[SaltergateBorn]

I only listened to the match on the radio and watched the highlights this morning and I know it`s difficult to get an accurate overall picture from that, but that seemed to be quite a comfortable win for us. Hopefully a foretaste of things to come.

Interestingly, the stats say we had `only` 56.3% possession, which is quite low for us over the past few years; it`s usual been 65 – 70%. I`ve always been skeptical about possession stats as an indicator of performance – a team can have 99% possession but if they do bugger all with it, it`s not a lot of good. I suppose this match might suggest that there`s some truth in that – which is nice.

I do wonder whether we might find our away games a bit easier than our home games this season, as we seemed to do at times last year. Given that the odds on us going up this year seem to be getting shorter by the day (4/1 to win the league, evens to go up this morning) I reckon that most teams are going to come to our place with the intention of frustrating us as much as possible and then hitting us on the break. To be fair, MK Dons may well have the same problem and at least we have a few flair players up front now (Dobra, Markanday, Berry for instance) who might be able to open them up without our midfield having to bomb forward and leave gaps behind. Is that wishful thinking on my part? Probably, but I`m going to stick with it for now.

Anyway, that`s 2 wins and 2 clean sheets in our first 2 league games. For any other stats nerds out there (guilty as charged, m`lud) I believe that`s the first time we`ve done that in an EFL season since 2013, which was the year we last won this division. We won 2-0 at Bury (I went to that one) and 2-0 against Cheltenham at our place. Good omen? Hope so.

Okay, I seem to remember that we also did it in our first year in the National League - 1-0 at Ebbsfleet and 3-0 against Aldershot, I think – but I`m trying to erase the memory of those dark years from my mind. So that doesn`t count.

[spireitematt]

With the attacking players we have in midfield and also upfront, I think we will see goal contributions from everyone instead of having to rely on one player. I agree we have a lot of flair players now, who will be able to create moments and opportunities for the rest of the team.

Home form is important especially if we want promotion. Our ground needs to be like a fortress. I think I read somewhere that teams are likely to win away than at home, something to do with the home side feeling pressure from home fans. During the COVID season's, they discovered the ball was more in play than when fans were in the ground.

I remember that Bury game from 2013, it was the first game of the season, we played in the black and white away kit with the hooped socks. I had a steak pie inside the ground which I'm sorry to say was one of the worst things I've ever eaten, it was overcooked, dry and just wasn't great. The trip home was a nightmare because as we walked back to Bury tram stop, we were informed that the tram would only be going as far as Crumpsall if I remember correctly because a driver had crashed his car into one of the trams somewhere in the Greater Manchester area and they had to put on a replacement bus service which dropped everyone off at Manchester Victoria and got a tram from there to Piccadilly.

Interesting stat I once read that in the season of 1969/70, we didn't win a game in the first 4 matches of the season.

[SaltergateBorn]

I think that Bury game was the first time Sam Morsy turned out for us. It was certainly the first time I saw him. There were a few new signings but he was the one who really stood out for me. I can`t remember how I got there but we were still in Leicestershire then so assume I must have driven.

For me, sadly, it`s not a case of reading about the start of the 1969/70 season. Depressingly, I`m old enough to remember it. (Thanks for reminding me of that, Matt!)

You`re right about the start we made that season. We lost 2 and drew 2 of our first 4 games, although 2 of them were League Cup games against Bradford City. I remember very well the first home game against Port Vale; it was a bloody awful game and we lost 1-0. It sticks in the mind because it was the only time I can remember that we had a home game that coincided with Derbyshire having a County Championship game at Queens Park, so it kicked off at 6:30 in the evening. Did we have floodlights by then or not? I can`t remember. What I can remember very clearly is about half a dozen of us traipsing up Rose Hill full of hope for the new season and then slouching off to the pub to drown our sorrows afterwards in the expectation of a(nother) long, hard season. Fortunately, after that game Jimmy McGuigan made what turned out to be the inspired decision of moving Tom Fenoughty back from playing up front alongside Ernie Moss to more of an advance midfield role. Suddenly, everything clocked and we were off and running. I think we won something like 10 out of the next 12 games and nobody looked like catching us. Happy days.

I fully appreciate that I may well be putting the mokkers on us here - so if anybody feels like popping over to Buxton and throwing sharp objects at me if I do, please feel free – but I`ve been looking up the last time that we won our first THREE league games in the season. The latest I can find is 1984/85. We beat Aldershot and Southend at home, both 2-1, and Northampton away 3-1. We actually won the fourth one as well, 4-2 at Scunthorpe, so if we match that I`ll be chuffed indeed. Consider mokkers firmly in place.

