Opposition withstanding in two of them, that's four consecutive losses now with 1 goal scored and 12 shipped. We are not going to stay up next season and might just about do it this season (Southampton saving us again). Heard the match on the radio as my partner hurt her back so couldn't go to Yorkshire and thank god I didn't. Match sounded dreadful with Peyera auditioning for a place in Bend it like Beckham 2 with his corner kicks. Deeney had a chance that was deflected wide but we never really got at them. Huddersfield are a good team - they remind me of us when we went up from the Championship - never give up and keep working. Where has that work ethos gone? Yes we are riddled with injures and have had a traumatic mid season - but I am getting tired of making excuses. It's not going to change. Our back line (which to be fair are all third choices) would struggle in League One let alone the Championship. I know we have better players waiting to come back - but the fact of the matter is the crop we have put out is not good enough, Hughes, Kiko, Decoure, Richie and Gnomes aside we have a very bare bones side, Nothing was done in the Transfer window (well, we know why) and I suspect nothing major will be done in the Summer. Crap performances week in week out, conceding a late goal AGAIN because we cannot defend for 90 mins. A point today would of been a good result But we can't keep clean sheets anymore. Even WBA at the Vicarage probably could if got a point in another day. Very few of this squad including the manager can be arsed with this season now. That's a real shame. I was expecting a strong finish but it looks like we are going to limp to the end again. Yes our football is exciting at times and we have some good players when they want to play. Chelsea was a one match wonder, and Deeney has shown his Cojones are in the changing room in regards to a lead man. One up front will not work with us. We do not have a team to support it, but Gracia will not change it - why should he? If any two below us lose their next games we are practically safe. We have shown nothing in so many games this season and lots of rant at Dyche for his style, but I take back what I said last week with full effect, sometimes I wish we had the passion of Burnley. If we survive this season, I want us to get relegated next season unless some major changes happen in the Summer. Perhaps a season or two in the Championship is what we need. Sorry for such a long rant. Skyla x
Gracia deserves time and to label him a “very average coach” or “not the right man for us” after about ten games and with horrific injury issues is ludicrously judgmental. Nobody can tell yet, you’re suffering from a large bout of confirmation bias. Coming in during a season is notoriously tough and pre-season is a pivotal period for a manager. Then you can make more decisive judgements. We played well in our last two home games and didn’t get the results, and since he’s come in we’ve got more points that I’d have expected. This meltdown is way over the top, and no, you have not been proved right with your initial prognosis. You wanted an English manager who “knew the league” despite the fact that that’s largely irrelevant. How have Paul Lambert and Mark Hughes done? Ah, right.
You didn’t accuse me of anything. Your post was very sensible and I was just replying to it, because I know we used to chat a lot during the Beppe era and I don’t want you to get the wrong idea I’m down on every Head Coach after a loss or two. I’m not. But I was very uneasy about Gracia from the start, and I feel many people were blinded by his mediocrity merely because of their delight at seeing Silva go. Gracia’s greatest selling point to many seemed to be the fact he wasn’t Silva. That’s not a good enough reason to hire somebody.
This bunch of players are so frustrating. Ok we've played crap against a limited team but whatever you do, just make sure you leave with a 0-0 and we can all laugh about it how we were terrible but they still couldn't beat us. Deeney, Pereyra and Hughes were dreadful today (albeit Hughes kept trying). Capoue's new manager/contract bounce is well and truly over - 90% of his passes must have been backwards and the other 10% played three seconds too late. I have no idea what the game plan was. Sit back and counter attack with the Premier League's slowest striker? Gracia sounds like someone who's been told they're off in the summer and to be honest, who cares if he is?
Basic long ball not delt with and again we seemed to have defenders lost in space whilst Ince wanted the ball more https://streamable.com/870x4
Had a great time up in Yorkshire match aside. Thought we were good for the draw, but as with last two matches we lose to a simple long ball. Gray looked decent. Gomes back between the sticks
He did an expectional job at Malaga and just because none of us follow Spanish football doesn’t mean you disregard every other job he’s done. Sid Lowe, Guillem Balague, Graham Hunter, all of whom know a hell of a lot more than us, rate him extremely highly. Have some patience!
How did Lincoln do. We could appoint the two brothers as joint Head coaches next year. Getting rid of them in May 2020 will get our Premier League manager departures upto Chelsea and Southampton standard.
