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Post by Pete Burrett on Nov 21, 2017 20:20:23 GMT
No, I'm not referring to rumours of new owners or the internecine warfare raging on the forum, I mean our first team performances.
Three poor defeats versus Blackpool, Walsall and Bury. Bury was a complete disaster.
Then we crush Peterborough (away) to embark on a six match undefeated run. Things improving.
Then four successive defeats, all very poor performances.
But what then? We win 4-0 at Plymouth. OK, not a top side but we turned them over. Cue criticism of those who'd shown displeasure at recent debacles.
Then tonight. Well, at 0-3 down a third of the way through the match I'm predicting defeat, but will happily eat humble pie if Pep initiates a comeback.
Can anyone remember such a bizarre, inconsistent season? Can anybody hazard a guess as to why it's happening?
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Post by bashamwonderland on Nov 21, 2017 20:28:57 GMT
Can't escape the feeling that we are in big trouble this season.
I think the season is edging further from 'inconsistent' to 'poor'.
Out of interest, where do you see us come April?
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Post by Pete Burrett on Nov 21, 2017 20:34:37 GMT
Can't escape the feeling that we are in big trouble this season. I think the season is edging further from 'inconsistent' to 'poor'. Out of interest, where do you see us come April? Honestly, I've no idea! If this inconsistency continues (i.e. a pretty even balance of wins, draws and losses within decent and poor performances in equal number along the way), probably mid-table. But who knows what the effect of the takeover we all know is coming will be. Big budget in January? New manager? Bloody hell, I don't know!
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Post by eugeneox on Nov 21, 2017 20:50:26 GMT
When we are good, we are very very good.Five of our seven league wins have been by 3/4 goal margins: Plymouth 4-0 Peterborough 4-1 Pompey, Gillingham, Wimbledon 3-0 On our day, when teams give us space we can destroy the opposition. But we struggle to win tight games and throw away one-goal leads (Bradford, Shrews, MK twice) and two-goal leads (Cheltenham, Rotherham). Only one 1-0 win all season (Rovers). Last week was just bizarre. All week the talk on this forum was about relegation, then we win 4-0 and we are suddenly just one point outside the play offs.
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Post by Denissmithswig on Nov 21, 2017 21:13:24 GMT
On the positive side if we lose at Southend as well as tonight we have exactly the same amount of points after as many games as last season.
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Post by oufcyellows on Nov 21, 2017 21:49:23 GMT
I think the main issue is we are beating our selfs. Constantly making big mistakes that cost goals. 3 today and a pen that’s not a f*cking pen in a million years . Strange game normally I’d be fuming walking out conceding 4. But I’m a bit meh to be honest.
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Post by East Challow Yellow on Nov 21, 2017 22:23:30 GMT
We’ve played 12 games at home this season to date and on 7 occasions we have conceded 2 or more goals.
While it makes for entertaining matches there is absolutely no way we will challenge for a play off spot if we continue to concede goals at such a rate at home.
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Post by bigfella72 on Nov 21, 2017 22:25:23 GMT
I think the main issue is we are beating our selfs. Constantly making big mistakes that cost goals. 3 today and a pen that’s not a f*cking pen in a million years . Strange game normally I’d be fuming walking out conceding 4. But I’m a bit meh to be honest. Thought there were as many positives as negatives tonight tbh. I doubt any team will give Rovers a 3-0 head start and perform as well as we did for the remaking 70 minutes.
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Post by East Challow Yellow on Nov 21, 2017 22:29:41 GMT
Another thing to add, a crowd of 6900 with a significant away following would suggest that despite there never being a dull moment, the people of Oxfordshire are yet to be convinced by the current management and playing staff.
Sitting in the Ox Mail tonight for the first time in a number of years, I couldn’t help but feel an undercurrent of disenchantment as soon as we went behind. That said, the whole stadium lacked energy and any kind of buzz which we enjoy under the previous manager.
Something is very much amiss right now.
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Post by Toeby on Nov 21, 2017 22:49:10 GMT
The thing that I'm holding onto is that at times we've pulled a result out when we've needed and we've beaten some good teams. At times we are very good and lethal but then we're wildly inconsistent. With this squad and manager I don't think that's too surprising though.
