Keep the Faith

[BensGrandad]

Everyone keep on about this magic goal scorer we need or are going to get but why? We have proven goalscorers in our squad who have scored many goals at this and higher levels and will do again. What we need to do is stop conceding goals and with 2 former defenders as manager and assistant they should have sorted things out and imparting their knowledge on to our players. Kayal and Stephens have been sussed out by the opposition managers and are not now getting the support from around them The full backs are weak and thus leaving the central defenders and goal keeper exposed this in turn means that the supply to the wide men and then the strikers is poor. If we can shore up the back get the ball forward to Kayal and Stephens to move it on to Knockheart and Murphy to get crosses into the strikers as per September and early October we will soon get back on track but until that happens we will struggle.


How many players can we pay wages to? We need to ship out those that are considered by CH as not good enough and unlikely to get in the team and bring in a left back, possibly even another right back and an organizer for the midfield like Derby, Middlesbro and Burnley have.

 

[dwayne]

Everyone keep on about this magic goal scorer we need or are going to get but why? We have proven goalscorers in our squad who have scored many goals at this and higher levels and will do again. What we need to do is stop conceding goals and with 2 former defenders as manager and assistant they should have sorted things out and imparting their knowledge on to our players. Kayal and Stephens have been sussed out by the opposition managers and are not now getting the support from around them The full backs are weak and thus leaving the central defenders and goal keeper exposed this in turn means that the supply to the wide men and then the strikers is poor. If we can shore up the back get the ball forward to Kayal and Stephens to move it on to Knockheart and Murphy to get crosses into the strikers as per September and early October we will soon get back on track but until that happens we will struggle.


How many players can we pay wages to? We need to ship out those that are considered by CH as not good enough and unlikely to get in the team and bring in a left back, possibly even another right back and an organizer for the midfield like Derby, Middlesbro and Burnley have.

Good post to be fair....

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Question - when does BG sleep

2am - 3am - 4am posts

Is he in Australia

 

[The Sock of Poskett]

We just have to grit our teeth and battle through this patch. Good players haven't become bad players – we're just making uncharacteristic mistakes which are costing us games, not helped by lack of cohesion due to injuries. We'll get through it - and the players will need support that urges them on rather than gets on their backs.

 

[Eric Youngs Contact Lense]

We just have to grit our teeth and battle through this patch. Good players haven't become bad players – we're just making uncharacteristic mistakes which are costing us games, not helped by lack of cohesion due to injuries. We'll get through it - and the players will need support that urges them on rather than gets on their backs.

Which is why I am pleased that we are playing away on Saturday.. less anxiety to be passed on by the crowd!!

 

[Randsta]

I'm keeping the faith having supported the Albion a long time I know it's like a rollercoaster ....it's not always going up! it's quite often going down ...........
Enjoy the ride!!!!

 

[Icy Gull]

I am struggling to keep the faith. After a year in charge the management team should have sorted out set pieces, it's not rocket science and we are as poor at these now as we were when we were propping up the fourth tier. I can take the injuries, the lack of goals and some bad luck, but not sorting out the set pieces is bordering on incompetence. At the other end we are just as bad as we struggle to defend against set pieces.

I'm not suggesting CH out but I have reverted to having doubts about his ability to get us promoted.

 

[dazzer6666]

The mythical goalscorer would have been brilliant 3 months ago when we were creating loads of chances. Now we are barely getting a shot on goal or even an opportunity for a shot on goal. Change mostly due I reckon to the loss of service into the box with injuries to Bong and KLL (Bong being so important as he released KLL ahead of him so well) and March - decent wingers critical in a 442. Knockaert and returning KLL may help start create more again from the wings (at least AK sounded promising last night, and seems to be able to cross a ball and take a free kick) but overall team confidence is utterly shot at the moment and team spirit that we had in spades earlier in the season has seemingly disappeared. At the back, we are making at least one calamitous mistake per game - and all the back four have been guilty at least once in the last few games so it's not isolated

Massive test of CH and the character of the team in the next 2/3/4 games to see whether they can recover and start to put some form back together.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Which is why I am pleased that we are playing away on Saturday.. less anxiety to be passed on by the crowd!!

Indeed. If the Match Thread is anything to go by, the negativity within some of the fans is a concern. Hopefully that will pass.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

The plan until a month was top 2 and automatic promotion not the lottery of a play off. We all know how well that went the last 2 times. Bloom wanted automatic promotion as this is the last season of his 5 year plan to get to the premiership and in that regard he will have failed and I don't think he will like that on his cv

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

Well that was embarrassing, and I'm not talking about last nights result. I logged on to NSC last night to check out the in game thread whilst listening to the Rotherham game and promptly had to log off again, shocked at some of the comments. I guess there must be a lot of over emotional children on this forum, because some of the opinions were beyond belief.

I'm new to the forum, but, Get a fekking grip guys. Yes, it's ok to be anxious during a match, but let's have some perspective. Life in the Championship is notoriously tuff, bottom can always beat top, and we have no divine right for sides to just roll over and let us win.

So we lost, so what! We are still only 5 points off automatic promotion. Forget about where we were before Christmas, that was an anomaly. We were never going to keep that up from scraping wins by the odd goal. Even when we were going unbeaten it was obvious we were not scoring enough goals to see out games comfortably.


I believe a major reason our defence has shown the propensity to make largely unforced errors, which they have recently, is a culmination of the unbelievable pressure they have had to endure, a symptom of our lack of goals. Even when we are winning the defence never got the respite of a clear winning margin, So, for nearly the entire first half of this season they have operated at DefCon 1, knowing that any error might cost us points. Never having the comfort of a clear winning margin to allow them to relax, and lately this relentless pressure seems to have finally caught up with them, and the errors have started to appear. But they are just a side effect of the teams profligacy in front of goal.

