Thetownend.com

Not had a game on a Monday for a while. Looking forward to watching this round Si Pie's.

Play up to our usual standard and we'll win.

Weather is going to be mega crap

I'm going to this one and hoping for at least one point.  Planning to have a pre-match pint in the casino.  Let's hope we don't leave it until the dying seconds to score the winner this time!

Currently watching Yas strutting his stuff on Eurosport 2.  :)

I'm quite nervous about this one, living in Bedminster and having the world of City all around is beginning to get me a little bit!

STFC Store ‏@STFCStore 6m6 minutes ago

We have sold 319 currently for Coventry. This comes off sale with us at 10am. Tickets available from Coventry.


I hope a few more make it up tonight

I can understand that, I have 6 close mates that are all fans of that team and they are going on constantly about us v them. Should I get the gloating txts prepped in case we win 3-0 or is that temptng fate.....

Its ok I have been let down too many times to even consider this!

That's going to look dire on the telly! Ah well would rather have the points than worry about a poor attendance!

As for my prediction - draw 1-1. Smith.

January is usually a tight month for most and it's on the box, so I can see why we'd have a sub 500 for this. City took nearly 4k though. Mind, when their game at Sheff Utd was on the box they took a paltry 600, but no doubt they'll forget that when they post our regular thread on OTIB.

It's a just a bit relentless, like they can't enjoy what has been a great season for them until Swindon are out of the equation.

Coventry is massive today because we can take advantage on the points dropped by PNE and MKD.

I'm still looking downwards than upwards I suppose.

Im with you.  If we win we go to 51 points.  1 point off of safety.

You know what I mean! Town have a real chance of automatic promotion so let's try and break away from 3rd and 4th (which I know is the plan!)

The Play-Offs are a gloriously entertaining, horrible bastard.

I've managed to get a Now TV Day Pass so hopefully I can watch this through my Roku on the big TV rather than some crappy stream on the laptop.

Looks like there'll be 400-500 of us there then. Real shame as we'd have taken loads on a Saturday, but the reality is people have to go to work on a Monday, and probably wouldn't make kick off if they drove up afterwards.

Can't say I'm confident about this one. I think I'm just reluctant to let myself get too excited after so many years of disappointment!

I think we'll beat Coventry tonight, 2-0 and we'll take 512. As said, shame it wasn't on a Saturday as could easily have taken 2-3k. Chance to break away from 3rd/4th tonight, and also take back top spot - players should be up for it!

Looking forward to this one. Hopefully Thompson is back and Stephens can go back into midfield where he's better. Be great to put on a show for the cameras, but I'll take a scrappy 1-0!

2-0 would be better to go top on goals scored ;) greedy? yeah why not!

A controversial Sky Blues sending off leading to a 3-0 win should keep the City forums at boiling point a little longer :-)

This would make me laugh out very loud :D

As long as Nathan Byrne doesn't get the Sky blues, by getting a hat-trick of reds during televised games.

Bound to happen now you've said it Reg!

Anyone with decent streams for tonight .... Let them be known ....

I was nervous about this one, but I'm now more relaxed.

I can see us scoring 2 or 3 and conceding 1

So lets say a 2.5 to 1 win

Anyone fancy Will Randall at 10/1 to be 1st scorer?

WTF is that about.

Mind you, 33/1 Toffolo looks great value

On the latest Arsenal match-day reddit threat there is a list of reliable HD streams. It's going to be a case of clicking through all of them come 7:30 or 7:45.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/2s217u/match_thread_arsenal_vs_stoke/

Or check this one out: http://www.stream2watch.me/live-tv/sky-sports-1-live-stream

Gruffalo is due a goal, he has got close a few times recently.

He's hit the post a couple of times this season.

Download Acestream if you don't have it:

http://acestream.org/

and watch Sky Sports 1 - high quality and much better than watching a Flash stream.

http://www.livefootballol.com/channel/sky-sports-1-acestream.html

Other Acestream stream:
http://www.livefootballol.com/acestream-channel-list.html

Swindon Town FC ‏@Official_STFC 55s56 seconds ago

Town starting XI: Foderingham, Stephens, Thompson N (C), Turnbull, Byrne, Thompson L, Swift, Gladwin, Toffolo, Williams, Smith #STFC

Nat T in

Foderingham; Stephens, Thompson N, Turnbull; Byrne, Thompson L, Swift, Gladwin, Toffolo; Williams, Smith
Subs: Belford, Barthram, Branco, Rodgers, Barker, Hylton, Obika

You missed Belford

Ha!

