The elephant in the room that needs talking about. I don't want to be a prophet of doom...... Okay, I am. I said early in the season that we looked like a relegation team and little on show at present changes that. Defensively, other than the problem left back position - unless O'Dowda plays there which detracts from our forward play - we are okay. As ever the problem is the inability to score. Robinson has given us more skill and variety, but he, like many others before him other than Moore, is not a regular scorer. The same goes for Etete. Isaak Davies will give us more pace but I don't see him as a shining light and I'm not convinced by Colwill either. If Adams can halt his injury run he may offer more in midfield but games are won by scoring goals. We rarely do that. I was hoping the January window would give us signing options to improve our scoring ability but that is looking progressively unlikely despite the hopeful noises coming from the club - but they would say that wouldn't they? I thought VT would put his hand in his pocket and stump up the apparent £6m now needed to cover the first due payment - but what about future ones? Anything going through the courts will take time and we don't have that. We are just not good enough, unless 3 sides below us carry on their miserable form. Unfortunately there are no points penalties for other clubs to give us a bit of a cushion, like last season. Until something changes radically and positively I can't see us avoiding the trap door and the disasters that will follow. Others have documented on here the poor management choices made at all levels and unless we get rid of Hudson and employ a Championship level Pep we are stuck with what we have. I have watched football for 60 years and seen Newport, Cardiff and even Tottenham (just the once) get relegated so have an idea what a relegation team looks like and, unfortunately, we currently fit the bill. I very much hope I'm wrong.
I think that sums it up. There are a few decent players in the squad together with others that are ok and a few duds. An obvious statement, but maximising performance means getting the best out of what you've got. The whole needs to be greater than the sum of the parts. Colin had the knack of doing it, and DJ certainly did. Both brought in journeymen and misfits and turned them into a team. Morison had the vision though perhaps not the ability. Hudson is struggling with the hand he's been dealt. We need to get a settled team, but Huds seems to shuffle the pack, certainly the front 4, every week. He seems to be settling on a 4231 (yay). Back 4 ok, but as you say, while O'Dowda works as a LB, not the best use of his ability. The 2 in front of the 4 work hard but lack creativity. Wintle OR Ralls with a creative player next to them is what's needed. Will Adams be the catalyst? Then it gets a struggle. On paper, lots of line ups work, but not on grass. Think he needs to settle on Etete up front with Robinson just behind. Who plays outside those two is anyone's guess. We then have too many players that don't seem to fit that system and I include Colwill in there.
You literally beat me to this topic. On the one hand the way we’ve played in past 3 games should have garnered 9 points gives me cause for optimism. But on the other hand the opposition weren’t great and we’ll learn a lot more in our next 2 games against better opponents. The defence is relatively sound but there’s always a feeling a goal is on its way. QPR had only scored two in their previous 7/8 games so a clean sheet last night wasn’t unexpected. Central midfield is a better system with 2 but one of them has to be more creative and have the ability to score. Ralls is usually good for a few but I don’t think he’s notched yet. There are too many bit players who are hot and cold so unsurprisingly they’re picked to start and then are dropped eg Philomene Ojo Whyte Sawyers Harris etc Etete will get better the more he plays. Robinson should maybe go out to the left wing with Colwill in the no 10 role. Will city be allowed to bring in players in January? If so in what position? A lot is stated about Davies and Adams but let’s be honest they’re not exactly match winners. Put another way which city player would get into any top half table team? None in reality. Another question to the question is which 3 clubs will be below us? Wigan, Rotherham, Huddersfield, Bristol, Blackpool and Hull with us seem to be in a mini division of its own. They all pull off unexpected results like Huddersfield yesterday. It’s crucial we win our return games with them. To stay up city need to arrest this appalling run of just 6 points out of the last 7 games, (even though 2 points from the next 2 games would be an achievement) and keep in the top half of this mini league (unless another club nosedives). It’ll be tight but I think we’ll just about survive.
Good thread Bluey. Looking at the clubs presently occupying the bottom half of the table, I can't believe we've not got enough in the tank to keep at least 3 of them below us. Irrespective of the January embargo, the problem for me is the management of what we already have regardless of who we could bring in. To that end appointing Hudson until the end of the season was a bit of a hit and hope at best. At worst it demonstrates what many of us have been saying - complete incompetance at board level a lack of recognition of what it takes to manage our club at this level. I wasn't a fan of Morison's approach, but Hudson is the complete opposite - he's just not hard enough to change things. I won't go on about the game last night on this thread, but that performance by Philogene was atrocious and he should never have come out for the second half - that summed up Hudson for me. My worst fear is that the embargo will be used as an excuse for the unthinkable, but I honestly don't think it'll come to that.
Fan of Micawber?......... Personally I think you're right - that's about being fine not the miserable gits bit. The problem for me is that our fear is very real and is self generated within the club. As supporters we're unable to influence what we see happening before our eyes.
So getting down to the nitty gritty and as a "miserable git" , what's the target for safety? 22 games left so will a point a game be enough? That would put us on 49 which historically should be enough to stay up. Over the past 10 years, only Blackburn have gone down from the Championship after accumulating 50 points, but bear in mind in our promotion season under Malky when we were Champions 8 points clear of Hull, Peterborough went down with 54 points.
Despite our recent "poor" results, I think we are getting things together slowly.... We just have to hope it's not done at too slow a pace. There's quite a few teams now with worse recent form than ours (QPR having been one despite their lofty position). The more Etete, Robinson and AN Other play together the better the understanding becomes and (hopefully) the more goals will come, even if only because we're creating more chances. Definitely think we have enough about us to stay up. If we stay "hard to beat" then there's always a chance we'll start nicking games...
Brizzo - I totally agree about having enough to stay up - it's a question about getting that "enough" out of the squad. I take your point about "nicking" games at the death, but when was the last time we scored the last goal in a game? I honestly don't know the answer to that but my gut feeling is we've either failed to score at all, or the opposition has pinched at least a point from us. I'd much rather be in control of a game and see it out rather than head into the last 15 minutes with 3 or 4 subs sent on to rescue it. That's a management quality that's been lacking and one that a more experienced and inspirational man at the helm would bring. I sincerely hope Hudson can get this together before we start looking around for other clubs to get points deductions to save our skin.
Should be okay with 49 points but as it stands that will be a big target and the long awaited shift in form and luck will be needed. Especially while under the umbongo. 3 or 4 points from the next 2 games would be a big help and something of a lift in form and confidence. Trouble is I can't see that happening.
From what I've seen this is the worst championship standard for a long time and from what I've seen of Cardiff it's fking embarrassing no style no big characters and no hope in the stands........we are nothing more than a toy the owner has forgotten about and the lack of love is glaringly obvious. No heart no soul no direction
