Are Div. 3 teams really that bad?

[davieG]

I've seen many references to how bad MKDons, Stockport and Tranmere are, personally I think they've all played some decent football and have all tried to play a passing/possession game for example using little triangles of play to retain possession.

They have been quick and strong in trying to close us down, admittedly they seem to lack goal power but I'd hardly call them crap, terrible, awful, rubbish some of the adjectives used by forum members.

In fact I'd argue that the quality of the 'football' played has been superior to many of the Championship sides I saw last season many of whom seemed incapable of stringing two passes together with us being one of the worst culprits.

Am I on my own here, does anyone else see it like this?

[reynard]

I've seen many references to how bad MKDons, Stockport and Tranmere are, personally I think they've all played some decent football and have all tried to play a passing/possession game for example using little triangles of play to retain possession.

They have been quick and strong in trying to close us down, admittedly they seem to lack goal power but I'd hardly call them crap, terrible, awful, rubbish some of the adjectives used by forum members.

In fact I'd argue that the quality of the 'football' played has been superior to many of the Championship sides I saw last season many of whom seemed incapable of stringing two passes together with us being one of the worst culprits.

Am I on my own here, does anyone else see it like this?

Early days but I think you are about right so far. I think that as well as the quality of strikers being less there also seems to be less pace and I don't think the central defenders are as good on the ball as in the championship. They have definitely tended to thrash the ball into the stands more often than not.

So far though I haven't found my neck aching too much.

[DB11]

I haven't managed to see any of the Leicester games this season yet but on the radio it sounds like the football played is better.

[davieG]

Early days but I think you are about right so far. I think that as well as the quality of strikers being less there also seems to be less pace and I don't think the central defenders are as good on the ball as in the championship. They have definitely tended to thrash the ball into the stands more often than not.

So far though I haven't found my neck aching too much.

I don't think you agree with me at all apart from the strikers

[Webbo]

If I could make polls I was going to start a thread 'are we good or are they bad'.

My honest opinion is we're not that good so that leads me to the conclusion that they must be bad.

[Guest]

The only difference to me, between this division and the Championship, is the quality of the finishing.

[leicesterseddon]

i've been to every game this season and from what i've seen, they are that bad. We deserved to win today, but there was a spell in the game when after they got their goal when they could have scored an equaliser - but their quality in the final 1/3 and esp. their crossing was awful. most championship sides would have got a point today.

if we go about this season in a professional manner we should come back up...and on a positive note, i think that's exactly what NP is doing, so we should just let him get on with it. however, we should still be wary because most of us don't know that much about some of the teams in this division...

[Spiritwalker]

For me the football so far has been more open and entertaining but the quality is obviously lower. We as a team look

stronger than last season but to be honest that is because other teams are making us look better.

[davieG]

I must be on my own then because I still maintain that the quality of the football is certainly no worse than the Championship and in many cases better, apart as I said from having a cutting edge. Admittedly it's not there for 90 minutes but the intent to play a passing game is. I never saw much of it in the Championship.

Oh well it matters not because I'm enjoying the football played by the opposition more than I did last year.

[Bryn]

The only difference to me, between this division and the Championship, is the quality of the finishing.

About right I reckon. The sides that go up usually seem to be the ones that score a lot of goals. S****horpe getting up off the back of Keogh and Sharp is a good example.

I think we're just used to the gulf in class between the Premiership and the Championship. Between those two leagues there's a huge gap in quality. Whereas between these two leagues I think there is less of a gulf and more of an edge.

[Fez of Mahrez]

Cutting edge seems to be a problem for the teams we've played so far. It won't be the same all season but MK Dons and Stockport especially have themselves recognised problems with their strikeforces.

I agree the football played is not especially worse in this league. A couple of years ago I went to as many Northampton games as Leicester ones practically and the better games were in League One at that time.

[lifted*fox]

I think the game I saw today surpassed the level of some of the AWFUL games I saw last season.

I think Tranmere put some decent balls into the box.

If they had a higher quality finish, then they would have done better.

[davieG]

I think this is what was so galling about last season yes we were dreadful but so were the opposition.

We would have only had to raise our awful performances 1% and we'd have been mid-table.

[TrickyTrev]

The defending is laughable. End of. Movement is the death of the centre backs, pace seems almost totally absent and Howard has gone from winning 10% of his headers to 90%.

Those triangles tend to break down as soon as the players are put under any pressure, which means sides liek Tranmere look okay passing the ball round the back but useless when trying to actually create chances. This shouldn't be much suprise, most good school sides can knock a ball about if they are given enough time.

Having said all that MK Dons were better than most Championship sides for half an hour in the second half agaisnt us. But then again, truth be told, The Championship aint any great shakes. You have to be truely woeful, like we were last season, to be in danger of relegtion.

[Spiritwalker]

I must be on my own then because I still maintain that the quality of the football is certainly no worse than the Championship and in many cases better, apart as I said from having a cutting edge. Admittedly it's not there for 90 minutes but the intent to play a passing game is. I never saw much of it in the Championship.

Oh well it matters not because I'm enjoying the football played by the opposition more than I did last year.

I think the reason for this is because there seems to be a misconception that to get promoted from the champ

you have to battle and be very direct so many teams ie Stoke and Hull close down quickly and lump the ball

forward at the earliest opportunity. This may be effective but makes a poor spectacle.

