Anyone else depressed yet?

[Mo Gosfield]

If being in a tussle to stay up is misery, I can live with it, we have no divine right to be challenging. Misery is watching your team 1 down at half time and about to go out of the league, having no ground and a bleak future.

I sympathise completely with the problems that Oscar has and I have no intention of getting depressed with 2/3 rds of what has been a very trying season left.

The sense of entitlement from so many Albion fans is quite depressing ( not including the quoted poster in this necessarily)

Concur entirely.
There is no divine right in football ( as there is in life )to be successful. It is a mixture of hard-work, skill, luck and drive/ambition.
Experienced people in football know that eleven footballers do not play well at the same time. If you are lucky, 7 or even 8 hold their form. That is enough to carry the others. Yesterday, we had four who played up to form. Not enough.
( I couldn't name two at Ipswich, in this category! )
We have a manager who is even more of a rookie than Gus and who is not starting in Div.1. OG has started higher up the tree, with more expectation and pressure and a list of injuries that defies belief. We don't have a vast squad. Some of those now playing, won't feature long-term. We are muddling through. We need to get points off lesser sides. The likes of Forest and Watford will roll us over at present.
To those younger fans, I send a message. Talk to older fans. Talk to your Dad and Grandad. Those that have seen it before. They will calm you down and tell you that a season is over 46 games. By the time we get our better players back, we still won't be halfway through the season. There will be lots of points to play for.
Temper your expectations. Take a deep breath and don't turn up expecting us to beat teams like Forest.
This phase of the season is a learning curve for all of us ( none more so than OG ) We are learning about our lesser players. We are learning about the players we are missing. We are learning that we need a better RB ( Calderon + Bruno not good enough ) We are learning that Bridge was that good and Ward is short of that class. ( Chicksen unproven ) We are learning that Bridcutt is sorely missed. No one links defence and midfield like him. We are learning that we still need a creative, driving force in midfield ( e.g Vicente ) We are learning that Ulloa is a class apart and only he can play the lone striker role. We are learning that KLL offers more than Buckley. We are learning that some of these players are letting us down and when the squad is stronger, they need to be phased out.
Most of all, we should be learning to be patient. Good things come to those that wait.

 

[Baron Pepperpot]

Concur entirely.
There is no divine right in football ( as there is in life )to be successful. It is a mixture of hard-work, skill, luck and drive/ambition.
Experienced people in football know that eleven footballers do not play well at the same time. If you are lucky, 7 or even 8 hold their form. That is enough to carry the others. Yesterday, we had four who played up to form. Not enough.
( I couldn't name two at Ipswich, in this category! )
We have a manager who is even more of a rookie than Gus and who is not starting in Div.1. OG has started higher up the tree, with more expectation and pressure and a list of injuries that defies belief. We don't have a vast squad. Some of those now playing, won't feature long-term. We are muddling through. We need to get points off lesser sides. The likes of Forest and Watford will roll us over at present.
To those younger fans, I send a message. Talk to older fans. Talk to your Dad and Grandad. Those that have seen it before. They will calm you down and tell you that a season is over 46 games. By the time we get our better players back, we still won't be halfway through the season. There will be lots of points to play for.
Temper your expectations. Take a deep breath and don't turn up expecting us to beat teams like Forest.
This phase of the season is a learning curve for all of us ( none more so than OG ) We are learning about our lesser players. We are learning about the players we are missing. We are learning that we need a better RB ( Calderon + Bruno not good enough ) We are learning that Bridge was that good and Ward is short of that class. ( Chicksen unproven ) We are learning that Bridcutt is sorely missed. No one links defence and midfield like him. We are learning that we still need a creative, driving force in midfield ( e.g Vicente ) We are learning that Ulloa is a class apart and only he can play the lone striker role. We are learning that KLL offers more than Buckley. We are learning that some of these players are letting us down and when the squad is stronger, they need to be phased out.
Most of all, we should be learning to be patient. Good things come to those that wait.

I think our Oscar is also learning that the pacey one touch football he is trying to implement is a struggle with this current team. I do agree that Liam Bridcutt and Andre Orlandi would make a real difference.

 

[Rugrat]

but a bottom 8 would see low attendances and less revenue to use to buy better players. The time has come people to remove our rose tinted glasses and face upto the reality that we may have to endure more misery before we enjoy success.

Reduced attendances will have marginal financial effect given the gate revenues are pretty well locked up with 90%+ in ST sales. Assuming we are fairly busy in the next two windows I wouldn't see much change in ST sales next year either

 

[Chicken Runner61]

I see three important periods for OG defined by the months

Oct - Normally the games in this month I would expect us to win but injuries have made that harder - OG needs to ensure we don't lose any and wins will keep us in with a chance of playoffs after Jan. More importantly we must not lose, it will rack the pressure on OG if he lets that happen and it will rock the confidence for when our players return from injury.

Nov/DEC - Difficult and telling games - OG needs to have players back from injury and the squad playing cohesively and able to score and retain a lead. Fail here and OG has only one last hand to play this season - Jan transfers

Jan - If we don't sign at least another striker and defender to improve the squad then OG will have a big problem on his hands unless the previous 3 months were good. For OG and the club to be moving forward by now we should be either strengthening the squad with OG signings or OG will have to have had the current squad organised and winning games consistently. If we are struggling by FEB then either the board will have failed by not giving OG the support they should have or OG has failed by agreeing to work with a squad he inherited and failed to progress.

 

[spring hall convert]

Outside of QPR, how many other teams could be missing their 3 most important players & still be in promotion contention?

The injury situation has pretty much already turned this into a consolidation season. We'll be a much better side with Orlandi, Bridcutt & Ulloa fit. Anyone worried about relegation is going a little over the top I reckon.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

Outside of QPR, how many other teams could be missing their 3 most important players & still be in promotion contention?

The injury situation has pretty much already turned this into a consolidation season. We'll be a much better side with Orlandi, Bridcutt & Ulloa fit. Anyone worried about relegation is going a little over the top I reckon.

I think that just underlines the need for back up and a stronger squad, ok its pretty bad losing three significant players at once but its not abnormal to lose those players and positions individually and the coach needs to have players ready to step in whilst providing competition for the position.

 

[spring hall convert]

I think that just underlines the need for back up and a stronger squad, ok its pretty bad losing three significant players at once but its not abnormal to lose those players and positions individually and the coach needs to have players ready to step in whilst providing competition for the position.

To be fair, I think we were coping pretty well until we lost Ulloa, we've already spent big money on him and CMS. We just need to amend our expectations for this season and stop panicing, we'll be fine.

 

[LamieRobertson]

There is a series of programs on radio Sussex this week on mental health if anyone needs help

 

[OzMike]

Stains up to 4th in premiership, doesn't help.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

For the first time this season the black dog is wagging it's tail. it's too early to judge as key players are injured. Be honest folks, are the alarm bells chiming yet?

No, what a stupid question, but then you're a bit of a stupid person, aren't you?

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Stains up to 4th in premiership, doesn't help.

What the hell has this got to do with the price of fish?
The progress of Southampton is not unexpected. Good club, well run with a startingly good, young and ambitious manager. Shrewd investment has created a really good squad, who are now getting serious results.

 

[Silent Bob]

Not depressed at all, This season is reminding me of our first season in the Championship with inconsistency on the pitch and loads of injuries.

We looked a far better team in our first season than we currently do.