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It's no co-incidence that just when the manager starts putting out virtually the same team match in match out that we start looking like a team.

 

There is now some continuity and performances have overall been improving as Penney has sought to build the team around a solid back line and it is no surprise when you look at what Penney is now able to put on the bench compared to just a few weeks ago, when the wooden structure was full of kids.

 

Whilst we have had some drab games including Tranmere at home, it appears that the manger has put the basics in place and over the next 3 games, we will see how far we really have progressed. Defensively, if we had been this sound under Sheridan last season, we would comfortably have made at least the play-offs. Gregan and Hazell were being dubbed dumb and dumber and tweedle dee and tweedle dumb earlier in the season. Surely a charge that cannot be levelled at them now. Brill had his detractors at the start of the season, but if you take out his gaffes at free kicks, it has been hard to criticise and how many clean sheets is that now. Defensively our biggest problem this season has been in the full back positions and until now we have had no continuity at all. However, Goodwin (improving game on game - its a character of the current team) and Jacobsen now look very comfortable in the back four and have added considerable experience to what was initially a young (and / or constant switching of loanees/short term signings) full back pairing of Eardley/Lomax/Morrow/Gilbert/Sheehan.

 

Midfield is where stability is really taking shape and the team is now being shaped by the fine and consistent form of the ever improving Stephens (sometimes positives come from negatives and the injury curse has released Stephens into the team) I was impressed with the Stephens/Furman partnership at Wycombe before Christmas and each time they have played together their understanding has improved. Stephens has developed a physical edge to his game that was missing from his early performances, whilst Furman has become more creative ( look how the number of yellow cards has reduced recently) as Stephens has become more confident, culminating IMO in his best performance today in a blue shirt. They actually now look like a midfield 2 and seem to be picking the wide players out more regularly. The BIG difference this last week is that we have started to keep the ball on the floor much more and that I believe is down to the central midfield pairing. The 2 wide positions still give the most cause for concern. Whilst we all know what Taylor is capable of, we have hardly seen it this season, but his match winning cross today and the fact that he was prepared to take his full back on, on the outside particularly in the 2nd half is a sign that his confidence is returning. Smalley continues to flatter to deceive and whilst I wouldn't criticise his commitment ( Thats just the way some players appear) he really does need to up his game a level and Colbeck, whilst on occassions has put in the most dangerous crosses of any player this season without anyone being on the end of them clearly has not fully settled yet. If reports on Whalley prove correct (and yes he was there today) then we may yet see 1 major change to the lineup.

 

Up front, Abbot has been outstanding all season, when fit, but has had to plough on virtually by himself. Price is an unselfish player and clearly works hard for the team rather than personal glory and really has made a big difference this last 3 games.

 

At Swindon on Tuesday, we played our best football of the season and the scoreline was without doubt no reflection on the performance, particularly in the first 44 minutes as we more than matched and in fact outplayed a top 6 team on their own patch. You can call Walsall poor today, but they have won 5 times away from home this season, more than Huddersfield, Millwall and Colchester who are all in the top 7. Wallsall, as far as I can remember didn't have a shot on target as we controlled virtually the whole match.

 

After last seasons major fall from grace from September onwards and the fact that even Big Joe couldn't stop the rot, this season was always going to be a huge task of re-building. Penney's task has been severly hampered by injuries, but the players that he has brought in recently (Goodwin and Price in particular) have given the team both experience and stability and the football is starting to re-appear. If we can stay relatively injury free, then we will climb away from danger over the coming weeks and as the league is so tight could even finish top half.

 

As I said at the start of this thread, the next 3 games will really tell us the truth about this group of players, and with 1 or 2 exceptions, I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed to see it form the basis of the squad next season, add in the likes of Flahaven, Worthington, Holdsworth, Purdie, Lomax and Allesandra to todays squad and we will be more than capable of giving any team in this league a game.

 

Not everything will go smoothly and the game is all about opinion, just as today's surprise substitution of Furman proved, but I firmly believe that at last we are on the right track and Penney now deserves time to show that the last week or so is no fluke.

