(23-07-2020, 08:28 AM)the jock Wrote: Worralls mistake against derby was a big blow too. We played well that day and deserved the win.
Overall though I feel we havent been playing well consistently for a long time
No doubt Joe is blaming himself for us not reaching the play offs on that foul alone. Yes if he hadn't have given away such a stupid unnecessary free kick we would be rejoicing today. But what we also have to remember is the many times Joe has saved our side from losing points. The goal bound blocks for instance, the goal line clearances. As the saying goes........one swallow doesn't make a summer..........and one mistake shouldn't be used as the main factor we bottled it.
We had three stabs at getting that single point and blew it on every occasion.
With the score at 1-1 last night, we should've gone for a second and tried to bury Stoke, but instead we played tippy tappy across our own penalty area with 30 minutes still to play. It was a recipe for disaster and the disaster happened.
My own opinion is this. We have improved under Sabri. Not enough to be good enough to be in with a shot at the PL but we have improved. 7th is an improvement on last season, which we again bottled when we were in with an outside chance of getting into the play offs. We have not been good enough all season. We have been far too inconsistent. Some of our victories we somehow managed to scrape through. Some of those games we were played off the park but managed to hit those teams on the counter attack. Most of our goals have come from counter attacks and not from us pressing the opponents and working wave after wave of attacks to break the opponents down. Allowing opponents more of the ball doesn't do it for me. As Cloughie once said, the opponent can't score if they haven't got the ball! We are too one dimensional and teams have sussed out how Sabri plays. Stoke actually beat us at our own game last night. They realised we can't play when we have possession, so allowed us that possession then hit us on the break.
We need to know what has happened with Carvalho. Why is he not even getting onto the subs bench ahead of young Mighten? Is it attitude? Is he simply not the magician everybody seems to make him out to be? I personally don't rate him. He is scared to get into challenges, either aerial or on the ground. He doesn't track back, he doesnt get stuck in. He pulls out of 50/50's. Unless he is acres of space he tends to rush his passes. Yes he has played the odd decent pass, but then so has Cash, Lolley, Silva, Ameobi, Watson, Sow, Samedo, Grabban.
It is easy to say we need this player, cover for that position, a new whatever, but unless we get rid of a lot of the dross currently on our books, then we arent going to be able to afford to buy anyone, so it will be very much the same as it has been.
I personally, think the side have missed having the fans in the ground to roar them on! Despite all of the theories about us fans putting pressure on the side, especially at home games, I do believe the players rely on us to get behind them, to give them that lift they need. There aren't that many teams in the Championship that have supporters like ours, who will sing their hearts out for the team if they see the team are playing their hearts out for the club. How many times this season have our fans constantly out sung the home support? Almost always.
There is no magical solution to the problems we endured since the restart. Do we get rid of Sabri? Then we start all over again, from scratch. Trying out another managers ideas and systems that have obviously failed elsewhere, otherwise they wouldn't be taking on the job at the City Ground! If we do hang on to him, what then? Does he try new things or does he do what he has been doing and hope it works better for him the next time around? Who do we keep? Who do we sell? What loans can we get? When will fans be allowed back into stadiums?
It's going to be an interesting few weeks between now and the new season starting, thats the only certainty I can offer.
