Keegans Export Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 13 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said: Yeah, but that's ignoring the context. In Howe's time here we've been great more than we've been bad. The bad spell has corresponded with a ridiculous amount of mitigating circumstances. It's a big assumption that we're heading towards a substantial regression. In fact, Howe's time here so far suggests that he will turn it around once the mitigating circumstances abate somewhat. Are the mitigating circumstances not abating somewhat already? We haven't played European football since before Christmas, Tuesday was our first midweek game in over a month. We've had a weeks gap between five of the previous seven games. We've started getting players back from injury. Have the performances notably improved? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Bring back Brewcy ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Venkman Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 3 minutes ago, Keegans Export said: Are the mitigating circumstances not abating somewhat already? We haven't played European football since before Christmas, Tuesday was our first midweek game in over a month. We've had a weeks gap between five of the previous seven games. We've started getting players back from injury. Have the performances notably improved? I think some lag is completely understandable, it’s not an exact science. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshithispantz Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Our form has dramatically improved since our fixture list lightened. We're still nowhere near where we need to be, but we're clearly not a free hit like we were a couple of months ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shearergol Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 3 minutes ago, Keegans Export said: Are the mitigating circumstances not abating somewhat already? We haven't played European football since before Christmas, Tuesday was our first midweek game in over a month. We've had a weeks gap between five of the previous seven games. We've started getting players back from injury. Have the performances notably improved? think everyone’s in agreement that the two main issues are the midfield 3, and Pope missing. That hasn’t changed. even with players coming back, our “best” players just as Bruno, Gordon and Isak are visibly knackered. The fact that Willock and Barnes are coming back in will start to help, but we’re weeks away from it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Venkman Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 I also think Pope has been our biggest miss. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegans Export Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said: I think some lag is completely understandable, it’s not an exact science. That's fair enough. I think we have a very favourable run of games coming up and sooner or later "Injuries" is going to start to wear a bit thin. edit - and on the GK issue, yes he's been a miss but we have been wide open through the midfield for a number of weeks now and that isn't all on Dubravka/Karius. Something is amiss and it's (ultimately) the responsibility of the manager to identify the issue and attempt to resolve it. Edited February 29 by Keegans Export Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegans Export Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 1 minute ago, Shearergol said: think everyone’s in agreement that the two main issues are the midfield 3, and Pope missing. That hasn’t changed. even with players coming back, our “best” players just as Bruno, Gordon and Isak are visibly knackered. The fact that Willock and Barnes are coming back in will start to help, but we’re weeks away from it. That midfield three still includes Bruno & Longstaff, who played a key part last season. Now Willock is on the way back, Anderson too. Plus Miley. As I say above, yes the injuries have been a massive issue but if that situation continues to improve with a decent set of fixtures coming up it's not unreasonable to expect a noticeable uptick in performances? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Venkman Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Just now, Keegans Export said: That's fair enough. I think we have a very favourable run of games coming up and sooner or later "Injuries" is going to start to wear a bit thin. I can understand that. For me, as long as we’re in the fight for 7th I’m satisfied, given the circumstances. I do think we need an impressive performance ASAP to get everyone’s confidence back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leffe186 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 1 hour ago, AyeDubbleYoo said: This discussion is genuinely mental It’s like people coming inside from a massive storm and arguing about why they’re wet. Just popped in and it seems to be Kaka arguing with TCD, is that right? I mean... . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shearergol Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 2 minutes ago, Keegans Export said: That midfield three still includes Bruno & Longstaff, who played a key part last season. Now Willock is on the way back, Anderson too. Plus Miley. As I say above, yes the injuries have been a massive issue but if that situation continues to improve with a decent set of fixtures coming up it's not unreasonable to expect a noticeable uptick in performances? If performances don't improve once people are back an fit, then yeah. But that hasn't happened yet. Were you expecting all our problems to be solved simply because Willock was back after months of not playing? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 4 minutes ago, leffe186 said: Just popped in and it seems to be Kaka arguing with TCD, is that right? I mean... . Nope. Me and Kaka weren't talking about the same things and we reached a mutual understanding. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaKa Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 5 minutes ago, leffe186 said: Just popped in and it seems to be Kaka arguing with TCD, is that right? I mean... . No, you are completely wrong. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leffe186 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Just now, The College Dropout said: Nope. Me and Kaka weren't talking about the same things and we reached a mutual understanding. Gave you a thumbs-up without thinking what it might mean to reach a mutual understanding with Kaka Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaKa Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 1 minute ago, leffe186 said: Gave you a thumbs-up without thinking what it might mean to reach a mutual understanding with Kaka Hey, how about you see yourself out of here immediately. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmesy Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 (edited) 2 hours ago, KaKa said: Ultimately, for Ferguson to achieve what he did at Man Utd, a level of patience was needed as even back then he was lucky to survive despite his achievements at Aberdeen. Three seasons in the bottom half of the league out of his first six at Man Utd, even back then was a lot to overlook. Kudos to them. Eddie Howe's work here has been exemplary so far, and three or so poor months and enough is enough for some folks. That is an incredible level of impatience and short sightedness. I just don't get it. I think there are very few who are saying enough is enough. There are always a few bedwetters on bad match days but in general the discussion around Eddie's strengths and weaknesses are pretty balanced and reasonable. The injuries and fixture congestion have to be taken into account, without question. However, what they have revealed, in Eddie's handling of them, are some clear things that need to be worked on if he wants to be considered in that elite bracket and probably if he wants to be our manager for the long term, specifically more ruthlessness towards dropping poor performing players and more flexibility around systems and tactics - a setup to help us see out games when we're in the lead, a system that still allows us to grind out results when we're not at full strength, an alternative way to approach games against superior or tricky opposition. If he continues with his 'one setting fits all approach' he only has himself to blame if at all falls apart again. We've got to remember, this is Eddie's first season in the Champions League and first season balancing 4 competitions. He's had every bit of bad luck you can imagine, but he's also made some clear errors along the way. Hopefully he can learn from them and kick on, and the owners give him the time to do that. Edited February 29 by Holmesy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timeEd32 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 7 minutes ago, Keegans Export said: That midfield three still includes Bruno & Longstaff, who played a key part last season. Now Willock is on the way back, Anderson too. Plus Miley. As I say above, yes the injuries have been a massive issue but if that situation continues to improve with a decent set of fixtures coming up it's not unreasonable to expect a noticeable uptick in performances? If we get Pope back for the final 8 or so games and the squad we have today is still intact then I’d be concerned if there wasn’t a noticeable improvement in the run-in. Generally I think some are expecting too much, too soon in terms of some returning players providing a quick fix. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 (edited) I think I've realised what this whole ignoring injuries to the point of gaslighting and instead talking about the minutae of everything else to within an inch of its life is really about. The people doing it just want something to talk about. Edited February 29 by Kid Icarus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt1892 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 1 hour ago, Keegans Export said: That's fair enough. I think we have a very favourable run of games coming up and sooner or later "Injuries" is going to start to wear a bit thin. edit - and on the GK issue, yes he's been a miss but we have been wide open through the midfield for a number of weeks now and that isn't all on Dubravka/Karius. Something is amiss and it's (ultimately) the responsibility of the manager to identify the issue and attempt to resolve it. We do have a good run in and hopefully we can build some momentum, starting against Wolves. The worry is not that we stutter along until the end of the season, which would be painful enough, but that we go in to free fall and start dropping points on a regular basis. I was critical of the club last summer for not buying for the positions where we lacked quality to take us to the next level, the injuries this season have highlighted much worse like having a back up keeper completely unsuited to our tactics. How this wasn’t picked up in training I don’t know. We are 2 or 3 players from having a top quality team, we just need to play like we believe we are. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pubteam Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 1 hour ago, Dr Venkman said: I also think Pope has been our biggest miss. Completely agree, dubs has played well but he's rooted to his box, I think this is where so much of the space has come from. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegans Export Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 1 hour ago, Shearergol said: If performances don't improve once people are back an fit, then yeah. But that hasn't happened yet. Were you expecting all our problems to be solved simply because Willock was back after months of not playing? No, I think there's a middle ground before "all our problems" being solved where we see a gradual improvement in performances as players start to return. We're in a better position squad-wise than we were in December for example, with less fixtures to contend with but we've only played well in maybe one or two games since then. We were very poor on Tuesday with only a handful of players missing, which is by no means a situation exclusive to us. As I keep saying, there is plenty of time to change the narrative. Wolves, West Ham, Everton, Fulham in the next five games coming up - improved performances, a few wins and then we can look back on a poor run of form and say "Yeah those injuries fucked us" but if we start seeing those players return and we still don't improve then it starts to look more like an excuse or papering over the cracks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orphanage Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 1 hour ago, Hanshithispantz said: Our form has dramatically improved since our fixture list lightened. We're still nowhere near where we need to be, but we're clearly not a free hit like we were a couple of months ago. Really ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshithispantz Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 12 minutes ago, Orphanage said: Really ? Objectively so, aye. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshithispantz Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 (edited) Before the 2 week break - congested fixture list (before and during this period): After the 2 week break - less congested fixture list (on the back of a break): I don't think it's a massive conspiracy to suggest our horrific form around Christmas and the New Year was down to fatigue, and that our increased form after a 2 week break (playing around 2 games less a month) is due to us regaining some energy. We're still not great, but we are atleast competitive for a full 90 minutes now. Edited February 29 by Hanshithispantz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orphanage Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 37 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said: Before the 2 week break - congested fixture list (before and during this period): After the 2 week break - less congested fixture list (on the back of a break): I don't think it's a massive conspiracy to suggest our horrific form around Christmas and the New Year was down to fatigue, and that our increased form after a 2 week break (playing around 2 games less a month) is due to us regaining some energy. We're still not great, but we are atleast competitive for a full 90 minutes now. We were playing better when were busier ( results apart - take into consideration who we were playing ) schedules lightened and although as you point out results have gotten a bit better we are playing shite and against worse opposition Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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