I never called for an English manager. You’ve misquoted me. I haven’t been proved right, and I haven’t been proved wrong. However, over the last few weeks I think the views I expressed the day he was appointed have been leant at least some credence. There’s little in his career cv to suggest he is much more than a journeyman coach. I’m not having a meltdown. If I was on an anti-Gracia tirade, I would have posted angrily every time we didn’t win a match. In fact I’ve stayed away from the forum recently, even when others have been posting negative opinions about him. Tonight though, yes, I am angry because that was terrible today. And I don’t feel embarrassed to come on and say so. Despite the injury issues (and losing Del was a big blow), we should still have enough quality in our squad to not have days like today.
Tough run. But with our current form you don't think that they can make up 2 points on us given they also have one extra game ?
The second half was certainly better than the first from us, but for the third match running we have had the majority of possession but end up conceding late (or very late) goals to cost us points! It looks as if we will remain in the Premier League but we need to replace some of the starting players with better in the close season and get players in who appear to actually care as it doesn't look as if we have too many of them at the moment! Either they are not good enough or not bothered or a combination of both!
Hands up, I called that exceptionally wrong. Saw glimpses of good fluid attacking play 1st half against Burnley & thought they would replicate that against a weaker side in Huddersfield. No intention about our play today. Although a draw would have been a fair result (by virtue of both teams being equally cr*p). Think Doucoure is ok but over rated. Not consistent enough. WM was supposed to be a disciplinarian & the same thing happened...how do you solve this same problem, season after season? If we ever did go down in future, I doubt this squad would have the mentality required to fight their way out the Championship over the course of a whole season, which is a prerequisite in that division. JG in until the end of the season & review all options at 5pm on 13th May.
One thing that unites Quique, Mazzarri, Silva and Gracia is setting up the same way over and over again, particularly when in a bad run. There is no thought of doing something differently, no idea of setting the team up to counter the opposition or put them on the back foot. The only time they change anything is when injuries force them to.
I was happy with the appointment. He was a good choice at short notice. We had to remove Silva. I saw Gracia as a probable short term appointment, but was hopeful he'd surprise everyone. Unfortunately, it looks like he just had the usual "new manager bounce" that many coaches get. I'm surprise by a lot of his tactical switches and the players he brings on to try to change things. He tends to do more damage than good. Right now, we have the same look of the side we were in our previous two seasons. Utterly hopeless and just a sitting duck of a side. It's between us, Brighton, Stoke and Southampton as to who will go down. Two of those four will be the two that go down. I think you can discount all others. I think it's highly unlikely Gracia will stay beyond this season, as apart from the initial up turn in results, it's not been too inspired or impressive.
Lord knows what Prodl was trying to do. Every one of our defenders has a mistake in them, apart from Cathcart there is not one of them you could call solid who just gets the ******* ball away from our goal. I fully expect there to be a change in the summer with Gracia going to Sociedad and not because we don't want him, why the **** would he want to work with this squad that can't perform even basic tasks such as taking a throw in or keeping a corner in play?
WE ARE NOT GOING DOWN. And can you really say that the performances against Bournemouth and Burnley weren't impressive? We played great football going forward but Gracia can't walk on the pitch and stop defenders who have over a decade of football experience under their belts from making errors.
You said we would be fine if Southampton lost the two games before our next one. They did. Have you changed your mind?
I think the end of this season will end similar to last year, we'll end up limping over the line, probably around 14th-16th. We rarely get much against Palace and Spurs/Utd are both a write off. Sad ending to a season that started so positively
Really? You agreed with me last week that if Southampton lost their two games in between we'd be safe. And they did. What's changed? Edit: I see Keighley got there first.
We've got better players than recent results suggest imo. How far we have fallen if Andre Gray was the 'stand-out' performer!
We are 250-1 to go down. Huddersfield are 7-2. Yet the 7-2 shot is to be discounted and the 250-1 not!??
Under multiple head coaches, we've struggled for goals, been prone to leaking goals late, suffered worse than average numbers of injuries (mostly to key players) and displayed ongoing mental issues with confidence/seeing out games. Gracia isn't the problem. He's just the easiest target to point at.
No, I'm now more hopeful we'll stay up, as I can't see Brighton overtaking us, although it only takes one fluke result. The margins are too fine to be confident though. We will do well to come higher than 16th now, and I think we'll probably survive, but only just.
Until we are mathematically safe none of this squad deserves to relax. Thing is think most of them have their holidays booked for the trip to Old Trafford.
Huh? If that’s an angry reposte, please realise ‘Boreham’ auto-corrects to ‘Boredom’ before you start attempting to be abusive.
