A team of losers (3 Viewers)

[Jimmy Hill's Chin]

So many of our team appear to have forgotten what it takes to win a game of football. It is almost accepted that if we go ahead we will squander our lead and if we go one down we won't get back on level terms. Perhaps unfair to pick out individuals but do the likes of Carl Baker, Jordan Clarke and Chris Hussey seem to have a winning mentality? I just can't see this team winning many matches whoever they play, they get in a winning position and then they freeze. I'm very doubtful that we are going to be able to scrap our way to wins on cold days and nights in places like Carlisle, Oldham and Tranmere. The fight just isn't there. I hope they all prove me wrong but at the moment they just strike me as a gutless bunch of losers with absolutely no fight in them.

 

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[coundonskyblue]

Agree, but I think it is the club, not just the team.

It has really hit me today as to how it has become second nature to us. There is always an excuse whenever we lose, I.e. the lino giving offside, we need time to gel, its early in the season, Stevenage are a decent side, players were jaded etc.

Looking for excuses is loser talk. I heard the sky commentators today saying that the Stevenage manager has told his team its not acceptable to lose any game, I would love that attitude at City. The players should believe that it is not acceptable to lose to any team, and I include the upcomming Arsenal game in that.

I used to get annoyed by people booing, but I'm starting to believe that it is the only way to get the message across to the players that it is not ok to lose, because I dont think we've had a manager in recent years who has got that message across. Anyone remember Clinton Morrison on soccer AM, when questioned about our inconsistency responded by saying "Well its Coventry innit"?

How many times have we heard successive managers say "I cant fault the players today" or "we were unlucky not to win"? This is exactly the sort of crap that needs to be expelled from this club. If the team loses a game then they must have done something wrong, no matter how small, when a team loses they are at fault.

As much as I dont like him I do believe Tim Fisher is aware of this attitude within the club and wants a manager who will tackle it.

 

[Jimmy Hill's Chin]

If Fisher can appoint a winner who can banish this loser attitude from the club then he should be made the next Mayor of Coventry.

 

[Black6Osprey]

I agree totally with coundonskyblue, we have a culture of there's always the next game.

 

[@richh87]

Please God - give us a Manager who knows what it takes to win games, and won't allow lazy gutless players anywhere near the pitch.

 

[ampthill_sba]

Losing mentality from one season to the next through a relegation is common enough but we have 10 new players!! Surely their fresh motivation could have diluted the losers feeling..?

The players that left were a mixed bag...

Losers = Clingan, Eastwood
Winners = Keogh, Cranie

The previous team was stripped of its more positively inclined players too = Gunnarson, Turner, King, Westwood

There's a lot to said for having positive mental attitude about the club so attributed comments to Oggy and Shawsy don't help.

 

[AFCCOVENTRY]

The thing is from the starting line up today....

Edge
Jennings
Barton
Kilbane
Elliott
Goldie

They are not players from relegated clubs.

For me the biggest weakness continues to be down both our flanks in an attacking and defensive stance.

Clarke's positional sense scares me at times. He doesn't track his man sometimes and goes following the ball when he doesn't need to. Also he seems so lightweight.

Hussey wastes a lot of balls, however I thought in the first half we caught a glimpse of some half decent attacking play from him. But with him and Kilbane on the left it is very weak defensively.

Barton looked all over the place today and Jennings was ok.

Yet again it is our midfield which can't put a telling ball to our front.

Will be interesting to see if Fleck will be the man when comes back.

McSheffrey - I would say his career seems finished here.

 

[Jimmy Hill's Chin]

Oggy must feel quite depressed - having kept us up in the top division year on year, won the FA Cup and now witnessed the slide into irrelevance and obscurity at first hand. It must be heartbreaking for him.

 

[Tomh111]

I just mentioned this in my rant on another thread, A culture of mediocrity surrounds the club. A culture of it will be better next year and a culture of mollycoddling our players. In our Championship days it was overlooked as we were always mid table and never threatened and it comes from our bottom of the premiership days. But in this league the fans aren't having it. It needs rooting out and fast.

 

[@richh87]

We often dominate possession and have more shots on goal than the opposition - so we are doing something right...:thinking about:

We need things to click in the final third. We're not giving the strikers the kind of chances they need. It's no good having our fullbacks putting crosses into the box for short-arse strikers. If we're going to play that way then play Callum Ball.

Sometimes you need people who fit the system - not to just shove your best players out onto the pitch and hope it works.

Basically we need a Manager with a brain. One thing I know - Shaw is worse than Andy Thorn. Shaw's a bit of a City legend and just helping out but hurry up and appoint someone City as points are being thrown away.

Thankfully we should have a new boss by the next game.

Confidence comes from winning - and we should have won most of these games on the balance of play. Get the Manager right and the rest will follow.

 

[coundonskyblue]

and it comes from our bottom of the premiership days.

