There'd be no point having a Forum like this without differing views. However, we've got - say - 15,000 fans but only 1 accountable Manager. Whatever he does will be backed by some & opposed by others. He has 1 objective this season - get us promoted - and no-one can argue that currently we are anything but well placed to achieve that.
That was a good post until the end. Why do people think that us not being in a promotion spot is well-placed for promotion? If we finish in the playoffs we've only got a 1 in 4 chance of going up. We need to go up. Being 4th is a poor season so far, especially given how weak the top end of the league is and the fact we were top without really playing that well, and then weakly surrendered it. And before someone says, yes I know it's December. That doesn't suggest we're going to suddenly get better though. The fact we've barely played well at all in the first four months of the season isn't a good thing either.
How much good football did we play when we won 5 on the trot? Boro was good, certainly, but I don't remember much else of note. A 10 minute spell against Brum, a 10 minute spell against Ipswich... MK Dons was reportedly absolutely dire, can't remember what anyone said about Brentford, and I wasn't there either. I think Boro is the only time this season we've played convincingly, unless I'm forgetting a game.
No manager can be 100% nailed on to get us a top 2 place. We are 4th ... Thats good enough for me. No reason why we cant get 7 points from the next 3 games and get back in the top 2. Touch wood I wouldnt even consider sacking Steve Bruce at this moment in time. AA was the nob who refused to buy steve Bruces chosen striker from Brentford. And the trio of injuries hasnt helped so thats not Steve Bruces Fault either. Bruce in
Im not sure the Foolish Allams want promotion....why the **** did they refuse to pay the asking price for andre gray ? Im not sure they will even back Steve Bruce in january transfer window either.
Maybe Steve Bruce has wasted so much resources bringing however many hopeless strikers to Hull City that the Allams quite understandably weren't willing to risk such a large amount again with such a high chance of finding themselves out of pocket again with another useless striker on the books that's too expensive to get off.
If it was a role of the dice like in dungeons and dragons but its not. There are plenty of factors that will effect our odds of going up if we make the playoffs (injuries to us and the other teams, momentum etc) but there is little chance that it will be exactly 25%.
Just for a change (!) let's agree to disagree - We're better off after 19 games than I expected us to be and I'm more than happy that we are well placed for promotion this season.
Maybe it's just expectation. I think with our squad in this weak division we should be a freely scoring and winning the league a la Newcastle in 2009/10.
For five games recently we lived up to those expectations, then, suddenly, something changed, and we reverted back to our previous performances, and results. For me and many others it's crystal clear to see what changed, for Bob and Steve Bruce it's seemingly not so easy.
We still might (although as this is Hull City I doubt it!). We are second top scorers in the League at the moment & our most recent forward signing hasn't even played yet - have faith!! .
If we could have shifted Jelavic sooner than we did then Andre Gray would have been @ Hull City. AA did not want to be lumbered with too man expensive strikers in the championship. As a side issue, If Hull City were to go up to the PL and Burnley did not, I wonder what the buy out clause will be in Gray's contract ? Maybe Moses knows ?
Well, for one thing, Dawson got injured & our defence started leaking like a sieve. Meyler got injured & our midfield lost impetus. Hernandez got injured & our attack lost a goalscorer. Put all three together & there's a large part of the reason why. Add in the fact that both Huddlestone and Diame have so far been ineffectual at Championship level & there's yet more reason. Yet we're still well in the promotion race, still second top scorers. Dawson will soon be back, Snodgrass is getting fitter and Diomande has yet to start. Still a lot of positives around.
For one game. Don't try and make out Ipswich, Brum or MK Dons games were any good. We played just like we have done since the international break but Dawson instead of Davies at the back kept us solid and allowed us to grind out wins. The only game we've actually played well in for longer than a brief 5 minute spell was against Boro. And the best stuff we played against Boro was all in the last 10/15 minutes, which all went through Tom Huddlestone. Maybe its seemingly not so easy for you armchair managers to see he makes us a better team. Probably why you're not in the dugout on a match day eh.
At the international break we had leaked just 8 goals. Since then and Dawson's injury 5. (man city was not a league game) Diame has been ok but should be doing better. Still a long way to go. Until we get our best players back onto the pitch some games will be lost but that does not make "a lack of effort" acceptable.
So basically then our ex-PL squad depth is complete and utter ****e? Three players lost to injury and we seemingly have no adaquate replacements, or at least none that Bruce deems worthy of selection.
