Having been at work since lunchtime I have only just got in and seen that we drew 1-1 with Norwich. I have also noticed that there is still a lot of negativity surrounding our performance on this board, but I for one am actually in quite good spirits - perhaps it is the fact that I didn't see the game so didn't get bogged down in all the frustrations that a football match involving our beloved QPR entails. Maybe that makes me a little more objective in how I see our result today, so let me give you all a few reasons to be cheerful 1. Regardless of the performance, we got a point away from home in the Premier League. This achieves three things: - It breaks our away losing streak that we've had since last winter, - It was accomplished against a side and at a stadium where we regularly seem to lose, - It constitutes a significant improvement over last weekend (we scored one more and conceded four less goals in today's game). 2. Swansea today proved that their result against us, however badly we played, was no fluke. 3-0 against a West Ham side buoyed by the signing of Jarvis from Wolves is another impressive result and as such this should detract from some of the misery of last weekend (and trust me, I was miserable after watching that!). 3. Regardless of individual performances, this result shows that as a team we must be improving - you don't go from losing 5-0 at home to drawing 1-1 away without at least some improvement! So we're on an upward curve so to speak. We have numerous players with outstanding technical ability, but a team needs time to gel and find its rhythm. And pre-season friendlies are nothing compared to the competitive heat of battle in the PL, this is where our players will truly begin to understand each other. Hopefully with a positive result against Walsall this upward curve will continue, and restore a bit of confidence and hope to players and fans alike. 4. I remember many of us (myself included) were craving the chance to become a mid-table side with a bit of stability, and pointed out Everton as a prime example. Disregarding this season, don't forget that Everton seemed to be habitual slow-starters, yet always came good by the end of the season. Their example shows that nothing is won or lost in the first few games, and our mid-table objective is still perfectly achievable. Stay optimistic!! Hopefully these points might cheer a few of you up... if you're still feeling miserable then head to the e-bar and sink a few beers! U RRRRs!
A lot of good points there, and yes I'm still optimistic, but in truth we were below average today. A good point gained none the less. The main problem is that expectations have increased ten fold, I'd take 16th this season personally
I agree with all your points apart from number three. There was no improvement whatsoever, we were just playing poorer opposition, and were luckier than last week. I've no doubt we need time to gel, but have absolutely no excuses for not being more "gelled" than we are currently. I would say the current level of gelling is an unacceptable one- given how early during the transfer window many of our players were acquired, and given how well teams with a similar number of new faces seem to be performing. Definitely objectively though, the result alone is a step in the right direction, which i suppose might have a decent psychological effect on the players/staff
Nice post Liverpool but tbh I wish I hadn't watched the game either and enjoyed the result because I can't disagree with Grifter.
A very good article, but the only thing you don't mention is whether Hughes can get the players playing in the right formation with the right tactics! And that is the biggie for me!!
Maybe this is just me, but one of the small things i feel slightly more confident about it our defence.. Not because it performed well, but because i think Hughes is slightly closer to knowing his best back four. Bosingwa had to be introduced earlier than expected due to Traore's injury, and Hill's terrible performance meant Onouha got 45 mins. Hughes' hand was forced- he had no option but to introduce players who probably should have started anyway. Imagine if we'd bumbled along with fabio/ferdinand/hill/traore for the whole match, nothing would have progressed defence wise. I feel a lot more comfortable knowing we'll probably be going ahead with fabio/onouha/ferdinand/bosingwa into the city game( or with whatever CB's are bought in the meantime..). Plus nearer the end Fabio started improving a bit. Maybe he's taking a little longer than the rest to adjust, because he's only ever experienced being in a side where he gets extra time on the ball and has good players backing him up.
if im honest i can't wait for the transfer window to shut as i feel this is playing a big part. i just feel Hughes just don't know his best 11 and is thinking who to bring in. At least when the window is closed he knows what he has to work with and we can start putting a regular 11 out week in week out. Because untill we start doing this the players can not build a partnership with each other.
I think a lot of people on here are making things more complicated than they actually are. Bringing up things like gelling, right/wrong players, bad tactics or rubbish manager. Even fitness has been mentioned. Why can't it be the simple fact that we're playing s**t, that this is our rough patch and any points we get while in it are a bonus. We all know from the championship that all teams have a minimum 10 game bad patch. And in the premiership it's about 7-8 games. Even man city and man utd had it last year! Usually it's everton, fulham, wigan etc. At the start of the season this year it's us, villa, spurs etc. so the honest truth is we could be s**t all the way up to October minimum, and we'll just have to come on here and moan about it every sat night til we get better. And as positive as I am that we'll do well this year, the fact is this forum is the perfect place for us to vent our anger after a game, and it makes us happier in the long run. If we can't abuse our manager/team/club when we're s**t then when can we??
Cheers guys, good responses and some interesting points in return! Grifter, I see what you mean about the gelling, it certainly is disappointing that it seems to be taking a while for a number of our new signings to settle in, but don't forget that for the third successive transfer window in a row we've been one of the most active clubs, and after each of those transfer windows (particularly January and apparently this one) it has taken time for the team to play to its full potential. Hopefully with the quality and number of signings we've made this summer January will be relatively quiet and we won't have to suffer any more 'gelling' periods! Col, I was more reflecting on what today's result meant, and given that I didn't see the game nor have a seen any highlights yet I can't really make an informed comment! All I can say is that I believe MH is about the best man we could hope to have right now, he kept us up last season and I'd like to see what he can do for us when all these new players start playing to their potential. From what Grifter says, events today appear to have helped find something like our best defensive line-up, so that's another positive! Wrightyboy, I agree entirely with your comment! Bring on September 1st! Although we are back at Man City that day... fingers crossed for a repeat of last season's committed performance!
