McGovern was Man of the Match, so it sounds As plenty of changes were made, Certainly Ruddy and Klose deserved To be dropped from last week´s parade One or two youngsters also made the bench And their time will hopefully come, But as the game progressed and Bristol became Stronger, putting them on was dumb Take an away point if you can´t get three And we couldn´t yesterday night, Despite showing more energy for the job We showed why we´re in such a plight Protecting a lead is quite foreign to us And just isn´t something we do, So after our early goal I feared the worst And sure enough it became true The goal for Wildschut was class when it came And good, for he needed a lift, Shame no-one got close to adding to that And they couldn´t give us a gift But Bristol deserved at least the one point Actually, very much so, And most of our rivals picked up the one too So status is very much quo.
One of Quo's biggest hits was "Down Down". Makes you think doesn't it ? Summarises how most of us on here feel.
"But as the game progressed and Bristol became Stronger, putting them on was dumb" I can't agree with that, as you say Bristol were getting stronger, why? because we were losing control of the game as we have so often done this season with our senior players. How about fresh legs, enthusiasm and a point to prove for a tactic to try to wrestle back control? Inaction was dumb, conceding any hope/attempt to win the game by bring on Bass for Murphy was very dumb! Bah!
Absolutely General and what was needed was to bring on the three youth players - ie Godfrey for Tettey, Pritchard for the waste of space Naismith and Maddison for Josh!!!!
Melchy, he was more concerned about hanging on for the draw, than risk losing, by trying for the win, and can´t say I blame him after the last few games. But I do think he should have used his full complement of subs, to at least relieve some of the old boys´ legs.
But why? We are 9pts behind the Wendies, with ever decreasing oprotunities to close the gap, Bristol away represented as good a chance as any to go for it and pinch an away win. 1 pt was not enough. We were lucky that the gap didn't open further. But missed a golden oportunity to close it a little. Should we add a complete absense of; Balls, adventure, realism to his litany of other failings? Bah!
Come on, you know yourself Melchy, that whatever he had done, he would have got it in the neck. If he´d brought on a couple of youngsters, and they´d made all the difference, people would have moaned at him for not doing it earlier. If he´d brought them on and they had failed, people would have crucified him for not sticking with experience and seeing out a draw. Let´s face it, he can´t win whatever he does.
Whilst I see your point with respect to him no longer being able to win, I think he can. Whilst one of yhe many who thinks he should receive his marching orders, I also think there is a chance he will not only see out this season but be there for the start of next. So whilst I want him gone, whilst he is here and is likely to continue I still hope that he will do some things to get us all back on his side. Two of those things Ard giving the youngsters a chance and experience ready for next season and actually try to win games, not despirately hold on when mathematically we still have a chance. It was Bristol with 1 win in 17! Bah!
Yes, I know it was only Bristol, and I too would like him to try and start winning, both games, and fans back onto his side, but that´s something that is going to take a while, after the damage that has been done this season. A couple of good home wins now, and then even possibly something out of Villa, would be a start, but the fans need to be part of the healing process as well, and not only be ready to crucify.
I'll be honest, with our home form I would expect to beat Blackburn and Barnsley, anything less than 4 points will constitute for me the end of the end. Surely it is only the decent home form that has kept him from the noose. As for getting something from Villa, it is the sheer lack of hope that that could happen coupled with the absolute certainty I have that we will lose and lose badly at Huddesfield after that, that means I want rid of him. The run in January gave me some hope, not belief, but no wins in 5 has made me reach a point where it is almost impossible for him to regain my belief. So much so that the next 3 games could be won and I still could not budge, none of them are in the top half, so he will have proved very little. Beat Huddersfield, maybe a glimmer, an almost imperseptably small shred of hope, by some miracle win at least 50 percent of our remaining games against top half teams and I may regain hope, but belief feels beyond anything short of an unbeaten finish to the season, winning at least 8 even if we missed the playoffs. There would also need to be an associated and clear improvement in the play, no more the pedestrian sideways passing and genarally turgid fayre. The fans can only for me help with the healing, if they are offered some hope back. Be that from good football or giving youth its chance the team and management are the ones for me with the onus to break the current status quo. Bah!
