[mr. smith]

djs, on 22 February 2016 - 09:40 PM, said:

Wasn't impressed when we played them, and tonight very much second best to a decent, at best, Southend!

its a bog standard division

[Mr Mercury]

mr. smith, on 22 February 2016 - 09:56 PM, said:

its a bog standard division

That's being generous Mr Smith.

[Westbars Spireite]

They are a very limited outfit in a division virtually devoid of quality.

[The Earl of Chesterfield]

It's the dearth of quality that might keep us up.

[silver surfer]

Westbars Spireite, on 22 February 2016 - 10:03 PM, said:

They are a very limited outfit in a division virtually devoid of quality.

Yep, I agree. That about sums it up. Sheff utd fans must be pulling their hair out!

[Ernie Ernie Ernie]

mr. smith, on 22 February 2016 - 09:56 PM, said:

its a bog standard division

We are in for a treat if we go down, the quality must be dire

[azul]

No difference from past seasons. Some decent teams, yhey just aren't at the top this minute

[Westbars Spireite]

azul, on 22 February 2016 - 10:21 PM, said:

No difference from past seasons. Some decent teams, yhey just aren't at the top this minute

Wigan are half decent now after a slow start and I'm sure will win the division at a canter. Not sure there are many others. I don't think they'd have finished in the top 2 last season though.

[Ernie Ernie Ernie]

azul, on 22 February 2016 - 10:21 PM, said:

No difference from past seasons. Some decent teams, yhey just aren't at the top this minute

I personally think the standard of football we've witnessed this year, compared to previous seasons has been of a lower standard. We haven't seen many good teams this year. Difficult to judge them on one game at the Proact, if you don't go to many away games, but the general passing and passages of play, just don't seem to be as good this year

[azul]

Westbars Spireite, on 22 February 2016 - 10:25 PM, said:

Wigan are half decent now after a slow start and I'm sure will win the division at a canter. Not sure there are many others. I don't think they'd have finished in the top 2 last season though.

I suspect order will be restored by the end of the season and the ones that do go up will do no worse in the Championship than any other season

Why should the standard suddenly drop? Doesn't make sense to me, just a thing people say every year

[Westbars Spireite]

azul, on 22 February 2016 - 10:32 PM, said:

I suspect order will be restored by the end of the season and the ones that do go up will do no worse in the Championship than any other season

Why should the standard suddenly drop? Doesn't make sense to me, just a thing people say every year

It wasn't said last year (not by us anyway but I don't recall comments from other club's fans) but then the previous one was in a lower division so it wouldn't have made much sense.

I'm basing my assertions on the football I've seen live and occasionally on TV.

[60s 70s Spireite]

azul, on 22 February 2016 - 10:32 PM, said:

Why should the standard suddenly drop? Doesn't make sense to me, just a thing people say every year

I would say one reason is that the wage bills of the top spending clubs in the division this season is way below those of the likes of say Bristol City, MK Dons, Swindon and Preston last season.

Overall, the qulaity of teams comes down to the wages bills paid.

[azul]

Westbars Spireite, on 22 February 2016 - 10:40 PM, said:

It wasn't said last year (not by us anyway but I don't recall comments from other club's fans) but then the previous one was in a lower division so it wouldn't have made much sense.

I'm basing my assertions on the football I've seen live and occasionally on TV.

I'm sure it wasn't said by us because we were all amazed we got to the playoffs without a striker for over 3 months. But I would be amazed if it wasn't said by other teams supporters when they looked at us reaching the playoffs with a remarkably low point total, especially by those supporters that that thought they had a god given right to do better.

I had a quick search and found nothing last season but there was couple of interesting threads form our promotion year originating from when we had a bad run...

http://www.thecfss.c...=1
http://www.thecfss.c...=1

Interesting to look back and see some of the comments, especially those about a tight division not necessary reflecting poor quality.

At the end of the day, last season we had Bristol who was the standout team but other than that, Preston who had a couple of quality strikers and a tight defence and MK Dons, perennial bottlers, but even they got over the line. Don't think the last two mentioned were standout.

And the bottom line I don't see a great difference in standard this season, well in out opponents anyway

[BlueRover52]

azul, on 22 February 2016 - 10:32 PM, said:

I suspect order will be restored by the end of the season and the ones that do go up will do no worse in the Championship than any other season

Why should the standard suddenly drop? Doesn't make sense to me, just a thing people say every year

We peaked too early last season.If we had the same squad this time we'd be walking away with this league now.

[Westbars Spireite]

azul, on 23 February 2016 - 12:00 AM, said:

I'm sure it wasn't said by us because we were all amazed we got to the playoffs without a striker for over 3 months. But I would be amazed if it wasn't said by other teams supporters when they looked at us reaching the playoffs with a remarkably low point total, especially by those supporters that that thought they had a god given right to do better.

I had a quick search and found nothing last season but there was couple of interesting threads form our promotion year originating from when we had a bad run...

http://www.thecfss.c...=1
http://www.thecfss.c...=1

Interesting to look back and see some of the comments, especially those about a tight division not necessary reflecting poor quality.

At the end of the day, last season we had Bristol who was the standout team but other than that, Preston who had a couple of quality strikers and a tight defence and MK Dons, perennial bottlers, but even they got over the line. Don't think the last two mentioned were standout.

And the bottom line I don't see a great difference in standard this season, well in out opponents anyway

I reckon the MK Dons of last season would be 15 points clear this.

[spireitewolf]

BlueRover52 said:

1456212065[/url]' post='1189369']
We peaked too early last season.If we had the same squad this time we'd be walking away with this league now.

Ye agree on that

[60s 70s Spireite]

Westbars Spireite, on 23 February 2016 - 07:31 AM, said:

I reckon the MK Dons of last season would be 15 points clear this.

And no wonder, when you consider that they had Dele Ali,, and for some time Ben Afobe.

[JonB]

No wonder Burton are doing ok if they get bits of luck like their goal to make it 1-1 last night...ball was a foot out of play under the assistants nose but he fails to give Southend a throw in inside Burtons half then they get a couple of deflections including the one that takes it past the keeper.

[dtp]

BlueRover52, on 23 February 2016 - 07:21 AM, said:

We peaked too early last season.If we had the same squad this time we'd be walking away with this league now.

We lost four on the trot in February and Tim on Peak was suicidal predicting doom and gloom - don't think that was peaking too early.

As for standards in this division this season I don't think they are any worse than last season. As said before, 17 teams are the same, the 3 that came down included Wigan who are still receiving Premiership parachute payments and whose budget can easily match Bristol City. The other two coming down are a match for Preston and MK. A couple of teams coming up have done well but so did we and the massive Rochdale last season.