Great stuff, cheers.

Seen a lot of AceStream online... never bothered to investigate it because I can usually find a HD uStream stream but I feel that because this is a League One clash it probably won't be streamed in HD like that.

I've just downloaded AceStream on the PC just incase...

Acestream is brilliant and always better quality. Get it started 10 mins early so you can build up a decent buffer.

I used this earlier for the Iraq game and it was a great stream: http://livetv.sx/en/allupcoming/

Does this work in the US?  I am over here working at the moment and am hoping to slope off to my hotel for a "conference call" for the next few hours ;)

Acestream doesn't work on a mac.

Is what happens when you have a crap computer...

First time I've watched Sky for ages. What's this FL72 shit?

They've been really kissing our arses in the first 5 minutes...

Has anyone got a stream that works please....

Also I feel the need to formally apologise to the TEF in advance as I've put money on us winning. The odds were good, sorry.

Looks like a packed stadium...not.

That cunt Madine is bound to score.

Prutton on co-comms for Sky :/

I think we will lose tonight

How empty does the ground look?  What's the capacity there?

Sky just said Smith has scored every time he's played against Coventry.   Probably means he won't score now.

Makes a change to hear us referred to as one of the most threatening teams up front and miserly at the back.

Empty....and about 30k

32k, similar to Leicester and Southampton.

Woohoo

WILLO

Yaaay. Willo!

Fucking yes

Get in!

Get the fuck in . What a great start

Get in.  Williams.  Great cross.

Lovely stuff.

EEEK! Lovely start.

Beautiful.

Long night for our Centre halfs under this aerial bombardment

Anyone got a link to stream this, sat up in a vietnam hotel room having no luck using an android tablet

Has anyone got a link to watch on the internet,,,

Madine certainly winning a fair few free kicks already.

Look back a couple of pages. Flashheart's seems too work ok.

Considering that Cov seemed to be a good footballing side at the CG, all they've been doing so far is lumping it up to Madine.

Yes

Penalty Town

Pen. Otib is melting  :D

2-0 Willo

Did webster stamp on L.Thom's wanger then?

I knew Nouble was good for something

So, this is all going really rather well isn't it?

He did...and how did Nouble not get booked at least?

Too well.

 :headhurts:

Quality . Williams is on fire

Get in.  2-0.  Bit of s stamp when Thompson was on the floor.

We look fucking mustard

You in a local boozer, Rich?   ;)

Pity largely.

Ssshhh

The Three Lions? No thanks.

Bloody hell we're good.

Nearly three...

 :D

Lovely touch from Swift.

Couldn't get a stream with out scary messages coming up on my work laptop so have reverted to Player, which (touch wood) doesn't seem to be cutting out as much today.

I like the look of Swift. Is he till the end of the season or just a month?

Isn't that Paul Bodin in goal for Coventry?

End of season

We could've been 4 up by now...

I'm just loving Byrne and Toffolo switching play

Toffolo is being given plenty of room on the left...

That poor ginger kid at left back for Cov is fast, he just made up yards on Byrne

How long is the delay between radio com and Sky tv?
Sat in the kitchen listening,heard the  penalty go in,walked in the living room sat down and watched it.

I'm listening and we're 3 up. It's half time.

Oooh. dodgy

Putting the scouts off, good man.

:)

Erm, Mr Webster is quite lucky there. What a cunt

Some ridiculous showboating from Town. Filthy.

There's an element of fannying around from us at the moment

He's a bit lucky especially after the stamp on Louis.

It is good quality fannying around though.

Coventry best chance of scoring is a lapse pass by Swindon in defence.

If my boyfriend told me he'd turned gay and was running away with a man I'd be devastated but if he said with Nathan Thompson I'd be like oh okay

Feel the love for Steve White.

I can see Nath getting sent off now he's been booked. The other centre halves aren't really helping him with the ball over the top

Have to say it was a bit dull after the first 20, which is absolutely perfect. I'll only relax if we get a third though.

It was another unnecessary booking for him though. He's certainly prone to them.

Well quite!