Nail on the head there. Think the club/fans always had a mentality of little Coventry City in the big league, just winning enough games to stay up is good enough. That has rooted itself into the clubs philosophy now.

 

[Jimmy Hill's Chin]

This may be harsh but I think it is wider than the football club. In my view a culture of mediocrity pervades the entire city of Coventry. Look at the similar decline of the once proud Cov Rugby club who have sunk even further into obscurity. Add to this the industrial wasteland left by the departure of Peugeot, Jaguar, Courtaulds, Rover, Marconi/GEC and Massey Ferguson. The city has taken some hard knocks but instead of fighting back, the spirit of enterprise which made the city a workshop for the world appears to have withered and died. Why does Warwick University not mention Coventry in its title when it is located in the City boundaries? Why do leading shops, bar chains and restaurants refuse to set up in the City Centre? Why did Newsnight choose Coventry as its example in a report last week about the establishment of foodbanks due to chronic hunger? In my view it is all part of the same problem. The city of Coventry has some very deep-rooted problems that our civic leaders of both parties have failed to tackle. Coventry is not viewed as an attractive place to do business and that is at the heart of all this.

 

[@richh87]

This may be harsh but I think it is wider than the football club. In my view a culture of mediocrity pervades the entire city of Coventry. Look at the similar decline of the once proud Cov Rugby club who have sunk even further into obscurity. Add to this the industrial wasteland left by the departure of Peugeot, Jaguar, Courtaulds, Rover, Marconi/GEC and Massey Ferguson. The city has taken some hard knocks but instead of fighting back, the spirit of enterprise which made the city a workshop for the world appears to have withered and died. Why does Warwick University not mention Coventry in its title when it is located in the City boundaries? Why do leading shops, bar chains and restaurants refuse to set up in the City Centre? Why did Newsnight choose Coventry as its example in a report last week about the establishment of foodbanks due to chronic hunger? In my view it is all part of the same problem. The city of Coventry has some very deep-rooted problems that our civic leaders of both parties have failed to tackle. Coventry is not viewed as an attractive place to do business and that is at the heart of all this.

Well said. Very true.

 

[neilyboy67]

too much fighting on de dancefloor

 

[cyril]

Kilbane HAS to go to left back and let Thomas take his spot. Barton is a liability. Hopefully fleck gets fit soon

 

[coundonskyblue]

This may be harsh but I think it is wider than the football club. In my view a culture of mediocrity pervades the entire city of Coventry. Look at the similar decline of the once proud Cov Rugby club who have sunk even further into obscurity. Add to this the industrial wasteland left by the departure of Peugeot, Jaguar, Courtaulds, Rover, Marconi/GEC and Massey Ferguson. The city has taken some hard knocks but instead of fighting back, the spirit of enterprise which made the city a workshop for the world appears to have withered and died. Why does Warwick University not mention Coventry in its title when it is located in the City boundaries? Why do leading shops, bar chains and restaurants refuse to set up in the City Centre? Why did Newsnight choose Coventry as its example in a report last week about the establishment of foodbanks due to chronic hunger? In my view it is all part of the same problem. The city of Coventry has some very deep-rooted problems that our civic leaders of both parties have failed to tackle. Coventry is not viewed as an attractive place to do business and that is at the heart of all this.

Dont disagree but the Coventry Blaze & Bees still manage to bring success into the city against this backdrop.

Also traditionally Cities with the highest amounts of deprivation had the most successful football teams. Manchester, Liverpool etc.

The history of the city itself shows long periods of prosperity followed by long periods of depression. We're the original boom & bust town. I'm sure the city will re invent itself someday and bring in the wealth it once had.

The university does annoy me with its snobbery. Its full name is University of Warwickshire (Coventry officially was in Warwickshire when it opened), so it not only turned its back on the city but the whole county.

 

[Otis]

The thing is from the starting line up today....

Edge
Jennings
Barton
Kilbane
Elliott
Goldie

They are not players from relegated clubs.

For me the biggest weakness continues to be down both our flanks in an attacking and defensive stance.

Clarke's positional sense scares me at times. He doesn't track his man sometimes and goes following the ball when he doesn't need to. Also he seems so lightweight.

Hussey wastes a lot of balls, however I thought in the first half we caught a glimpse of some half decent attacking play from him. But with him and Kilbane on the left it is very weak defensively.

Barton looked all over the place today and Jennings was ok.

Yet again it is our midfield which can't put a telling ball to our front.

Will be interesting to see if Fleck will be the man when comes back.

McSheffrey - I would say his career seems finished here.

Barton seems to be exactly the sort of player we don't want at the club unfortunately. Only basing this on what we have seen so far of course, but all the things the Preston fans were saying about him have so far rung true.

Silky skills, lots of quality, but lacks the bottle for a fight, ambles about, disappears, doesn't track back. A luxury player.

Only Elliot so far has shown the attributes I feel are needed to succeed in this division.

