Stockport County - Are they back?

[Bridgey@Stockport]

Five games in to season four and Stockport County are surprisingly at the summit of the league. Winning four games in a row and fighting back to draw the fifth, meaning they have a princely thirteen points from the maximum fifteen available.

A shock to most if not all of the managers in the league, with County expected to finish mid table at most by the end of the season. Despite this, they currently overachieve, although early in the season they’ve managed to keep four clean sheets to help them take the points.

Not every game has gone their way though. They did make it to the second round of the FA cup only to concede their first goals of the season and get dumped out of the cup to a strong Ipswich side away. Not ideal, as Mike Bridge wanted to at least get to the 3rd round for the extra gates. He will now focus on the league and the FLT cup and go as far as possible.

The sixth game of the season is against Brighton, too good to be relegated in the bosses opinion, First vs Second. Although not a title decider this early in the season it will go a long way to see how good or bad this County side is.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Even with the amazing start to the season, Mike Bridge has made a few moves in the transfer market too. Swapping a young attacking midfielder and Gyokeres the striker only recently brought in in himself.

For Florentino a defensive midfielder with some potential and a high passing young striker Traore. A big gamble with how the previous setup had been doing. Surely these two transfers won’t help in the quest to score more? To keep the momentum going they will surely need someone to step up to the plate. Will it be the free youth Canales? Taking Edgeley park by storm or will it be old head Alario?

No one can guess but the County faithful deserve 110% from every player!

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 1

Stockport County 2 - 0 Huddersfield Town

First game of the season and it was a dominant home victory against Huddersfield town. New signing Rekik with his first for the club as well as another for veteran striker Alario meant the home side raced into a 2-0 lead and never looked back. New captain for the season Johnstone managed his first clean sheet and the youth freebie signing over the summer taking the man of the match.

An absolutely perfect result and performance. Not really sending a statement to the league but it’s a great start to meet their goal of mid table by the end of season four.

Good game Terriers!

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 2

Middlesbrough 0 - 1 Stockport County

First away game of the season at Boro meant we had to be at our best to take the points.

County shading the stats but more importantly the scoreline, Alario with his second of the season and loanee defensive midfielder Bellegarde with the man of the match. Added to that a second clean sheet of the season and County are doing everting right! Lets hope this continues!

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Championship league game 3

Brentford 0 - 1 Stockport County

In a very one sided game County only managed the 1 goal, but that was more than enough to take all 3 points. The home side with no full time boss decided to setup defensively and created very little. County had 60% possession and with 7 shots out of 11 on target they can feel aggrieved it wasn’t more. That makes it 3 from 3 and 0 goals conceded. All thanks to Casemiro with his first goal of the season and a man of the match performance.

Lets see how long this run goes!

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 4

Stockport County 2 - 0 Coventry City

Stockport County fans and the manager were in dreamland after the fourth game of the season. A monumental four wins from four games puts them top of the league with 0 goals conceded. This after another dominant performance at home against Coventry City.

Although a comfortable evening the man of the match was M Sykes the attacking fullback. Which meant the home side may have been busier defensively than first thought. Despite this another win means they are definitely over achieving but Mike Bridge will continue to play the same way and we will see how far he can take this rag tag motley crew.

Either way it’s going to be an exciting ride for County and their fans this season.

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Championship league game 5

Luton Town 2 - 2 Stockport County

The battle of the Hatters! Stockport took the spoils last season with a dominant double over Luton. Could they repeat this feat this season? The answer was an emphatic no.

Even though Luton don’t have a full time manager, they still have a very capable caretaker in Neil Kirkby. Although Stockport had tactical advantage they conceded their first and second goals of the season. Being 2-0 down early in the first half meant County had to dig deep and fight hard to get back into it.

So onr nil down in the fourth minute and two nil down in the eleventh minute. Stockport straight from the kick off managed to get the ball in the back of the net but it was wrongfully disallowed. In the twenty second minute they had a stone wall penalty turned away despite a lot of shirt pulling on a corner. They did however get back into the game. Andre Wisdom led the charge and Stockport never gave up. Wisdom scored to make it two one in the thirty fifth minute and then Casemiro the man of the match followed suit with the equaliser in the fortieth minute. After this point no team to take it one step further to take all three points. County on the stats should feel lucky to take a point but after reviewing the disallowed goal and the penalty you’d have to say they were robbed.

So, honours even in the battle of the Hatters! We will see how the return leg unfolds in the second half of the season . The fans feeling deflated after so many wins but you can’t win them all!