Scrappy last 15 to an excellent first half
Get a third kill them off and blood Hylton

My thoughts exactly.  Keeping Cov out for the first 15 to 20 mins will be key.  Their heads would drop after that.

Lots of love from the pundits.

Nice half time read from the "big" club down the M4
http://www.otib.co.uk/index.php?/topic/166968-coventry-v-swindon-merged/page-3

Sweet, so far.

Hey Ardiles, totally off topic, I need a recommendation for an indoor soft play down your neck of the woods if you'd kindly oblige.

how the fuck did they not score?!

Eek. Phew

Bloody hell how have we got away with that

That was close.

Be cool Swindon, be cool.

How did that not go in?

It's all part of the plan. It's gives them encouragement to push men forward, making it easier for us to score more goals.  ;)

Unlucky Swift

Close from Swift.

Nicely opening up, definitely more goals in this one.

Cov are back in this.  Pressley must have had words.

Hey...good to hear from you.

These are probably the best two:

Jake's, Sandhurst (http://jakesplayworld.com/index.php?page=tri-lakes)

Magic Castle, Camberley (http://www.magic-castle.co.uk/)

The Magic Castle is a little bigger, and in town centre location so you'd need to pay for parking etc.

Byrne looks knackered...

We need a 3rd to kill this off

We're making Nouble look good at times.

Come on town!

We overplay it a bit - the only criticism

If we can keep them out for another 10 mins - or score ourselves - then I'll start to relax.  Not there yet though.

The scouts won't be signing up Wes on tonight's showing to date.

Wish fods wouldn't keep trying to liven the game up

And that's bad news?

Blimey fods haha

Think we need a sub,  Coventry getting more space on the ball

We're playing some silly balls at the moment.

Sitting back a bit too much right now. Coventry have to do something mind, so it's probably them pushing on

Agreed, need a bit more energy

I'll let you decide.

Sherwood's in the crowd

The guy must be close to selling 'Sherwood 2014-15' stadium tour t-shirts.

anybody got a decent video link, mine just crashed

Branco's coming on...

Branco on.  Swift off. 

Come on Town. Lets kill this off and get some clear goal difference between us and 82Ltd

I'd bring off one of the front two for Obika (or if feeling dangerous, Hylton). Just to give their back four something new to think about, they've had little to do this half

They have a game in hand. Let us just focus on 3 points.

Danny Swanson looks like a cunt

Coach to Coops?

So would you if you lived in, and played for, Coventry.

Giving that Nouble a bit too much space down our right side though  ::)

We are very ragged at the moment

Game over  :pint:

3-0 Beaker

TOP OF THE LEAGUE

Ooooobika!

Beaker!

WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE

Decent first touch!

 :D

Oh, and cheers Ardiles.

Very cool finishing. Like it that neither tried taking a dive.

Great finish that

GTFI! We want 4...

Get Hylton on

Obika with first touch.  Game over!!

Bring on Hylton :)

Have it shitty . . . .

it gets worse, he's scottish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Swanson

Loving Steve White. Hope someone sends Cotterill clips of his comments.

"The third one wasn't over the line."

- Cotterill at home.

Very impressed with Turnbull tonight - not missed a thing

WHO IS THAT GINGER?! EURGH

If I had to say something positive about Coventry, it would be that I've always been quietly impressed by the scale and construction of its inner ring road (while also accepting that it's a byword for the failed, car-centric town planning policies of the 1960s).

7098

Hylton's first touch didn't result in a goal. Therefore he's rubbish.

Att. 7098

3 mins of added time

Woof, 3-0  :clap:

Lubberly.

Nice to go top of the league on TV

Niiiiiiiice.

Good decision lino. :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Get in town  :beers:

Happy with that. Onwards and upwards.

Absolutely tremendous result.

My nerves roll over to Saturday, that's how it has to be now.

L Thompsons "final wish" to get us promoted.
sounds like we sold him at just the right time!!

Nice just to win on TV.

Brilliant performance. To win with ease like that away from home without Mass and Yas is superb, roll on Saturday.

And we won on telly

Looked like we could have stepped up another gear if needed but all very comfortable as we've come to expect.

Not only to Mass and Yasser not keep a low profile now the whole bloody team is joining in!

Be nervous shitty, be very nervous.

Obika cost me £50

Apart from Wes trying to let them have one for nothing, that performance looked very comfortable.