 

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It's no co-incidence that just when the manager starts putting out virtually the same team match in match out that we start looking like a team.

 

There is now some continuity and performances have overall been improving as Penney has sought to build the team around a solid back line and it is no surprise when you look at what Penney is now able to put on the bench compared to just a few weeks ago, when the wooden structure was full of kids.

 

Whilst we have had some drab games including Tranmere at home, it appears that the manger has put the basics in place and over the next 3 games, we will see how far we really have progressed. Defensively, if we had been this sound under Sheridan last season, we would comfortably have made at least the play-offs. Gregan and Hazell were being dubbed dumb and dumber and tweedle dee and tweedle dumb earlier in the season. Surely a charge that cannot be levelled at them now. Brill had his detractors at the start of the season, but if you take out his gaffes at free kicks, it has been hard to criticise and how many clean sheets is that now. Defensively our biggest problem this season has been in the full back positions and until now we have had no continuity at all. However, Goodwin (improving game on game - its a character of the current team) and Jacobsen now look very comfortable in the back four and have added considerable experience to what was initially a young (and / or constant switching of loanees/short term signings) full back pairing of Eardley/Lomax/Morrow/Gilbert/Sheehan.

 

Midfield is where stability is really taking shape and the team is now being shaped by the fine and consistent form of the ever improving Stephens (sometimes positives come from negatives and the injury curse has released Stephens into the team) I was impressed with the Stephens/Furman partnership at Wycombe before Christmas and each time they have played together their understanding has improved. Stephens has developed a physical edge to his game that was missing from his early performances, whilst Furman has become more creative ( look how the number of yellow cards has reduced recently) as Stephens has become more confident, culminating IMO in his best performance today in a blue shirt. They actually now look like a midfield 2 and seem to be picking the wide players out more regularly. The BIG difference this last week is that we have started to keep the ball on the floor much more and that I believe is down to the central midfield pairing. The 2 wide positions still give the most cause for concern. Whilst we all know what Taylor is capable of, we have hardly seen it this season, but his match winning cross today and the fact that he was prepared to take his full back on, on the outside particularly in the 2nd half is a sign that his confidence is returning. Smalley continues to flatter to deceive and whilst I wouldn't criticise his commitment ( Thats just the way some players appear) he really does need to up his game a level and Colbeck, whilst on occassions has put in the most dangerous crosses of any player this season without anyone being on the end of them clearly has not fully settled yet. If reports on Whalley prove correct (and yes he was there today) then we may yet see 1 major change to the lineup.

 

Up front, Abbot has been outstanding all season, when fit, but has had to plough on virtually by himself. Price is an unselfish player and clearly works hard for the team rather than personal glory and really has made a big difference this last 3 games.

 

At Swindon on Tuesday, we played our best football of the season and the scoreline was without doubt no reflection on the performance, particularly in the first 44 minutes as we more than matched and in fact outplayed a top 6 team on their own patch. You can call Walsall poor today, but they have won 5 times away from home this season, more than Huddersfield, Millwall and Colchester who are all in the top 7. Wallsall, as far as I can remember didn't have a shot on target as we controlled virtually the whole match.

 

After last seasons major fall from grace from September onwards and the fact that even Big Joe couldn't stop the rot, this season was always going to be a huge task of re-building. Penney's task has been severly hampered by injuries, but the players that he has brought in recently (Goodwin and Price in particular) have given the team both experience and stability and the football is starting to re-appear. If we can stay relatively injury free, then we will climb away from danger over the coming weeks and as the league is so tight could even finish top half.

 

As I said at the start of this thread, the next 3 games will really tell us the truth about this group of players, and with 1 or 2 exceptions, I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed to see it form the basis of the squad next season, add in the likes of Flahaven, Worthington, Holdsworth, Purdie, Lomax and Allesandra to todays squad and we will be more than capable of giving any team in this league a game.

 

Not everything will go smoothly and the game is all about opinion, just as today's surprise substitution of Furman proved, but I firmly believe that at last we are on the right track and Penney now deserves time to show that the last week or so is no fluke.

