er no but it will be a close run thing, not helped by our feb. fixture list. i suspect we may not sign any other players, and no clubs are in any rush to loan any of our players, apart from a goalkeeper anyon. i suspect hartlepool and pompey will find one more to go down with them. our cause was not helped yesterday by our rivals results, particularly colchester beating walsall. it is possible that if town get 48 points they may survive. floreat salopia!
I think we'll get as many points in Feb as we have this month; something I've said all along. We're far, far better against teams who try and attack us (barring Swindon) because we lack the quality to unlock teams who sit back and defend.
As has beeen talked about on here and other forums, 20th position at the end of this season is a good(ish) result. It's just painful watching a collection of PROFESSIONAL football players show us simpletons who pay to watch them how football shouldn't be played.
Relegation beckons. An inability to attract decent players and inconsistent team selections. Last 2 games are crucial in all probability-Colchester away and Portsmouth at home.
KSD, I agree with you absolutely. Unless we sign two decent strikers by Thursday I think we will be relegated. 48 points is surely an absolute mimimum and I just cannot see where our next goal is coming from. The last two home performances have been absolutely dire. Against two of the poorest sides in this league we have gone whole stertches of each game without creating a single chance. We have very little energy or creativity in midfield and our attack is totally feeble. Morgan (who I have defended in the past) was totally woeful yesterday and clearly needs a rest. Rather than try to move to the ball he is just wrestling with defenders appealing for free kicks that never come and the ball is just bouncing off him when it does come near him. I have always said that to be Bradshaw's size and play up frot you have to be very quick and a lethal finisher and he is neither. As for Rodgers he did lift the mood of despondency for a few games but does not seem to be fit enough to play for ninety minutes and is also often ill ( is the club looking properly at his diet and lifestyle?). GT is rightly a hero in Town fans eyes but this season it has to be said there have been some very poor players brought in permanently (Purdie, Parry, Doble spring to mind) and some even worse ones bought in on loan (Hector, Collins, Bennett, Proctor, Winnall ). The team selection also seems all over the place with poor loanees given starts over our own decent players like Goldson and Jacobson. Important players like Richards have been moved all over the place and lost form. We have also largely dispensed with our passing style of play and adopted a kick and rush style with Richards playing quarterback and lamping 50 yard punts over our forwards into the grateful arms of the opposing keeper. Why did Summerfield and Mcginn not start yesterday? Summerfield has been our most consistent and energetic outfield player this season. Mcginn looks a class above anyone else at the club when he comes on by following a simple method of passing the ball forward quickly to a player in a blue and yellow shirt and moving into space to get a return pass - he should pass on this technique to Purdie and Richards as it seems to be beyond them. The boos at the end were entirely justified - as supporters we do not expect our team to be Barcelona but we do deserve a team that can do the basics well and can string more than one pass together and put together more than one decent effort on goal each half. The atmosphere in the ground is funereal (very reminiscent of the last days of Simpson's reign) and not many people are going to renew their season tickets to watch rubbish like that.
will we go down? against: no investment, players too inconsistent, the early part of the season wrecked by GT's disastrous delve in the loan market, to many poor quality players, GT's still isnt sure what formation he wants to play even at this late stage, players too nervous to take risks. for...nobody's thrashing us, and a few good tweaks could see us win a few more games. I don't think we will go down, but it will be a bloody close thing!!
I agree with TH. I think we'll just about stay up. Not sure with regards to GT's formational uncertainties - has he ever played anything not a 4-4-2? Yes actually, 45 minutes of 4-2-3-1 away to Notts County, but apart from that?
without any investment in the squad, i believe town are in danger of becoming a classic yo yo club, like the spireites and the wobblers. suppose we stay up in may, where i ask is any money coming from to rebuild the squad. none was forthcoming last summer from memory.
Matster, Is it just coincidence that Mcallister is the only one of our recent signings that looks as if he belongs in League 1?
Matster and Lenny, I agree with your list - I meant recent as after the start of the season. Mcginn has looked good but final judgement can only be made when he can play for a full game. That is unforunately often what you get from loanees - often too unfit or inexperienced to make a real difference though Mambo looked good on Saturday.
Mambo looked good on Saturday that's my point, so if he follows in his team mates shoes, in his next six games he will play rubbish, how often do we get excited about a player and find he's not consistent enough. At the start of the season i thought Parry was going to be a class act, but that didn't last long!!
