When January Comes (1 Viewer)

[Grendel]

Some decisions have to be made and they need to be the right ones.

Today was a major disappointment. Yes the focus will be on the referee and two or three decisions that were made wrongly. However, they gloss over some issues and concerns. Sheffield looked a team devoid of all positivity. The manager looked almost thorn-like in his cliche ridden interview. This was a team who looked beaten before they walked on the pitch.

The January window will prove pivitol to the whole season.

The club needs a new experienced goalkeeper. It is the one position that we seem to have neglected. It's one area where opposition teams have stronger players. Rcc is a fine prospect but to expect him to cope with the increasing pressure as the Golden Fleece of a top 6 place draws near is too much. Burge, to use a popular phrase, is not even on the radar. The budget should have been utilised to get a keeper in the first place. Spending on Johnson, Tudgay and fortune has not worked.

Stokes will not last the whole season. He cannot play every game. Pressley was ultimately undone as he never addressed Haynes. If stokes hadn't arrived last season we'd have gone down. We need a back up - and Haynes as with Burge will not deliver.

A new centre half is clearly needed.

The obsession with cole is disturbing. A player signed on a month loan who isn't for the month is odd. If he's in and around the squad you get the need to play him. However he looks insipid for large periods.

Tudgay and fortune seem just to be periphery players. Kent looks wasteful and frustrating.

Mowbray is the best thing to happen to the club for a long time but is not infallible. He has had teams at the top of a league at January and failed to get to the play offs.

Given the precarious position of the club off the field we have to be in the top 6 this season.

The decisions in January will decide this.

They have to be right.

It may be a two year project but year two needs to be how to survive in the championship.

 

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[covcity4life]

We could be 1st place come jan 1st. I don't think anything drastic is requires

Woukd have no issue with experienced keeper but do thibk Rcc is good enough to take us to promotion

Left back wise o am happy for Haynes to be thr baxk up. There is potential there so not sure we shud stop giving him a chsnce full stop

Cb is defo needed. When turner goes we will look lost again.

Think time to judge cole will be over this festive period where I'm hoping he will play 3 or 4 games.

Kent I woukd like to extend because he worried defences. Bit of coaching could hopefully help him put his skills together in a full package

Striker wise we ain't gonna get rid of tudgay or fortune so I'm not sure he'll plump for anymore

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

I know he's had somewhat of a decline since he left but I wouldn't mind Adams back at left back, rotating Stokes and Adams at left back looks ok to me.

I agree with the other points, goalkeeper and replacing Turner are priority. And then working on extending loans, Armstrong is the only priority one for me, I suspect Bigirimana will do a sure thing if Mowbray wants him. We could cope with Cole and Kent going back, especially if it subsequently meant there was more room in the budget for a keeper and defender.

 

[mechaishida]

Some decisions have to be made and they need to be the right ones.

Today was a major disappointment. Yes the focus will be on the referee and two or three decisions that were made wrongly. However, they gloss over some issues and concerns. Sheffield looked a team devoid of all positivity. The manager looked almost thorn-like in his cliche ridden interview. This was a team who looked beaten before they walked on the pitch.

The January window will prove pivitol to the whole season.

The club needs a new experienced goalkeeper. It is the one position that we seem to have neglected. It's one area where opposition teams have stronger players. Rcc is a fine prospect but to expect him to cope with the increasing pressure as the Golden Fleece of a top 6 place draws near is too much. Burge, to use a popular phrase, is not even on the radar. The budget should have been utilised to get a keeper in the first place. Spending on Johnson, Tudgay and fortune has not worked.

Stokes will not last the whole season. He cannot play every game. Pressley was ultimately undone as he never addressed Haynes. If stokes hadn't arrived last season we'd have gone down. We need a back up - and Haynes as with Burge will not deliver.

A new centre half is clearly needed.

The obsession with cole is disturbing. A player signed on a month loan who isn't for the month is odd. If he's in and around the squad you get the need to play him. However he looks insipid for large periods.

Tudgay and fortune seem just to be periphery players. Kent looks wasteful and frustrating.

Mowbray is the best thing to happen to the club for a long time but is not infallible. He has had teams at the top of a league at January and failed to get to the play offs.

Given the precarious position of the club off the field we have to be in the top 6 this season.

The decisions in January will decide this.

They have to be right.

It may be a two year project but year two needs to be how to survive in the championship.

After today's showing, I couldn't agree more. Consistency, ruthlessness and depth are 3 key factors to winning a league; I'm not saying we don't possess these elements, I just feel that as a team these integral aspects have not been galvanised.

At this rate, with no addressing of the areas in question, we're at best scraping a play-off spot. I haven't seen enough the strength and depth capable of winning this league, there are too many fuck ups and too many non-wins against teams there for the taking.

I have faith that TM will do all in his power to get this team up. Compared to seasons before, we're fortunate and doing brilliantly, but if we're to ascend onwards and upwards, aforementioned areas need addressing. Pronto.

 

[covcity4life]

Not sur ei agree with that. We been fighting for autos all season long. 1 away loss to title favourites at start of season all of a sudden we will be scraping play offs?

I am sure mowbray has a plan for January but I can still see us registering back to back wins at ricoh going into the window anyway.

 

[st john]

I can't see why some people are panicking about 1 unlucky defeat away against a very physical side that treated this game like a cup final and had all the refereeing decisions go their way. Got some easier games coming up now with a great opportunity to take 10 points out of the next 4 games and everything will be back on track.

 

[mechaishida]

Not sur ei agree with that. We been fighting for autos all season long. 1 away loss to title favourites at start of season all of a sudden we will be scraping play offs?

