strikers. The simple solution would have been to get in another left sided player on loan (not Trotta!) and play our best player, Forshaw, in front of McCormack and Saville/Toumani with Grigg or whoever else up front.

Aside from this though, the main weakness in our play has been the keeper, Dean and whoever else has played centrally at the back are going long far too much. No idea why but it has really let us down as it doesn't suit any of our strikers, even Clayton! I can understand playing balls into the channel for the likes of Grigg, Trotta and Clayton but they need to be much better placed and not as long and floated which allows the huge defenders in League 1 to just jump over the top of our strikers.

 

[Better Beehave]

Been to all six losing finals since Wigan '85.

If we do make Wembley yet again. I for one will be in the Azores in late May. I cannot take anymore big day disappointments.

 

[hanworthbee]

imo the pain of not being there to see us do it at Wembley would be worse than witnessing all the defeats.

 

[BURFORD BEE]

Quote taken from the GPG interview with MB -
" I'm not saying they were playing above their level. They were playing at their level, but getting results – and that does happen a lot. That a team plays as a mid-table team and they happen to go on a run of ten or fifteen games where they get a load of wins and everyone says, “Oh it's because of a change of tactics or because of this or that,” and an awful lot of times it's just noise. Just statistical chance."

Its MB's job to know statistics & facts when it comes to football but with all the money he has graciously handed over for wages etc you would expect more of a return then assembled mid-table team.
Uwe has a statistical chance of still turning this around :looks:

I have statistical chance of winning the lottery but its not going to happen. Uwe would have a statistical chance of going up until its a mathematical impossibility but it would be crazy to let us get into that situation before a change of manager.
The argument over whether or not he is the right man for the job has gone on for over 2 seasons now but in that time I have never seen so many critical posts as there are now and these are coming in many cases from members who are not prone to emotion driven outbursts. ( I don't count myself in this category !)
In all seriousness I cannot see how, based on Uwe's performance as a manager over the period since last Christmas and forgetting the cup run, anyone can honestly say that they have no doubts about his ability to get us out of this league unless its into League 2.
I know we have MB to thank for so much and I believe that tempers much of the criticism that would otherwise be made. I am just not of the view that this means that he is above criticism.

 

[BedfontRed]

No doubt wolves and boro have the quality and budget to be there at the end and will probably take first two places.
Orient are this years tranmere, they are heavily dependent on Lisbie and there squad will be found out when injuries / suspensions kick in,
Arguably we are only 4 points off the play offs, I guess it the way we are toothless and unable to gel.
Something fundamental has to change, either on or off the pitch, is the season over, of course not.
But we need to start winning games and doing it convincingly very soon.

I dont think Orient will crash & burn quite like Tranny did last year. They might not be top 2 but I reckon they have a good chance of top six. They finished last season well after a horrendous start. I'd swap places with them anyday........ (Swap Managers as well....... )

 

[Jonny Stokes]

I dont think Orient will crash & burn quite like Tranny did last year. They might not be top 2 but I reckon they have a good chance of top six. They finished last season well after a horrendous start. I'd swap places with them anyday........ (Swap Managers as well....... )

Damn this last post. I was all ready to comment on the universally dismissive nature of every reply in this thread, but you had to go and ruin it with your goshdarned even-handedness...

Acid test for the O's comes over the next six weeks - we've had a lot of comparatively easy fixtures so far (Shrews, County, Crewe at home; Carlisle, Stevenage, Brentford away), but things are about to get very tricky - we're off to Coventry, Posh, Swindon, Bristol City and Bradford, with Rotherham, Preston & Sheff United to come at Brizzy. Pick up more than 12 points from those games and we're very genuine contenders for a top two finish.

 

[brooks]

Orient are making the most of their resources and have a manager who knows how to manage and a settled side who know each other well. I'd be happy to see them go up to show how it should be done. The more I read about Orient the more a mess Brentford seem to be.

 

[Kingston Bee]

Orient are making the most of their resources and have a manager who knows how to manage and a settled side who know each other well. I'd be happy to see them go up to show how it should be done. The more I read about Orient the more a mess Brentford seem to be.

Yep agree. What is also interesting is that Orient have not been found out yet, so must be able to mix it up I guess. From our perspective we seem to be one dimensional which is criminal given our resources however, the long awaited introduction of width on Saturday seemed to do the trick, why has it taken so long.

 

[sonofabee]

Damn this last post. I was all ready to comment on the universally dismissive nature of every reply in this thread, but you had to go and ruin it with your goshdarned even-handedness...

Acid test for the O's comes over the next six weeks - we've had a lot of comparatively easy fixtures so far (Shrews, County, Crewe at home; Carlisle, Stevenage, Brentford away), but things are about to get very tricky - we're off to Coventry, Posh, Swindon, Bristol City and Bradford, with Rotherham, Preston & Sheff United to come at Brizzy. Pick up more than 12 points from those games and we're very genuine contenders for a top two finish.

