Does anyone have any for tonight? What will happen if the atmosphere is as hostile as Saturday? What if we lose? I'm not looking forward to the game and I should be. Why has this happened? Has belief in Keith Hill's confidence been eroded? Does KH 'know' the Championship? Are the players capable of performing at this level? Do they want to play for us? I don't know the answer to any of these questions. I wish I did, but I don't.
Best thing I can say is I don't have any confidence at the moment but I live in hope that will change. However, it won't change while ever Preece is wearing the gloves.
It's going to take a lot more than 2 poor performances to deflect my faith in Hill - he deserves to be given time (FFS, Davey got given a permanent job after a performance worse than Saturday's). The natives are restless though, so it's one of those knife-edge situations where a nervous start could lead to some frustration in the crowd, which in turn affects the performance of the players even further. I'd have preferred us to have an away game tonight, when the atmosphere would be much more supportive from the away end. The only uneasiness I have is that I sense some frustration from Hill from his video interviews regarding his ability to bring in players. I think he wants to do more but isn't able to, but he's sticking to a 'company line' publicly. It's there again in the comments re Kyel Reid - he has to find a 1st team regular for the wages he'd pay and he can't guarantee that with Reid.
Seems that Vaz Te is injured And he was the only player who looked remotely like scoring on Saturday, so doesn't look good. But I've already had a Leeds fan and a Burnley fan telling me they are doomed this morning, so I reckon there's a lot of nervousness everywhere. If he gets the midfield right, which should then assist the strikers and give the defenders some cover, we'll have a chance. I just wish BFC managers would stop playing players out of their comfortable positions. As I understand it, McNulty is a left back, Perkins is a central midfielder, as is Butterfield, and Haynes is a striker. The people we had on the bench on Saturday could have easily been shuffled round to get players back into more natural positions (Hassell at centre back, McNulty left back, Perkins central midfield, O'Brien and RNL in wide midfield, Haynes up front, McEverley, Doyle and Butterfield on the bench).
I think we should expect better performances from individuals tonight ,surely some players can't play any worse than the last two matches.As for the team performance I'm not sure if the players know what they are doing in Hills system, they don't look confident with it .Its too early to make final judgements on Hillcroft but so far its classic Spackman,players knocking the ball about in our own half and not having a clue what to do when they get over the half way line.Keeping the ball is supposed to take pressure off ourselves and put pressure on the other team to get it back ,we give it back, usually on the half way line . Its make or break for McEverly tonight ,another poor half and he's got to go off (if he's picked) otherwise he's going to be the catalyst for the crowd to turn on the team.
I hope we get something tonight but I dont think we will because I just dont know where the goals will come from. I'm really not looking forward to the atmosphere because I think it will be very hostile if things don't go right from the off. The players will start to hide to avoid the boo's and calls from the crowd and that doesn't help to build a winning team. I hope I'm wrong but every fan I have spoken to since Saturday is angry and demanding something change tonight, if it doesnt I fear the atmosphere will turn nasty very quickly.
It might not even get to this stage. I'm half expecting some bright spark's in the crowd to boo him during the team announcement, which will be about as destructive as it can get in terms of atmosphere. Desperately hoping it's not the case, but not entirely confident.
The atmosphere where I sit wasn't "hostile". However, I think at lot of people had difficulty identifying with the 11 players on the pitch (and the manager). There was so many changes and so many players I'd never even heard of. It was my first match of the season, and it kinda felt like I was watching another team.
