We all accept that historically, every side has a "blip" in form or a bad run of results at some point through the season. Your's seems a little later than usual this year - when do you reckon it'll start?
No, because I think we are behind on trend in comparison to most of the teams who went up in the autos over the last 3 seasons. Seems around Jan and Feb you get a blip and then for some as the pressure mounts into the last 10 games
'Ang on a minute though - we had one hell of a blip last season. So much so we ended up in the Prem......
Next month is the big test in my opinion because after Xmas every year in recent times the wheels come off, even the year we were top on Xmas day under Grayson and were in the top 6 all season. We finished 7th
If we had all the players fit and available that we had at the start of the season I’d not even be slightly concerned but sadly we haven’t and although the young lads coming in have done great, I fear we’re going to miss the skills of Saiz and experience of those injured defenders. I also fear what if we get just one more injury to the likes of Pablo or Pontus, it would possibly stop us dead in our tracks. We need to drag ourselves into January, I don’t believe for a second we won’t make 1 or 2 signings, Bielsa, Rads, Orta they’re not stupid, they can see what we’re seeing.
The halfway point over and around Xmas can be a minefield for teams previously doing well. Last season we had a terrible Xmas period - we lost 4 on the bounce in December and everyone said we'd blown it. There is no magic answer and new imports in January (£6M for Madine ) did nothing to help matters for us. Almost a year on from then and Madine hasn't scored a single goal for the club. It's a question of self belief and ploughing on with what you've got with a manager in charge to make it happen - hope Bielsa is that man.
Grayson still despises Bates for not backing him that January, he had 2 players who wanted to come but Bates refused his request, that's when their relationship went sour. Grayson was confident those 2 would have made the difference.
It takes a big man to admit that getting promoted from the championship to premiership represents a blip in his teams performance. Thank you for being so honest. Time you got a new manager dont you think afterall you can only Blame the ref so many times befor it becomes monotonous.
