PRE SEASON and NOW
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greeny
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How are you feeling now about this team foxy has put together in relation to how you felt pre season. .....Before the season started i was not very optimistic about any team which foxy was to assemble but i really do like this squad and how they play..Just seems to of taken an eternity to get to this point
I’m very pleasantly surprised so far.
I was one of the one’s that felt a little underwhelmed once the full squad was signed. I thought there were a few risky signings, however, so far that’s proven to not be the case. My personal favourite signings being Tansey and Watling. I also think Cormie looks an excellent addition too.
Defensively we look excellent backstopped by the best goalie that we’ve had for many a season.
Team togetherness looks strong from the outside looking in, no doubt strengthened by the recent tragic events.
It appears to be between ourselves and Cardiff for who will come out on top.
I do urge caution though. We have to avoid the New Year slump that we’ve had under each season with Fox’s teams.
If we can stay relatively injury free we could be in for a very successful season indeed.
I was one of the one’s that felt a little underwhelmed once the full squad was signed. I thought there were a few risky signings, however, so far that’s proven to not be the case. My personal favourite signings being Tansey and Watling. I also think Cormie looks an excellent addition too.
Defensively we look excellent backstopped by the best goalie that we’ve had for many a season.
Team togetherness looks strong from the outside looking in, no doubt strengthened by the recent tragic events.
It appears to be between ourselves and Cardiff for who will come out on top.
I do urge caution though. We have to avoid the New Year slump that we’ve had under each season with Fox’s teams.
If we can stay relatively injury free we could be in for a very successful season indeed.
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greeny
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Definately agree about avoiding the slump we have seen in previous seasons and also a big part of success is staying injury freesmbmetal wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2023 8:54 pmI’m very pleasantly surprised so far.
I was one of the one’s that felt a little underwhelmed once the full squad was signed. I thought there were a few risky signings, however, so far that’s proven to not be the case. My personal favourite signings being Tansey and Watling. I also think Cormie looks an excellent addition too.
Defensively we look excellent backstopped by the best goalie that we’ve had for many a season.
Team togetherness looks strong from the outside looking in, no doubt strengthened by the recent tragic events.
It appears to be between ourselves and Cardiff for who will come out on top.
I do urge caution though. We have to avoid the New Year slump that we’ve had under each season with Fox’s teams.
If we can stay relatively injury free we could be in for a very successful season indeed.
To be honest my main concerns were not so much about the team, but about Foxy's ability to coach it to silverware in an entertaining way. However, as it stands, I am happy with both team and coach. Having said that, it's still early to tell as there's a long way to go. As things stand, I feel there's scope for optimism
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DimTim
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So far so good, although the warning signs were there against the Clan.
Sit back 5 in defensive zone & we struggled to break the opposition down. It was the same at home to Blaze earlier in the season. Plan B? No one decided to rough it up to change the momentum. We struggled last year breaking teams down being much more successful on the rush. Our goals this weekend were on the rush other than a power play goal. Perhaps that’s why our away form was better last season & good this season as teams attack us.
So far the power play has been successful giving us hope!
Sit back 5 in defensive zone & we struggled to break the opposition down. It was the same at home to Blaze earlier in the season. Plan B? No one decided to rough it up to change the momentum. We struggled last year breaking teams down being much more successful on the rush. Our goals this weekend were on the rush other than a power play goal. Perhaps that’s why our away form was better last season & good this season as teams attack us.
So far the power play has been successful giving us hope!
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mark
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To answer the OP's question.
Better than I was pre season. I've always said that a Steelers coach needs to win things, with an entertaining style the next thing on the list. Fox had not achieved those things in the previous years and I thought his time was up, this season however his recruitment seems to have been better and we are winning games that last season we would have lost. Our pursuit of a league title seems to have been helped by Belfast imploding but Cardiff are still thereabouts and keep an eye out for Nottingham, their win percentage is second best in the league although they have played fewer games for reasons we all know about. Right now I can't fault where we are, but you don't win things in November, we need to stay the course, there is a lot of hockey still to be played and we cannot drop our standards.
Better than I was pre season. I've always said that a Steelers coach needs to win things, with an entertaining style the next thing on the list. Fox had not achieved those things in the previous years and I thought his time was up, this season however his recruitment seems to have been better and we are winning games that last season we would have lost. Our pursuit of a league title seems to have been helped by Belfast imploding but Cardiff are still thereabouts and keep an eye out for Nottingham, their win percentage is second best in the league although they have played fewer games for reasons we all know about. Right now I can't fault where we are, but you don't win things in November, we need to stay the course, there is a lot of hockey still to be played and we cannot drop our standards.
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Jayboy
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I think we have our fears that Fox will somehow find a way to coach the grit and aggression out of our team just when we need it the most... I am very pleased and pleasantly surprised with our team so far and undoubtedly this team has something our other teams didn't have.. and I think maybe just maybe our new captain Dowd, has the head on him and the style to lead from the front and insist we carry on to play like we can, without resorting to the soft vanilla hockey we know Fox has tucked away for when the going gets a bit rough.. 
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rnewbolt1
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this team certainly seems better than previous, especially in defence but the home form is the problem Fox does not seem (never has) to have a plan B when teams come to HOS and play defensively
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Doom
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I guess it depends when you define pre-season.
At the end of last season I would have cut ties with Fox and looked elsewhere, because the failings from the previous season had been repeated (an ageing squad falling away badly in the 2nd half).
The rumours of existing players returning also concerned me, because there wouldn't have been many I wanted to see back.
However, as the Summer progressed my enthusiasm did start to grow, particularly with Watling who I saw as a real statement signing (younger with good numbers).
Come the start of pre-season I really liked the look of the defence and thought we had plenty of potential in the forwards, particularly Watling, Balmas and Juusola. I thought we'd perhaps retained a forward or two too many, but that's me being picky.
I think for the first time ever when we did our pre season predictions all four of us who go to the hockey had Steelers down for 1st place. For me it was partly due to Belfast looking weaker, particularly at the back end (although I thought Besko might bail them out).
As for the pre-season games, I didn't see anything to make me think my prediction was wrong.
So to answer the question, this team is roughly where I would have expected when the squad was completed, but well ahead of my expectations early in the Summer.
I guess based on recent experiences we're all half expecting it to go wrong after Christmas.
Regards
Doom
At the end of last season I would have cut ties with Fox and looked elsewhere, because the failings from the previous season had been repeated (an ageing squad falling away badly in the 2nd half).
The rumours of existing players returning also concerned me, because there wouldn't have been many I wanted to see back.
However, as the Summer progressed my enthusiasm did start to grow, particularly with Watling who I saw as a real statement signing (younger with good numbers).
Come the start of pre-season I really liked the look of the defence and thought we had plenty of potential in the forwards, particularly Watling, Balmas and Juusola. I thought we'd perhaps retained a forward or two too many, but that's me being picky.
I think for the first time ever when we did our pre season predictions all four of us who go to the hockey had Steelers down for 1st place. For me it was partly due to Belfast looking weaker, particularly at the back end (although I thought Besko might bail them out).
As for the pre-season games, I didn't see anything to make me think my prediction was wrong.
So to answer the question, this team is roughly where I would have expected when the squad was completed, but well ahead of my expectations early in the Summer.
I guess based on recent experiences we're all half expecting it to go wrong after Christmas.
Regards
Doom