Are we doing OK or underachieving?

[JackSomething]

We are currently at the bare minimum of my expectations for this season regards league position.
We are boring and show very little attacking threat and are just acting in a pragmatic way and expecting things to just happen offensively because we believe this is the correct way to deal with things.

Things need to change because performances like we are seeing and being in the current league position is the reason why we parted with our previous manager.

Except that's clearly not true. The reason we parted with our previous manager was because of a run of 4 points from 9 games (1 win, 1 draw, 7 defeats) and with us slipping closer to the relegation places. Those games included getting humped 4-0 by Portsmouth, 5-1 by Norwich and a humiliating 3-0 loss to our local rivals, a team who ended up getting relegated.

As has been pointed out, this season we've been far more middling in terms of results. We've also only won 1 game by more than 1 goal and only lost 1 game by more than 1 goal.

I've said it before and I'll repeat it, some fans lose their shit more when we're thoroughly mediocre than they do when we're completely dogshit.

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

Except that's clearly not true. The reason we parted with our previous manager was because of a run of 4 points from 9 games (1 win, 1 draw, 7 defeats) and with us slipping closer to the relegation places. Those games included getting humped 4-0 by Portsmouth, 5-1 by Norwich and a humiliating 3-0 loss to our local rivals, a team who ended up getting relegated.

As has been pointed out, this season we've been far more middling in terms of results. We've also only won 1 game by more than 1 goal and only lost 1 game by more than 1 goal.

I've said it before and I'll repeat it, some fans lose their shit more when we're thoroughly mediocre than they do when we're completely dogshit.

This, with bells on.

It is absolutely mental that anyone wants to draw parallels between what got Williams sacked and what we've seen this season.

 

[Dr. Winston]

Except that's clearly not true. The reason we parted with our previous manager was because of a run of 4 points from 9 games (1 win, 1 draw, 7 defeats) and with us slipping closer to the relegation places. Those games included getting humped 4-0 by Portsmouth, 5-1 by Norwich and a humiliating 3-0 loss to our local rivals, a team who ended up getting relegated.

Bang on.

Performances like we're seeing now got Williams linked with the WBA job.

 

[magicdaps10]

Except that's clearly not true. The reason we parted with our previous manager was because of a run of 4 points from 9 games (1 win, 1 draw, 7 defeats) and with us slipping closer to the relegation places. Those games included getting humped 4-0 by Portsmouth, 5-1 by Norwich and a humiliating 3-0 loss to our local rivals, a team who ended up getting relegated.

As has been pointed out, this season we've been far more middling in terms of results. We've also only won 1 game by more than 1 goal and only lost 1 game by more than 1 goal.

I've said it before and I'll repeat it, some fans lose their shit more when we're thoroughly mediocre than they do when we're completely dogshit.

Ok, fair point regards the results.
We were currently 16th in the league when we parted with Williams and we are currently sat in the same position as we speak.

Williams went with an average of 1.17 points per game last season.
Sheehan is currently on 1.3 points per game.

We are a point better off this season but we were sat higher in the league last season after 13 games(12th).

Things just need to be fair in comparison overall. We need to be careful because things can go either way as it stands, we are struggling to create chances which is a concern and Sheehan needs to find a solution that helps us be more creative or his fate could be similar to that of Williams.

 

[Smurph]

Do I wish we were winning games 3/4 nil playing like the Bazil from the 1970's World Cup, absolutely. The fact is we're doing ok with a team in it's early stages of potentially on the verge of being something good, I'll take that.

We're doing, ok, could be better, could be hell of. a lot worse. As far as I'm expecting we are exactly where we are, a bang average team in a division where we are punching our weight, like we have done for a veeeerrryy long time.

 

[PenlanJack]

Do I wish we were winning games 3/4 nil playing like the Bazil from the 1970's World Cup, absolutely. The fact is we're doing ok with a team in it's early stages of potentially on the verge of being something good, I'll take that.

We're doing, ok, could be better, could be hell of. a lot worse. As far as I'm expecting we are exactly where we are, a bang average team in a division where we are punching our weight, like we have done for a veeeerrryy long time.

We've spent more seasons in the top two divisions than the bottom two tiers in our history.. we've spent more seasons in this division than any other division in our history, we're not punching above our weight, we've largely been a second division club.. if we belong anywhere, it's where we are now.. history states it, only the discerning weirdos who still believe we're down the vetch in front of 2000 fans think we don't belong here

 

[Smurph]

We've spent more seasons in the top two divisions than the bottom two tiers in our history.. we've spent more seasons in this division than any other division in our history, we're not punching above our weight, we've largely been a second division club.. if we belong anywhere, it's where we are now.. history states it, only the discerning weirdos who still believe we're down the vetch in front of 2000 fans think we don't belong here

We're a 3rd division club at best, based on our history.

A simple search on google will tell you that.