Will we get a mention on Points Brizzle though  :hmmm:

Second half was dull, or professional if you prefer. This is very very good.

Rounded comments

One very small thing...

Why do we insist whenever we have a fee kick in our half in passing it sideways and then back to Wes who then goes long - its not as if Wes's distribution is world class, its good for a keeper but I would not say he is the best long passer we have?

Very small thing, but watching on the telly just flagged it up!

Like the men vs boys comment. We rather turn that expression on its head.

Consider it £50 well spent.

Who was MoM? I expect Sky gave it to Willo, but I thought Turnbull was immense. His reading and timing are superb.

So we're safe then ;)

There were a good few that are beginning to show signs of acknowledgment. However, a lot still mirror my work day when City supporting work colleagues tell me before a Town game that our next opponents are either...

a) "No mugs"
b) "On form at the moment"
c) "Better than you on paper" (when desperate).

They won't talk to me now until Friday when they inform that Chesterfield are any one from the above.

Cooper's chattier than usual tonight!

On the flip side 0-3 is better than 1-2

Louis T

We're a bit good at the moment. I thought these dodgy pitches were going to be our downfall, then losing Yas and Mass for a month, but we just keep producing the goods.

Anything less than 9000 home fans on Saturday will be an insult to this team.

@AdverSport: The Adver have tonight been stopped from being involved in the post-match interview with Mark Cooper

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Booh fucking hooo

It's the first time I've given up and had a look on their forum.
It really is amazing the things they write........there seems to be a fair consensus that the best way to beat us is to buy a few of our players !
Is that not an admission that our players are better than theirs ?

Fair.

If this team can win when on telly and when I've bet on is, there is no jinx around that they will fear.

sublime start and should of steamrollered them 4-0 in the first half.

Made hard work of it in the second half and really should of been punished by some self destruct play.

Swift should of been rested ten minutes before he came off. Skilful but gave the ball away cheap as he tired.

Williams was excellent and Smith just failed at the final touch and really should of bagged a brace too.

Really wanted Paris to score on his debut but it didnt quite fall for him.

Coventry were not shit and should be safe enough.

Nouble for all his lack of pace was their best player and Byrne struggled to get anything out of him.,

Have that Cotterill you cunt!

I still can't get over the fact they have match day threads on our games... That's fucking embarresing.

Anyway, what a result. Really really happy for the players and backroom staff. Fantastic stuff. I hope the town faithful can show their full appreciation on Saturday against a tough Chesterfield side.

You reds!

I'm coming over to the Bradford game if it's on. Current record at the CG this term: P2 W0 D1 L1. Wait till after that one to get the bunting out.

Oh yeah...

We slag refs and linos off when they are shit but that lino ran his bollocks off to get to the line and see that the ball went over the line from obikas nutmeg....excellent stuff.

Most of them turned over after approx. 18 minutes.

stay away.....Codford are at home...take that in Froggy!

Can you go and watch a city game instead?  Thanks x

Poor old Louis may have a MOM trophy, doubt the poor sod will ever have kids after that stamp on the diddler :)

In terms of Cov, thats not a bad front 3 really is it?  Nouble though he was shit for us was about 18 at the time and has got better, Madine is seen as a damn good striker at this level as is Jackson.

The fact that our kids managed to keep them quiet was pretty impressive.

I bet they did! Bless 'em

To draw them forward, doesn't work every time, but its a mix up tactic.

A lot of them are having to admit that we're quite good now.

I think it's funny that they keep going on about our 'antics' and 'play acting' but Williams could easily, easily have gone down when he went past the keeper. A hell of a lot of players, most even, would have gone done but he didn't, he tried to go for goal. And I'm glad he did. That's how football should be played.

Overall though, man alive was that good.  8)

I'm planning to. Only, STFC may be involved...

L Thompson was absolutely immense.

1st half superb.

2nd half we shut the game down. Lucky not to concede first 15 mins into 2nd half, maybe pushed our luck a bit too much.

Great result still, and on TV - where normally we fuck up.

I would also love it if Mark Cooper just came out and said we will win this league. By the look on Andy Williams face, he wanted to say it, but couldn't.

I think that if either of them did say that, they would deserve a good slap.

I liked Williams' interview actually, where he said, "This is the point in the interview where we insert various cliches" or something like that, rather than actually come out with various cliches.

