Big time.... By the time he gets back we'll be midtable also-rans. Which will be disappointing, but will signal that the squad is no where near good enough to sustain a top six finish....ie 24/25 season beckons to have a right go...If the right bodies come into the building..!!!!!!!!!!!?????????
Lokilo not good enough. Allsop too easy to score against. Billy Sharp not for the legs to be anything other than an impact striker off the bench.
I agree with much of your post GLP but their player looked to leave a mark on him very early in the game? A sort of 'here lad,this is what the Championship is all about'.He caught Connolly on the foot,he winces and limps around for 5 minutes but he's running it off,then he's pole-axed,game over!! He's concussed,his shoulders damaged and it looks likely that it's another injury that could see him out for a couple of weeks of whatever,another big blow to join the other big blows over the last month or so.We're far weaker now than we've ever been throughout the season. If we'd no bad luck at the moment we'd have no luck at all...
Not only is he always complaining, grimacing as though he's just been shot, but he walks like a penguin from side to side. He needs to seriously look into that. He's a decent player though so should be given time to get his act together.
A very frustrating evening, particularly as Gunn wiped out Connolly reducing us to one semi fit striker and then proceded to make a wonder save in 2nd half. But we are constantly losing narrowly against teams around us and currently Liam doesnt seem able to solve this recurring problem. Somehow this team is losing the big moments. We played some great football but as usual we didn't create enough and while Jones and Greaves look good we are conceding 2-3 goals a game and still look vulnerable when teams run at us. Maybe they aren't as good as they look? I don't know. I started the season thinking we'd finish top half, briefly thought we might make top 6 after the Cardiff win and now think we'll finish around 12th unless we try to replace Delap anf bring in a right winger.
Sharp was only denied by a worldie save. Against another keeper on another night he'd play the same way and get 2.
That 5% extra comes from the players. What's so frustrating is we're doing the right things 99% of the time, controlling it far more often than not. But we're soft in both final 3rds at the moment. And that needs sorting.
The lack of Philogene is killing us. He kept coming up with major moments in games that turned into goals and assists and they change games. The problem is amplified by us only having one decent winger in the squad and playing a style that relies on pace. The depth in the squad is lacking as has been mentioned over and over but it's slowly getting there. A proper keeper coming in is going to be great, Jacob had a solid game too which was a massive bonus and that means we only need 1 LB which will hopefully be coming in permanently. I suspect it's Luke Thomas as he's just gone back to Leicester officially now. Keep performing well and we'll eventually get our just desserts
Hull boss Liam Rosenior told BBC Radio Humberside: "The outcome was the same as it has been in a lot of games we've played - dominate, dominate, don't score, one moment [from them], they score. "We have to take the dominance and turn it into goals and results, but in terms of the players' engagement, commitment to the shirt, their pressing and energy - they [Norwich] couldn't get out of their half in the second half. "There are lots of positives, but we need to start taking advantage of these games. It's really hard to put my finger on it because 80%, 90% of our play is so good. "We've got 19 games left, we're a point outside the play-offs, we're still in a good position but we have to find a way to be more ruthless." Norwich head coach David Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk: "It was a top performance in terms of the work ethic, the togetherness, the fighting spirit. "We created not a lot, but four or five top opportunities, on a difficult pitch and that we have made the double against Hull is just great. "If we want to compete for the play-offs, we had to dramatically improve our goals conceded because there were far too many and we had to give them a clear picture and a clear idea of what they had to change and do better. "Ashley Barnes up front fought like a warrior, for every inch, but this is exactly what you have to do on a pitch like this and in a game like this. Ve bullied them off the park and the referee was Delia in disguise..."
I think someone in the middle, who can dictate things. Despite being hamstrung by injuries, we are far too good to be losing 6 out of last 9.
Prime Cyrus Christie last season didn't cross the ball much. He'd advance into the box where the defenders wouldn't dare stick a leg out. He'd keep running at them with the ball and he'd either slide a short pass through for an advancing team mate to tap in or if he had an inkling of space he'd get a decent shot off. He won us points practically on his own by doing that. At times he was the wish version of Philogene, just doing the basics, but really confidently and with a big impact... As of right now with the injuries we have, we've got nobody doing anything like this consistently. Without proper wingers in this system our best efforts all come as deeper, central shots that have to go through or around defenders, or occasionally we create chances from a good, direct long ball over the top that someone has run onto (but this is more of a lottery). We're still crying out for true quality width in this team as an outlet and for chance creation. We're already blessed with great central attacking options but without that natural width, pace, guile, directness and trickery that a traditional winger brings (Philogene), we're too easy to defend against. You can argue anything about their keeper's saves getting them 3 points, the ref being ****e (which he really was) but at the end of the day we're not showing we're good enough at the moment. As well as up top this includes the numerous sloppy defensive errors, various goalkeeping errors, the fact we're too nice etc... Where was our Josh Windass when Connolly got cleaned out or when Coyle got elbowed? It was a frustrating night. I'm going to chalk this one up to it just wasn't our day - but we're having a lot of those at the moment despite the injury list and we're still our own worst enemies all too often at both ends of the pitch. We're too often too toothless. Part of me wonders if we've hit a bit of a glass ceiling on performances due to the lack of bulk and mettle throughout the squad. Teams cut right through us time and time again with good runs and few passes yet we constantly halt momentum until there are bodies everywhere we don't want them to be.
Were massively missing Seri. Don't necessarily need a clogger, just needed someone to take a tactical yellow for their breakaway on their first. Fingers and toes still cold. Bring on even colder on wearside haha!
I think there's something on this point about our centre backs. While they look stylish and make some good tackles I don't really feel they are commanding centre backs. I can't put my finger on whether they have some responsibility for our appalling recent goals conceded record. But I'll continue to say we concede fewer when Mcloughlin plays.
I thought we hit a brick wall physically tonight in terms of the opposition. Our only hope was to get round the back of them and deliver a ball good to be buried . Having said that I believe Philogene and Delap would have pushed us over the line tonight but obviously both are currently unavailable . Defensively we do seem to have a mistake in every single one of our defenders over 90 minutes and while that might be hard for some to accept considering the effort put in by lads who give 100% its quickly becoming evident possession alone cannot guarantee victory especially if your leaking goals at the other end. On the positive side our club is in fine hands now and whilst tonight’s defeat was a thorn in our attempt’s to progress we have to look at the bigger picture and trust those in charge know what’s needed to give supporters a team that deserves promotion and takes it. UTT.
Allsop should be doing better with the first IMO. We bossed that whole game, just not ruthless enough. Philo coming back will be pivotal to us having any chance of playoffs. And if no-one has said it....lokilo is ****
