That's our record over the last 7 league games going back to the home game against Blackpool.... and it's about as inconsistent as it gets. So, how do we go from Barcelona-esque in one game to being absolutely dire in the next? I think its probably got more to do with the opposition's game plan than our team's efforts. When we have a good performance I think our next opponents see us as being dangerous and work during the week on how to stop us playing by pressuring us and not giving us time on the ball. When that happens we have no 'plan B' and we end up looking poor and ineffective. The game after, the opposition under-estimates us and don't worry about stopping us playing. They end up giving us the time and space we need to play our 'A' game and we end up winning well. Then the cycle repeats. Birmingham are on a really good run and after our poor showing at Watford yesterday I don't think they will be worrying too much about 'little Barnsley'.... so we can all look forward to another rousing home performance and 3 more points on saturday. If we carry on our sequence of inconsistency until the end of the season we'll get 9 more wins and 8 defeats from our remaining 17 games, and whilst it might be a bit frustrating at times, I'm sure most of us would be pretty happy with 66 points.
That is the main problem with Hill as I see it. We have no other plan other than the one he sends them out with, he does not seem able to get things changed after the start of a match. I cannot workout what he says at halftime either because we become bloody poor in the second half in the majority of matches. We go from looking like world beaters to rubbing rags in the space of the half time interval. Very frustrating to say the least. When we get a good start we look great, when the opponents shut us down we have no idea!!!!
Think about what you've just said. So what you're saying is that our success or failure is completely dependant upon the efforts of the opposition on any given match day? Christ almighty... Has it not occurred to anyone, that perhaps, our players are not of a sufficient basic quality to out-perform Championship opposition on a regular basis?
I did not go to yesterday's game, so please do not take these comments as anything to do with Watford. I think that your comments are a sweeping generalisation based upon circumstantial evidence. My first point is that KH does change games. In the Derby game he began with 4-3-3 and reverted to 4-4-2 as the midfield tired. He has also played 4-4-1-1, and 4-5-1 at various times during the season. I suspect that your views are based on the first half table and the lack of points obtained from losing positions. However, it is wrong IMHO to conclude that this means that he cannot change the game. There is a saying in Rugby. The forwards win the game and the backs decide by how many. The same is true in football only in this case it is midfield that wins the game and the forwards that decide by how many. It is possible to trace back our inconsistency to how strong we are in midfield. We struggled until Drinkwater arrived. We had a good run and then struggled again when he got injured. We improved when he returned and then struggled again when he left. The transfer window has left us trying to integrate two new players in midfield. You would have to have been blind not to see that they were both desperately unfit in the Derby game. In my opinion, Tonge was struggling from 40 minutes and Smith last only until 60 minutes. They are then expected to play their second game just 4 days later. As for the disparity between first half and second half performances. KH's strategy seems to be that the team should use their energy in the first half. The pass and move game requires that player use a lot of energy finding space. Not only that, he asks them to try to win the ball back in the opposition half. Both leave even fit players hanging on after half time. If they do not get a lead in the first half, there is no energy left for a fight back in the second. It is not that KH cannot change the game. It is that the players do not have the energy reserves to do so. I am sure that you will see some improvement in consistency when the new players are fit and I hope that there will be a better performance after a weeks rest.
Re: Think about what you've just said. I agree... It comes down to the quality of the players. I'm not sure about madmark62, but personally I wasn't being particularly critical, I was just making the point that when our game doesn't work it is largely down to the opposition pressuring us rather than our players being complacent or lacking motivation, or even tactical changes made by Keith Hill. If all teams in our division gave us the same respect as Millwall and Watford did and based their strategy on stopping us playing we would find points far more difficult to come by than we have done. I'm generally in favour of the brand of football we play but when the pressure is put on you see the difference between having a team made up of £100,000 players and one made of £1m+ players. My only criticism (and a slight one at that) is that on occasion we should sacrifice the 'pure passing football' approach and look to get the ball into the box a bit quicker (like in the last 5 minutes against Watford when we need a goal to rescue a point).
Re: Think about what you've just said. It's a catch 22 situation. Hump it in the box and the purists start wailing. Stick to your principles and folk yell to lump it in the box because results are everything. I have no doubt that with a good budget, Hill would have us challenging for the play-offs. Without such a budget, we can only afford the type of player who will generally struggle for consistency at this level. Every team has a bad performances from time to time. Look at West Ham at Ipswich.
Re: Think about what you've just said. I was not being in anyway derogatory about anyone. I just think it is something Hill needs to rectify, if as he has told us before , he really is a fantastic manager.
Re: Think about what you've just said. He's never referred to himself as a "fantastic manager". His record to date suggests he has certain level of ability, that most people recognise.