And then coops said them all  2 minutes later :)

And the answer is b) "On form at the moment"

They are at home to Chesterfield on Sat.
They have picked up again. (As have Scunny).

Well done Town and we are looking Oh so good.  :D

Thought the same. No manager ever says it though even Mourinho. Well no manager other than PDC.

Just got in.
Another 3-0 on the road just not good enough :)
Took foot of the gas once again second half. So comfortable first half though.
If we would have conceded in the second could have been a different game although I always felt we had another goal in us.
Great celebration with every player bar Fodds celebrating the winner.

Top of the league. Local radio in car on way home saying we play nice football.

Buzzing and will struggle to sleep :)

As it's been a long time since I've seen Town (well about a year) and commented on them it was an absolute privilege to see them play tonight on the box.

Cannot believe the style of the team. Very impressed with the Thompson Twins, Byrne, Swift and Williams, to name five.

Hopefully going corporate at Ashton Gate as one of my accounts' principle is a City fan and if that's the kind of football Town play then it'll be a great match.

Fair play to all at the CG!

The way John Swift receives a ball makes him look a tad aloof.

I don't think he is actually aloof, I just think that it's easy for him therefore he makes it look easy

Swift was insane on the ball, so comfortable.

They twigged that and kicked him hard a couple of times pretty heavy, good way to learn though, bet any Chelsea scouts watching smirked, and thought "that'll do him good"

Ha! I thought exactly the same. Bit morbid.

does anyone know why his loan deal at Rotherham was cut short?

Not sure, just seen porky has signed Danny Ward though, so that might have some relevance possibly.

He is a seriously talented player and is expect him to chip in with a few goals of he keeps the advanced spot when (if) we get Mass and Kasim back. He looks complacent (in a similar was to Gladwin) at times - but I'm sure we'll see him make a real contribution between now and the end of the season.

Got to mention Gladwin, he just sat there and played it simple, really good performance from him I thought.

You cannot drop Thompson from that midfield three. Has more energy than anyone else in the squad

I agree that he appears to be complacent.

But is he really complacent or is it just easy for him?

In the wrong side he could get (wrongly, based on the little Ive seen him) classed as a luxury player, chucked out wide with balls sailing over his head. As much as I like what I've seen I can imagine him 'going missing' if a team was to play direct football.

Agreed - you could say the same for Gladwin. Very nice problem to have. I'd rather have some depth and competition for the next 5 months than get rid though.

He is just classy isn't he... personifies how good our scouting must be.

Weird watching that game from the away end tonight. Empty stadium, easy game, result pretty much never in doubt after we went 2-0 up. Almost like a friendly game. Thought we were a bit complacent, cruising along in first (or maybe second) gear against a poor Coventry side.

Gladwin was majestic on the ball. Thompson L was everywhere. Thompson N was also everywhere. CBs were solid, Swift was great for an hour, Williams was a constant threat... Long may it continue.

FFS hope the city lot didnt see this tweet from Sam, Now I know how we won so easy..

Tonight's referee is Keith Stroud. Swindon Town are unbeaten in 4.5 years with him in charge (six games). Last defeat May 2010 vs Millwall

With a surname like Stroud, he's bound to be a town fan... :)

Excellent result tonight! Pitch looked shite towards the end but not sure what else to expect when egg chasers play their as well! Thought we controlled the game from the off and could have been 4/5-0 up at half time as threatened every time we went forward. I do worry sometimes we'll get caught from Drawing a 1 v 2 when Wes kicks it out and rode our luck tonight in the second half but very pleased to get the job done and 3 more points!

Tough game Saturday at home and we still owe them for that paint pot defeat!!!

Just back home and getting my breath back.  Strange game, possibly because we took our foot off the gas! Possibly because the heavy pitch took its toll.  Like so many of our opponents, after going behind, Coventry became frustrated with our passing game and resorted to trying to rough us up but they weren't really good enough to do that properly.  The Ref (our old friend K Stroud) had a solid game and spotted pretty much everything - and was ably supported by his two linos.  When FFS is Nathan T going to stop doing that stupid chest-barge thing that he does on opponents?  He has picked up several yellow/red cards as a result of him doing it and Referees always pick it up.  Someone needs to have a serious word with him.  Although the second half got a bit frustrating, it was another convincing away performance.  Does anyone know the away fan figure?  It seemed like around 600-700.

Was that the play off final?  If so surely that makes up for it?