In a nutshell I see the following problems:
Can't defend consistently well, especially when the ball goes out wide.
Squad disrupted by injuries, it seems like a different back 5 most weeks.
Some bizarre tactics - some things have been proven not to work, at least with the players at our disposal.
On the plus side:
We have some talent in the squad. Payne is a Championship standard player and when he gets time and space he is deadly. If we keep him beyond January I believe we'll be mid table. Others like Henry and Mousinho have been promoted from this league before and are near the peak of their careers. Some others have got talent, like Rothwell and Ledson, so we're no lost cause.
I think Mousinho is showing real leadership on the pitch too, which is exactly what we need.
Obviously, it's an unsettling time off the pitch but I hope Clotet gets the time to sort this out, just like Appleton did. Clotet should already have one eye on January to get the personnel needed to help change this around.
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Post by eighteen93 on Nov 21, 2017 22:58:56 GMT
The thing that I'm holding onto is that at times we've pulled a result out when we've needed and we've beaten some good teams. At times we are very good and lethal but then we're wildly inconsistent. With this squad and manager I don't think that's too surprising though. In a nutshell I see the following problems: Can't defend consistently well, especially when the ball goes out wide. Squad disrupted by injuries, it seems like a different back 5 most weeks. Some bizarre tactics - some things have been proven not to work, at least with the players at our disposal. On the plus side: We have some talent in the squad. Payne is a Championship standard player and when he gets time and space he is deadly. If we keep him beyond January I believe we'll be mid table. Others like Henry and Mousinho have been promoted from this league before and are near the peak of their careers. Some others have got talent, like Rothwell and Ledson, so we're no lost cause. I think Mousinho is showing real leadership on the pitch too, which is exactly what we need. Obviously, it's an unsettling time off the pitch but I hope Clotet gets the time to sort this out, just like Appleton did. Clotet should already have one eye on January to get the personnel needed to help change this around. You missed the obvious problem - we have no pace whatsoever. No pace at the back and no pace up front. A lethal combination. Also i’d love to know how many times we gave the ball away - time after time we turned the ball over.
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Post by Toeby on Nov 21, 2017 23:14:01 GMT
The thing that I'm holding onto is that at times we've pulled a result out when we've needed and we've beaten some good teams. At times we are very good and lethal but then we're wildly inconsistent. With this squad and manager I don't think that's too surprising though. In a nutshell I see the following problems: Can't defend consistently well, especially when the ball goes out wide. Squad disrupted by injuries, it seems like a different back 5 most weeks. Some bizarre tactics - some things have been proven not to work, at least with the players at our disposal. On the plus side: We have some talent in the squad. Payne is a Championship standard player and when he gets time and space he is deadly. If we keep him beyond January I believe we'll be mid table. Others like Henry and Mousinho have been promoted from this league before and are near the peak of their careers. Some others have got talent, like Rothwell and Ledson, so we're no lost cause. I think Mousinho is showing real leadership on the pitch too, which is exactly what we need. Obviously, it's an unsettling time off the pitch but I hope Clotet gets the time to sort this out, just like Appleton did. Clotet should already have one eye on January to get the personnel needed to help change this around. You missed the obvious problem - we have no pace whatsoever. No pace at the back and no pace up front. A lethal combination. Also i’d love to know how many times we gave the ball away - time after time we turned the ball over. True and there's no denying that, but if we had pace in the team tonight, I don't think it would've prevented any of the goals we conceded, do you?
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Post by eighteen93 on Nov 21, 2017 23:24:04 GMT
Did you not see Richardinho skinned for pace for the fourth goal ! ?
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Post by uptheus on Nov 21, 2017 23:38:12 GMT
Did you not see Richardinho skinned for pace for the fourth goal ! ? No, just the way their player played the ball into space behind him and Ricardinho had sold himself. Thought Martin was dreadful tonight, and for me is s liability in defence. Felt he was at fault for 2 of their goals and actually could be blamed for thier 3rd as his initial header to clear the ball was poor meaning the ball came straight back at us, thus us ultimately conceding the penalty. Having said that, I liked the way the players never gave up and actually took the game to Bkackbun in the 2nd half, so if only we could have got that 2nd goal within 70mins, then I think we coukd have gone on to get a draw at least, but they scored their 4th completely against the run of play. Personally think Charlton are the best team I've seen this season with Shrewsbury and Blackburn not being far behind them, but playing a more big/physical/direct type of game.
