• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

One Win for a White Christmas

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Nixon
The end of August and through September I was harping on about Tranmere being top of the league at chrimbo


Well months later we are one game away from having a true

WHITE CHRISTMAS


who'd you have thought it.


happy dayz
 

Ian

Super White!
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Amen to that!

This is now turning into a realistic push for promotion. Seems a silly thing to say considering we have been top for most of the season but I always think Xmas is the real crucial point in a season where we look at what's been achieved and have a serious look at where we could end up.

If your top at Xmas, I think even the doubters start taking you seriously. We've played everyone in the division now, so we know what the league has to offer.
 
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We've played everyone in the division now, so we know what the league has to offer.

Having played everyone bar Swindon, it is worthwhile considering the quality of our rivals for promotion.

I thiunk the contenders fall into two broad camps: MK Dons, ourselves and possibly Bournemouth are all decent footballing sides, with MK the only team to have remotely outplayed us this season in the first half at Prenton Park. They have exceptional passing ability, but as was commented at the time, Rovers - with our best eleven certainly - play with more spirit and have a greater goalscoring threat.

I think the other sides - Sheff Utd, Brentford, Donny, Stevenage - are more steoreotypical League One outfits, relying largely on physical strength and defensive discipline, but with enough quality in key areas to finish games off.

So in short, unless we have another cataclysmic run of injuries in the second half of the season, I think we are right in the promotion hunt and should not fear any of our opponents.
 

bigmart

bigmart
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Ian Muir
It is rather odd we still top as havent won in 5 and only 2 wins in 10. We need a couple of wins over the christmas period to get us going again.

Good to see Wallace likely to be back for boxing day & JLAA likely back for jan 12th.
 
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
The fact that after such a poor run we are still top says more about our opponents than it does about us. Several times, teams have come within striking distance of us and lost or drawn - the latest being Doncaster who lost at home to Coventry yesterday. I think this shows that our rivals are as nervous and inconsistent as we are (on second thoughts, they are probably even more so). While we stay top, it should continue to give us a lift.

The downside is that there are a huge number of teams in the mix who will fancy their chances of automatic promotion or a play-off place and it is mathematically impossible for us to continue to drop so many silly points and stay top - or even in the top six - for much longer. I think the main difference between the last few games and the first is drop in the number of goals scored. I do not blame the defence, who are still conceding very few goals. We will miss Cassidy, but not so much once JLAA comes back and supports his replacement striker.

Meanwhile, Ian, you can start organising the SWA "Safe from Relegation" party a lot earlier this season :smile:. I think we'll reach 50 points by mid-January at the latest.
 
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I agree with the thrust of BBTC's post, but the quality of some of our recent performances - away at least (Stevenage, Sheff Utd.) - suggest that when JLAA and Wallace return we will start putting the lesser sides to the sword again.

Also, although our run has been disappointing, has it really been that poor ? We still haven't lost to any team below halfway and if you measure our form from JLAA's injury at Notts County onwards, we have won 4, drawn 5 and lost 3 in the league, roughly 1.5 points per game, as well as reaching the third round of the cup.
 

amplesou

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Dave Higgins
Players can,t cope at pp imo..

At least RM has made a formation change at su ..far too late tho

in the spring that will change, but will it be too late ..?
 

Ian

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The Cassidy situation is tricky and who knows whether we'll be seeing him after Xmas, but I can't wait for JLAA to return. That will be a significant boost to our second half season push and with Palmer, Wallace and Bell-Baggie to return, I see no reason why we can't push on further.
 

WildRover

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Kevin Gray (ha!)
The Cassidy situation is tricky and who knows whether we'll be seeing him after Xmas, but I can't wait for JLAA to return. That will be a significant boost to our second half season push and with Palmer, Wallace and Bell-Baggie to return, I see no reason why we can't push on further.

dont forget palmer and especially gibbo look like staying on, so the defence wont be getting messed around either, as if gibbo didnt return, RM would be looking for another central defender as well....so we will only have to find a replacement for cass if he goes (Baxter anyone?)
 
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With all the postponements today, I thought the Gods were with us once again, but we have unfortunately now slipped to second. Particularly disappointing as we were better than Sheff Utd last week.

Having led the way all season, it is sad to lose top spot at exactly the halfway point. Sheffield have two exceptionally easy home games coming up, so it seems unlikely that we will be top again any time soon, whatever our own form. Certainly not giving up on first place just yet though.
 

Ian

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It is disappointing but hopefully also a wake up call after the woeful performance last night.
 

bigmart

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It doesnt matter if we are top or 2nd at this time of the season.

Imo we will fall away and will end up outside of the play offs, our squad is not big or good enough to sustain a top 6 finish for the whole of the season
 

SonkORLY?

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Eddy Sonko
It doesnt matter if we are top or 2nd at this time of the season.

Imo we will fall away and will end up outside of the play offs, our squad is not big or good enough to sustain a top 6 finish for the whole of the season

it obviously matters

not sure how you can say our squad isn't "good" enough - we're 2nd on merit. we've played everyone.
 

bigmart

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it obviously matters

not sure how you can say our squad isn't "good" enough - we're 2nd on merit. we've played everyone.

Its were we will end up that matters and i dont think we will be in the play offs.
 

SonkORLY?

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Throw aimless cliche's around if you like but where we are now has a direct impact on where we will end up

I resent your suggestion that we've been lucky this season, which is what you're obviously implying when you say there are 6 better sides than us in this division despite us being 2nd in the league at the half-way point
 

bigmart

bigmart
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You can resent what you want and come the end of the season we will see who is right.
 
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We have had three or four key players missing for almost three months and are still second in the league. Those players are all set to return soon, so surely by any logic our form should improve in the second half of the season, not deteriorate ? Added to which, at least 2 of the 3 loanees seem set to be retained for the remainder of the season.

It does wind me up a bit when our own fans talk our chances down so much, as there are enough people in the media and on other club's websites doing the same, probably through sheer jealousy and bitterness in most cases.
 
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On a related issue, I see that MK Dons will be missing Chadwick and Gleeson for 2 to 3 months due to injury, so it will be interesting to see how they cope without their two best players (by a mile) for a long period.
 

bigmart

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allace has had a setback and wont play till the Derby game, Mcchrystal has returned from his loan.
 

SonkORLY?

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You can resent what you want and come the end of the season we will see who is right.

lol you sound like you want us to finish 7th, last thing we need from our own fans as RLC said, **** off...
 
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