Even Keith Stroud could do nothing about the all white strip and the Wembley bobble

paul bodin in goal for coventry!

504

A professional performance in the first half against one of the worst sides in the division on last night's performance.  Obviously they were well and truly geed up for the second half and we could just have come unstuck as we didn't really come out of the traps quick enough.  That said 3-0 didn't flatter us in the end.

Can't fault the players at all, they did a professional job and got the 3 points with little trouble at all.

I would not swap a single player in our squad (including the absentees on international duty of course) for any other player in this whole division.

We have THE best squad of players outside of the top half of the Championship IMO and the best squad morale, Andy Williams is like a new signing and the rest of them are all playing for each other.

Long may it continue....1 point from safety ;)

Coventry looked poor but we made them look poor by out passing them and giving them little time on the ball. We just need to stop the niggly silly challenges (Nathan especially) that result in silly bookings.

Louis Thompson @ £ 600k must be the bargain of the season - he will take some replacing - Championship player through and through. Great performance in dreadful conditions but we always seem to perform on the tele.

See you on Saturday :nod:

What?

 ;D a bit arbitrary admittedly but we do always seem to perform well on the TV - nothing to do with L.T. though.

Nope. No we don't

That Doncaster game - uuuuùuggggghhhhh

First half we were unplayable last night and a 2-0 lead was the least we deserved.

Second half Cov should have scored just after the restart which could have changed the game but Obika scored with his first touch and that was that.

Very impressed with everyone last night. Louis was my MOM, closely followed by Turnbull and Gladwin.

Its all going rather well at the moment, looking forward to Saturday's game now, hopefully we can start to turn it on at home as much as we do away!

We looked great going forward. Side in general looks very good all over the park.
Do look a bit sloppy at the back at times (wes's distribution in particular)and a better side would have punished the errors on another day.

The main concern is the right back area. Fleetwood exploited it well and even Nouble was getting some joy down there. Other than that its looking excellent. The wobbles at the back are a small price to pay for the brand of football we are playing. Sometimes we'll come unstuck but we've always had a self destruct button at the back.

The way we play, it's inevitable that we're going to be a bit vunerable at the back...but I'd rather live with that, than adopt the sort of safety first formula, that blights too much of the English game.

Loved it...though the sparse crowd did little for the atmosphere, and the 500 town fans easily drowned out the small group of Coventry fans away to our right under the screen (and they had a drum!).

Don't know if Byrne got hurt in the 1st half, but he seemed to be very lethargic in the 2nd until the last ten minutes.  Maybe it was the heavy pitch.  I thought Gladwin was excellent, and some of cross-field passing, especially to Toffolo in the 1st half (who was given acres of space) was almost Hoddle-esque.  So glad to bee there, as my last two were Doncaster and Cheltenham.....

The amazing thing is looking for a weakness.
Every team is trying to look at how to combat our style and that is respect.
All clubs in our division will have weaknesses and agree it is looking excellent.
What I can't get to grips with is we have the best away record in the division, What !! Swindon Town good away from home, can't be as we have always been shit away from home.
It certainly is fun watching Swindon away from home and so many wins have been scoring more than 1 goal. What a fantastic job Cooper and Coaches have done.
We do over play it at the back still don't we.......my bloody nerves :)

I said that was Nouble's best performance for Town, meaning giving away the penalty. In fairness he did have a reasonable amount of running in him so I can see your point.

Its odd, we look dodgy at the back at times, yet we've got the joint third best goals conceded column in the league.

Maybe we'd get punished more against higher quality opposition. I think that is a bit unfair on the defenders though.

Spot on ref Byrne. Not sure what happened second half but certainly gave us much needed width on a ploughed field of a pitch. Loke West Hagbourne :)
Hope you are keeping well :)

That`s down to the majority of opposition teams being to scared to have a proper go.

One thing that struck me last night was how high our defenders played - not just the wing-backs who were virtually playing as wingers but even Turnbull & Stephens. When we've played 3 at the back in years gone by, I certainly dont remember Taylor/Calderwood etc regularly playing the ball from the half way line and running beyond into the opposition half (Hoddle/Culverhouse may have, but not the "real" centre backs). Yet despite this, Cov never really managed to get in behind us, and I can only recall them getting caught offside once.
Its not a criticism, our current back 3 must be among the most comfortable on the ball of any defenders I can remember, and it shows that even if the opposition cut out the short passes to the midfield, they have the ability to take on the responsibility to get forward and create things. Turnbull has really developed this season, early on he was probably the weak link, last night he was excellent.