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Post by Toeby on Nov 21, 2017 23:39:23 GMT
Did you not see Richardinho skinned for pace for the fourth goal ! ? Yes, but realistically, if Ricardinho had pace he would be in the Championship! Although in that situation the Blackburn player has the run on him from that angle. But Martin should deal with that much better when it does come in. I'm not disagreeing with you though, I would love more pace in the team as it would give us another dimension, but we are shooting ourselves in the foot with some basic defensive errors. Dunkley had his critics, I remember people saying that even though he won headers, the ball would go often end up with the other team. I'm sure he would've dealt with tonight much better than Martin did. There were two opportunities to get shot of the ball for the second goal and if you mess both up then you deserve to get punished.
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Post by joey on Nov 21, 2017 23:53:53 GMT
Did you not see Richardinho skinned for pace for the fourth goal ! ? Yes, but realistically, if Ricardinho had pace he would be in the Championship! Although in that situation the Blackburn player has the run on him from that angle. But Martin should deal with that much better when it does come in. I'm not disagreeing with you though, I would love more pace in the team as it would give us another dimension, but we are shooting ourselves in the foot with some basic defensive errors. Dunkley had his critics, I remember people saying that even though he won headers, the ball would go often end up with the other team. I'm sure he would've dealt with tonight much better than Martin did. There were two opportunities to get shot of the ball for the second goal and if you mess both up then you deserve to get punished. I'd bite your hand off for Dunkley now. I think it's a similar situation to Tiendalli this season where it's become fashionable to say he's crap and then more and more people repeat it until it gets taken as a fact. Tiendalli wasn't great tonight but he was better than at least 4 of our other players. Martin is absolute pish, at definite fault for 2 goals today and constantly offloaded the ball to Eastwood who would hoof it and we lose possession. Compare that to Mousinho who regularly took responsibility and carried the ball out of defence trying to find a a forward pass to get us playing.
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Post by Barts on Nov 22, 2017 0:02:24 GMT
Did you not see Richardinho skinned for pace for the fourth goal ! ? No, just the way their player played the ball into space behind him and Ricardinho had sold himself. Thought Martin was dreadful tonight, and for me is s liability in defence. Felt he was at fault for 2 of their goals and actually could be blamed for thier 3rd as his initial header to clear the ball was poor meaning the ball came straight back at us, thus us ultimately conceding the penalty. Having said that, I liked the way the players never gave up and actually took the game to Bkackbun in the 2nd half, so if only we could have got that 2nd goal within 70mins, then I think we coukd have gone on to get a draw at least, but they scored their 4th completely against the run of play. Personally think Charlton are the best team I've seen this season with Shrewsbury and Blackburn not being far behind them, but playing a more big/physical/direct type of game. I can't agree about Martin. With the the third goal, he got a decent header in and had to chase down his own clearance. That should never have to happen, Lego or Ruffels should have been there. I thought he had an ok game, looked threatening at corners and all in all defended well. Sometimes you have to admit you came up against a very streetwise, well drilled team.
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Post by Toeby on Nov 22, 2017 0:11:41 GMT
No, just the way their player played the ball into space behind him and Ricardinho had sold himself. Thought Martin was dreadful tonight, and for me is s liability in defence. Felt he was at fault for 2 of their goals and actually could be blamed for thier 3rd as his initial header to clear the ball was poor meaning the ball came straight back at us, thus us ultimately conceding the penalty. Having said that, I liked the way the players never gave up and actually took the game to Bkackbun in the 2nd half, so if only we could have got that 2nd goal within 70mins, then I think we coukd have gone on to get a draw at least, but they scored their 4th completely against the run of play. Personally think Charlton are the best team I've seen this season with Shrewsbury and Blackburn not being far behind them, but playing a more big/physical/direct type of game. I can't agree about Martin. With the the third goal, he got a decent header in and had to chase down his own clearance. That should never have to happen, Lego or Ruffels should have been there. I thought he had an ok game, looked threatening at corners and all in all defended well. Sometimes you have to admit you came up against a very streetwise, well drilled team. Martin made 2 mistakes for the second goal, first he served the ball up in the air instead of getting either a better connection to send down the pitch or put in touch, then he got caught trying to play a square pass. If he clears on either attempt then that doesn't end up in our net. And the fourth he should've sent anywhere but where he did. It pains me to say it as I don't like writing people off but I don't think he's up to it, at least at the moment anyway. Ideally I think he needs a loan out to a lower level to find his feet again after having such a stop start time with us, with a view of rebuilding his confidence and getting something sorted for when his contract with us runs out.
