Siege Mentality

[Guest MrBrown]

A siege mentality has nothing to do with tactics. 

 

Should this team be playing with a massive chip on its shoulder?  Absolutely.  What was already going to be an extremely difficult season has become mission impossible with our best player out for the season. 

 

We have had our season derailed by a referee that was either bent or incompetent.  We have been ignored by an FA that only cares about the top 4 teams that sell t-shirts in Dubai and Japan.  The British media is waiting for us to fail.  And talentless, provincial little clubs like Blackpool and Stoke now think they can pick up points at SJP through more anti-football and dirty play.

 

There can be absolutely no excuse for complacency this year.  Hughton should be reminding this team in every team talk that we are the underdogs.  No more limp second half performances.  They will have absolutely no help, and every point they pick up will have to be earned. 

 

What an awful attitude.

 

You were hugely unlucky on Sunday, yes. But how has your season been derailed? The injury is a blow, obviously, but getting into the mindset of it ruining your whole season is ridiculous.

 

You then, unless you're on the wind up, go on to patronise the hell out of Blackpool and Stoke, who both deserved their wins at SJP.

 

Bit ironic, that last sentence, given that it's a blatant wind-up.

[Benwell Lad]

A siege mentality has nothing to do with tactics. 

 

Should this team be playing with a massive chip on its shoulder?  Absolutely.  What was already going to be an extremely difficult season has become mission impossible with our best player out for the season. 

 

We have had our season derailed by a referee that was either bent or incompetent.  We have been ignored by an FA that only cares about the top 4 teams that sell t-shirts in Dubai and Japan.  The British media is waiting for us to fail.  And talentless, provincial little clubs like Blackpool and Stoke now think they can pick up points at SJP through more anti-football and dirty play.

 

There can be absolutely no excuse for complacency this year.  Hughton should be reminding this team in every team talk that we are the underdogs.  No more limp second half performances.  They will have absolutely no help, and every point they pick up will have to be earned. 

 

What an awful attitude.

 

You were hugely unlucky on Sunday, yes. But how has your season been derailed? The injury is a blow, obviously, but getting into the mindset of it ruining your whole season is ridiculous.

 

You then, unless you're on the wind up, go on to patronise the hell out of Blackpool and Stoke, who both deserved their wins at SJP.

 

I'd rarely begrudge the team who win the game their victory, cos it is, after all, about putting the ball in the net (Sunday is an obvious exception because the referee decided who won that one and not the players on the field) but to say Blackpool and Stoke "deserved" their wins would imply that they were the better teams. They clearly were not.

[Neil]

Ey? Blackpool played well. You tested Gilks in the 2nd half I seem to recall but he was hardly making world-class saves, it was poor finishing. While you were much the better side against Stoke in the 1st half, you barely created anything. Stoke, for most of the 2nd half, looked threatening from every single ball that came into the box. Jones had alright hit the woodwork twice before he eventually got his goal. Neither side went to SJP and dominated as such but they can easily argue they deserved their wins, and I happen to agree.

[chicago_shearer]

A siege mentality has nothing to do with tactics. 

 

Should this team be playing with a massive chip on its shoulder?  Absolutely.  What was already going to be an extremely difficult season has become mission impossible with our best player out for the season. 

 

We have had our season derailed by a referee that was either bent or incompetent.  We have been ignored by an FA that only cares about the top 4 teams that sell t-shirts in Dubai and Japan.  The British media is waiting for us to fail.  And talentless, provincial little clubs like Blackpool and Stoke now think they can pick up points at SJP through more anti-football and dirty play.

 

There can be absolutely no excuse for complacency this year.  Hughton should be reminding this team in every team talk that we are the underdogs.  No more limp second half performances.  They will have absolutely no help, and every point they pick up will have to be earned. 

 

What an awful attitude.

 

You were hugely unlucky on Sunday, yes. But how has your season been derailed? The injury is a blow, obviously, but getting into the mindset of it ruining your whole season is ridiculous.

 

You then, unless you're on the wind up, go on to patronise the hell out of Blackpool and Stoke, who both deserved their wins at SJP.

 

When a struggling team loses its one potentially world class player then it does have the power to derail a season.  Whether it will or not is going to depend on the attitude the team take.

 

As for my 'awful' attitude....where do you think motivation comes from?  Circumstances like this.  From this point on, I think we should be playing with aggression and anger.  You do not instill a 'siege mentality' at the club by shrugging your shoulders, saying 'hard luck, lads' and simply moving on.  You remind the team that they have been hard done by, and using that frustration to your advantage.

