Well no mid week we are coming up with things to talk about!!

I was just thinking about last season the first full season under our leader MJ and his assistant AL and what has been addressed in order for progression to be made this season , ,

Certainly attacking wise we are more of a force, with plenty of options and variation available, which is fantastic and something we certainly lacked last season , , ,

I was also thinking about the temperament of the players , , , if I remember correctly it was the first 5 games that we had 3 red cards , , , Rose, Dixon and Thomas , , , interesting all three are no longer with us , , , but has something changed in the set up or the way the players attack each game that has changed??

Progression is an interesting topic... depends whether you measure it by league positions or something more encompassing.

Clifton, Wright and Rose are all in and around the first team more regularly (when fit and available), so that's good to see. Obviously we're scoring more. Style of football seems to be a bit more direct but I think most of us will accept that while it's giving us generally positive results.

Discipline has improved. Togetherness seems strong. Signings this summer were better than last. All in all, I think progress has been steady. We've more points than this point last season, higher in the league, second top scorers in the division.

Keep up this rate of progression and you never know, we might sneak into the play-offs — or be a real contender next season.

Fair assessment Rich. Quarter of the way through the season nearly, so reasonable to make a tentative judgement that things are going OK. (Don't wanna jinx it).

We on a nice upward trajectory improving in many areas, slow and steady wins the race - although sudden   rapid upturns always welcome!

Great to see the youth getting their chance, how many have fallen by the wayside over the years as not been nurtered or chanced on? I'm pretty sure Clifton was about to leave under Slade, thank God Jolley came in when he did.

And the small matter of saving us from the abyss also to go with that!

Progression, let's see:-

Would we want to swap MJ for Slade. No

Would we want to swap MJ for Hurst. No

I suppose that's progression from where we were

Took us until late November to get our first point from a losing position last season (Northampton away I think it was?). I've stopped counting how many we've fought back to win this season. This team is made of sterner stuff throughout. The streaky erratic form seems to be becoming less of a problem now too. Oh and one surefire sign of progression...A POSITIVE GOAL DIFFERENCE COLUMN.

3 forward players in D3D4 team of the week with Hanson on the bench smacks of progress

I think whats interesting is that despite our good position you can look at most players and say that theres more to come from them, you can just imagine that if we get the right way of playing and the right players get into their stride, we could go on a really good run, like we haven't found that yet but the quality and team spirit has still yielded good results while things start to gel

Looking at the players we bought in versus the ones who left the club you can see a rise in quality. Even the players who are coming into the team after being sideline players or in the youth team feel like they have a lot going for them. How many of those players who went out have gone on to better things? I think that tells the story of progression.

It's always been about building on last season and getting the right players in that will help the nucleus progress further and cutting away the excess.

Was it this time last season we still had Hoops?

Think we were stripes last season too  ;)

See "Exeter not happy" thread ..says it all to me about how we're moving forward...

Having 2 cup games in the same calendar year against Prem opposition shows progression.  We had to win 4 games to get there. Still the FAC to come this season.

We also have good young players doing well in the first-team.  Some home-grown.

Max Wright also excites the fans with his pace, skills and confidence to beat players. There is a lot more to come from Max. He is being used sparingly.  Watching him torment opponents is worth the ticket cost alone on a cold day.    Exciting players at Div 2 level are rare.

Season-long loans at Scarborough and Boston will have given him a good grounding.  He will have been used to being fouled like he was at Exeter. He justs need to be like the Chelsea young players who were too quick to be fouled by Town players.  

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Having 2 cup games in the same calendar year against Prem opposition shows progression.  We had to win 4 games to get there. Still the FAC to come this season.

We also have good young players doing well in the first-team.  Some home-grown.

Max Wright also excites the fans with his pace, skills and confidence to beat players. There is a lot more to come from Max. He is being used sparingly.  Watching him torment opponents is worth the ticket cost alone on a cold day.    Exciting players at Div 2 level are rare.

Season-long loans at Scarborough and Boston will have given him a good grounding.  He will have been used to being fouled like he was at Exeter. He justs need to be like the Chelsea young players who were too quick to be fouled by Town players.  

Agree about Max
From the moment he came on at Notts County for his debut he looked like a proper footballer. Full of confidence, purpose, speed and skill.

There is plenty of positives.

So with me being a naturally pesimistic kind of chap i will go for what i see the negatives.


Tactics - very hit and miss. finds a winning formula and changes the week after. Hanson plays loads better when wingers deliver the ball from wide rather than our central defenders bypassing the midfield.

Ring - seems to have vanished, probably on showing not good enough but lets hope. One cracking Swede is better than none.

Green - Control of the ball is not what it should. Really not sure he is good enough for what we need.

Whitehouse - Tricky one this, been very loose with the ball and not looked great. BUT has he played too much after his comeback from injury? Seems Robson is very good replacement.

Hewit - Looks crap in Midfield.

Hewit - Looks good at right back. Good competition for Hendry.

But the rest positive for me.