The honeymoon is over now......

[daveyboy1973]

y

yawn

y is that yawn its a simple fact!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[Black Rod]

The division is far stronger than last season. We are a weaker side than last season. Put that together and you have a team that isn't going to do as well

 

[Guinness Boy]

I'm very concerned about Oscar. He has inherited a team that finished fourth last season and is arguably stronger in terms of personnel now. We have played five home games, including three of the basket cases of the division (Millwall, Sheff Wed and Bolton), and only won two. We have scored two goals in five away matches. We are already six points off the play-offs and ten points off the top two. Clubs that were our equals last season (Leicester, Forest, Watford) are now streets ahead of us. We have been somewhere between average and appalling in most of our matches. We have no obvious style of play, there is certainly no passing football through the centre of the pitch like there was under Gus. Our only 'plan' seems to be to ping it out to Kazenga and pray he beats his man, and even if he does there won't be anyone in the box anyway. Despite our good defensive record, I think there are massive cracks in this area just waiting to be exposed. The goals we are conceding (tonight, Ipswich's second, Millwall, Bolton etc) are seriously sloppy and I don't see any other team give us goals as easily. We look devoid of ideas going forward. And now, just to top it off, our manager is starting to make utterly absurd selections (Bruno in midfield for TWO games) and is sticking with them. I just don't see a strategy, what are we actually trying to do? Every game has become a lottery. If this carries on we are more likely to be in a relegation battle than a promotion one. I'm not calling for Oscar to go any time soon, but this man has done NOTHING yet to indicate he is an adequate replacement for Gus.

Weren't you incredibly negative during the Poyet years?

We also pissed all over Burnley who are TOP, came back from the dead against Bolton and conceded NO goals in 180 mins away to the two promotion favourites. The jury is out because we're inconsistent, not because we're failing.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Also, I find the 'it's a mid-table season' comments hard to accept. Why should it be a mid-table season. We finished fourth last season, have strengthened our squad and are backed by the biggest crowd in the division. You can be sure as hell that Tony Bloom isn't aiming for a mid-table season. I understand there are loyal fans who have watched us play shit football at Withdean and appreciate the relative joy of being in the middle of the Championship at The Amex, but unfortunately for them the whole club is set up to reach the top flight and you simply cannot afford to write off a season in October, especially when you finished the previous one in fourth. If we sit in the middle of the table or worse and don't get anywhere near the play-offs all season then a) Oscar won't be here at the end of the season and b) we won't have anywhere near 23,000 season ticket holders next season.

I'll try and answer that. You can't underestimate how much changing manager affects the team. The premier league at the moment is a great example of this - Utd, last season's champions are shithouse, city and chelsea are inconsistant. Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal are flying because they're more settled and they're further into a plan.

I don't think this is a stronger squad either, it's not far off but it's not noticably stronger. Also, as someone else has pointed out, half of it is injured.

I'm not trying to say everything is rosey, there are obvious mistakes being made by the manager. I just think that 10 games into a season isn't the time to panic, especially when you're 12th in the table.

 

[Creaky]

At around this stage in Gus's first season in the Championship we didn't win for 10 or 11 games. Oscar's only been here 5 minutes. Some people are ridiculous.

Actually after GP's first 10 games in the Championship we had won 5, drawn 2, lost 3 and were in 5th place.

That's irrelevant though in my opinion, OG is a new manager who needs time to get the players working his way as a team - we as fans owe him, and more importantly the club, a bit of patience and not expect unrealistic achievements in his first season.

I'm looking for general improvements in the team over a reasonable period of time, (not that there was much indication of that tonight unfortunately) - so long as we stay comfortably above the relegation zone then I'm happy - for this season!

 

[Albion Dan]

The division is far stronger than last season. We are a weaker side than last season. Put that together and you have a team that isn't going to do as well

I'm sorry but Weds were as bad as the worst we played last season. Tonight was as bad as we have played in a year. Very poor and you have to accept the criticism.


I would be happier if we had lost but the manager wasn't making insane starting 11 decisions.

 

[Napper]

Thought millwall home was worst to be fair . Tonight was poor though . Look clueless if don't get initial goal when on top

Concerning

Shit like Bruno first 11 is a proper joke

 

[Acker79]

At around this stage in Gus's first season in the Championship we didn't win for 10 or 11 games. Oscar's only been here 5 minutes. Some people are ridiculous.

Actually after GP's first 10 games in the Championship we had won 5, drawn 2, lost 3 and were in 5th place.

We were four games into a run that would become 9 without a win.

That's irrelevant though in my opinion, OG is a new manager who needs time to get the players working his way as a team - we as fans owe him, and more importantly the club, a bit of patience and not expect unrealistic achievements in his first season.

