Tbf there wasn't much hope of any of our midfielders shining under Walter, so I doubt many came close to motm.
I've watched us all season, I've also seen the results and performances of sides such as Plymouth, Oxford, Stoke, Cardiff and Portsmouth. To say with any definitiveness that we're down is incredibly pessimistic. Stoke are dropping like a stone. Plymouth are as good as gone. Cardiff are a complete shambles and will probably sack their manager only a few weeks after appointing him. Rowett has had a first up win (against the aforementioned Cardiff) but it remains to be seen if they have the resources to compete effectively. Portsmouth are starting to get going but will suffer from the inconsistency of youth. We only need to be better than three of those clubs over the coming months.
He scored an arsey deflected goal against Cardiff but I'm not sure I'd call him instrumental in any of them. Belloumi and Millar were far and away our most influential players in those games. At the time we didn't even use our midfield under Dim Tim. And wasn't Zambrano one of the biggest factors in the thumping at Norwich with his through balls for Sainz?
Cardiff and Plymouth fair enough, but it's really difficult to argue that we're better than any of the others.
It's difficult to argue they're much better either though, which is the point, it's going to be close between all those sides and definitely not over yet. I do think you can make the case for us being better than Stoke, particularly as we beat them 3-1 when we played!! But also their form has been even worse than ours!
He gave the midfield a level of control we’d not really seen in possession. He also did a lot more off the ball than we’d seen previously
I get what you’re saying but supporters of those clubs are probably looking at us and thinking the same. We have been exceptionally poor this season.
I look at Portsmouth and Oxford and see sides that can grind out enough results to stay up, especially Oxford now they have Rowett. We just don't have that.
Absolutely, and I'm not saying that we're definitively better, I'm pointing out the factors impacting the teams around us who would also be ****ting bricks about relegation. It's a numbers game and only three go down. As long as we keep afloat and don't get cut adrift, I don't think there's anything suggesting we're definitively worse than 3-4 of those teams.
The fact we rarely concede more than one goal in a game tells me we definitely do have that. In our last 14 games (dating back to the Sunderland fixture) we've conceded more than one goal only 4 times. Meaning that often if we score we get a result. It's just about turning some of those 1s into 0s. In that same period of 14 games Oxford have conceded more than one goal 8 times (with 4 of those being 3+). Portsmouth have done it 6 times, granted, with two of those being 3+ (6 against Stoke and 4 against Derby). Suggests when their heads drop they really drop. Just to make the point that while it can appear they can grind out results, I don't think our ability to grind is that much better or worse than theirs for it to become a factor.
Possibly, but I think people fixate on our next three games being quite tough, when to me that just means we have our easier games in a clump later on. I'd almost rather that as it will be once we have a few new players in, and if we have a run of easier games - for instance when we play Stoke and Cardiff back to back - it means if we can get a win against Stoke it then sets us up well to have a go at Cardiff to make it back to back wins. Bookended by Sheff U and Burnley, granted, but it's really not panic stations yet.
The bottom 3 is genuinely going to be one of about 6 or 7 teams and you can make cases for any. Stoke’s next manager is massive for them. Oxford may just about be ok with rowett but their squad is weak. QPR can’t string results together. I could go on
A proven goal scorer in next month along with a creative goal scoring midfielder and we'll be fine. I could go on, midfield general, a left back who can stop crosses, but that's our basic requirements. The rest is down to Ruben to sort.
A proven goalscorer will be the hard one, especially in Jan. It’ll be a punt on a younger player I think
The situation we are in is not better than mid table mediocrity though, is it? Having watched City through numerous relegation battles, I can't say any of them have been particularly enjoyable - unless we've reached safety with a game or 2 to go.
Survival seasons are only really enjoyable in retrospect, in my opinion. The season we stayed up under Brown, the sheer elation when Deano’s goal against Cardiff went in was at the time amazing, but I didn’t fully appreciate the feat until some years later.