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Post by holdsteady on Nov 22, 2017 0:29:07 GMT
No, I'm not referring to rumours of new owners or the internecine warfare raging on the forum, I mean our first team performances. Three poor defeats versus Blackpool, Walsall and Bury. Bury was a complete disaster. Then we crush Peterborough (away) to embark on a six match undefeated run. Things improving. Then four successive defeats, all very poor performances. But what then? We win 4-0 at Plymouth. OK, not a top side but we turned them over. Cue criticism of those who'd shown displeasure at recent debacles. Then tonight. Well, at 0-3 down a third of the way through the match I'm predicting defeat, but will happily eat humble pie if Pep initiates a comeback. Can anyone remember such a bizarre, inconsistent season? Can anybody hazard a guess as to why it's happening? We have won one of our last 8 games, one of the 5 fixtures played so far this month with the rest all losses. We are not really inconsistent, just been crap for over a month now and Plymouth was a freak result thanks to an early goal and sending off. And we are away at Southend Saturday, so that's something to look forward to.
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Post by uptheus on Nov 22, 2017 7:00:03 GMT
No, just the way their player played the ball into space behind him and Ricardinho had sold himself. Thought Martin was dreadful tonight, and for me is s liability in defence. Felt he was at fault for 2 of their goals and actually could be blamed for thier 3rd as his initial header to clear the ball was poor meaning the ball came straight back at us, thus us ultimately conceding the penalty. Having said that, I liked the way the players never gave up and actually took the game to Bkackbun in the 2nd half, so if only we could have got that 2nd goal within 70mins, then I think we coukd have gone on to get a draw at least, but they scored their 4th completely against the run of play. Personally think Charlton are the best team I've seen this season with Shrewsbury and Blackburn not being far behind them, but playing a more big/physical/direct type of game. I can't agree about Martin. With the the third goal, he got a decent header in and had to chase down his own clearance. That should never have to happen, Lego or Ruffels should have been there. I thought he had an ok game, looked threatening at corners and all in all defended well. Sometimes you have to admit you came up against a very streetwise, well drilled team. Decent header in, I thought he should have left it as the ball would have continued out for a goal kick. As it was, he didnget a good connection on the header meaning it spooned up into no man's land which led to players being out of positions, thus leading to a penalty.
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Post by Pete Burrett on Nov 22, 2017 9:33:45 GMT
We have won one of our last 8 games, one of the 5 fixtures played so far this month with the rest all losses. We are not really inconsistent, just been crap for over a month now and Plymouth was a freak result thanks to an early goal and sending off. And we are away at Southend Saturday, so that's something to look forward to. As you suggest, depends on the timescale considered. Certainly over the last six games we've not been inconsistent, we've been poor with one positive blip. But over the season as a whole we've performed in batches of good followed by bad, so fair to suggest we're inconsistent, in my opinion.