 

sir with that post, I take my hat of to you..

 

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Love it Harry and correct too.

 

Consistencancy by playing the same eleven is the key and we have only be doing this in the last few games. Prior to this injuries etc have forced the manager into changes he would not have necessarily made

 

Glad though he has brought in Goodwin and Price.

 

Our season starts now.

 

Bring it on............

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War and Peace

 

Fin

 

Yep, I agree with a lot of that. The fruits are there, and I think the performances of Stephens are coming on stronger game by game. It was the best I've seen him in yet, he'll be a good 'un in a couple of seasons if we can hang on to him.

 

I still don't think we're attack-minded enough in and around their box though. We get to the edge of their box and rather than have a pop at goal we seem to try and pass it across to another player. Today was a poor shot count (6 on target I think, which wasn't great) but we saw more crosses pumped in. Price is linking up better with Pav, his little knock ons and nudges caused a lot of discomfort in the Walsall defence. If the midfield can chip in with much more goals than they have done so far then I don't think we're too far off a decent team.

 

With regards to Penney. Never been a fan of sacking him, the moronic 'Penney Out' chants (half-hearted at best) led to a bigger cringe moment than Curb's Larry David could ever give me. If we can finish this season strongly with a settled team then, with a few modifications to it over the summer then I think we can compete next season. I can see what he's trying to do which is slowly working; build a solid base that doesn't concede many. The next part of that is to look a threat every time we go forward. Half a job done so far.

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It's no co-incidence that just when the manager starts putting out virtually the same team match in match out that we start looking like a team.

 

There is now some continuity and performances have overall been improving as Penney has sought to build the team around a solid back line and it is no surprise when you look at what Penney is now able to put on the bench compared to just a few weeks ago, when the wooden structure was full of kids.

 

Whilst we have had some drab games including Tranmere at home, it appears that the manger has put the basics in place and over the next 3 games, we will see how far we really have progressed. Defensively, if we had been this sound under Sheridan last season, we would comfortably have made at least the play-offs. Gregan and Hazell were being dubbed dumb and dumber and tweedle dee and tweedle dumb earlier in the season. Surely a charge that cannot be levelled at them now. Brill had his detractors at the start of the season, but if you take out his gaffes at free kicks, it has been hard to criticise and how many clean sheets is that now. Defensively our biggest problem this season has been in the full back positions and until now we have had no continuity at all. However, Goodwin (improving game on game - its a character of the current team) and Jacobsen now look very comfortable in the back four and have added considerable experience to what was initially a young (and / or constant switching of loanees/short term signings) full back pairing of Eardley/Lomax/Morrow/Gilbert/Sheehan.

 

Midfield is where stability is really taking shape and the team is now being shaped by the fine and consistent form of the ever improving Stephens (sometimes positives come from negatives and the injury curse has released Stephens into the team) I was impressed with the Stephens/Furman partnership at Wycombe before Christmas and each time they have played together their understanding has improved. Stephens has developed a physical edge to his game that was missing from his early performances, whilst Furman has become more creative ( look how the number of yellow cards has reduced recently) as Stephens has become more confident, culminating IMO in his best performance today in a blue shirt. They actually now look like a midfield 2 and seem to be picking the wide players out more regularly. The BIG difference this last week is that we have started to keep the ball on the floor much more and that I believe is down to the central midfield pairing. The 2 wide positions still give the most cause for concern. Whilst we all know what Taylor is capable of, we have hardly seen it this season, but his match winning cross today and the fact that he was prepared to take his full back on, on the outside particularly in the 2nd half is a sign that his confidence is returning. Smalley continues to flatter to deceive and whilst I wouldn't criticise his commitment ( Thats just the way some players appear) he really does need to up his game a level and Colbeck, whilst on occassions has put in the most dangerous crosses of any player this season without anyone being on the end of them clearly has not fully settled yet. If reports on Whalley prove correct (and yes he was there today) then we may yet see 1 major change to the lineup.

