very good post rick, especially re: the relegated teams last season. i do think people need to accept that just staying in this division at the moment is a great achievement for our club. of course we all want the club to improve and become established but this won't happen overnight. we've only spent 3 of the last 18 seasons in the top flight. it is an achievement to stay up, no matter what anyone says.
You say playing in the Prem is always going to be tough. If that is so, then it is equally tough for those outside the top 8 (indulge me that amount). So the fear and lack of desire we saw from Fulham should have inspired us to have a crack at them. And the excuse about Holt being injured doesn't wash with me. Why didn't Jackson, a Prem player more than Becchio has been, start alongside Becchio. If points are tough to come by then surely an attempt to get three at once is worth it? Or will I still being reading similar posts next season? I think we have a good enough squad to keep us up comfortably if they are allowed to play their own game and let their instincts prevail now and again. To see our back four defending on the edge of their own box against a team with no attacking intentions saddened me.
thing is, fulham, despite being the most negative side to visit carrow road this season, are a club we need to model ourselves on. limited capacity, stable, well run and ultimately they are a consistent, mid table premier league outfit year in, year out, because they are able to grind out results and play the way they did at the weekend. the fact we are capable of playing that way as well might not go down too well with some fans right now but it is a good sign for the long term health of the club and any hope of a prolonged stay in this division means games like this will be seen from time to time. at the moment they are happening a bit too often but what we need to add is a little more flair and pace going forward in much the same ways teams like fulham, west brom and sunderland have which perhaps we don't yet have on the books, at least, not in terms of the quality that those teams possess. the mistake on saturday was to not go for it earlier, around the 65th-70th minute, but again, options on the bench were somewhat limited. personally i'd have thrown surman into the mix and kamara earlier (if fit enough) in an attempt to unlock fulham's excellent defence. i say it all the time - we have to be patient. it'll come. some people might be bored but i for one can see some very encouraging signs, signs which point towards a much more ambitious team next season, one that can defend but also attack much better than right now
I agree about Surman. He can do things that others can't. He does get an awful press sometimes because if he is out on the left many think he is there to bang in crosses. Not his game at all.
I think this discussion is at the heart of City's situation at the moment. I also thought that Surman might come on for Bennett, who doesn't look comfortable on the left (though he did all right, IMO). Bennett's reverse pass to Garrido, who then crossed for Becchio to put a shot on target was the moment of the match (similar to the goal against Spurs). I also think that if Holt and Becchio had started, City would have won, and even more so if Pilks had played as well. Survive now, add a quality striker, a defensive midfielder who can attack as well (like a Yaya Toure) and another quality CB and next season will be very different.
I seem to be the only one on here who objects to being called a coward just because I think we're in big trouble unless we get out of this bad run quickly. We can do it, of course we can, but this is a terrible time of the season to be hitting the skids. Relegation over the years has been littered with teams who go into a taildive after Christmas. And stating that makes us realists, in my opinion Beefy, not cowards.