What you need in League One is strength, pace, will, determination, spirit and fight and the chasing of lost causes and fighting for the entire 90 mins.

I have liked Jennings so far, but it has to be said that Barton, Jennings and Kilbane have all disappeared from games as matches have worn on, which of course would go to some degree in the explaining away of how we are throwing points away from winning positions.

We don't need players who disappear and don't have stomach for the fight, we need players with spirit and a will to win.

 

[ccfcway]

still not convinced that Kilbane is right for captain !

 

[Otis]

He most certainly isn't.

Certainly not setting any example and disappears from a game rather than be controlling it.

 

[ccfcway]

only thing i am more convinced about is that mcsheffrey isnt either !

 

[WestEndAgro]

still not convinced that Kilbane is right for captain !

Kilbane has been embarrassingly bad, he almost looks guilty masquerading as a footballer, he is shot and I think he knows it ?

 

[Otis]

McSheffrey should be nowhere near the captain's armband.

Should be someone like Wood.

 

[melbourneskyblue]

This may be harsh but I think it is wider than the football club. In my view a culture of mediocrity pervades the entire city of Coventry. Look at the similar decline of the once proud Cov Rugby club who have sunk even further into obscurity. Add to this the industrial wasteland left by the departure of Peugeot, Jaguar, Courtaulds, Rover, Marconi/GEC and Massey Ferguson. The city has taken some hard knocks but instead of fighting back, the spirit of enterprise which made the city a workshop for the world appears to have withered and died. Why does Warwick University not mention Coventry in its title when it is located in the City boundaries? Why do leading shops, bar chains and restaurants refuse to set up in the City Centre? Why did Newsnight choose Coventry as its example in a report last week about the establishment of foodbanks due to chronic hunger? In my view it is all part of the same problem. The city of Coventry has some very deep-rooted problems that our civic leaders of both parties have failed to tackle. Coventry is not viewed as an attractive place to do business and that is at the heart of all this.

I totally agree and have thought this for years....Cov has that certain air of doom about the place.

 

[procdoc]

A lot of it boils down to the fact that a majority of our players are just plain rubbish. Baker, Hussey etc shouldn't be anywhere near a Coventry team but that is what we have to deal with nowadays. Bottom line is we have mediocre owners which means a medicocre team. I'm genuinely embarrassed to be a Cov fan at the minute and as each dissapointing home performance happens I feel vindicated in my decision not to waste any more of my hard-earned on season tickets etc and dedicate my time to a newly formed Saturday team instead.

 

[Otis]

Question is, why are the 9 new players we have brought in not full of confidence?

Surely you bring 9 new players in you bring new enthusiasm.

Have we really got to them all so quickly, just 5 games in?

As for Baker? I am really losing patience with the lad. He should shine in this division, truly shine, but we are still getting the one good performance in 5 and it is simply not good enough.

Baker, Sheff and Bell are players we should have got shot of and are not the sort of player we want or need at this club. We need fighters, battlers and those with spirit and desire, not those who give us the odd one fantastic performance and them rest on their laurels for the following few weeks.

 

[skybluegod]

it's also the fact that we don't have the same team togetherness as stevenage do they have come from non-league to league 1 and the team always congratulate each other and say lets win next week in front of there fans. we don't have that kind of togetherness atm.

 

[LJC_CCFC]

it's also the fact that we don't have the same team togetherness as stevenage do they have come from non-league to league 1 and the team always congratulate each other and say lets win next week in front of there fans. we don't have that kind of togetherness atm.

I think you'll find apart from Roberts and Ashton the majority of their promotion winning squad have left the club

 

[Otis]

Stevenage brought in 15 players this season.

 

[covcity4life]

Agree, but I think it is the club, not just the team.

It has really hit me today as to how it has become second nature to us. There is always an excuse whenever we lose, I.e. the lino giving offside, we need time to gel, its early in the season, Stevenage are a decent side, players were jaded etc.

Looking for excuses is loser talk. I heard the sky commentators today saying that the Stevenage manager has told his team its not acceptable to lose any game, I would love that attitude at City. The players should believe that it is not acceptable to lose to any team, and I include the upcomming Arsenal game in that.

I used to get annoyed by people booing, but I'm starting to believe that it is the only way to get the message across to the players that it is not ok to lose, because I dont think we've had a manager in recent years who has got that message across. Anyone remember Clinton Morrison on soccer AM, when questioned about our inconsistency responded by saying "Well its Coventry innit"?

How many times have we heard successive managers say "I cant fault the players today" or "we were unlucky not to win"? This is exactly the sort of crap that needs to be expelled from this club. If the team loses a game then they must have done something wrong, no matter how small, when a team loses they are at fault.

As much as I dont like him I do believe Tim Fisher is aware of this attitude within the club and wants a manager who will tackle it.

agreed 100%

we seem to be aware and tackling this deep seated problem now and thats something i guess.