I am sure mowbray has a plan for January but I can still see us registering back to back wins at ricoh going into the window anyway.

TM always has a plan, indeed.

All I'm saying is that without more depth, options and ruthlessness, we'll continue to drop valuable points - be it against good sides or bad sides. I'm not overly concerned, but we're almost half way and in that performance I saw why we ballsed up against Doncaster.

It's niggling things that get me, repeated mistakes and a strange lack of a cutting edge in some games. Consistency will get us up, I just hope TM has enough budget and resources left to ensure and cement our automatic promotion.

 

[rupert_bear]

I know he's had somewhat of a decline since he left but I wouldn't mind Adams back at left back, rotating Stokes and Adams at left back looks ok to me.

I agree with the other points, goalkeeper and replacing Turner are priority. And then working on extending loans, Armstrong is the only priority one for me, I suspect Bigirimana will do a sure thing if Mowbray wants him. We could cope with Cole and Kent going back, especially if it subsequently meant there was more room in the budget for a keeper and defender.

Fucking hell mate you have just got rid of half the squad that's got us to our highest position in years. We were never going to win or draw every game and Sheffield United are a team designed to win how they did today, luckily.

 

[mechaishida]

I can't see why some people are panicking about 1 unlucky defeat away against a very physical side that treated this game like a cup final and had all the refereeing decisions go their way. Got some easier games coming up now with a great opportunity to take 10 points out of the next 4 games and everything will be back on track.

Absolutely, but like I mentioned to covcity4life, it's the niggling concerns that could grow into the difference between auto promotion and play-offs.

Sheff Utd bullied the win today, and that is another concern tbh.

 

[Hobo]

CB followed by experienced goalkeeper.
A striker if we lose Armstrong.
As much as Kent, Lamieras and Murphy can frustrate they can bring a vitality Fortune and Tudgay can't. Cole is a distraction we could do without...I just don't think he is going to come good.

Remember Mowbray has been top New Years Day before and missed out. We have a lot to be positive about but there is a lot of football left and the job is far from been done and dusted.

 

[st john]

Absolutely, but like I mentioned to covcity4life, it's the niggling concerns that could grow into the difference between auto promotion and play-offs.

Sheff Utd bullied the win today, and that is another concern tbh.

Agree, that is one concern, how we struggle against the physical sides, but I guess that is a trade off with fielding a mobile, lightweight forward line.

 

[Otis]

Absolutely, but like I mentioned to covcity4life, it's the niggling concerns that could grow into the difference between auto promotion and play-offs.

Sheff Utd bullied the win today, and that is another concern tbh.

Bullied the win and had an incredibly large dose of luck.

They never looked like scoring and it took at LEAST 3 terrible decisions to gift them the game (no red card for the terrible challenge by McEverley, clear handball, ball over line, Vincelot pen not given, no second yellow for Hammond in the second half).

They would have been beaten comfortably without that lot.

 

[covcity4life]

Agree with otis. Could easily be here discussing a solid away stalemate

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

Fucking hell mate you have just got rid of half the squad that's got us to our highest position in years. We were never going to win or draw every game and Sheffield United are a team designed to win how they did today, luckily.

No I haven't

Cole has barely featured, Turner has played a handful of games and its accepted he is going back so need to replace him. So its a stretch to say they are an integral part of the team that has got us to the highest position for years.

Only one I'm getting rid of who has regularly featured is the keeper as it is a priority now along with replacing Turner, Kent has been in and out of the team and would be expendable if it meant we could get a better quality of keeper and defender in.

 

[bringbackrattles]

Sheffield didn't beat us today by being the better side, but the ref did by disgusting decisions.If it was a boxing contest we'd have won on points.But it's so frustrating that we lost to a sloppy goal,as no way we deserved to lose that game.I know it's always said after a defeat but bring on our next game and let's get back on track,and a couple of home wins to ease this loss today.

 

[Grendel]

Bullied the win and had an incredibly large dose of luck.

They never looked like scoring and it took at LEAST 3 terrible decisions to gift them the game (no red card for the terrible challenge by McEverley, clear handball, ball over line, Vincelot pen not given, no second yellow for Hammond in the second half).

They would have been beaten comfortably without that lot.

Given our clear superiority we actually only forced the goalkeeper to make two pretty routine stops.

We flattered to deceive a lot against a team that were clearly devoid of all confidence.

 

[stupot07]

Given our clear superiority we actually only forced the goalkeeper to make two pretty routine stops.

We flattered to deceive a lot against a team that were clearly devoid of all confidence.

Yeah agree with that. Armstrong had a single chance in 90 mins.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - so please excuse any spelling or grammar errors

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

Absolutely, but like I mentioned to covcity4life, it's the niggling concerns that could grow into the difference between auto promotion and play-offs.

Sheff Utd bullied the win today, and that is another concern tbh.

Only bullied in the sense that the ref let them get away with it - still had only 1 'sort of' effort against us - hardly knee trembling time. Thought we controlled nearly all the game, just lacked the cutting edge (Madders will sort that)

 

[mechaishida]

Only bullied in the sense that the ref let them get away with it - still had only 1 'sort of' effort against us - hardly knee trembling time. Thought we controlled nearly all the game, just lacked the cutting edge (Madders will sort that)

They were a physical side who cleverly took advantage of a weak referee to gain victory - controlling a game is nothing unless you actually have something tangible at the end of 90 minutes. It's not panic stations, far far from it, I just feel I was watching a luke-warm City today who lacked ruthlessness.