Interestingly the only games I have seen in full this season are Fleetwood (live) and Coventry (on the telly) and the one thing that struck me was that they both followed identical course with regards to the right hand side.

1st half - Byrne is all over them bossing the game and our best attacking outlet.

2nd half - Byrne goes very quiet and all dangerous opposition attacks come down the right (their left).

I would say that they are sussing Byrne at half time but you would have thought teams would get this via scouting? In the second half last night Nouble seems to really get on top of Byrne in the second half.

I'm amazed N. Thompson doesn't get punished more for his (now trademark) slaloming runs forward!

The way Nathan runs with the ball it reminds me a lot of Shaun Taylor (but with extra pace) its quite unexpected of a centre back to be able to run with the ball, admittedly with ST he used to put his head down and run but it always got the crowd going.

I do wish Nathan could attack corners like Taylor did though!

Taylor was some weapon from corners. Brave as a lion that man.

I thought this was due to him sitting deeper to counteract Nouble

Great showing last night.....even some of the City fans on their Forum are being complimentary!  :)

This thread will do..... Andy Williams wins league one PFA player of the month.

Pleased for him after a difficult few seasons to finally come good.

Very happy that we won this game so comfortably. There are an assortment of Oxford/City/Gillingham fans at uni that would have been ready to dish me up some humble pie had we come unstuck in this one!

Well done Williams. Didn't he win it last month too?

Calderwood certainly did. Scored a few goals too. Going back further - when we played 4 at the back Kenny Stroud used to go forward a lot too, and wasn't a bad dribbler either. And what a shot he had.....

But we're not vulnerable at the back. We may LOOK that way but the goals conceded and clean sheet stats tell a very different story.

One interesting thing to note is how important Nathan T is to our defensive performance:
- We've had to play 5 games without him this season and have won 1 drawn 3 and lost 1 - a win percentage of 20%
- With him we've played 20, won 14, drawn 3 and lost 3 - a win percentage of 70%

Without him we've shipped an average of 1.6 goals a game and kept clean sheets in 20% of games
With him only 0.8 goals a game and clean sheets in 40% of games

So we concede half as many goals, keep clean sheets twice as often, and are three and a half times more likely to win when the captain is in the side.

Let's hope he can stay fit and suspension free for the last part of the season.

Against what teams has he been unavailable for? We do look much better defensively with him in the side

When you are pushing 70% possession in games, even a relatively dodgy defence has far less pressure under which to open up.  We limit the opposition time on the ball to a point where they can't create sufficient pressure.  Coventry only ever looked a slight threat when pumping it long and having 1 or 2 players around the ball, but with 3 central defenders, they don't have to be as on the ball as a mate can back them up.

Without a doubt the best team since Ardiles' 1990 passing machine.  With Hoddle we were better because of him and the McMahon team of 1996 vintage was powerful but not as goon to watch I don't think.

What he said. Often, teams don't get a chance to have 15 minutes or so where they dominate, largely due to the style, when we were topping the table under Di Canio (even in the League Two season), a lot of our games were very even and decided by very little. If we're allowed to get going, then there isn't much that teams can do to stop what is a very ostentatious approach to football at this level.

I don't agree with this at all. We battered most teams in that league. Even the games that were close I never felt like we were gonna lose, or even concede. The team was built on a strong workrate and back 5. This team now is better to watch but I enjoyed winning at a canter pretty much every week.

I agree. We looked organised and solid under Di Canio all over the pitch. Both teams good to watch in different ways, and both sit in about the same place in the table at this stage of the year, but amazing when you consider the contrast in how the teams got there.

Where that team was built on experienced players, high costs, and a climate of fear, this one has been built on youth, balanced expenditure, and freedom of expression.

What's also amazing is, despite all the advantages Di Canio had in the transfer market, how much better this team seems to look on paper.

Yep - agreed, Cooper's Team > PDC's team, and none of the histrionics (or budget)

Not just on paper - on the pitch too

Not even on paper. On the pitch instead.

