Relegation fodder (3 Viewers)

[Otis]

good players playing shite for 7 months, it really is not that baffling, without two or thee additions we are in a scrap to stay up.

7 months? The end of last season was 4th May.

1st game of this season was 10th August.

You can't count months we didn't play games in.

Sheaf was a very good player for us last season and so too, MVE.

You don't suddenly become a bad player overnight. So, yes, it is baffling.

They are underperforming.

 

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[Brighton Sky Blue]

One day you might actually own your comments and actions - just as a suggestion. Although not hopeful given all of the evidence.

Constantly telling someone with depression to stop being negative is, well, a dick move and it isn't that simple.

Telling someone with a past gambling problem that they should accept a £300 bet on relegation is again, a dick move.

Also, what 'actions'? Season ticket holder for years, semi regularly go to away games and always back the team.

 

[covcity4life]

Constantly telling someone with depression to stop being negative is, well, a dick move and it isn't that simple.

Telling someone with a past gambling problem that they should accept a £300 bet on relegation is again, a dick move.

Also, what 'actions'? Season ticket holder for years, semi regularly go to away games and always back the team.

Who has gambling addiction?

 

[tisza]

If they don't properly sort out the defence then it's a waste of a season.
It's the defence still killing us. Don't care what MVE offers going forward he is caught out of position every week. Don't see why Dasilva is supposed to be rated. Defence cause so many of their own problems. Any sort of press and they crumble.
To start with get a proper "lump" with a big mouth for centre of defence.

 

[covcity4life]

Your cousin

Bet he doesnt

 

[fernandopartridge]

One day you might actually own your comments and actions - just as a suggestion. Although not hopeful given all of the evidence.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Who has gambling addiction?

I did, about 12-13 years ago. Not that I should keep having to restate that mind you to justify why I don't want to gamble £300 on our Championship status!

 

[clint van damme]

I did, about 12-13 years ago. Not that I should keep having to restate that mind you to justify why I don't want to gamble £300 on our Championship status!

Well done for getting on top of that BSB

 

[covcity4life]

I did, about 12-13 years ago. Not that I should keep having to restate that mind you to justify why I don't want to gamble £300 on our Championship status!

Challenging people to a bet seems to be the in thing here lately

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Well done for getting on top of that BSB

Pretty sobering experience and not one I'm keen to keep having to post about.

Challenging people to a bet seems to be the in thing here lately

To be clear, £300 is nearly a quarter of what I earn in a month. Though I'd be saying the same even if it were a fiver, don't want any chance of relapsing.

 

[Calista]

Constantly telling someone with depression to stop being negative is, well, a dick move and it isn't that simple.

Telling someone with a past gambling problem that they should accept a £300 bet on relegation is again, a dick move.

Also, what 'actions'? Season ticket holder for years, semi regularly go to away games and always back the team.

Genuinely sorry to hear about the depression and the gambling addiction, but glad you can still get a semi regularly

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Genuinely sorry to hear about the depression and the gambling addiction, but glad you can still get a semi regularly

Been having to do more than that recently but again, not something the forum needs to hear about in great detail.

To be clear, do I think this team is in a relegation battle, yes. Do I think it's certain to go down, no. People who go to or have gone to games with me will only see someone supporting the team in any case as I have done for a good 25 years.

 

[Otis]

To apply a little bit of logic here. Quite a few people are saying we are relegation fodder.

Okay, so if that is the case and still the case under Lampard, then what was the point of sacking Robins?

If we're going down, we're going down.

Which manager has the experience of working at L1 level?

I just find it absolutely mad. Lampard has been in charge just days.

It's like the whore's drawers on here at times.

 

[djr8369]

To apply a little bit of logic here. Quite a few people are saying we are relegation fodder.

Okay, so if that is the case and still the case under Lampard, then what was the point of sacking Robins?

If we're going down, we're going down.

Which manager has the experience of working at L1 level?

I just find it absolutely mad. Lampard has been in charge just days.

It's like the whore's drawers on here at times.

I think people were just hoping for a little most effort and positivity on the pitch after a change in manager. That should be an instant thing.

I think possibly Frostie and a couple of others were right in that maybe too much information was given to the players in a short space of time as we ended up looking as lost and confused as previously.

 

[Boicey]

To apply a little bit of logic here. Quite a few people are saying we are relegation fodder.