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Championship league game 6

Stockport County 1 - 1 Brighton
Game six was going to be their biggest challenge of the season so far. Their visitors Brighton were relegated last season and were definitely too good to go down. The manager tried to get previous Bournemouth manager Tyler Edwards to take them over, but it wasn’t the right fit for him at the time.

With such a great squad it was always going to be a tough ask to get something from the game. But County have been in such good form which made sense that this would be first versus second in the league.

The home side stats wise give Brighton more than a good game but heading into the final 10 minutes of the game it was still nil nil. County had so many more chances but unfortunately they were mainly off target.

So it looked as if the game would end in a stalemate until Brighton took the lead in the 81st minute. The home fans thinking of what could have been if we’d made a statement against the strongest squad in the league. But County dug deep and managed to equalise in the 86th minute nothing more than they deserved but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time in the game to use the momentum they had to take all 3 points.

Maybe it wasn’t a win but such a statement holding a team like Brighton to a draw.

Next up it’s Birmingham City!

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 7

Birmingham City 2 - 0 Stockport County

Well the first league loss of the season. We never looked like we were in the game. Outplayed by a clinical Birmingham City side managed by the wiley Freddie Kaye. The home side went for it straight from the start and this fast start worryingly caused us so many problems.

We setup the side in an experimental formation, which should have been enough to at least be competitive in the game but it definitely backfired. The experiment? Using two DMs to keep another clean sheet, however it seemed to stop us going forward effectively. There will be more conditions going forward to mitigate this happening, but I also think we won’t be using 2 DMs and 5 at the back.

After this game we drop from 1st the 3rd and we need to get back to winning ways at home to managerless Norwich. With a few players hoping to rate up soon this will make us more competitive than we’ve already been. Well done to Birmingham they managed to do what no other team in the league has done to us so far. Outworked, outplayed and took the points.

Well played Freddie

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 8

Stockport County 2 - 1 Norwich City

Straight back to winning ways in the league against Norwich today. Not only back in the results but back in the great performance bracket too. 24 shots with 11 on target compared to the 5 and 4 from the away side. 60 40 percent possession in favour of the home side meant the fans got a treat and not the king that Delia Smith would have made! Canales went off injured but this wasn’t a biggie as Bellegarde came on and was impressive as he has been for most of this season.

The only disappointing part of the game was the scoreline should probably have been more. L Traore with a brace and the man of the match performance, he will however be leaving County after this game in a deal worth 22 million pounds to an unnamed EFL 2 team. This will be to make way for a veteran AM to come in. J Clark from Luton, Bridge wanting a bit more experience rather than the youthfulness of Traore. Clark will come over in a 26 million pound move.

So after reverting back to 1 DM we seemed to create much more up top. It was a great time to lose in the season in the previous game. This meant we could learn and amend quickly, mitigating how much it affected our season. Other than Clark coming in and maybe being swapped again there will be little or no further changes to the team. Being mid table in wages probably means we’re overachieving in many ways but County will always push and fight to be competitive.

Looking across the first 8 league games of the season there seems to be only 2 results and games where Bridge expected to do better. So from a maximum 24 points County have dropped 7, but ideally it would have only been 2, with the draw at home to Brighton. No offence to Luton and Birmingham but Stockport would have been very disappointed with those results.

So overachieving and disappointed to have dropped points means that County’s aims may have to change, but not right now. Everyone knows how things can change so quickly. So the expected league finish will not be changed until we’re past game 30. To get to the big boys though we have to act like one and that means the small margins for error change to slim to none. This will only help County strive for perfection. It’s going to be a long road and the fans will need to be patient, especially with the academy upgrades and youth players. Will County go up this season? Who knows but they will take every game as it comes and will try and win each and every one.

Next up Nottingham Forest away, they seem to be mid table, however, County will not take them for granted but will give everything to win and keep pressure on the top teams!

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 9

Nottingham Forest 0 - 1 Stockport County

A tough away game at Forest, both teams setting up with identical formations and tactics. Meant that the team with the better players and maybe the better seconds may take the points.

By the end of the game even the stats were pretty even. I was thinking that the home advantage may take the home side over the line and get them the points. But new signing J Clarke stepped up with 10 minutes to go, with a moment of brilliance an over head kick. That got him the man of the match award.

It was either going to be a mistake or a moment of brilliance and I’m ecstatic that we gained the points, kept the pressure on the top teams and continue our over achieving in this league.