[Neil]

Maybe I misread your post. Using frustration to your advantage and channelling it in your play is a good idea, I agree. What I was more confused by was the Blackpool/Stoke match. I only have highlights/Soccer Saturday/match report to judge the Blackpool game by but it didn't exactly look like a smash and grab from them - they sounded like they played confidently. And as for Stoke, I'd be more concerned by your own performance than Stoke's tactics. You were much the better in the first half but what did you actually create? Stoke twice hit the woodwork before scoring, and you looked incompetent from balls coming into the box - hence why I said in my opinion, the 2 teams merited 3 points. I might just be missing your point regarding those 2 matches, though.

[ohmelads]

Ey? Blackpool played well. You tested Gilks in the 2nd half I seem to recall but he was hardly making world-class saves, it was poor finishing. While you were much the better side against Stoke in the 1st half, you barely created anything. Stoke, for most of the 2nd half, looked threatening from every single ball that came into the box. Jones had alright hit the woodwork twice before he eventually got his goal. Neither side went to SJP and dominated as such but they can easily argue they deserved their wins, and I happen to agree.

 

They were smash and grab wins to be fair. I don't think Newcastle deserved to lose either game, and many neutrals agree.

 

I think a club losing its talisman can have the potential to derail a season, we have seen it plenty of times before. There is of course no evidence that we were a team relying on Ben Arfa because he's a new signing, but his class was obvious as is the lack of flair in the Newcastle squad. I would argue it's as big as Arsenal losing Fabregas or Man Utd losing Rooney. Those clubs could replace those players but would suffer heavily. We can't replace Ben Arfa with anything like the same player and have a squad threadbare on skill and creativity.

 

We have lost our last two games, suffered some shocking refereeing and lost our star player for most of the season, we must get things back on track.

 

I would argue, as others have said, that we should have had a siege mentality anyway. I've got no time for sky sports or the tabloids and their 'deluded fans' stuff, at the end of the day we just want to see our team do well like everyone else, we like winning and we hate losing. We became a target because we appointed and sacked a succession of crap managers while spiralling down the league with one of the highest wagebills. That was somehow turned into the fans' fault but in reality it was mismanagement. We're the same fans who saw the Keegan and Robson sides fly up the table.

 

There is a feeling everyone is pulling in the same direction these days unlike that season and I genuinely feel we've just been unlucky in a few games this season. We're lacking firepower to turn good performances into good results, but I'm pleased we look capable of dominating midfield in a lot of games. We just desperately need quality up front, a matchwinner. Ben Arfa showed against Everton he has that kind of class.

 

The team will either rally or their heads will drop, so I agree this could be a pivotal moment in our season.

[Benwell Lad]

Ey? Blackpool played well. You tested Gilks in the 2nd half I seem to recall but he was hardly making world-class saves, it was poor finishing. While you were much the better side against Stoke in the 1st half, you barely created anything. Stoke, for most of the 2nd half, looked threatening from every single ball that came into the box. Jones had alright hit the woodwork twice before he eventually got his goal. Neither side went to SJP and dominated as such but they can easily argue they deserved their wins, and I happen to agree.

 

They were smash and grab wins to be fair. I don't think Newcastle deserved to lose either game, and many neutrals agree.

 

I think a club losing its talisman can have the potential to derail a season, we have seen it plenty of times before. There is of course no evidence that we were a team relying on Ben Arfa because he's a new signing, but his class was obvious as is the lack of flair in the Newcastle squad. I would argue it's as big as Arsenal losing Fabregas or Man Utd losing Rooney. Those clubs could replace those players but would suffer heavily. We can't replace Ben Arfa with anything like the same player and have a squad threadbare on skill and creativity.

 

We have lost our last two games, suffered some shocking refereeing and lost our star player for most of the season, we must get things back on track.

 

I would argue, as others have said, that we should have had a siege mentality anyway. I've got no time for sky sports or the tabloids and their 'deluded fans' stuff, at the end of the day we just want to see our team do well like everyone else, we like winning and we hate losing. We became a target because we appointed and sacked a succession of crap managers while spiralling down the league with one of the highest wagebills. That was somehow turned into the fans' fault but in reality it was mismanagement. We're the same fans who saw the Keegan and Robson sides fly up the table.

 

There is a feeling everyone is pulling in the same direction these days unlike that season and I genuinely feel we've just been unlucky in a few games this season. We're lacking firepower to turn good performances into good results, but I'm pleased we look capable of dominating midfield in a lot of games. We just desperately need quality up front, a matchwinner. Ben Arfa showed against Everton he has that kind of class.

 

The team will either rally or their heads will drop, so I agree this could be a pivotal moment in our season.

 

Excellent post. Totally agree.

[Steggy]

Oh Me Lads is comfortably the best poster in the footy section. Wish he'd post more.

[Skirge]

I keep reading the title as Skirge Mentality.

 

cheers

 

As for what the title really does say... I don't get it.. surley it should be that way anyway before any injustices have been done.