If only! From past experience, SB being stubborn, would probably think 3rd time lucky, and play the same system yet again, expecting a different result!
Hmmm. Yeah -Bristol did the double over Borough this season. Preston won at Burnley. Rotherham beat Middlesbrough.
I believe that we have done fantastically well to be where we are with what we've got. Defence has been really good and no grumbles there. Failing to make progress into the final third and create chances has caught up with us. Fat Lady not singing yet but she's warming up. Cannot see us getting a top-two finish and with little or no strike force I cannot see us getting to Wembley again.
I don't think both of the sentences I've quoted can be true at the same time about this squad. First half of the season we had a top defence, and at one point we were top scorers in the division whilst still complaining about the amount of chances we were wasting. We were more than arguably the best team in the division and we weren't even playing well by our own players' standards. With our squad we should be in the top 2, and comfortably there, with Middlesbrough (post January signings) trying to chase us down for the title. Burnley are a team doing fantastically well with their squad. Being in the playoffs and 7 points adrift of auto is not doing fantastically well with what we have available. If players had got injured since the first half of the season then I might view it differently, but they're not, they're sat on the bench or in the stands, either because the manager has inexplicably decided not to play them or because they've gone further off the boil than they already were. In any case, we are not getting the best out of what we have. If we're not making chances now and we're losing or drawing as a result then it's deserved, but that's not something catching up with us. We were doing very well earlier in the season, so it's a result of us no longer making best use of what we have. As far as the playoffs go, in the form we're in we've got no chance, so it might be better to finish 7th and get on with planning for next season than to finish 6th and drag it out for another couple of weeks.
Doesn't matter who we get, we won't win them. I think Wednesday are going to win them. I'm quite concerned that my pre-season prediction of finishing between 5th and 8th is looking quite likely.
Hernandez hasn't scored in his last 11 games Ric. Diomande and Akpom are as useless as tits on a bull. The least said about Elmo the better. I have noticed the team swearing at each other during the game. Hardly 'team spirit' football. We were looking promising at one stage but it has all gone pear-shaped. I don't know what has caused this but there are still points to be played for although we are now up against it. P.S. Burnley just won again!
How have you come to that conclusion? He's only featured 6 league games this season and scored once, even then those were sub appearances with very little time to make an impact. We've got to stop slagging him off, at least until he's played a lot more for us.
Hernandez scored today FACT Diomande scored today FACT Agree about Elmo - wouldn't surprise me if one of his team mates battered him, as he seems to be trying to sabotage our attempts to win. Great substitutions from SB today- within a couple of minutes Aluko had carved out a cross for the goal.
All of which (particularly the bold) brings me back to, we're no longer making the most of what we have, therefore it can't be said that we're doing well to be where we are with what we have.
The conclusion is that Burnley won ('just' or not) and Middlesbrough won. We drew and fell another 2 points behind. Hernandez and Diomande scored and that's fine and about time. Top-two finish for us will need a small miracle and the pack are baying at our heels so play-offs are not guaranteed yet.
What I actually said Ric was: "I believe that we have done fantastically well to be where we are with what we've got". We've had one striker all season and a very erratic midfield. Clucas and Heyden have not done the job they were brought in for and neither have Akpom and Diomande. Elmo has died. Powell has nursed injuries and is now out for the rest of the season. I still think we have done well under these circumstances. I really do.
Just so the two line up: we're doing well to be where we are with what we have. we have done fantastically well to be where we are with what we've got You realise the only differences between those sentences are I've described it in present tense you in past tense, you've gone as far as saying fantastically well rather than just well, and I didn't use the word got. The very fact we have an erratic midfield with the players we've got means we've not done well, fantastically or otherwise. To say otherwise is akin to a health and safety inspector coming round to a building site and saying they're really happy with standards because they've done well to only have 1 person killed by falling debris since they've been leaving all the hard hats in the portakabin.
I've sent this to my Philadelphia Lawyer for translation as, being (as OLM affectionately refers to me) 'a retired ditch-digger', I cannot understand what the kinell you are saying.