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Post by Barts on Nov 22, 2017 10:51:18 GMT
I can't agree about Martin. With the the third goal, he got a decent header in and had to chase down his own clearance. That should never have to happen, Lego or Ruffels should have been there. I thought he had an ok game, looked threatening at corners and all in all defended well. Sometimes you have to admit you came up against a very streetwise, well drilled team. Decent header in, I thought he should have left it as the ball would have continued out for a goal kick. As it was, he didnget a good connection on the header meaning it spooned up into no man's land which led to players being out of positions, thus leading to a penalty. It's all could've, should've, would've though. We could pick out a million and one mistakes from that match. Aaron Martin is a good defender. Coventry fans were up in arms when he left. Something has happened too him over the past 15 months. For whatever reason oufc fans have decided everything is his fault, so they get on his back from the first minute (I'm generalising btw, not a attack on you). They magnify a mistake he may make and don't say anything about good things in a game he does. Imo his confidence is shot, but he keeps plugging away, doesn't shy away from anything and does all he can do, which is keep going. To prove my point, I've seen nothing of Mousinho being blamed for losing the ball high up the field which led to the corner when Blackburn scored their first.
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Post by charliesghost on Nov 22, 2017 11:32:53 GMT
We have won one of our last 8 games, one of the 5 fixtures played so far this month with the rest all losses. We are not really inconsistent, just been crap for over a month now and Plymouth was a freak result thanks to an early goal and sending off. And we are away at Southend Saturday, so that's something to look forward to. As you suggest, depends on the timescale considered. Certainly over the last six games we've not been inconsistent, we've been poor with one positive blip. But over the season as a whole we've performed in batches of good followed by bad, so fair to suggest we're inconsistent, in my opinion. To a degree this is all semantics. And yet it's not, really, because at some point realism needs to kick in, to enable solutions. In the macro sense, we are not inconsistent. We had a cracking start to the season and since then have consistently averaged just over a point a game. As the six points from the first two games gradually becomes less of a dominant factor we are gradually, almost imperceptibly, moving down the table and away from contention for the final play-off spot. Taking into account average points accumulation per games in hand, we are 6 or 7 points off 6th place and 6 or 7 points off the doo doo. If we continue to accumulate just over a point a game between now and the New Year we will be in about 15th place by then. So what, practically, can be done? Well, as Rosie somewhat surprisingly said on the radio last night, when you are losing as many games as we are (5 in 7?) the manager has to move things around: different systems, different combinations, the odd shock selection to get everyone going (and the opposition thinking). Necessity is the mother of invention. If our centre backs are leaking goals at the rate of knots, bring Carroll in. If we lack pace, bring Napa in. Suddenly go 352 one game, to surprise the opposition. Just anything over than pressing the repeat button. Everyone knows the infamous definition of insanity....
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Post by finsburyyellow on Nov 22, 2017 12:12:54 GMT
Decent header in, I thought he should have left it as the ball would have continued out for a goal kick. As it was, he didnget a good connection on the header meaning it spooned up into no man's land which led to players being out of positions, thus leading to a penalty. It's all could've, should've, would've though. We could pick out a million and one mistakes from that match. Aaron Martin is a good defender. Coventry fans were up in arms when he left. Something has happened too him over the past 15 months. For whatever reason oufc fans have decided everything is his fault, so they get on his back from the first minute (I'm generalising btw, not a attack on you). They magnify a mistake he may make and don't say anything about good things in a game he does. Imo his confidence is shot, but he keeps plugging away, doesn't shy away from anything and does all he can do, which is keep going. To prove my point, I've seen nothing of Mousinho being blamed for losing the ball high up the field which led to the corner when Blackburn scored their first. I feel sorry for Martin, I agree there’s a sense that people are almost willing / expecting him to fail. That said, I think he needs removing from the team because, for whatever reason, he is not playing to a high enough standard and is costing us games. He cost us last night. I can’t say this team lacks spirit, fight and commitment. It demonstrates this in abundance most weeks but it does lack guile and intelligence. We have a singular brand of football and playing style that can be very effective at times but when it fails we have no alternative. We just seem to try harder at doing the same thing in the hope the opposition will yield. Fine against Plymouth but that won’t work against the best teams in this league who have depth and adaptability. We also continue to be so painfully naive and fail to learn from our mistakes. 30 seconds before Blackburn’s first they very nearly scored with a corner that was whipped to the near post and flicked goalwards. I’m thinking that was very dangerous, let’s make sure we look out for that next time... cue ‘e-I-e-I-e-i-o’ from the northern contingent 30 seconds later. Blurggh.
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Post by sihath on Nov 22, 2017 12:45:15 GMT
I always find it amusing how league form is used in arguments about how we are doing.