I think Branco certainly looks a better player when Nathan plays alongside him, pretty sure his 'nightmare' showings have been when NT is out

He missed the last couple of games in which we drew with Fleetwood 2 all and beat PVale 1-0, the Colchester 2-2 and the 3-2 defeat to Rochdale through suspension following the sending off against Yeovil, and the 1-1 draw against Coventry back in August.

Yet the Town End was a livelier place to be under PDC. In part due to the comparative costs changing between the side stands and Town End.

That happened way before the PDC 'era'.

I think it was livelier because of PDC geeing everything up all the time, and the style of play which was all about breaking quickly, over-powering the opposition and forcing goals, rather than patiently picking passes and runs to unlock teams with a well worked move.

I actually had more fun watching the PDC team, especially with the "no-one likes us, we don't care" spirit that having PDC as manager brought with it.  Great fun.  This current team don't foster that same crowd participation and involvement for the most part, but they're great to watch as footballers and you can't argue with Cooper and Power doing it on much more limited resources with a young team full of potential either here or with sell on value.

The atmosphere in the TE has been on a downward spiral since I started going in 1990. I blame myself  8). Obviously the seats didn't help, but is it more than that? The Sky generation, or because there's less local (and vocal) working class folk in attendance these days?

Seats deffo didn't help
Everyone who wanted to sing used to congregate around the tunnel so were together, now ppl are spread out due to seating .

Not only that but the DRS enticed ppl away from the TE so actual numbers in there dwindled.

Unless I think there will be any sort of atmosphere in the TE I will go DRS.
View > silence

Unfortunately its rare there is much of an atmosphere these days  :badmood:

True, you have to be pretty dedicated to go in the TE these days with its shit view and facilities. Folk move to the side stands as they become more mature (whatever age that may be).

You have to concentrate watching our lot - it actually does take some effort. You sort of get immersed in the play.

I enjoy it immensely

Agree with that. Our play these days is like a novel with a rich and intricate plot, where you wait for the twist, as opposed to the 'wham bam pow' comic action of the PDC era. Both effective, and both enthralling in their own way.

Hence, why The Emirates is known as The Library

N Ht
Agree with that. I love watching us play this season. I'm looking forward to going to matches because of the style of play, not out of a sense of duty like out was when King was in charge ( for example).

I love watching us this season. Genuinely. I am more geeky than most here but I like watching the patters, the shape of play. Seeing how the team shifts from one side to another, overloading a flank then switching to the other. Seeing the different movements added to change how we come out from the back, responding to how others play... You can see the team evolving.

I'm not criticising this team, quite the opposite, the age of player and their origin - well we shouldn't be where we are. They shouldn't be as good as they have been.

But I'm not going to lie, I have yet to reach the same hights that I got from the odd game under Di Canio. The Stoke game, the last minute McCormack winner, etc. Something like that.

It'll come in due course, I'm sure.
----

What I do like about this season, is opposition teams respect us and our ability. Perhaps sometimes too much. Its  a real compliment.

We all got older... not enticed.

I get what you mean. But is that not simply because teams rarely threaten us this year? That excitement came from the tension of not knowing if we'd get the result, whereas this season the result has rarely been in doubt. I imagine games later in the year against City, Franchise and Preston might provide us with a little more tension, and hopefully excitement!

I have to agree. We're great away from home, but I can't remember the last really exciting home game, partly due to the opposition parking the bus. At the start of last season we were more exciting to watch (perhaps because of players like Pritchard?) but this season we're much more organised and consistent - dare I say it, like a Chelsea side!

I do get what you lot are saying - to an extent.

Shitty and Sheffield United were two bloody good home games IMO though. If this is all we have to complain about then I'm well happy. :-)

Yes they were, but nothing like when we put 5 past the likes of Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Tranmere on Port Vale. I'm not complaining and can't wait for tomorrow - we can scrape every home game 1-0, just as long as we keep winning.

Just bought my ticket online and that's pretty disappointing ticket sales so far. We're top of the league ffs.

Got my tickets yesterday and they said tickets were going well since Monday.

We do get a lot of walk-ups on matchday so the weather may play a part.

Forecast to be dry, though!

The Bradford game being called off may boost the attendance. Hopefully it stays dry.

Yeah it probably is that. I think we are doing all we can to win at home, its just a more difficult task. We've not had much opportunity to pit ourselves against higher league opposition either, except Chelsea which was a damp squib.

I don't think we should change what we are doing though!