But that hasn't gone unnoticed by the club. Before they could put a permanent fix in place they pulled of a major coup by loaning the best striking prospect that Manchester United have on their books, a player many United fans believe should be currently starting for them. Obviously he isn't quite ready for that, but that is why he is here, to learn his trade. He isn't the finished article, so cut the boy some slack.

And now January has arrived and the club is in a position to sort out out deficiencies up top, and judging by the rumoured targets, they are not messing about.

So before we spout off, throwing our best defenders under the bus and demanding the managers head on a spike, let's just calm down and remember that we are only half way through the season and are perfectly positioned just behind the leading pack, like Mo Farrah ready to strike. And with the addition of goals, the defence can relax a bit more and the whole team will kick on during the second half of the season.

 

[fleet]

It is hard when you have a team that can't score and can't defend. We need to sort at least one of those and ideally both for teh good times to be back!

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Well the start of turning the corner could be if Cardiff win at Hull tonight.


And then we win the biggest JANUARY-MUST-WIN-GAME in our history at Blackburn on Saturday.

 

[Sheebo]

I'm a positive supporter like yourself but can't help feel that the wheels have not so much come off but been removed by the amount of injuries we had. Even with players coming back and some new signings recapturing that momentum seems a very difficult ask.

Then again, it wasn't so long ago we signed Leo in January and our run in took us up the table. RAAAAARRGGH!

I completely agree with the reasons you put. We all know we ran out of steam largely due to the horrendous luck with injuries. Last noght (with 2 back on the bench & Greer back plus the new signings) it seemed we finally had a decent squad for the first time in 4 or 5 games. However, we are stuck in the rut we got in from injuries - we need to dig ourselves out - it's on us now - no more damaged limitations.

I was always a big advocate of the unbeaten run and I think it's what kept us from losing a lot of games psychologically in Sept/Oct/Nov. As soon as that went it was bad, bad news and ultimately a bad run has followed.

I think we'll turn it around myself, and the season overall has been great. All teams have to lose games. We've come a very long way in one year - even if we finish 10th for example. Most level headed fans would've taken 10th before the season, but our start has ultimately meant we are aiming for play-offs minimum and I get that. Let's just see how it pans out

 

[Return of the Rev]

Keep the Faith - what a fantastic season so far

We'll be back - players coming back - confidence will come back - positivity, come on everyone - who's with me?

Reminds me of?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INgDss5gUWg

 

[footychick]

Well that was embarrassing, and I'm not talking about last nights result. I logged on to NSC last night to check out the in game thread whilst listening to the Rotherham game and promptly had to log off again, shocked at some of the comments. I guess there must be a lot of over emotional children on this forum, because some of the opinions were beyond belief.

I'm new to the forum, but, Get a fekking grip guys. Yes, it's ok to be anxious during a match, but let's have some perspective. Life in the Championship is notoriously tuff, bottom can always beat top, and we have no divine right for sides to just roll over and let us win.

So we lost, so what! We are still only 5 points off automatic promotion. Forget about where we were before Christmas, that was an anomaly. We were never going to keep that up from scraping wins by the odd goal. Even when we were going unbeaten it was obvious we were not scoring enough goals to see out games comfortably.


I believe a major reason our defence has shown the propensity to make largely unforced errors, which they have recently, is a culmination of the unbelievable pressure they have had to endure, a symptom of our lack of goals. Even when we are winning the defence never got the respite of a clear winning margin, So, for nearly the entire first half of this season they have operated at DefCon 1, knowing that any error might cost us points. Never having the comfort of a clear winning margin to allow them to relax, and lately this relentless pressure seems to have finally caught up with them, and the errors have started to appear. But they are just a side effect of the teams profligacy in front of goal.

But that hasn't gone unnoticed by the club. Before they could put a permanent fix in place they pulled of a major coup by loaning the best striking prospect that Manchester United have on their books, a player many United fans believe should be currently starting for them. Obviously he isn't quite ready for that, but that is why he is here, to learn his trade. He isn't the finished article, so cut the boy some slack.

And now January has arrived and the club is in a position to sort out out deficiencies up top, and judging by the rumoured targets, they are not messing about.

So before we spout off, throwing our best defenders under the bus and demanding the managers head on a spike, let's just calm down and remember that we are only half way through the season and are perfectly positioned just behind the leading pack, like Mo Farrah ready to strike. And with the addition of goals, the defence can relax a bit more and the whole team will kick on during the second half of the season.

Well said! I gave this a thumbs up after the first paragraph.

 

[dazzer6666]

Well said! I gave this a thumbs up after the first paragraph.

I did that as well

Although the squad looked better last night I'm not overly surprised our dip continued to be honest. Three were returning from injury (GG, KLL, SB), two were making debuts (LR, AK) and one has been way off fully fit for his last few appearances (JW). It'll take a game or two for things to start to gel again.

 

[Marshy]

Wise words Sheebo.

Keep the faith, shit run and still only 5 points off 2nd.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

It was gutting last night, but in today's sunshine a more balanced view can be taken . I am 100% behind the O/P and Johnny Roastbeef on this. C'mon, this is the Albion, not Real Madrid ....we are going to have bad patches, they make the good ones seem better.

 

[Ernest]

The lickers can all keep their heads BURIED in the sand but the rest of us can see what is happening