Last 4 games? 6 games? 8 games? Ignore the first 2 games of the season. Ignore the last game. Blips and second comings, relegation battles, play-off chances.
Lies, damn lies and statistics.
So I thought I'd throw a few more facts in there to muddy the waters a little more.
Last 4 games at home form we are 2nd bottom (5th place Bradford are bottom of that form table), last 4 games away form we're 2nd top (20th placed Gillingham are top of that form table).
Of all the teams from 7th-20th (those not in the autos/play-offs or relegation places) only 2 won their last game.
Of all the teams below us only 3 have gone more than their last 2 games unbeaten.
We're the highest scorers in the division.
What does all of that 'mean'. I've no idea, just that for every positive stat, there's a negative one. Probably means that we're not in some kind of apocalyptic free fall, nor are we looking like we'll be troubling the play off places anytime soon. We've seen plenty of goals though (no 0-0s yet this season).
Sarfend here we come.
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Post by swissyellow on Nov 22, 2017 12:57:18 GMT
We have a team who plays individually like they are Maradona but they don't have the skill of Maradonna, so shouldnt play like they are all Maradona.
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Post by dichio on Nov 22, 2017 13:49:58 GMT
No, I'm not referring to rumours of new owners or the internecine warfare raging on the forum, I mean our first team performances. Three poor defeats versus Blackpool, Walsall and Bury. Bury was a complete disaster. Then we crush Peterborough (away) to embark on a six match undefeated run. Things improving. Then four successive defeats, all very poor performances. But what then? We win 4-0 at Plymouth. OK, not a top side but we turned them over. Cue criticism of those who'd shown displeasure at recent debacles. Then tonight. Well, at 0-3 down a third of the way through the match I'm predicting defeat, but will happily eat humble pie if Pep initiates a comeback. Can anyone remember such a bizarre, inconsistent season? Can anybody hazard a guess as to why it's happening? We play risky football which we can get away with against lesser sides but when a decent team presses us we too often lose the ball in bad areas by trying to play our way out which leaves our defensive line going the wrong way, the fact that we lack pace means we can`t recover in time, this leaves huge gaps and decent teams will score goals. I`m not a fan of hoofball but if it nullifies the pressing and forces the opposition to re think and drop back then we can start with our passing game. Our defensive organisation could also be better at times, not sure what Ricardinho was up to for the first goal that came in from the corner last night.
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Post by petechilton on Nov 22, 2017 14:17:19 GMT
I’m probably going to get shot down by some/many but just want to get this all off my chest. I’ve tried to lay out my thoughts in a logical, chronological order but apologies if that’s not always the case. It is a ramble but is intended to put our current position playing-wise into some perspective (and hopefully allowing some to realise it’s not all doom and gloom).
As an old git in my 50s and an Oxford fan for more than 40 years, I’ve seen a LOT of ups and a LOAD of downs. In the extremes I’ve seen us compete and sometimes beat the very best in the mid/late 80s but I’ve also seen us humiliated at home by Hayes & Yeading in a non-league contest. There has also been a lot in-between those two footballing extremes.
I love seeing us win and hate it when we lose but I’ve also come to realise that in football, that’s the way of things. I’ve probably also benefited from knowing how football used to be before the Sky millions changed it an many ways, mostly to the detriment of all, not least the fans.
One of the biggest changes seems to be the expectation of fans – not all but certainly a significant and vocal number. Any minor poor run of form is seized on by some who see it as the tipping point towards disaster. The advent of the internet and social media magnifies this further making it hard to ignore or avoid.
Ironically success is now much harder to achieve at a time when many seem to demand it or even expect it, feeling anything less is failure/time for change.
Money plus Bosman means players are far more travelled than they used to be and in turn makes the creation and retention of an effective squad much more difficult. 2 years with the option of a third seems to be the norm nowadays but not only does that time go very quick, as we’ve seen with the likes of Johnson, it counts for little. We have lost five players of note in the last two seasons (Roofe, O’Dowda, Lundstram, Dunkley and Johnson), all but one being under contract but who chose to leave.
Changing manager is also a big challenge to deal with and again, like the afore-mentioned players, we lost Appleton because he chose to take another role, not because we wanted him to go.
