Extrapolation

Quoted from ginnywings

I started to think about this on Saturday walking home and a quick bit of mental arithmetic made me realise that at the current rate, we would be well north of 100 points, so I had a word with myself to stop getting carried away.

One thing is for sure; you can't afford to lose more than about 6 to 8 games if you want to win the league. So that's one loss roughly every 7 ish games give or take. Need to be winning around the 28 game mark, drawing as many as poss and losing hardly ever. Tough ask, though there are plenty of contenders for the top spot this season and it may come down to who does best against the other teams in and around the top end.

We now have 4 away games out of the next 5 and 5 out of the next 7. After those 7, we have Notts County at home. Should have a bit better idea by the end of Oct.

There are so many permutations to play out over the course of the season - injuries to key players at any of the clubs pushing for promotion could be enough to see some drop out of the race. One thing I do like about this team though is that we don't appear to be overly reliant on individual players. Not only does that make us more difficult to plan against, it also leaves you less vulnerable to those kind of problems. I would accept that we looked a lesser team without McAtee on Saturday, and he would appear to be our talisman, but I'd say we're probably less reliant on him than say Chesterfield are on Tshimanga, who's scored half their goals so far this season.

One thing I do expect though is Wrexham to finish strong. I can see the shape of their season being similar to that of Fulham's in 97/98. They spent a fair bit in the summer shortly after Al Fayed took over, roughly £700k, though incidentally that's less than we did having recently sold Oster and Mendonca. From October onwards though their spending went pretty nuts by Second Division standards in the late nineties - spending a further £7m on another 13 players including the likes of Paul Peschisolido (that ended well), Maik Taylor and Chris Coleman (who was believed to be on around £20k a week at the time).

I thought Wrexham looked some way off the pace of the likes of Crawley and Fleetwood who've spent big and won the league comfortably in the past, and didn't look a particularly great 'team' in general, certainly not compared to the unity we appear to have in the town ranks right now. But I can see them spending silly money after Christmas if things aren't going quite to plan, and I don't think they'll be shy in moving on Phil Parkinson either (just as Fulham weren't in ousting Micky Adams and subsequently the late Ray Wilkins).

If we have aspirations of winning the league, I think one key milestone to look out for is not only being in the mix come Christmas, but also having sufficient daylight between ourselves and them.

Quoted from Poojah

It’s very, very early days and I think everyone knows that, but our record so far is very strong. On a ‘per game’ basis we lead the way in terms of points, goal difference and goals conceded. Only[/b] Dagenham[b] have scored more goals per game than us, but their goals against record is much poorer than ours.

84% of the season still to play, so all these stats are to be taken with a pinch of salt, but when you consider that in our six games we’ve already played the bookies’ two outright favourites for the season along with last year’s play-off finalists I think you can at least go as far to suggest that it bodes well.

We both have +8 goal difference, the fact they have scored more goals,this is why they are 2nd.

Were Sutton and Hartlepool the bookies favourites last season? Torquay were never going to the force they were last season.

Like you said its too early, wait until January, we will have a clear picture of whom are going to be in the mix, come the end of the season.

Take one game at a time and enjoy the moment.

Quoted from Poojah

There are so many permutations to play out over the course of the season - injuries to key players at any of the clubs pushing for promotion could be enough to see some drop out of the race. One thing I do like about this team though is that we don't appear to be overly reliant on individual players. Not only does that make us more difficult to plan against, it also leaves you less vulnerable to those kind of problems. I would accept that we looked a lesser team without McAtee on Saturday, and he would appear to be our talisman, but I'd say we're probably less reliant on him than say Chesterfield are on Tshimanga, who's scored half their goals so far this season.

One thing I do expect though is Wrexham to finish strong. I can see the shape of their season being similar to that of Fulham's in 97/98. They spent a fair bit in the summer shortly after Al Fayed took over, roughly £700k, though incidentally that's less than we did having recently sold Oster and Mendonca. From October onwards though their spending went pretty nuts by Second Division standards in the late nineties - spending a further £7m on another 13 players including the likes of Paul Peschisolido (that ended well), Maik Taylor and Chris Coleman (who was believed to be on around £20k a week at the time).

