The Home Straight

It's been a tough few weeks as a City supporter.

The early season euphoria has faded, back when we out-played, out-fought, and out-thought highly fancied opposition.

Cardiff and Huddersfield were two standout performances during that exciting and completely unexpected start.

Then teams began to figure us out and set up to frustrate us, like in L2.

Even as performances dropped and chances dried up, we somehow kept winning to maintain pace with the leading pack.

Like most City fans, come January when we started losing and playing badly, I thought our Cinderella story was over.

However, Peterborough gives me cause for optimism approaching the final furlongs, not just because of the 'near perfect' performance and dominating an in-form team.

But also because:

#1
I really feel the squad levelled-up in the January window. I know favourites moved on, but I genuinely believe every incoming was an upgrade on the player who left.

The timing of departures wasn't ideal and caused disruption, while newcomers needing time to learn our formation clearly contributed to disjointed performances.

But we played well against Doncaster, took a big step at Luton after toothless away efforts, and improved again at the weekend.

With new signings up to speed and understanding how we play, performances could become more dominant and consistent than earlier this season.

#2
I wrote a post during the window essentially saying you have to gradually make your way up through a division while your standing in the league makes you eligible for a certain calibre of player (at the start of each window).

This is often why promoted teams struggle in their first season since they're viewed by players, agents, and loaning clubs as 'bottom third' level. Next you have the 'middle third' who can attract slightly better players, and obviously the 'top third' that attract the best.

Money, ambition, and fan base factor in, but being top 3-4 in January meant we'd skipped the bottom two tiers and essentially became a leading L1 club in only half a season, substantially accelerating our progress to attract better players.

While opinions vary, and some feel the new names weren't as 'big' as hoped...

Personally, I believe we upgraded every outgoing player.

Time will tell, starting against Stockport tonight, but I feel Lee Evans has the potential to be our best signing of the season.

Of course, that depends on whether he rediscovers the best form that has eluded him for 1-2 years.

But as a Max Power v2 with greater vision and passing, he fills the one position we've been light in, allowing us to partner Max or rest him.

Signing Evans could be a masterstroke given his talent and promotion experience.

The next two games replacing the skipper will validate or disprove this, but I feel he'll play a vital role in our success.

#3
We seriously over-achieved with our initial squad. I'm not sure what you all thought about Kavanagh, Byrne, Leigh, Richards and co...

But I thought most were only L2 standard, which is validated by most ending up back there.
Being near the top of L1 in January suggests GA and the backroom team are doing exceptional jobs, extracting results above our capabilities.

With the exception of 'El capitan' (a serial winner), Neufville (ready for the Championship), Pointon (scoring for fun), Sarcevic (crucial to our win rate), and arguably Jenson Metcalfe looking a real prospect...

My honest opinion is the rest of our old squad would struggle to make any top-half L1 team.
But combine our playing style, our recruitment for specific attributes, and GA's ability to inspire teams to over-perform...

Then we have a powerful combo to compete against financial heavyweights on our mid-table budget.

Now we've upgraded a third of the squad with better players who are settling in nicely...
We have reason to be optimistic despite not paying 7-figure transfer fees like teams around us.

#4
All teams have form dips, and some like Walsall hit a brick wall entirely.

But after Saturday's hugely encouraging signs, I'm optimistic we won't just rediscover our early form, but actually better it.

Most doubt Humphreys is a natural striker, but trusting GA, we accept he provides more than goals, even if debatable.

Jackson, however, was outstanding on Saturday. Full of running, a consistent press, and intelligent interplay—dummying defenders and clever backheels.

His pace and all-round play are excellent and something we've missed for a long time.
He was a big reason we created so many chances and why we never gave Posh a way back into the game.

He was the sole reason we dominated from start to finish as he never stopped pressing.
Our press starts from the front; and because he never let up, neither did the team.

He was our 'press conductor', orchestrating the team who followed his lead.

No other striker has maintained the press for every minute they were on the pitch, and it's often while our 'number 9' is taking a breather that the opposition get on top.

But Jackson's unrelenting tempo prevented Posh from gaining any foothold.

I didn't know much about him when he signed, and Derby fans seemed relieved he'd left.
So, he's been a pleasant surprise and proof that we're signing attributes for our system rather than flashy stats.

Given his huge improvement on Humphreys, plus Mullin as a backup striker (or alternative option when we want to play more direct) ...