Im sure we’ve found a system where we are at our strongest. I’m not too happy with the personnel we have though for this formation. I’m not sure whether County w we oils benefit more from a second striker, more AMs or a stronger midfielder. We will see if we can make moves and make ourselves stronger as we hit the middle of season.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 10

Stockport County 0 - 1 West Brom

From the really good performance away at Forest we come to the home performance against West Brom.

Although we had better stats against the struggling away side, it’s seems the lower sides are causing us real issues and we are unable to break them down. This is despite using our strong formation. We have however not won when playing passing. After this game we know we need to stick to our principles and stick with what has got us a lot of points already.

This brings us back to the issue at hand, another second striker? Another AM? Or a stronger midfielder? We definitely know we’re conceding very little goals, so the above MUST help us score a lot more goals. These lack of goals could mean we don’t get promoted or even the playoffs. Casemiro will move on very soon, despite being our best player today. I think we will move him on and bring in another striker. Phase 1 of the trial means we test if a second striker will help with the goals. We know how effective we’ve been in the transfer market so if this doesn’t work it will be straight forward in moving to phase 2. That will be another AM and then if the third phase a stronger midfielder than Casemiro doesn’t work we know we need to plough more money into our academy and put all eggs in that basket for the future.

I may also look to get some advice from some of the veteran managers in the game to see what they would do. It could be something I’m missing. It’s always good to get another set of eyes as we may not be as close as we think we are to cracking the championship.

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Championship league game 11

Bournemouth 0 - 2 Stockport County

Back to winning ways against Bournemouth, another clean sheet and two greats goals mean we take the points. Still very disappointing to lose so many points against the poorer teams but I cannot fault the players in every game we’ve played.

On loan player from Barnsley Bellegarde got a goal and the man of the match. Helping his chances of a permanent transfer to Edgeley park. The other goal coming from Alario showing why he is the elder statesman up top for County this season.

The stats for this game were very even, maybe shaded by the home side, but with home advantage against us we’d take the slight deviation.

Transfer news from the club indicate that Casemiro has been listed and that Barcelona have concrete interest in the OAP defensive midfielder. The details of the initial contact from the Spanish side indicate a swap for a striker maybe on the cards. However, County would need to add a sweetener of 5 million pounds to even the deal up. Mike Bridge would prefer not to add this, but knows it’s a balancing act to keep the team competitive and also having the cash at the end of the season to invest in the youth setup. No further details have been made available at the moment but the forward in question is meant to be I Williams. We’re just waiting for a “Here we go!” From Fabrizio Romano!

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 12

Stockport County 0 - 0 Sunderland

We managed to scramble a point from this game. A game we ideally should be winning. But with a Casemiro red card in the 40th minute right after our star striker goes off injured. Specifically Alario in the 33rd minute, meant we were lucky to hold on to that point.

We were able to keep the away side to minimal shots due to keeping our shape defensively. The five at the back and the defensive midfielder left in tact, but going forward, where we’ve notably struggled we were stifled.

Casemiro will definitely be moving on now, I’ve not trust in him and the good performances we were getting from him have dwindled. Time to move him on and look to get some decent cover for Alario who will need to be assessed to see how damaging his injury actually is. I can confirm I Williams is the striker we’re looking at bringing in. We will bite the bullet and tip up the extra 5 million required to secure his services.

In the mean time Dembele will have to fill in for Alario, so we will be without our best midfielder and best striker for an unspecified amount of time. This could very well derail our season and we’re coming up to a third of the way in. Let’s see how we manage these next games. They’re crucial in maintaining momentum to get promoted!

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Championship league game 13

Stockport County 0 - 2 Sheffield United

Well that didn’t go very well! After lamenting losing Casemiro and Alario in the previous game to suspension and injury. A makeshift County played extremely well against a strong Blades side. Too strong really to be relegated last season they will do well in the championship this season.

Even though playing a random sheet they managed to score and shut us out, which hasn’t happened often this season up to now. The best player for us was Dembele, who tried his hardest, unfortunately his ability is not up there with our top players and he was unable to fill Alario’s shoes.

We need to press on with the purchase of Williams from Barca and if not him another guy needs to come in to assist. We’re unlucky with these absences, but we miss the same guys in the next game and I see a similar result happening. Luckily we’ve had some very fortunate results around the league today so we don’t actually lose much ground on the top teams. We do need more of a contingency for these occasions, but our budget will only stretch so far.

This Friday should see a lot of movement and we should see the striker were craving walk through the doors At Edgeley Park. The ground work has been done but further negotiations required to get the deal over the line.

Let’s hope we don’t have too much of a gap to catch up after the next few games.

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