Having watched our recent matches,and the adopted playing format it appears we do
not have the fight or determination to survive as a premiership club.
I know i will be criticised for my negativity, by those postees, who accept mediocrity
as our highest form of achievement,but lets face facts, we have failed to even reach this level.
Apart from those glorious RH seasons,we seem though, talented on paper,lack the three most important ingrediants
conviction, motivation, determination,some or all of these atributes,can be seen in those clubs who are in religation
dogfight. My aspirations as a supporter are no so high Stand up if you believe,a great Micky Adams quotation,adered to by most fans,but not by it appears many of our
lacklustre team and management.
I won't criticise your negativity, Rosc, but I will criticise the way you dismiss anyone who disagrees with you as 'accepting mediocrity'. It may just be that we see things differently. Your use of commas is irritatingly eratic as well, but that's neither here nor there.
I agree that we should be finishing higher up the table than we have done, and that even though it would take astonishingly bizarre results to put us down we should have been absolutely safe long before now. I'm realistic that we're never likely to be challenging for the Champions League places, but we should be doing better than our current position. Now for the things that I do disagree with...
I don't get to as many matches as you, but the last game I was at, Reading, is one where several posters here have criticised our lack of fight. That wasn't what I saw. We were poor in the first half, but really went for it in the second. To twice come back and score having gone two goals behind isn't the sign of a team with no fight. On the thread for that game someone listed the number of times we hit the woodwork, were denied by excellent saves from McCarthy or otherwise had a promising move break down by the ball bouncing the wrong way in the box (that last one you can maybe put down to poor technique, but not lack of effort), plus the two penalty claims that we were denied (correctly, in my opinion, although I know that others disagree with me). On another day, that could just have easily have been 4-2 to us. It was a bad defeat, but not a hopeless or hapless one.
I'm sure at some point someone will be saying 'if we hadn't won against QPR (or whoever else), we'd now be looking at relegation'. That's true. It's also true that if Hangeland hadn't been sent off against Sunderland when we were in stunning form, we would probably now have 6-10 more points at least. The three from that game, plus some of the points we dropped during his suspension. That was the moment that turned our season from one of looking upwards in hope to looking backwards in concern. When we criticise Jol for how we have done recently, we should also remember how well he had us playing at the start of the season. There's no reason to think we can't get back to that level again.
There are problems in the team, but there's also a lot of potential. The biggest mistake Jol made, in retrospect, was to trust Dembele when he said he was happy to stay at Fulham. When Moussa then left at the last minute with no time to line up a replacement it meant that our midfield has been a case of make do and mend with free agents and loans rather than a class act to build a side around. Should we have lined up a signing just in case? Perhaps, although it's hard to say to a player, 'We'll sign you if we lose someone, can you keep yourself free for us on the off chance we come back for you?'. The timing of the Spurs bid made it an impossible situation. Karagounis was a great best-available solution, but we something longer term this summer. If we don't sign one or more quality (which may or may not mean established big names) central midfielders to build around in the summer, then - and only then - I'll be alongside you in the queue for the anxiety clinic.
Stand up if you still believe? Well, I've just paused in my typing to stand up (I actually did stop and stand up, which is a little bit sad of me). As Micky Adams also used to say, Keep the Faith.
) would have to admit he has an upside. Without his big fee, he would not be the target for criticism that he has become. He is a very good attacking player and he can be accommodated in the right system. We've been playing catch up since the club gambled on retaining Dembele; this summer we should finally get the chance for Jol to reset and identify the first team style and personnel he really wants. 
