4 games in, 2 points, lots of dodgy decisions gone against us, PL doesn't appear to know his best 1st XI (maybe he does but we have not managed to have all 11 available for one reason or another), defence looks shaky and naive, strikers not making goalkeepers work enough. Other than that we look quite good but is quite good going to be enough this season? How are people feeling today and what is the general feeling on how will we finish the season. Personally on what I have seen so far it is going to be perhaps more of a struggle than I thought it would be. Of course we should not have knee jerk reactions to results etc but what is your gut feeling? Do you think we will stay up? A simple yes or no on the poll. I think we will probably drop back down and hopefully come back stronger next time as did West Brom, Wolves, Sunderland & Blackburn
I voted yes with my heart, we need to stop giving away silly goals, we need our strikers to start converting more of the chances that are being created, but we are young, and willing to learn, I think we'll get there under the guidance of a fine young manager! ILWT OTBC
I think it depends upon whether Vaughan realises his potential, we need a more clinical finsiher and I guess that Lambert thought he was the guy to do the job. We missed alot of chances yesterday and could have easily won the match. bennett looks good but just needs a little composure and I'm sure that will come, although an early win would do a lot to ease the nerves and Lambert has already lost the record of never losing two in row after only 4 games (didn't take long). I think they look good enough going forward and can tighten up at the back. It's down to clinical finishing and I think it will happen, so yes 17th place here wew come.
I've voted yes. I think we will stay up, but it will be bloody tight. I know we have had some dodgy decisions go against us, but if we weren't so naive, would we have been in the situation for the penalties to be given? Once we wise up to the speed of the premiership, and once we start converting our chances, we will be ok, but as I said at the beginning, it will be bloody close.
Looks like we have some Scumbag boys visiting the site and sneaking in with NO votes, the numbers do not tie in. My money is on Guru
I was lambasted before the season start for suggesting we needed a little more PL quality. I think De Laet shows potential but has cost us points...he should go. Vaughn was obviously unfit - but he will be one to watch. Morrison should start. I thought Bennett was promising.
Early days but as pointed out above we're still experimenting with formations / line ups despite being more than 10% through the season I know sendings off won't help that cause, but a little stability would be settling. The reasons I can't see us surviving are a) inability to create and hit shots on target and b) our ragged verging on woeful (at times) defending. Time and again yesterday we were exposed by Peter Odemwingie - who was gifted his goal by Ritchie de Laet, who despite his M. Utd 'pedigree' is turning out to be a liability rather than an asset. And with due respect, we'll be facing classier strikers than Peter O. as the season unfolds. The best thing about yesterday was another terrific display from the 'new Ashley Cole' Feel free to ram these words down my throat if I'm proven wrong, but it's (survival) starting to look a 'bridge too far'.
I don't really know how I feel this morning. I'm looking for the positives: Rudd showed immense potential after settling down (very agile). Tierney was solid. Johnson had a good game using his physical attributes. We didn't play badly, just a bit...flacid? (can I get away with saying that)
You are right, we did not play badly. We have not played badly in any PL game so far. Just not good enough or cute enough to take 3 points in any of them. Established teams are 'cute' and it shows, they know how to get points, we need to learn to do the same and fast. Flacid? A beautiful word and probably sums up how most of us see it
very early days as yet. i think we've shown that we can at least match mid-table teams for play around the box but a cutting edge must be found and our biggest worry, that our defence will continue to be leaky, is coming true. having said that, we are being punished very heavily by officials and surely this cannot happen for the whole season. at some point our luck will change. i'd like to see us revert back to the diamond formation and play fox and hoolahan though. i want to see us play our own game and see the opposition adjust to our tactics rather than the other way round. i said before the season we'd finish anywhere between 14th-17th. i've seen nothing so far to suggest that this isn't feasible.