It's a clear indication we've stopped the rot and are a much stronger, more potent team than earlier this season.

This gives me confidence we can attack the final 3 months and reignite our promotion push.

#5
When the 'proverbial' hit the fan in January, and we endured insipid performances—particularly that soul-destroying one down the road...

I accepted automatic promotion was gone, and in some ways, was glad we were slipping.

Finishing third and just missing out often knocks the stuffing out of you for the play-offs.

Teams miles ahead often bottle it, while the side sneaking into the last spot carries massive momentum.

Smashing big Sam's Blackpool in '96, or overturning the 10-point deficit to Exeter in 2013, anyone?

I thought if we couldn't get 2nd, I'd rather drop to 10th and rediscover our form just in time to nick 6th.

But after demolishing Peterborough who were bang in-form and behind only the top two for points return since the start of the year.

I wonder if automatic promotion is as 'far-fetched' as it felt after Luton?

12 points behind Lincoln and carelessly throwing points away to promotion rivals every week.

All of a sudden, we've dominated a game for 90 minutes, which is the first time all season... making a free-scoring team look impotent and average.

While cutting the gap to second to 10 points, which is still massive, but it's 7 if we win our game in hand... and we all know what pressure does to the leading teams as the season draws to a climax.

We almost capitulated last year ourselves, but if we're now finding our second wind and coming into some form as we approach the final straight...

With a better squad and a new blueprint to dominate matches from start to finish, you just never know.

At the very least, we should stand a much better chance in the play-offs against teams who recently made us look average.

#6
Other than Bolton and tonight's opponents Stockport, our run-in looks relatively easier on paper.

We still have the bottom 4 to play, freefalling Orient to visit VP, plus Northampton, Barnsley, Dons, Exeter, and Mansfield.

Although any of them can cause us problems, as some already have.

If we replicate Saturday's performance regularly until May, I genuinely see us blowing teams away more comfortably than we did at the start of the season.

The next 2-3 games might backfire and make this post sound ridiculous. But if we string together a winning run, Lincoln will be looking over their shoulders and the nerves will creep in.

There's a chance we just miss out and take the 3rd-place hoodoo into the play-offs.

But I think if we start playing good football from now... then that's potentially all the momentum we'd need before the play-offs start anyway.

#7
We've got GA!

He took a team predicted to struggle with mostly L2-level players and exceeded expectations to be top of L1 (above most of the big spenders) AND kept us there.

This was on the back of building a L2 promotion winning team in his first full season, while missing 3 star players, each for at least half the campaign.

Now with a stronger squad than the summer (and a more potent attack) we could argue it's on par with the other squads in and around us after January's activity...

Therefore with his ability to get more from his team than most managers, and the club's knack of finding players who excel in our system...

You could be forgiven for thinking having an 'on par' team with our promotion rivals actually means we essentially have the best team overall (performance potential wise), bar Cardiff.

And if Jackson continues to play like he did as a striker, with Mullin contributing too, then we've definitely got more goals in us than we've had all season. More so now with Sarce and Pointon coming back into the fold and both finding form.

So if anyone is capable of achieving the miracle of back-to-back promotions from L2 to Championship (without the backing of unlimited Hollywood dollars), then my money would be on GA.

Foolishly optimistic or in with a genuine shout?

I don't mind making a case for an upturn in form and fortunes... but I'm not brave enough (and too superstitious) to make any bold predictions.

The next 2-3 games should tell us if we have any chance of pushing Lincoln for 2nd but either way, there's more reason to hope than we've had of late.

And I believe we can expect much better performances too so at the very least, whether we succeed or not, I think we're in for another thrilling season finale.

COYY

 

Yeah, and I used to like the 'Blue Army' one as well.

 

I first remember COYY the season we had that mostly 'yellow'/amber top with thin pin stripes. Possibly the season we dropped back down to the third tier around 90/91?

And I remember Blue Army starting when we had the blue diamond away strip when McCarthy (or McCarthorse as my uncle called him!) played for us.

We had a cup game at then Premier League Norwich who had the likes of Chris Sutton playing for them and they were near the top. Anyway we packed the away end out and obviously had the away strip on and the atmosphere was brilliant.

Nobody stopped singing and 'Blue Army' made it easy to keep the chanting going but it also sounded awesome, as half the supporters would shout it first, then the other half repeated it straight after like an echo. Really simple but really cool and effective like 'Barmy Army'.