 

Up front, Abbot has been outstanding all season, when fit, but has had to plough on virtually by himself. Price is an unselfish player and clearly works hard for the team rather than personal glory and really has made a big difference this last 3 games.

 

At Swindon on Tuesday, we played our best football of the season and the scoreline was without doubt no reflection on the performance, particularly in the first 44 minutes as we more than matched and in fact outplayed a top 6 team on their own patch. You can call Walsall poor today, but they have won 5 times away from home this season, more than Huddersfield, Millwall and Colchester who are all in the top 7. Wallsall, as far as I can remember didn't have a shot on target as we controlled virtually the whole match.

 

After last seasons major fall from grace from September onwards and the fact that even Big Joe couldn't stop the rot, this season was always going to be a huge task of re-building. Penney's task has been severly hampered by injuries, but the players that he has brought in recently (Goodwin and Price in particular) have given the team both experience and stability and the football is starting to re-appear. If we can stay relatively injury free, then we will climb away from danger over the coming weeks and as the league is so tight could even finish top half.

 

As I said at the start of this thread, the next 3 games will really tell us the truth about this group of players, and with 1 or 2 exceptions, I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed to see it form the basis of the squad next season, add in the likes of Flahaven, Worthington, Holdsworth, Purdie, Lomax and Allesandra to todays squad and we will be more than capable of giving any team in this league a game.

 

Not everything will go smoothly and the game is all about opinion, just as today's surprise substitution of Furman proved, but I firmly believe that at last we are on the right track and Penney now deserves time to show that the last week or so is no fluke.

 

I've not read any of that, but I just want to say..............

 

Cheers,

 

Harry

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Yep, I agree with a lot of that. The fruits are there, and I think the performances of Stephens are coming on stronger game by game. It was the best I've seen him in yet, he'll be a good 'un in a couple of seasons if we can hang on to him.

 

I still don't think we're attack-minded enough in and around their box though. We get to the edge of their box and rather than have a pop at goal we seem to try and pass it across to another player. Today was a poor shot count (6 on target I think, which wasn't great) but we saw more crosses pumped in. Price is linking up better with Pav, his little knock ons and nudges caused a lot of discomfort in the Walsall defence. If the midfield can chip in with much more goals than they have done so far then I don't think we're too far off a decent team.

 

With regards to Penney. Never been a fan of sacking him, the moronic 'Penney Out' chants (half-hearted at best) led to a bigger cringe moment than Curb's Larry David could ever give me. If we can finish this season strongly with a settled team then, with a few modifications to it over the summer then I think we can compete next season. I can see what he's trying to do which is slowly working; build a solid base that doesn't concede many. The next part of that is to look a threat every time we go forward. Half a job done so far.

 

War and peace :lol:

 

I am a bit surprised by the comments on another thread about the fullbacks not supporting the wingers and not overlapping, yet I bet that Goodwin and Jacobsen put in at least 12-15 crosses today.

 

The goals will come with confidence, players in and around the box will have the confidence to try things that at the moment they choose not to do, instead passing onto someone else (usually hoping that person turns out to be Abbot :grin: )

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It's no co-incidence that just when the manager starts putting out virtually the same team match in match out that we start looking like a team.

 

There is now some continuity and performances have overall been improving as Penney has sought to build the team around a solid back line and it is no surprise when you look at what Penney is now able to put on the bench compared to just a few weeks ago, when the wooden structure was full of kids.

 

Whilst we have had some drab games including Tranmere at home, it appears that the manger has put the basics in place and over the next 3 games, we will see how far we really have progressed. Defensively, if we had been this sound under Sheridan last season, we would comfortably have made at least the play-offs. Gregan and Hazell were being dubbed dumb and dumber and tweedle dee and tweedle dumb earlier in the season. Surely a charge that cannot be levelled at them now. Brill had his detractors at the start of the season, but if you take out his gaffes at free kicks, it has been hard to criticise and how many clean sheets is that now. Defensively our biggest problem this season has been in the full back positions and until now we have had no continuity at all. However, Goodwin (improving game on game - its a character of the current team) and Jacobsen now look very comfortable in the back four and have added considerable experience to what was initially a young (and / or constant switching of loanees/short term signings) full back pairing of Eardley/Lomax/Morrow/Gilbert/Sheehan.

