10-08-2025, 11:18
(This post was last modified: 10-08-2025, 11:20 by 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.
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.