The Rebuild

[Goaljira]

We've been good against some really poor teams, lucky against some mid teams, and lost against anyone with any quality.

There's enough poor or inconsistent teams that we'll be fine, if unspectacular.

[Shogun]

Still annoyed overall where we're at. We've been poor in more matches than we've been good and we forfeited the league cup against the worst team in the league. Never look like competing against the 'big' teams in the league. Players out of position even when they're not playing well. Feel like we've seen all of Moyes' worst traits already this season.

[toffee_scot]

Yeah we could be doing better and it certainly doesn’t feel like Moyes has been able to find his best team or get a lot of the new players to bed in nicely and play well.

I can’t believe Keith Andrews Brentford are ahead of us in the table and they’ve arguably had a worse summer in terms of losing key players and Thomas Frank, yet credit to them they’ve really bounced back and also having better success at finding forwards who can score goals.

[blueToffee]

It's almost felt like these first 10 games or so have been a bit of a preseason in a way. A lot of the signings came in late and I think Moyes still hasn't totally landed on his best side yet.

Hoping we start to see a little more of some of the likes of Dibling, Rohl, Aznou even perhaps. Barry is looking a little more comfortable in the PL but we could use him getting a goal to lift his confidence.

[blueforyou]

Positives: We have Pickford, Branthwaite, Ndiaye, Grealish, Armstrong and Dibling on our books

Negatives: We need a dominant central midfielder to play alongside Armstrong; plus a number 9 natural goalscorer

[Audrey Horne]

It's frustrating that there is another international break now isn't it.

Another break of play.

When do the lads go to AFCON btw?

[toffee_scot]

It starts on Dec 21st and it sounds like the Premier League contingent might be allowed to go as late as after game week 16 (Dec 13th-14th).

Before then we could really do with Rohl and Dibling getting more minutes to cover for Gana and N’Diaye.

[TheRam]

Happy enough with where we are

I think 13th just out of trouble but not far off the top eight is about right for us.

We have a horrible run of fixtures coming up though so not completely out of the woods yet as all the teams below us, other than wolves will pick up points at a consistent rate.

If we can get away from the next four games still in 13th then I’d be very happy and will start looking up the table.

Have few complaints about moyes tbh. I don’t see any massive red flags in the set up like I have before with dyche, Lampard, rafa, Koeman etc….

We creating a good amount of chances, playing decent football on the deck but defensively we aren’t that good.

Just a case of him finding the right players to play how he wants us to play. Hopefully he’s the right blend going forward.

[Trowel]

We've been lucky with Keane's unexpected resurgence this season - long may it last of course, but his performances will regress to the mean at some point, and we just have to hope that a) Branthwaite is fit by then, b) Tarkowski makes some sort of return to form.

If Barry continues to get game time and continues to improve over the last 6 weeks or so until the Jan window opens, then our transfer dealings can be focused on fixing the full backs, and finding a short-term backup striker.

[TheRam]

Seeing how well Roma are doing makes me feel a lot more relaxed about our long term future.

[Audrey Horne]

@Shogun can we have a next 5 games thread

[Jamokachi]

For the pessimists, 5 points off the relegation zone. For the optimists, 5 points off 2nd and within a win of the European places. Maybe indicative of the league this year, which is super competitive.

Almost like we're a mid-table, inconsistent team

[Indiantoffee75]

Haven't done too badly for a side which has strikers that have only scored one goal so far this season.

I expect second half of the season we'll have a couple of purples patches where we put three odd wins on the bounce.

Sunderland started well but I don't see them lasting the distance. Still expect to finish above them, Brighton and Brentford.
That'll probably be where we should be in our first season of rebuild.

[Bumble]

Really not looking forward to Moyes’ negative outlook against some of the better sides we have coming up.

Feels like he hasn’t learnt anything in the past two decades about actually having a go against the supposed big clubs. Just worries about how he is going to avoid conceding and forgets we’re allowed to think about scoring ourselves.

[Toddacelli]

So, 11 games in. 15 points and 13th place. Not too bad. Some good performances and some disappointing ones, with no real pattern of form.

For the pessimists, 5 points off the relegation zone. For the optimists, 5 points off 2nd and within a win of the European places. Maybe indicative of the league this year, which is super competitive.

I am just realistic and believe will probably end up somewhere mid table. But is it time where we can start to believe again in what is possible for us going forwards?

3 questions for everyone:

1. What has been the biggest positive of the season so far
2. Where do we most need to improve, either as a club/squad
3. Linked to the above, what is most important in terms of actions for the January transfer window?

I’ve heard that other teams have been using these new things called ‘full backs’. I’m not sure exactly what they are, but they do sound kinda cool and I was wondering if we could try some?