Jobyfox

That's always the case to be fair. No team is a threat if we do our job. Just nice to build a cushion for when the inevitable stumble does come

We should be grateful that we got our act together in this division quicker than Southampton and Leeds. We all have squads capable of promotion. Ipswich are the unknowns to some extent as we can't be sure whether they'll fall away.

I said that to my Mrs. ... but she still didn't

Perhaps EM doesn’t want to throw the dolphin in at the deep end

He’ll be happy with that

Oooo …. pick a thread.

I couldn’t agree more. This whole “blessing in disguise” is actually a ridiculous notion when you think about it. Relegation is such as massive risk. It nearly put us out of business when we got relegated following the O’Neill years. We’ve started well. It could have been so different. The wrong choice of manager. Poor recruitment. No investment due to reduced revenues. More players wanting to leave or not wanting to put in the effort in the Championship. Even now injuries might stop our progress or form might disappear. Our future as a Premier League club is still massively at risk. A “blessing in disguise” is something that can only be considered in retrospect. If we get to the middle of next season and we’re mid-table in the Premier League after good investment in the summer - then I might agree that relegation was a “blessing in disguise”. But relegation isn’t something that you’d ever plan for. You wouldn’t proactively get relegated for a rebuild. It’s too high a risk strategy and one poor decision could destroy the future direction of the club for years if not decades. So talk of “blessings in disguise” is largely a pointless conversation and irrelevant. It can only ever be considered on reflection when wrongs have been corrected and the ridiculous set of circumstances that got us here in the first place have been put right

Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee Donkey I haven’t a clue …

I won’t as I can’t afford the royalties I’d have to pay to Mrs. Vardy!

I don’t think Thomas has been particularly maligned. He’s sometimes given more of a free pass than others being home grown. Castagne maybe because he’s a decent player at PL level.

Yeah. It very much has the feel of an article where he’s just picked the players he’s heard of or the ones who’ve scored a few goals recently It’s a bit like a Garth Crooks team of the week. I was, however, reassured that we’ve got the best defence and midfield in the league if this is the competition. The only places I might look at would be in the forward positions, but even there it’s debatable.

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/rutter-out-if-leeds-united-leicester-and-southampton-combined-this-would-be-the-best-xi/#gk-illan-meslier-leeds-united A combined Leeds, Southampton and Leicester team would be full of Leeds players apparently. If only we had their squad

Nah! To be honest I wouldn’t have any of the players back who moved on at the end of last season. We’ve moved on now and they don’t have a place in my subconscious. I like Youri and will always be grateful for the FA Cup goal, but he didn’t sign a contract for two years just so he could sign for Villa. He was at a top 5 club with us before he contributed to our decline. He’s gone. We move on

So many ifs and buts on this thread. Will Vestergaard be good enough to play in the Premier League IF we go up? Last time I looked we’ve still got 35 games to play. Injuries or loss of form could still derail that ambition. Should we keep him? See above. We don’t know what division we’ll be playing in yet. If we do go up will we change our style and approach? Will better players be available who we can attract to the club? Will Vestergaard want to stay if we do/don’t go up? If we get to a point where promotion is effectively sealed then we should look at the squad and see what we need. I doubt many players, with a year left, will commit to contracts before January anyway and will look at their own options. That’s the jeopardy that relegation has brought. There might be a Premier League (or other top European) option, which could mean JV deciding we’re not good enough for him - rather than the other way around. In the present I’m just enjoying Jannik’s current form. I had him firmly in the frame for one of our worst ever signings before this season so it’s already feeling like a massive bonus that he’s proving his worth

I always have the quite simplistic measure of 2 points per game for promotion. That gives 92 points, which would almost certainly be enough. It’s the equivalent of going win/draw/win/draw for a full season. Around 1.6 points per game would almost certainly guarantee a playoff spot at 74 points One point a game is pretty close to staying up at 46 points. It’s usually enough, but might be touch and go Our good form, to date, means that we don’t have to hit 2 points a game anymore. The number is now 1.8 points per game. If it gets as low as 1.5 I will start to think we’ve cracked it. That would be the equivalent of win/loss/win/loss for the remaining games. If it gets down to 1 point a game – we’re on the beach!

I’m actively waiting for a team to burst our bubble. Could Swansea be that team? Away to a team in form will be another good test of our credentials

I read somewhere that Eustace was being targeted for the Rangers job. He’s the bookies favourite so it may be that Birmingham are letting him go.

Sounds painful

We’ve made the best start to a Championship season since Sheffield United in 2005/06. They finished with 90 points that season in second place. They were 16 points behind Reading who finished first on 106, but that in itself was a record

The odd thing is that, even if true, I’m so glad we didn’t sign him. Everything that happened before 15/16 is a bit of a “butterfly flapping its wings” moment in my view. What if Vardy hadn’t become our main striker? He was so pivotal to the way we played and system that won us the Premier League. Kane is a world class player, but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have helped us win the league in the way Vardy did. You could probably say that about anyone (little moments and butterfly wings)

I’ll let those of you who are more statistically literate debate how effective Hamza is in this new system. Passing accuracy is a measure but, as others have pointed out, that could be along the back line. How effective is his passing at breaking lines and driving our play forward? I think a big part of Vestergaard’s redemption is that his ability to break lines makes him ideal for Enzo’s system. (I’m too easily confused by all these stats. I’d just about got my head around expected goals and then someone flashed some stats up for expected assists. I must admit that one blew my mind a little)

So we've made the equal best ever start to the Championship after 11 games. The club that did it previously were Sheffield United in 2005/06. I was intrigued to see whether Sheffield United won the league that season and remarkably they finished a full 16 points behind Reading. They did get promoted on 90 points in 2nd though

The results I’m looking for at the moment are Ipswich and Leeds. I think those two might be the closest to us this season. As I’ve got no idea about Ipswich I can’t judge whether they’ll be able to last the pace, but I’m fairly sure Leeds will. I’m also happy to keep putting points between us and Southampton. They have too many good players not to put it right at some point. I’m just hoping we’re already long in the distance by time that happens