I could tolerate relegation fights if we had a team that could be relied on to score two goals per game, and take the chance that we would win more than we lose. The almost certainty that we will struggle to score one, let alone two, is the killer, especially when allied to an accident prone defence.
Not so much that I don’t mind them. I just want to know, if we are in one, that the team has enough about it to put up a decent fight, rather than just fold. Last season, under MP2, we were just folding and I hated it. I have seen enough, so far this season, in terms of dominating and creating chances, to think that we should be able to keep our heads above water. We just need to cut out defensive errors and put away our chances at a rate better than 4.8% of shots taken.
I don't really see these shoots of progress. We have one of the worst goal differentials in the PL, and we have been blanked in four consecutive league matches. We have 1 win in 9 on the year, and over our past 38 matches we've managed just 5 wins, 30 points and a goal differential of -26. It's not that we're lacking luck; we're lacking good.
Oh come now, things are far better than this time last season. One stupid push/soft pen from getting the 3 pts we fully deserved from Brighton. Bad finishing really letting us down (in at least 2 other games), but confidence is low, and a little luck would go a long way. And I know it doesn't fit our losing streak stat, but we have actually beaten two prem teams in the cup thus far. Not picking up points under Hughes is far more enjoyable than under MP2.
I seem to be reading very similar to 12 months ago. City away, Chelsea away, United away.. great performances. Several games where we were winning and blew it, or doing well with lots of chances and lost (Burnley, Palace). People saying we were creating and unlucky. We drew 15 games. My prediction is that people turn on Hughes around Christmas time because it’s not that much different really.
Well, if we have not got our **** together by then, then that's fair enough. I just feel he has inherited more problems than the last two guys. Having Fraser hanging around on outrageous wages really is very damaging. Its like a badge of failure for the board, and it does not help the squad. We've lost our way, and its going to take a while to find our new path. But there's no-one out there who will walk into our club, and get instant success. We need hard work, and some patience, and hopefully that can encourage some luck to poke its head out for a change! Toon is getting bigger by the day.
We've been talking about how all we need is a little luck to boost our finishing for nearly 2.5 years now, though. Maybe we just don't have a lot of good attacking talent. We're somewhat less turgid than a year ago, no question. We're no less inept, though.
If Hughes stays, then I'm still reserving any judgement until at least 12 league games have been played. The clean sheet against Bournemouth encouraged me more than anything as it proved that it was possible in a tough looking fixture. The defence has been my major concern so far and I think that if we can play like we did against Brighton at home on Saturday then we should win with a more solid defensive performance.