 

Midfield is where stability is really taking shape and the team is now being shaped by the fine and consistent form of the ever improving Stephens (sometimes positives come from negatives and the injury curse has released Stephens into the team) I was impressed with the Stephens/Furman partnership at Wycombe before Christmas and each time they have played together their understanding has improved. Stephens has developed a physical edge to his game that was missing from his early performances, whilst Furman has become more creative ( look how the number of yellow cards has reduced recently) as Stephens has become more confident, culminating IMO in his best performance today in a blue shirt. They actually now look like a midfield 2 and seem to be picking the wide players out more regularly. The BIG difference this last week is that we have started to keep the ball on the floor much more and that I believe is down to the central midfield pairing. The 2 wide positions still give the most cause for concern. Whilst we all know what Taylor is capable of, we have hardly seen it this season, but his match winning cross today and the fact that he was prepared to take his full back on, on the outside particularly in the 2nd half is a sign that his confidence is returning. Smalley continues to flatter to deceive and whilst I wouldn't criticise his commitment ( Thats just the way some players appear) he really does need to up his game a level and Colbeck, whilst on occassions has put in the most dangerous crosses of any player this season without anyone being on the end of them clearly has not fully settled yet. If reports on Whalley prove correct (and yes he was there today) then we may yet see 1 major change to the lineup.

 

Up front, Abbot has been outstanding all season, when fit, but has had to plough on virtually by himself. Price is an unselfish player and clearly works hard for the team rather than personal glory and really has made a big difference this last 3 games.

 

At Swindon on Tuesday, we played our best football of the season and the scoreline was without doubt no reflection on the performance, particularly in the first 44 minutes as we more than matched and in fact outplayed a top 6 team on their own patch. You can call Walsall poor today, but they have won 5 times away from home this season, more than Huddersfield, Millwall and Colchester who are all in the top 7. Wallsall, as far as I can remember didn't have a shot on target as we controlled virtually the whole match.

 

After last seasons major fall from grace from September onwards and the fact that even Big Joe couldn't stop the rot, this season was always going to be a huge task of re-building. Penney's task has been severly hampered by injuries, but the players that he has brought in recently (Goodwin and Price in particular) have given the team both experience and stability and the football is starting to re-appear. If we can stay relatively injury free, then we will climb away from danger over the coming weeks and as the league is so tight could even finish top half.

 

As I said at the start of this thread, the next 3 games will really tell us the truth about this group of players, and with 1 or 2 exceptions, I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed to see it form the basis of the squad next season, add in the likes of Flahaven, Worthington, Holdsworth, Purdie, Lomax and Allesandra to todays squad and we will be more than capable of giving any team in this league a game.

 

Not everything will go smoothly and the game is all about opinion, just as today's surprise substitution of Furman proved, but I firmly believe that at last we are on the right track and Penney now deserves time to show that the last week or so is no fluke.

 

 

 

I knew there was something I had to say.

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Harry

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The goals will come with confidence, players in and around the box will have the confidence to try things that at the moment they choose not to do, instead passing onto someone else (usually hoping that person turns out to be Abbot :grin: )

 

Yep, I hope (and think) so. It's been a clear thorn in our side the lack of goal input from others. Pav's done his job, but how many have we had from Taylor, Furman, Whittaker and Stephens combined? We remedy this and we're in business.

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I am a bit surprised by the comments on another thread about the fullbacks not supporting the wingers and not overlapping, yet I bet that Goodwin and Jacobsen put in at least 12-15 crosses today.

I've been called on it, and others have suggested that Taylor's habit of coming infield is a contributory factor.

 

They did put in a number of crosses - they weren't on the overlap though.

 

I suspect, espeically with JJ, that it's instructions from the manager. There may even be logic to that if Taylor isn't 100% fit.