Okay, so if that is the case and still the case under Lampard, then what was the point of sacking Robins?

If we're going down, we're going down.

Which manager has the experience of working at L1 level?

I just find it absolutely mad. Lampard has been in charge just days.

It's like the whore's drawers on here at times.

What a weird nonsense post.
Robins got us in a really poor situation and looked to have no idea what to do.
Action had to be taken to try and turn it around.
Keep Robins to manage us better on League 1. What a load of bollocks.

 

[The watchmaker]

To apply a little bit of logic here. Quite a few people are saying we are relegation fodder.

Okay, so if that is the case and still the case under Lampard, then what was the point of sacking Robins?

If we're going down, we're going down.

Which manager has the experience of working at L1 level?

I just find it absolutely mad. Lampard has been in charge just days.

It's like the whore's drawers on here at times.

Never considered we might go down 3 weeks back but people are missing the most important thing - Lampard is already having an impact. Robins is never winning that penalty.

 

[Grendel]

We won't go down.

The only way we will go down is if Lampard, himself, proves to be an awful manager

Even though the previous manager assembled a squad which has us with 4 wins and 1 point above relegation

 

[duffer]

We won't go down.

The only way we will go down is if Lampard, himself, proves to be an awful manager

Bloody hell mate, I was feeling moderately confident until I read that.

Joking aside, I see little previous evidence that Lampard is the sort of manager that gets a struggling team out of a mid-season hole, but I guess we'll see.

Personally, I'd go old school. 4-4-2 with Simms and Norman up front, and Kitchen and Bidwell at the back.

Regardless of all that though, I think we just need to be a bit nastier and move the ball forward a bit faster without worrying endlessly about keeping possession.

Tactics and possession aren't worth much if there's no fight or energy in the side, and that's where I see the real problem.

Just mho obviously, but we're not entitled to a place in this division just by dint of having an expensive squad and a big name manager. These players need to start fighting for their careers too.

 

[Grendel]

7 months? The end of last season was 4th May.

1st game of this season was 10th August.

You can't count months we didn't play games in.

Sheaf was a very good player for us last season and so too, MVE.

You don't suddenly become a bad player overnight. So, yes, it is baffling.

They are underperforming.

You keep saying this. They aren’t just underperforming they are showing zero desire or interest

 

[Frostie]

You keep saying this. They aren’t just underperforming they are showing zero desire or interest

Underperformance, lack of confidence or confusion over tactics etc. are always mistaken for lack of desire by fans, it's very rarely the case.

 

[ProfessorbyGrace]

If there was a vein of experience through this team, we would be ok. It’s very simple.

Look at the way Sir Alex integrated his class of 92 into his first team, and ensured they had quality players around them, like Cantona, Pallister, Irwin, Schmeichel etc.

Throwing a gaggle of youngsters together with Bidwell as the most senior, is ludicrous. Sheaf is not captain material, and the other senior players have all gone, bar Wilson.

What the hell did King and Robins expect?!? We’re neck deep in it now, and I do not expect this team to have the fight and guile to battle relegation. It’s going to take a gargantuan effort of the part of Lampard and his coaches to steady and redirect this rudderless, leaderless ship.

Dramatic, possibly. But we have been in this situation before. It can go very, very awry.

 

[Grendel]

Underperformance, lack of confidence or confusion over tactics etc. are always mistaken for lack of desire by fans, it's very rarely the case.

The body language of sheaf in particular isn’t great and I know for a fact he was telling one person I know in a corporate area when robins was in charge that he was not injured but “not worthy of even being acknowledged”

 

[matesx]

Bookies don't think we wre going down... 22/1 with Skybet

Plymouth Oxford and Portsmouth odds on to evens

We will end up mid table imo

 

[SeaSeeEffCee]

People keep saying ‘we’ve got good players’ but can you seriously be a good professional footballer if your mentality is awful? There are plenty of ‘good players’ throughout the football pyramid who play below their level because they don’t have what it takes mentally. We seemed to have signed a bunch of them.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

You keep saying this. They aren’t just underperforming they are showing zero desire or interest

You don’t keep scoring late equalisers (or winners) if the players are disinterested or lacking desire.

The first half, I felt there were some promising differences, things seemed a bit more zippy and we tried different things. EMC’s goal was a passage of play we’ve rarely seen this season.