I thought Wrexham looked some way off the pace of the likes of Crawley and Fleetwood who've spent big and won the league comfortably in the past, and didn't look a particularly great 'team' in general, certainly not compared to the unity we appear to have in the town ranks right now. But I can see them spending silly money after Christmas if things aren't going quite to plan, and I don't think they'll be shy in moving on Phil Parkinson either (just as Fulham weren't in ousting Micky Adams and subsequently the late Ray Wilkins).

If we have aspirations of winning the league, I think one key milestone to look out for is not only being in the mix come Christmas, but also having sufficient daylight between ourselves and them.

It was noticeable that the intensity went up a level when he came onto the pitch Saturday. I think without him, the job will be tougher and we would have to grind out results a bit more but it's early days, plenty of time for others to prove their worth as a player that makes us tick.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

It was noticeable that the intensity went up a level when he came onto the pitch Saturday. I think without him, the job will be tougher and we would have to grind out results a bit more but it's early days, plenty of time for others to prove their worth as a player that makes us tick.

The atmosphere went up a notch too, it was very noticeable. I can't actually think of many times when a player coming off the bench has lifted the place in such a tangible way. Reddy coming on against Lincoln in the play-offs is the only one I can really think of, but it's rare you get that kind of reaction not only from the fans but from the players too.

Someone the other day compared him to Cantona, which is quite a comparison to make as he was such a unique player, but there's definitely something of an aura about the guy. It's not really something I was expecting from him either.

Quoted from Poojah

The atmosphere went up a notch too, it was very noticeable. I can't actually think of many times when a player coming off the bench has lifted the place in such a tangible way. Reddy coming on against Lincoln in the play-offs is the only one I can really think of, but it's rare you get that kind of reaction not only from the fans but from the players too.

Someone the other day compared him to Cantona, which is quite a comparison to make as he was such a unique player, but there's definitely something of an aura about the guy. It's not really something I was expecting from him either.

I've heard someone call him the "Grimsby Grealish".

Same sort of effect as he had with the Villa team.

Bit overboard if you ask me but I get where he was coming from.

Wrexham will improve but perhaps we should give ourselves more credit, I didn’t think Wrexham looked up to much but perhaps we made them look a bit excrement too…

The key with a PH side is that nobody is seemingly more important than anyone else. Of course Podge was the stand out with Bogle because of the goals but they were doing their job, supported by a good midfield. This time around, goals are being shared out around the park, or so it seems and once again, every single person knows their role, subs included. Mcatee will be the fan’s favourite but so far it’s hard to really pick fault either any of them.

It’ll be interesting who is in the mix at Christmas, we were twice and never sustained it. Perhaps we’ll have learnt this time? Wrexham will no doubt spend in January, as will Stockport I’d imagine but that’s not always helpful…it can cause more disruption. Consistency is key.

I don’t want us to lose either but a defeat would possibly highlight some key areas for development and present the challenge of proving how resilient we are.

Everything is very positive at the moment but I can't help thinking some of the stuff on this thread is a trifle premature. And I have a certain expertise in that area!

To add some more positivity about us - we are doing this without the number 9 we were crying out for in the summer so there's still space in the squad for that player to come in in January and strengthen our push.

I agree with others above that you can't ignore Wrexham and the other 'big' teams who have started sluggishly (Stockport) but over the season as a whole you need to beat your rivals at home and avoid losing away. If we get to Christmas and have taken points off the 'big' teams there's a touch less pressure in the second half of the season.

And our run in is a gift! Our last 5 or so games are against teams who look like bottom half of the table will be a good outcome for them.

Another bit of positive news tonight - solihull could only draw at  Dover.a win wouldve took them to within a point of us
Cant believe I'm looking at other clubs results in September 🤣🤣

It’s just nice to feel surprised if we lose rather than being surprised if we win.