Edit, I've just asked ChatGPT and this is what it come up with:

Tier	Approximate seasons spent	Notes
1st Tier (top division)	~9 seasons	Swansea reached the top flight in 1981–82 and again later in the Premier League era.
2nd Tier	~35-40 seasons	They’ve spent a fair amount of time at this level (variously called Second Division, First Division, Championship).
3rd Tier	~55-60 seasons	This appears to be the division they have most often inhabited.
4th Tier	~10-15 seasons	A smaller number relative to the third tier.

 

[exiledclaseboy]

We are an incredibly average second tier club.

 

[Frenchjack]

Definitely underachieving BUT look at how the starting 11 has drastically changed since the end of last season. Settled teams built over a couple of seasons do well, we still dont know our best 11 or best formation. I know it's hard to be patient based on the potential and expenditure on the squad but this is what the fans needs to be.

The issue with this is we don’t retain our better players to build up the team. Maybe these owners might be a bit different we shall see

 

[PenlanJack]

We're a 3rd division club at best, based on our history.

A simple search on google will tell you that.

Edit, I've just asked ChatGPT and this is what it come up with:

Tier	Approximate seasons spent	Notes
1st Tier (top division)	~9 seasons	Swansea reached the top flight in 1981–82 and again later in the Premier League era.
2nd Tier	~35-40 seasons	They’ve spent a fair amount of time at this level (variously called Second Division, First Division, Championship).
3rd Tier	~55-60 seasons	This appears to be the division they have most often inhabited.
4th Tier	~10-15 seasons	A smaller number relative to the third tier.

yeah, you're wrong, chatgpt is wrong

 

[PenlanJack]

I know this because about 5 years ago, I read the entire league tables from 1912-2020 of where we finished, because I was bored, I even wrote it down on my old phone

 

[Smurph]

I know this because about 5 years ago, I read the entire league tables from 1912-2020 of where we finished, because I was bored, I even wrote it down on my old phone

Same question in to Gemini and it agrees with you

 

[JackFish]

We're a 3rd division club at best, based on our history.

A simple search on google will tell you that.

Edit, I've just asked ChatGPT and this is what it come up with:

Tier	Approximate seasons spent	Notes
1st Tier (top division)	~9 seasons	Swansea reached the top flight in 1981–82 and again later in the Premier League era.
2nd Tier	~35-40 seasons	They’ve spent a fair amount of time at this level (variously called Second Division, First Division, Championship).
3rd Tier	~55-60 seasons	This appears to be the division they have most often inhabited.
4th Tier	~10-15 seasons	A smaller number relative to the third tier.

ChatGPT is hallucinating.

1st tier - 9 seasons (1981-1983 / 2011-2018)
2nd tier - 45 seasons (1925-1947* / 1949-1965 / 1979-1981 / 1983-1984 / 2008-2011 / 2018-2026)
3rd tier - 27 seasons (1920-1925** / 1947-1949** / 1965-1967 / 1970-1973 / 1978-1979 / 1984-1986 / 1988-1996 / 2000-2001 / 2005-2008)
4th tier - 18 seasons (1967-1970 / 1973-1978 / 1986-1989 / 1996-2000 / 2001-2005)

* Not including 1939-40 which started but didn't finish
** The 3rd/4th tiers were only established in 1958, so our seven seasons at that level before then were in division 3 south. We finished in the top 10 every time so probably fair to call it 3rd tier anyway.

 

[PSumbler]

We are an incredibly average second tier club.

Which appoints average championship managers after signing average championship players

15 wins
16 draws
15 defeats

Enough to keep people thinking into April we were close to the play offs and just enough to let them forget that we were also equally concerned about relegation but we forget

The summer window was average with maybe one or two hugely bright spots - it was , with hindsight, not much more coherent than windows of the past

 

[Frankie Burrows Cap]

Which appoints average championship managers after signing average championship players

15 wins
16 draws
15 defeats

Enough to keep people thinking into April we were close to the play offs and just enough to let them forget that we were also equally concerned about relegation but we forget

The summer window was average with maybe one or two hugely bright spots - it was , with hindsight, not much more coherent than windows of the past

Agree with all of that, apart from the last part.

From the outside at least, the plan/process in the window looks much more coherent than previous years. We no longer have obvious gaps in the squad (in terms of numbers/depth) or have senior players in the squad that are clearly redundant and not needed.

Whether the individual purchases end up being successes/failures is a different matter though. Personally, I’m pretty confident that 4+ of the 7 ‘1st team permanent signings’ will be seen as successes over the course of their contract - which is a pretty decent hit rate.

Personally, I’d prefer to have loan signings who improve the starting XI but Benson aside (who’s not living up to the hype so far) the other 3 look capable of stepping in for a run of games if necessary.

*The 7 I’ve included are: Burgess, Santos, Stamenic, Galbraith, Widell, Inoussa, Idah.

Happy to add Wales to the list but it would be disingenuous to include Farman IMO.