Should we have won the title?

[Notts78]

Under normal circumstances i agree. But, is Mitchel has good as Wootton or Rodrigues ? Is Brunt as good as Vincent ? is Nemane as good as Roberts ? is Jaros as good as Slocombe ? Is Taylor as good as Richardson or Chicksen? I dont think they are..

I agree. But all of them couldn’t have played 44 league games. Injuries, suspensions, COVID, fatigue, loss of form all plays a part in that.
There isn’t a squad in the NL that has players of good quality throughout, where making changes doesn’t drop the standard of the team.
We could have been a lot worse off if the players were pushed to breaking point and became injured, forcing some of the players you mention to be replaced by the others mentioned for longer periods of time.
All teams drop silly points. Stockport, the champions elect dropped a fair few in the opening couple of months. It happens. It’s the beauty of the sport we watch and love. David has a chance v Goliath.

[keldsyke]

The team that has made the fewest mistakes over a season wins the title, and there are a few above us who have made less than we have.

[the_anticlough]

I'm glad many on this thread agree that 3rd place should've been ours - not that it matters now, but I think it's true.

One of the reasons we have spurned points is because we have a young, relatively inexperienced squad. That's fine, I think we can accept that. But I think part of it comes from the coaching - I think there's too much of a 'play ourselves into form' 'process' kind of attitude, whereas success in the NL isn't all that different from success in competitions like the EPL...

If you want success there (top 1, top 3) as a contender for those prizes, EVERY game matters. You can only lose a limited amount or somebody else will take it from you. Away at Aston Villa, Burnley, Soton are games you have to win. Just like if you want to get out of the NL, you have to win at Wealdstone, Weymouth, Aldershot and win games against 10 men. It's not a process, you HAVE TO take points from those games. Losing 10 and drawing another 10 is never going to cut it, obviously.

Trying to get out of this league, IB and team will learn this the hard way I suppose. But until we develop a 'must win'/'every game counts' attitude we'll struggle to get back to the EFL.
For now though, let's pray we get past Grimsby, win at the Racecourse and triumph over whoever else makes the final.

[kill_the_drum]

I'm glad many on this thread agree that 3rd place should've been ours - not that it matters now, but I think it's true.

One of the reasons we have spurned points is because we have a young, relatively inexperienced squad. That's fine, I think we can accept that. But I think part of it comes from the coaching - I think there's too much of a 'play ourselves into form' 'process' kind of attitude, whereas success in the NL isn't all that different from success in competitions like the EPL...

If you want success there (top 1, top 3) as a contender for those prizes, EVERY game matters. You can only lose a limited amount or somebody else will take it from you. Away at Aston Villa, Burnley, Soton are games you have to win. Just like if you want to get out of the NL, you have to win at Wealdstone, Weymouth, Aldershot and win games against 10 men. It's not a process, you HAVE TO take points from those games. Losing 10 and drawing another 10 is never going to cut it, obviously.

Trying to get out of this league, IB and team will learn this the hard way I suppose. But until we develop a 'must win'/'every game counts' attitude we'll struggle to get back to the EFL.
For now though, let's pray we get past Grimsby, win at the Racecourse and triumph over whoever else makes the final.

With Chesterfield and Grimsby falling away, I agree 3rd spot is where this squad should have finished.
I would disagree about our must win attitude though. I think IB is the most ‘must win’ manager since Moniz. I would actually say that’s been one of our downfalls this season.
A big criticism of Ardley was that his philosophy seemed more ‘must not lose.’
In terms of playing into form and following a process, I’ve no idea what that means in real money?

[the_anticlough]

With Chesterfield and Grimsby falling away, I agree 3rd spot is where this squad should have finished.
I would disagree about our must win attitude though. I think IB is the most ‘must win’ manager since Moniz. I would actually say that’s been one of our downfalls this season.
A big criticism of Ardley was that his philosophy seemed more ‘must not lose.’
In terms of playing into form and following a process, I’ve no idea what that means in real money?

It's not really about an attacking approach, that's pretty good as you say.

It's more about a mindset. I remember watching Souness step off the Liverpool team bus with a 'we're going to take the points here' look about him.

It's about stepping off the bus at these grounds, not with a 'let's hope we play well today' approach, but 'we have to win here' today. Maybe this is what Challinor suddenly infused in the Stockport players.

[the_anticlough]

In terms of playing into form and following a process, I’ve no idea what that means in real money?

That's easy, it's the relative importance attached to performance v result - when you're aiming for promotion in a 1 up + 1 only league

[MAD_MAGPIE]

We could argue we got points we maybe shouldn't have as well, Grimsby away, Wrexham away, Wealdstone at home etc. It ebbs and flows, the only games I'm still really miffed are the Halifax away defeat and home defeat to Woking.

There is an element of swings and roundabouts but those two games you point out are the complete stand out ones and surprise's as to how we took zero points from those games. I still believe we could have obtained more points away from home collectively from Weymouth, Wealdstone, Eastleigh, and Aldershot. All of those sides are 17th in the table or below and only 2 points from 12 is what has cost us 3rd place and a chance of challenging for the title. We should have been getting 9 points from those games.

Wrexham and Stockport both beat Weymouth, Wealdstone, Eastleigh and Aldershot away.

However like you say win against ten man Halifax and beat Woking at home and that would have been another 6 points.

So there is 11 points dropped and that is why Stockport and Wrexham are challenging for the title on the last day and we are not 3rd at least or pushing them all the way for the title on the last day.

It's all part of the journey and it's something to be learned from for next season. We can still play our game but we have to be better at it away from home against the lower table teams like Eastleigh, Aldershot, Wealdstone and Weymouth.

[durhampie]

I agree. But all of them couldn’t have played 44 league games. Injuries, suspensions, COVID, fatigue, loss of form all plays a part in that.
There isn’t a squad in the NL that has players of good quality throughout, where making changes doesn’t drop the standard of the team.
We could have been a lot worse off if the players were pushed to breaking point and became injured, forcing some of the players you mention to be replaced by the others mentioned for longer periods of time.
All teams drop silly points. Stockport, the champions elect dropped a fair few in the opening couple of months. It happens. It’s the beauty of the sport we watch and love. David has a chance v Goliath.

My point is that our recruitment this year has not been as good as some may think... If Wootton got injured, would you be happy with Mitchel in his place. Or if Palmer got injured, would you be happy with Brunt in his place.. Likewise, Nemane replacing Roberts...I dread to think...

[kill_the_drum]

My point is that our recruitment this year has not been as good as some may think... If Wootton got injured, would you be happy with Mitchel in his place. Or if Palmer got injured, would you be happy with Brunt in his place.. Likewise, Nemane replacing Roberts...I dread to think...

But any and every team can say that.
Would Liverpool be happy with Origi replacing Salah if he got injured?
It wouldn’t be Mitchel or Brunt replacing Wootton and Palmer anyway!

[OP67]

We are were we are because of our own inconsistency yet again. Add to that the amount of goals we've conceded, yeah we've scored a good amount but we just struggle to keep the ball out.

We've gained more points this season than last which shows how tough it's been. However I'm impressed with how well Solihull have done, did the brothers do the right thing?