I still haven`t found out when we last won our first three league games AND kept clean sheets, so it`s probably best if I shut up now before I jinx the whole season

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ignore that. I`m talking rubbish - again. The last time we won the first 3 league games was in 2000/1 York 4-1 and Shrewsbury 3-0 at home, Hartlepool 2-1 away. D`oh!

[spireitematt]

Interesting fact is we were one of the last football league clubs to get floodlights but one of the first to get them at a training ground.

Think you might be getting a little ahead of yourself SB, talking about winning 3 league games. We've got Bristol Rovers on Saturday and they won't be pushovers.

I'm not too disappointed we went out of the League Cup but I would have liked us to have beaten Mansfield seeing as they are our rivals and go out in the 2nd round. Promotion has to be the aim though.

We don't normally do much in the League Cup anyway. It's 19 years since our cup run in the League Cup, where we beat Wolves, Man City, West Ham before going out to Charlton in R4. We seem to go out every season in the 1st round.

[SaltergateBorn]

Sorry, Matt, but I have to disagree with you when you say that I`m being a bit head of myself when I talk about winning the first 3 games of the season. I think I`m being A LOT ahead of myself. That`s why I freely accept I`m risking putting the mokkers on us and incurring the wrath of fate, not to mention all Spireites. Sometimes, though, I just can`t help myself.

I think we were actually the very last team in the Football League to have floodlights installed and that`s why we kicked off at 6:30 that evening rather than the more normal 7:30. Otherwise, it would have been virtually pitch-black when we finished – although I can remember a few games when it was pretty damn close to it anyway by the end.

I watched the Mansfield game on the telly the other night and thought that, particularly in the first half, we played well and were the better team. With more clinical finishing we could have had 2 or 3 goals and the result could have been very different. In the second half, though, Mansfield sussed us out and played a much higher press that stopped our midfield doing their stuff. We seemed to be a bit more constructive than last year and spent less time aimlessly passing the ball back and forth in midfield with no apparent objective. For me, it was much more enjoyable to watch.

So the problems seem to me to be at both ends of the pitch. We aren`t taking the chances that we create and we HAVE to stop these schoolboy errors at the back. If we don`t, it`s going to cost us big-time. Both goals game as a result of shockingly slipshod defending. It always upsets me to lose to Mansfield but, like you, I`m not overly disappointed to be out of the EFL Cup (in which we consistently achieve bugger all anyway) and the game gives me more reason for optimism than it perhaps should.

The bookies have us now virtually on a par with MK Dons in the odds. They`re at 7/2 and 4/5 to be champions and to get promoted respectively; we`re at 4/1 and 10/11. Means nothing at this stage, I know, but there you go..

[spireitematt]

The 2nd goal could have been avoided if we hadn't messed around with it at the back. Too many teams are trying to copy Pep's style of play of playing out from the back and if opposing teams are playing a high press then they can force you into making mistake or giving away possession.

I think playing out from the back is great when it works seeing all the players involved in a build up to a goal but it can be quite boring for the rest of a game seeing the ball just being passed around by the defenders and I wouldn't really call it football. If you are 2 or 3-0 down in a game why play out from the back? You need to play route one and boot the ball up to the forwards and strikers to create an opportunity to score from to get you back in the game.

Another thing I don't understand is goalkeepers passing the ball to the full backs or centre backs from a goal kick. Kick the ball up the field and try and get the players to win the 2nd ball.

[SaltergateBorn]

I suppose the counter-argument would be that if the `keeper just hoofs the ball into the centre circle it`s 50/50 who ends up in possession. If a team plays out from the back at least they know they start off in possession. Unless, of course, one of the defenders passes the ball straight to one of opposition forwards on the edge of the area and it ends up in the back of the net. But they would never do that, would they? I`m not a coach, but the obvious answer would seem to be to switch between the two, depending on whether the other team is pressing or sitting back. Or is that too simplistic? Probably.

Too many teams seem to spend far too much time just passing the ball sideways along the half-way line and going nowhere. Last year I thought we were guilty of that a few times. A coach would probably say that they`re trying to move the opposition around to create an opening, but to me that`s a bit like 10-a-side chess and the football equivalent of watching paint dry. Some would np doubt call me a tactical Neanderthal, but the last time I looked football was supposed to be a spectator sport.