Hutch's Shoulder wrote:As other posters have rightly said, it has been an up-and-down season so far, which makes it hard to come to a reasoned assessment of where we are, and has led the swingometer effect of this thread, changing with each result.
For my part, whatever the stats, the season to date feels most like the early first season under Kevin Keegan in the Championship (I can’t remember if the division was called that at the time). A new manager, new players and new style of play producing some fine performances (6-2 at Sheffield Wednesday followed by 3-0 against Walsall) while some loose defending (expected under Keegan anyway!) meant these were often followed by defeats (losing 0-4 away to Wimbledon after Walsall).
As the team got used to each other that season, we improved and hit our stride in December, going top on New Year’s Day where we stayed (except for a few weeks at second when we had games in hand because of FA Cup commitments). It ended as one of my favourite campaigns (1980-1, my first as a S/T holder, the solitary season in the real Division 3 with the famous play off final and the PL winning season are up there too).
Of course history never repeats itself exactly, and the quality of the opposition is now much higher than in the Championship (Rags excepted), so it will be harder to ‘play ourselves in’. Nevertheless, I am an optimist, and so I’m suspending my judgement on the manager until after Christmas, because I would love it, really love it, if he could repeat the pattern of King Kevin’s first season.
Top post and you could be onto something there.