I don't believe anyone can claim this was a "good" performance, however, seeking positives whilst accepting the failures too is sensible enough. Defensively we were ok, so that's a positive but from an attacking and control aspect we were pretty poor for sure, and I think Riza subtly acknowledged so too What I would say though is labelling clubs like Wednesday, Plymouth and Pompey as poor is a little harsh. We all know that any side can beat anyone else in this division on any given day, so to me, I'd suggest any points gained are always good. Yes it's ok to be disappointed it's not more but the reality is we're a club who's spending in recent years has paled into insignificance when compared to many of our divisional rivals. The upheaval of manager after manager has certainly taken its toll and as we all know, the lack of genuine football acumen at the club is holding us back massively. In saying all that though, we are still plugging away at a very good level within the pyramid, so anyone labelling this team and/or our performances as some of our worst ever either weren't around for the genuinely worst times, have short memories or have rose tinted specs on what life in the old division 4 was really like... We're a million miles away from being a top team but we're also a long way away from our real worst times!!
Fair points BB but we are where we are and it is a little unrealistic to draw comparisons with 20/30/40 years ago. We may have adverse feelings about our owner but he is a million miles better than some of the dross we had in those times. He may not put as much money into team building as we would like but he dips his hand in his pocket to keep us going. We are an established Championship side which has had 2 seasons in the prem in the last 12 years. More than many other clubs. We have had some very good players but unfortunately well documented club management issues and, in a number of cases, very poor recruitment and frequent less than average managerial appointments have left us where we are. I agree with your last paragraph and at least 3 wins before Christmas, starting Wednesday v QPR, can see us climbing the table again. Is Riza the man for the job? I don't know but if we dump him in the next 4 or 5 weeks we are back to first base again in having to find a new suck...., sorry manager, with the next change of style that will inevitably bring. More confusion for the players with little money to get new players in, other than loans. Or, as we all agree on here, dump Kanga ASAP and possibly Meitie and get in a couple of strikers, either Prem young guns wanting first team experience, or lower league players who can score and who want the challenge of stepping up. Or as most of us suggest, use our young guns, especially Reindorf,and Isak when fit, and see what they can do.
Nothing short sighted with me Brizzo - been there, read the book. I call it as I see it and we're talking about this particular game here not history. "On another day" - how many times have we heard that? The fact of the matter was we only got a point because Sheff Wed weren't good enough to take all three. Apart from a decent save by their keeper from an excellent shot by Tanner in the second half, we barely troubled them. We created nothing in their box from open play nor outside it for that matter. On the other hand, Windass should have scored at least one and Pato could have scored twice in his 10 minute cameo. That winger out wide on their right should have scored as well, and his replacement (Musaba?) continued to push O'Dowda and eventually Bagan back. If we'd lost that 5-1 we wouldn't have a complaint such was our performance devoid of any creativity.The fact we got a point from the game was entirely their fault and Rohl was rightly peeved about it. Bannan pulled the strings to the same extent that Colwill just couldn't, and that's where our game control evaporated. He lost the ball far too often and his head went down as a result. When things are going well around him he can provide the spark, but when the chips are down, for all his skills he doesn't impose any influence on the game. I'm not saying for a minute it was Colwill's fault we played so poorly generally, but I'm fed up with pasting over the cracks for the sake of it and claiming some moral victory. If they'd scored a second, and let's face it they had plenty of chances, there'd be a more realistic approach on here toward the sub standard performance. In the end we got an unlikely point from poor overall performance - FFS we can hardly pass a ball to one another for a start so we have to adopt the Rorke's Drift approach to get some sympathy.
Good debate fellow posters Won’t be too long before we’re all back on here for the QPR post match discussions.
