Aidy after the first few game said that we would get better as the league would go on. does anyone believe we have got better? was are last 10 games better then the first ten games?
i think we were, but ourrecent performances havent been improving due to confidence. first time we've lacked it.
Nope we haven't got better! In my opinion we were better in the first 10 games than the last 10 games! For example I thought we played well at Everton, i thought we dominated the match against West Ham, played ok against Manure, we dominated the match against Bolton (daylight robbery) and I thought we did well second half against both Wigan and Villa! I put our good earlier performances down to having Marlon King in the side and he was the focal point in us creating plenty of chances! Since he's been out the side it's no coincidence to me that we've barely created many goal scoring opportunities! We miss King desperatley! His all round play is different class! He can make things happen out of nothing (West Ham goal) and to be honest if he had remained fit for the season we wouldn't be in the bottom 3!
Its down to a lack of confidence because we are not even picking up many 1 pointers now and showing the will to battle/win really. We did ok at Newcastle and gave Arsenal a good test but that is about it really since the Chelsea away game sadly. Pompey and Man City were good defensive performances but not pretty and showed a side just intent on nicking a point here and there really.
I agree with bubble after we lost king we lost a lot of quality and now young is going i guess we are only going to get worse.
Yes and No I agree losing King was a BIG blow, lets face it we all know our main problem has been scoring goals. If we had had King I truly believe we would not be in the bottom 3 right now, as some of those 0-0 draws and 1 goal defeats would have been wins had King been playing. However, I have said all along, that although Ash is an OK player, he is not worth any where near the money we are getting for him, and I don't think we will miss him any where near as much as we have missed King. In fact IMHO we will hardly notice he has gone.
Agreed - but losing King was not the problem - the problem was we had no cover! I.e. Aidy didn't manage to bring in anyone cpable of stepping up. You cannot gamble your success on not getting injuries. Of course we were F'ing unlucky to lose King for the season but it happens. But not having backups is plain stupid. I bet Aidy must have thought "Maybe I should have signed Job" when Marlon tweak his knee. I think that's where Aidy's inexperience cost us. And as a result it costs us double up as our league position means no one will come now either. But that's what we get for having a young inexperienced manager. I would have thought though that Burkinshaw could have helped a little with some advice. Aidy has gain that experience and hopefully learnt from his mistake which is why we'll come back stronger.
What annoys me is that, for the first time, Aidy hasnt backed up the things he's said... for example, where are all the calculated risks?? We havent taken a risk on anyone! We were far far better first half of the season.... on our form at the moment, we'd struggle in the championship!
I very much agree with the last paragraph! If we play like we are now next season we'll finish about 13th! The reason being we are not playing to our strengths!! We have two good footballers upfront (Priskin and Hoskins) that love the ball into feet and down the channels! However, we're suppyling them with crap long aerial balls like we did to Henderson and King! You can get away with it with the latter two, because they're suited to that game and are very good with their back to goal! We have proven that we can knock the ball about (Arsenal at home) and get the balls wide quickly...we need to do this tonight, otherwise Blackburn will have a field day with our long ball game!! Blackburn's defence isn't quick at all so getting the ball wide and running at them is the only way to get through them! I can't help but think Aidy should have signed a premiership quality targetman! Henderson isn't good enough and in my opinion he should have gone after McBride from Fulham or Henrik pederson from Bolton! Not spectacular but would do a job and do the ugly things well!
