Martin's season is being defined by points dropped unfortunately. I just can't work out whether we are good enough or not. If we win our 2 in hand then we have won 24 vs Ipswich's and Leeds' 25 but it still feels like we should have won at least 3-4 games more than that. Hudds, Millwall, Rotherham, today. I think the reason there are 4 teams running away with it is that the league generally is pretty poor. I don't think Ipswich are particularly good but they are very good at winning. That's the coaching difference. Martin's style has obviously transformed the mood but it hasn't made us hungry enough. edit - I don't think the whole league is poor but the bottom half is not good and that's where we have lost too many points.
The match felt really lacklustre but there has been that feel to our performances after the run came to an end at Bristol. When we were unbeaten for so long, the performances clicked and I felt that our promotion was dependent upon whether we could continue the momentum. In my opinion, Jack Stephens was excellent in the first few months of the season until he got injured. Now he has returned, I feel the team has lost it's mojo. I was interested to read the criticism of Smallbone on this thread as, although I was initially not a fan, he was excellent during our run and seriously under-valued by most of our fans. He was poor today but so where Adams and Downes. I think the issue is that we have too many players who have undr-performed the last few weeks. In addition, we seem to be playing out from the back more frequently than before and seem less adept at it. I also think that our passing seems less accurate (especially with the back four) and we have played at a slower pace. I have said it previously but I think we have exceeded most people's expectations this season. Martin inherited a disaster zone and the fact that we went on that incredible run playing excellent football is no mean thing.However, I think that we would go straight back down if relegated.There are still problems that need to be tackled. I feel that Martin is the man to steady the ship yet am not convinced he can perform the same miracle that he has this season. Next season the Championship will be easier . My concern is that Martin has peaked too soon. We could finish top two next season with the current squad . I think we will lose many of our better players as happened to Boro last season. Portsmouth will be an interesting proposition and I think they will be in the mix for promotion to the Prem. I cannot see four teams dominating the Championship next season as has happened in this one which has seen the standard of the Championship match the lower half of this seaon;s Prem. If I an honest, the annoying thing for me was that last seaon's relegation now seems so unnecessary. The SR decision making truly messed things up to the extent that I do not believe our current squad would be in the relegation dogfight in 2023/4. SR's decisions at the top cost us relegation . I feel this current team could have finished mid-table as the Prem has been weak this season. Had the current set up been in place at the beginning of August 2022, I do not think we would have gone down.
That is like moaning at a cherry for being sweet, winter for being cold or Russ for playing possession football. We know Che can't finish, and have done for years, our decision to rely on him as our only proper no.9 was made with this knowledge in hand. It is on the club, not him.
That "lack of intensity" led to about 3 or 4 huge chances which would have been slotted home had we had anything like a clinical front 3. At times I have made the "lack of intensity" accudation toward Martin, but tonight that was the least of our issues.
Thing is. We were the worst of the three relegated teams last season. We're the worst of the three relegated teams this season. So...
Hang on....wasn't it even worth discussing Leicester because they were promoted cut and dried? Now they're not even top two. If nothing else this shows things can change rather more than we think. We are neither crap nor brilliant - it's more to do with consistency, The most consistent team in the division currently is Ipswich but we must realise that can change. Unless some of us just love being unhappy?
I disagree. We created 3 or 4 huge chances because of the superior quality of player we have. Yes that should have been enough to win; we wasted those guilt edge chances and we give away chances to the opposition for fun so we need to create a lot more. Just because we had enough chances to win, it doesn’t mean we played well. It doesn’t change the fact that for 70 minutes our play was mostly incredibly insipid, slow, ponderous, aimless sideways passing. We rarely looked dangerous and yet still created multiple brilliant chances. If we had played with more intensity, played the ball quicker, had more shots from players cutting inside we would have torn Middlesbrough a new one. We looked like we thought we had the game won after about 20 minutes.
Hmm. If we beat Ipswich, and won our two games in hand, we’re only a point behind them. Lose on Monday and it’s playoffs one presumes. Win, and we’re still clinging on.
Yeah, and one of the games in hand is against Leicester so we would be level with them aswell a minimum I think.
Who said I'm ****ing pleased! Pathetic attitude from some writing us off wailing . I'm as frustrated as anyone
Absofuckinglutely! Those that had Leicester nailed on as champions eat a slice of humble pie. It may still happen but not the forgone conclusion some said. We're not out of the race until it's a mathematical certainty although the bookies probably have us in the playoffs. I wouldn't want those that wrote off our season before a ball was kicked anywhere near any team I played in.
Absolutely this ^^^ It’s frustrating when you know how good we can be and we allow teams to affect our mindset and lose our pro-activity Players have to make decisions on when to be patient and when to be intense and we need to do that as a team Saying that, we are where we are and this season is exceeding my expectations and has had more entertainment than we’ve had in a long while We were in a poor state before Russ arrived and I think another season rebuilding would do us good … … however I also understand the challenges that creates with retaining our best players and replacing those we lose … however who wants to go up and have a season like Sheffield are having?
Extended breaks are generally seen as good because of regaining fitness, resting players, work on the training ground etc but they can halt momentum and make a team match rusty also. That's how we looked yesterday with the players not appearing to play instictively and looking a little slow at times. Playing Ipswich so soon after is a good thing imo and I believe that the team will be bang up for it knowing that is a probable must win to retain any chance of automatic promotion.