 

I just love seeing overlapping full backs and Walsall would have had no answer for it today!

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At the end of the season imo

 

Release List: Kieron Lee, Danny Whittaker, Kelvin Lomax

 

Would also tell parker his services are no longer requires

 

Bring in +1 Decent Striker (2 if price doesnt stay), Goodwin on a permanent

 

Disagree with releasing lomax, he is good cover for RB/LB unfortunately still injured

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Our season starts now.

 

Bring it on............

 

Exactly, when in reality its more a less over. Staying up. Staying down. Seriously wheres the motivation to go. Only missed a couple of games this season, but its getting boring now, but for some reason its like a drug in me that i feel its a responsibility to go, even though i couldn't give a f*ck anymore about this season.

 

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Yep, I agree with a lot of that. The fruits are there, and I think the performances of Stephens are coming on stronger game by game. It was the best I've seen him in yet, he'll be a good 'un in a couple of seasons if we can hang on to him.

 

I still don't think we're attack-minded enough in and around their box though. We get to the edge of their box and rather than have a pop at goal we seem to try and pass it across to another player. Today was a poor shot count (6 on target I think, which wasn't great) but we saw more crosses pumped in. Price is linking up better with Pav, his little knock ons and nudges caused a lot of discomfort in the Walsall defence. If the midfield can chip in with much more goals than they have done so far then I don't think we're too far off a decent team.

 

With regards to Penney. Never been a fan of sacking him, the moronic 'Penney Out' chants (half-hearted at best) led to a bigger cringe moment than Curb's Larry David could ever give me. If we can finish this season strongly with a settled team then, with a few modifications to it over the summer then I think we can compete next season. I can see what he's trying to do which is slowly working; build a solid base that doesn't concede many. The next part of that is to look a threat every time we go forward. Half a job done so far.

regarding the penny out chants ..to me it's just ill learned football fans who don't know the meaning of the phrase...PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE ...

it tickles me pink when i hear chant's like hahahah how many times ....talbot out ..ronnie moore your a ...ker...sheridan youve lost the plot fc.. off...

we never had that under frizzell when we hit a bad patc...i wonder why...

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regarding the penny out chants ..to me it's just ill learned football fans who don't know the meaning of the phrase...PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE ...

it tickles me pink when i hear chant's like hahahah how many times ....talbot out ..ronnie moore your a ...ker...sheridan youve lost the plot fc.. off...

we never had that under frizzell when we hit a bad patc...i wonder why...

 

 

 

 

Youth of today eh.

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Not really seen enough of Kieran Lee, impressed me at Wycombe.

 

 

He hasn't really got a position which I think will count against him as he can't get any consistency in his game. decent at Wycombe, terrible at Hartlepool. Plus we have all heard of his attitude problems on the training ground which he also showed us, up in the north east.

 

 

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With regards to Penney. Never been a fan of sacking him, the moronic 'Penney Out' chants (half-hearted at best) led to a bigger cringe moment than Curb's Larry David could ever give me.

I was one of the people calling for him to be sacked after the Millwall game but even i thought those chants were idiotic at half-time,at 0-0, when we were outplaying a team 10 places above us in the table. I'm still not totally convinced about Penney but i'm not sure what they hope to achieve by focusing their energies on slagging off the manager when the team are doing OK and clearly in need of a bit of luck and the support of the crowd.

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He hasn't really got a position which I think will count against him as he can't get any consistency in his game. decent at Wycombe, terrible at Hartlepool. Plus we have all heard of his attitude problems on the training ground which he also showed us, up in the north east.

 

 

 

Was ****** if i were driving to Hartlepool in that snow, seen enough on the roads in my time.

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Gregan and Hazell were being dubbed dumb and dumber and tweedle dee and tweedle dumb earlier in the season.

 

 

Prefer the 'Chuckle Brothers'! In all seriousness the opening 4 or 5 games aside they've been tremendous. well done and a special metion for Brill. you're starting to prove us wrong keep it up!

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