The second half, the early conceded goal, Lampard pointed out he wasn’t impressed with the response. Frankly, they went back to old patterns of play of keeping the ball and moving it slowly allowing Cardiff to get set in defence and we struggled to break them down. It took Simms of all people to try and keep the ball alive before we got fortunate with that penalty.

It’s not going to be a slow fix because our defence and defensive sets are just as bad as when we were a newly promoted side.

 

[Grendel]

You don’t keep scoring late equalisers (or winners) if the players are disinterested or lacking desire.

The first half, I felt there were some promising differences, things seemed a bit more zippy and we tried different things. EMC’s goal was a passage of play we’ve rarely seen this season.

The second half, the early conceded goal, Lampard pointed out he wasn’t impressed with the response. Frankly, they went back to old patterns of play of keeping the ball and moving it slowly allowing Cardiff to get set in defence and we struggled to break them down. It took Simms of all people to try and keep the ball alive before we got fortunate with that penalty.

It’s not going to be a slow fix because our defence and defensive sets are just as bad as when we were a newly promoted side.

im talking about specific players

 

[Frostie]

If there was a vein of experience through this team, we would be ok. It’s very simple.

Look at the way Sir Alex integrated his class of 92 into his first team, and ensured they had quality players around them, like Cantona, Pallister, Irwin, Schmeichel etc.

Throwing a gaggle of youngsters together with Bidwell as the most senior, is ludicrous. Sheaf is not captain material, and the other senior players have all gone, bar Wilson.

What the hell did King and Robins expect?!? We’re neck deep in it now, and I do not expect this team to have the fight and guile to battle relegation. It’s going to take a gargantuan effort of the part of Lampard and his coaches to steady and redirect this rudderless, leaderless ship.

Dramatic, possibly. But we have been in this situation before. It can go very, very awry.

Robins identified this in fairness to him. We failed to get the players in he wanted to fill that gap.

 

[Bad Boy]

This is the gospel according to Bad Boy

We simply ain’t very good.

So you can dress it up as much as you like with stats and formations and this and that and you can come up with all manner of stuff that is intended to bamboozle me and make me look like a clown but I’m comfortable with my simplified uneducated point of view......

We’re bang average and there’s plenty that need moving on because it’s starting to smell.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

People keep saying ‘we’ve got good players’ but can you seriously be a good professional footballer if your mentality is awful? There are plenty of ‘good players’ throughout the football pyramid who play below their level because they don’t have what it takes mentally. We seemed to have signed a bunch of them.

What makes their mentality awful?

Sunderland more or less have the same team as last season and are fighting for automatic promotion. They were a young team missing leaders and that’s all they’ve added.

Meanwhile, our leadership core has been stripped and not replaced at all and its impact is there for us all to see.

The coaching hasn’t been good enough and there’s no leadership - that’s a toxic mix.

 

[Ccfcisparks]

im talking about specific players

I mean it’s second hand hearsay

 

[ProfessorbyGrace]

Robins identified this in fairness to him. We failed to get the players in he wanted to fill that gap.

Undoubtedly, however there just appeared to be a lack of alternative options or urgency to get the most crucial players in. The only experienced guys we looked at were Browne and Worral (?), and I’m still not quite sure how nobody else was identified?

Doug has to allow Lampard to bring in experience and loans in January, but then, how much say will Lampard have over transfers?

It could all go horribly awry, and I feel that the fans saying ‘we won’t go down’ are ignoring the obvious warning signs.

 

[Otis]

I think people were just hoping for a little most effort and positivity on the pitch after a change in manager. That should be an instant thing.

I think possibly Frostie and a couple of others were right in that maybe too much information was given to the players in a short space of time as we ended up looking as lost and confused as previously.

Yeah. Too much too soon maybe

It's not enough time really for a manager to change game plans easily

 

[Nick]

It's a worry that the players don't seem to put up a fight even if we are having a bad game.

I think MVE is sat imagining being in Holland most games.

 

[Otis]

You keep saying this. They aren’t just underperforming they are showing zero desire or interest

Well, that's what is puzzling. If they are lacking desire or interest, we need to know why.

If it was Robins as the catalyst, why are they still showing that same lack of interest now, 4 games after he's gone?

 

[no_loyalty]

Collins and JDS aren’t good enough, hopefully they will both be dropped for the Millwall game, the only worry is I believe Joe Edwards was their coach at Chelsea so knows them well.