I will happily admit that I was apprehensive when we appointed Pep. I hadn’t heard of him and once I knew his pedigree, as impressive as it is, I was still concerned how he would adapt to a different role in a different league to that he’d known. However, I also realised that he needed time to learn and grow into the job.
Not only was there a similar degree of apprehension towards Appleton (granted, for different reasons) we recognised that time would tell and also accepted that being appointed early July (the 4th to be precise) was not ideal and meant we were not ideally prepared for the 2014-15 season. Instead it was one of learning for all and only late in the season (around the time Roofe joined on loan in Feb 2015) did we start to see an upturn. We all know how things went the following year (one of those “ups”).
I guess what I’m saying is, give Pep a proper chance, the same one we afforded Appleton. He too joined late (1st July 2017) and this is a huge, on-the-job learning experience for him. He needs the time to absorb and apply that experience which won’t be an instant thing.
Hopefully he’s learned that, much as a manager likes to put their own mark on things, the recruitment strategy he inherited was pretty good. If it ain’t broken don’t fix it. Also, players who you know well who were good at a different level in a different league in a different country don’t necessarily translate their skills to League 1. Richardinho has been brilliant but I think we all agree he’s the only success. Lots of injuries in that group (some of which came with a “sick note” reputation) but when all are fit and available my expectations aren’t high.
I also think that like Appleton, he needs to revise the philosophy slightly to bring in players who can play but can also mix it effectively with the physical sides (Blackburn being a case in point – no better than us in many ways but bullied our team from back to front).
So basically what I’m saying is, be patient, keep things in perspective (not just when we have a bad run but also when we win a few) and get behind the team, its manager and chairman. Like I said earlier, it’s football so expect the highs and the lows. In truth it’s what makes it the game we love (and sometimes loathe).
COYY
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Post by sihath on Nov 22, 2017 14:30:07 GMT
One of the biggest changes seems to be the expectation of fans – not all but certainly a significant and vocal number. Any minor poor run of form is seized on by some who see it as the tipping point towards disaster. The advent of the internet and social media magnifies this further making it hard to ignore or avoid. I think this is at the heart of the issue. No longer is the middle ground an acceptable place to be. Opinion seems to need to be polarised. If you say things aren't too bad, you're accused of saying that we're the best thing since sliced bread. if you say things are a bit iffy, then you're accused of being a doom monger who thinks we're heading for Conference North football. It's the same with politics. Lefty libtard or racist xenophobe, make your choice, you're either one of the other. It's the need for drama that drives it. Safe, sensible middle ground isn't an especially exciting place to be.
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Post by Yellow River on Nov 22, 2017 15:04:29 GMT
No, I'm not referring to rumours of new owners or the internecine warfare raging on the forum, I mean our first team performances. Three poor defeats versus Blackpool, Walsall and Bury. Bury was a complete disaster. Then we crush Peterborough (away) to embark on a six match undefeated run. Things improving. Then four successive defeats, all very poor performances. But what then? We win 4-0 at Plymouth. OK, not a top side but we turned them over. Cue criticism of those who'd shown displeasure at recent debacles. Then tonight. Well, at 0-3 down a third of the way through the match I'm predicting defeat, but will happily eat humble pie if Pep initiates a comeback. Can anyone remember such a bizarre, inconsistent season? Can anybody hazard a guess as to why it's happening? We play risky football which we can get away with against lesser sides but when a decent team presses us we too often lose the ball in bad areas by trying to play our way out which leaves our defensive line going the wrong way, the fact that we lack pace means we can`t recover in time, this leaves huge gaps and decent teams will score goals. I`m not a fan of hoofball but if it nullifies the pressing and forces the opposition to re think and drop back then we can start with our passing game. Our defensive organisation could also be better at times, not sure what Ricardinho was up to for the first goal that came in from the corner last night.
[/b] He and another player (Rothwell?) ran towards the corner flag to prevent a short corner, Ricardinho got caught in no mans land as he tried to get back to the near post from where he came. If this was a deliberate tactic from Blackburn then it worked a treat as the Brazilian was out of position to challenge the near post flick-on corner.
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