I'm looking for general improvements in the team over a reasonable period of time, (not that there was much indication of that tonight unfortunately) - so long as we stay comfortably above the relegation zone then I'm happy - for this season!

Indeed.

 

[kevo]

At around this stage in Gus's first season in the Championship we didn't win for 10 or 11 games. Oscar's only been here 5 minutes. Some people are ridiculous.

Difference is we were playing - or at least trying to play - quality football.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

A good point. It seems a good time to recall my prediction from the summer, which was that Tony Bloom and Paul Barber will ruin this entire season by dealing with Gus in the way they did. I don't know whether they were right or wrong to do what they did, and it doesn't really matter now, but I am certain that any club that goes through as much turmoil as we did in May/June/July will pay for it on the pitch. We have the squad to compete at the top end of this division but we gave every other one of the 23 clubs a two-month head start on us and it'll cost us big time.

Well you were far from the only person who made that prediction in the summer. But considering that you think this, why did you make your posts above? Just stirring? Those of us that know there is upheaval in changing a manager are willing to give the new manager time to settle.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Out of interest woody, what are your expectations this season then?

Challenging for the playoffs.

 

[wellquickwoody]

. I just think that 10 games into a season isn't the time to panic,

At no time did I mention 'panic', I just said that the honeymoon is over.

 

[trueblue]

Actually after GP's first 10 games in the Championship we had won 5, drawn 2, lost 3 and were in 5th place.
[/B]

Ok then. If you're going to be fussy, we were actually in the middle of a run that stretched to 9 league games without a win.

After 15 games we had 20 points - just 7 more than we've managed now. And rather than the huge buzz that was around back then, Oscar's had to deal with the after-effects of losing in the play-offs, one of the messiest summers in the club's recent history and some ridiculously bad luck with injuries.

Agree with you on the rest. There's been some good and some bad so far under Oscar and that's probably how it'll stay as he continues to try different options. I'm not a huge fan yet but I've enjoyed some of the changes.

Poyet's possession style was great and I miss it most of the time but I do think the play-offs proved conclusively it could be nullified too easily and was ineffective when the team really needed to chase a game. The longer we played that way without getting promotion, the harder it was going to get.

After the initial, massive improvement in League One, it seemed further progress was only going to be achieved by putting better players into the 'system', whereas Garcia, I think, will be more committed to making the most of what we have and can realistically afford. Hence, perhaps, the experimentation with Bruno in midfield as his passing can be exceptional. If he doesn't try it, he'll never know.

The only certainty is that Gus is gone. Garcia seems a dignified, decent bloke who deserves at least a full season before we can really get a feel for where he's taking us.

 

[portlock seagull]

I'm disappointed that the new stadium factor that seems to propel many other clubs to the premiership hasn't done so for BHA. Not sure why but that momentum has gone as the OP suggests.

 

[EastUpperSeagull]

The post match comments are starting to worry me as I can confidently predict what he is going to say no matter how we actually performed. We should stick our chances away. Whilst true I would love to hear him comment on the sloppiness of the passing, the Bruno experiment, the lack of ideas, the positional issues in defence, the absence of Ince etc.

I don't care about winning every game but last night was painful to watch. Seeing the players complete a few passes where they haven't needed the luck of it bouncing off someone to retain possession would be nice.

 

[KZNSeagull]

At no time did I mention 'panic', I just said that the honeymoon is over.

Am pleased you are not panicking. It will take time to get things going again - remember Gus's few games in charge in League 1 and the booing after Bournemouth, for example, and the runs of poor form after good starts in the championship seasons. We have had some good results already (QPR and Reading), home form is a concern but we do have an enormous injury list and Oscar is trying to shuffle half a deck at the moment.

You say the honeymoon is over - but like any marriage, it takes time for people to work together and gel as a unit. Be confident things will improve - the worst thing we can do is for the BHA family to get divided and we end up in a premature divorce! (**Crappy marriage analogy over**)

 

[British Bulldog]

last year we finished 4th? we have the same players so y have we become a mid table team all of a sudden??

Maybe it's that we've lost 4 of last seasons most influential players? Bridge, Bridcutt, Orlandi and recently Ulloa. You take 4 of the best players out of any team in the country and they're going to suffer a dip in form it stands to reason.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Maybe it's that we've lost 4 of last seasons most influential players? Bridge, Bridcutt, Orlandi and recently Ulloa. You take 4 of the best players out of any team in the country and they're going to suffer a dip in form it stands to reason.

I'm frustrated by Oscar's recent selections of out of form / unfit players when better options were available but will judge him properly once he has had a run of games with Bridcutt, Orlandi, Ulloa in the team. A fit CMS to torment tiring defenders will be a bonus too, his energy is badly missed.

Once fit and on form our squad is as good as most in the Championship.