[demon_dog]

From what I have seen of the games so far, the teams do seem to want to play passing attractive football.

As Lisa rightly states it is just in the finishing that seems to be the difference.

Another factor of course is that with our new pitch a passing game is more easily achieved.

Last season nearly every team that came here simply played hoofball, because the pitch was crap.

As long as we keep winning our home games I'll be happy.

[davieG]

The defending is laughable. End of. Movement is the death of the centre backs, pace seems almost totally absent and Howard has gone from winning 10% of his headers to 90%.

Those triangles tend to break down as soon as the players are put under any pressure, which means sides liek Tranmere look okay passing the ball round the back but useless when trying to actually create chances. This shouldn't be much suprise, most good school sides can knock a ball about if they are given enough time.

Having said all that MK Dons were better than most Championship sides for half an hour in the second half agaisnt us. But then again, truth be told, The Championship aint any great shakes. You have to be truely woeful, like we were last season, to be in danger of relegtion.

I didn't see much quality defending in the Championship and i seem to recall Howard doing particularly well with Derby in the Championship.

Of course it's not Premiership quality but in comparison to the Championship I think it stands its ground

[davieG]

From what I have seen of the games so far, the teams do seem to want to play passing attractive football.

As Lisa rightly states it is just in the finishing that seems to be the difference.

Another factor of course is that with our new pitch a passing game is more easily achieved.

Last season nearly every team that came here simply played hoofball, because the pitch was crap.

As long as we keep winning our home games I'll be happy.

I think you're giving the pitch more credit than it's due they (the home team) hoofed at most of the away games I attended.

[TrickyTrev]

I didn't see much quality defending in the Championship and i seem to recall Howard doing particularly well with Derby in the Championship.

Of course it's not Premiership quality but in comparison to the Championship I think it stands its ground

Oh I'm sure the gap between League 1 and the Championship is much smaller than the Championship and the Premiership. But I wouldn't praise the quality of the football. Not one side has even looked like scoring agaisnt us yet and there have been almost no displays of individual skill. My main pointis kocking the ball about the defence is not good football or praise worthy, its the bare minimum of competent footballers at youth level.

[davieG]

Oh I'm sure the gap between League 1 and the Championship is much smaller than the Championship and the Premiership. But I wouldn't praise the quality of the football. Not one side has even looked like scoring agaisnt us yet and there have been almost no displays of individual skill. My main pointis kocking the ball about the defence is not good football or praise worthy, its the bare minimum of competent footballers at youth level.

I think they've done far more than that, the triangle comment was just an example. 90% of what I saw last season didn't even have that it was almost universally hoofing it anywhere, the 'better' teams managing to hoof it into the corners.

Anyway it seems pretty obvious that i'm seeing something on my own or wildly misinterpreting it, not that it matters because the football played from both teams have been far more entertaining than anything I saw last season.

[Daggers]

The defending is laughable. End of. Movement is the death of the centre backs, pace seems almost totally absent and Howard has gone from winning 10% of his headers to 90%.

Tranmere were suicidal in defence today - both left and right backs were frequently looking to punt the ball out as they got flustered time and time again while the CB's didn't seem to know where the ball was or which way they were kicking half the time.

They gave our front line opportunities to make mistakes and then recover the situation again. Regardless of the quality of play last season, teams were better drilled in defence so we rarely got the chance to recover our position up front if we lost the ball.

[Lillehamring]

i remember watching highlights on the championship and we used to love watching the 3rd and 4th divs (and the jocks, no less) for one simple reason - seeing the most inept and shocking goalkeeping imaginable, it was hilarious...

don't know if that is the case now, but it was certainly noticably a step down from the championship...

[Narborough Bod]

I think they've done far more than that, the triangle comment was just an example. 90% of what I saw last season didn't even have that it was almost universally hoofing it anywhere, the 'better' teams managing to hoof it into the corners.

Anyway it seems pretty obvious that i'm seeing something on my own or wildly misinterpreting it, not that it matters because the football played from both teams have been far more entertaining than anything I saw last season.

Lack of cutting edge is all it is. Watching the first 20 minutes yesterday with them slightly on top was like watcjing us last season. Playing pretty football up to the last 3rd without the nous / ability to find the killer ball or make a decent opportunity.

[iancognito]

Lack of cutting edge is all it is. Watching the first 20 minutes yesterday with them slightly on top was like watcjing us last season. Playing pretty football up to the last 3rd without the nous / ability to find the killer ball or make a decent opportunity.

Just what I was about to say. They had a 15 minute spell where they passed it neatly and played some good stuff but we had eight or nine behind the ball and they had no killer pass or final ball. I think if we'd sat back like we did in the second half against higher opposition we'd have conceded an equalizer. It was only the air shots and mishits that saved us. The only other thing was the marking. Fryatt and Howard constantly found room to have a shot or lay the ball off and if anyone but Porter was up against their 'Rabbit in the headlights' right back, they'd have had a field day.

[Corky]

All three teams missed opportunities to get something out of the matches, each of the sides has had spells of domination without making any sort of inroads. They don't look like scoring.

At the moment we are doing enough to win matches. When we start to click properly teams will regret not taking the chances they had against us in my opinion.