You can't fluke that many wins, you're where you are on merit. I think you'll hit a wall at some stage it's how you deal with it and whether you can keep Lisbie fit. I can think of a lot of teams and managers I'd hate to see go up, Orient aren't one of them.

 

[Holysmit]

The fact Brentford away is seen as an easy game by a team who hadn't won here in god knows how long says it all about where we are

 

[nick logan]

The fact Brentford away is seen as an easy game by a team who hadn't won here in god knows how long says it all about where we are

 

[brooks]

You have to admit he's got a point.

 

[nick logan]

You have to admit he's got a point.

Who is he on about, Colchester ?

* checks results page *

yep 3-1 Bees

 

[brooks]

Who is he on about, Colchester ?

* checks results page *

yep 3-1 Bees

post 34 (Orient)

'we've had a lot of comparatively easy fixtures so far (Shrews, County, Crewe at home; Carlisle, Stevenage, Brentford away)'

 

[nick logan]

post 34 (Orient)

'we've had a lot of comparatively easy fixtures so far (Shrews, County, Crewe at home; Carlisle, Stevenage, Brentford away)'

Oh i see sorry didn't read all thread, apologies Holysmit.

To be fair though , orient fans in the know said they would have been delighted with a point before the game.

 

[Jonny Stokes]

The fact Brentford away is seen as an easy game by a team who hadn't won here in god knows how long says it all about where we are

Might be worth my pointing out that there is indeed the remotest possibility that I may have thrown that in there with a tad of tongue-in-cheek roguishness...

 

[Owlsmoor_Bee]

Yep agree. What is also interesting is that Orient have not been found out yet, so must be able to mix it up I guess. From our perspective we seem to be one dimensional which is criminal given our resources however, the long awaited introduction of width on Saturday seemed to do the trick, why has it taken so long.

What impressed me most about Orient was their ability to alter their style of play. There were times when they went long, times when they created good short passing moves and others where they got the ball wide and ran the channels. They were strong and combative right down the spine of their team as well and a record like theirs is no fluke.

Their Achilles heal may be squad depth. A few injuries to key players would hit them quite hard I would think but they're certainly up there on merit at the moment.

 

[MetalBee]

Shows how close it all is.

Winning tonight has put us up to 7th, only 1 point behind Walsall in 6th and if we win on Saturday at home to Shrewsbury which we should do then we could conceivably be up to 4th.

 

[Jonny Stokes]

Damn this last post. I was all ready to comment on the universally dismissive nature of every reply in this thread, but you had to go and ruin it with your goshdarned even-handedness...

Acid test for the O's comes over the next six weeks - we've had a lot of comparatively easy fixtures so far (Shrews, County, Crewe at home; Carlisle, Stevenage, Brentford away), but things are about to get very tricky - we're off to Coventry, Posh, Swindon, Bristol City and Bradford, with Rotherham, Preston & Sheff United to come at Brizzy. Pick up more than 12 points from those games and we're very genuine contenders for a top two finish.

Well, we picked up dead on 12. Make of that what you will... I think we're starting to look very tired, but we're still doing well enough that we should have won all of the recent draws. Still don't think we'll 'do a Tranmere'...

 

[sonofabee]

Well, we picked up dead on 12. Make of that what you will... I think we're starting to look very tired, but we're still doing well enough that we should have won all of the recent draws. Still don't think we'll 'do a Tranmere'...

Think you continue to do incredibly well both results and points wise with a small squad of players assembled on a budget. Hats off to Slade and his team and if we weren't
up against you I'd be happy to see you maintaining your challenge.
I hope you keep keep beating the teams around us but fall away badly by throwing away points against striugglers. I think you'll be there at the end in the mix but I suspect top two may be too much to expect with the spending power that Wolves and Posh have to purchase success.
I'd be very happy if Bees and O's were both promoted automatically as it would mean another local game in The Championship next season.

 

[westwing]

You can't fluke that many wins, you're where you are on merit. I think you'll hit a wall at some stage it's how you deal with it and whether you can keep Lisbie fit. I can think of a lot of teams and managers I'd hate to see go up, Orient aren't one of them.

Yep, hit the wall alright !

 

[GuyBee]

Yep, hit the wall alright !

Depends on how you define hitting the wall, but they've definitely hit something. they are 7th in the current form table (last 8 games) and we've secured 10 more points than them in that period.

And yes they have had a tough run of games, but then we've had Wolves and Peterborough in that time too.

Though our next 4 are pretty tasty, Swindon, Preston MK Dons and Peterborough. Walk out of those 4 with 2 wins and a draw (with the defeat being to a team whose name doesnt start with a P) and I'll be pretty happy.