Last six home league games: Crewe 1-2 Walsall 0-2 Fleetwood 0-1 Port Vale 1-2 Blunts 1-1 Wigan 0-2 And let's face it, the Blunts should have been out of sight in that game with the chances they missed. Today we have no Scowen, no Toney, Conor who may be on his way if the dodgy rumours are to be believed, ditto Pearson, and Johnno in the last chance saloon, on one reading of the (spoof?) PC Facebook account. Maybe there'll be a shock to confound us, and we'll actually play well, but on all logic, the expectation has to be for another toothless display this afternoon. Hope I'm wrong, mind!
Can't see anything else but that Mr O but if guts an passion are on display then one cannot ask for anything else from the players.
I think we'll win today. That doesn't mean we will of course, I'm pretty shocking at predicting results, but my expectations aren't at rock bottom. I didn't think we'd beat Wigan, I reckon they're a significantly better team than us, but I don't believe the same is true of Blackpool. Having said that, I also thought we'd beat Crewe, Shrewsbury and Fleetwood, but we lost 'em all - like I said, crap at predictions - but I do believe we've improved since then. Not enough to see us climb the league away from danger and assure survival, we still need two or three experienced signings for that, but enough to win a few games and put an end to this horrible run of home games in the league. We've won 3, drawn 2 and lost 3 of the last 8 games in all competitions (won 4 if you included the penalties at Wigan) and while that kind of form may not see your team running away with the division title, it's a vast improvement on the previous 8 games and should allow for us to believe we're capable of winning the odd game. Johnson is now so unpopular that any defeat will be met with a massive critical reaction and more calls for his head, but if you look at the Wigan result in isolation, I don't believe we should be sacking a manager after losing to the richest club in the division on the back of an away win at Colchester, progression to the Northern Final of a cup competition (even if it is tin pot) and a draw against dem blades. I know the performance was crap too, but some of our players just aren't very good, while others are extremely inexperienced, so you get that. What doesn't happen is a team that loses 8 league games on the bounce, then miraculously transforms in to one that goes months undefeated, and that is true whether we sack Johnson or not. Calling for his head after those 8 defeats is perfectly understandable, but I don't think we're helping matters or being very fair if there is a similar reaction after the first defeat in four. We're going to lose more games this season, whoever the manager is, and I think we should differentiate between the odd defeat against a team that is simply better than us and a run of defeats against teams that aren't or at least, going on the budget available, shouldn't be. Of course, the half decent run of form could be the blip, and we may go back to losing regularly, but I don't think Johnson would survive that. I don't think he'd survive a defeat today (Christmas or not). Back to the point, I think we'll win. Feel free to pillock me when we get stuffed 3-0.
No need to pillock you Mr Jay. Its your opinion which is what this forum is about and yours is as valid as everyone else's. Hope you have had an enjoyable christmas
Another good post Jay. I suppose another way of looking at today is ................if we do lose and lose the next match, will the powers that be trust him with a budget to get players in to then run the rest of the season?
The problem with this Jay is that in their last league game, Blackpool beat Wigan. Before that, they beat Peterborough and Fleetwood, both of whom have beaten us recently. Added to that, today we have one less striker in a squad that doesn't contain an embarrassment of them. I'm not a total pessimist, but it's extremely difficult to see us winning today.
Really can't see that happening, I think they'd pull the trigger. Probably rightly so. We've been through the bad run and the board stuck by Johnson. I credit them for that, but if he wants to keep his job he's got to start winning some home matches. Today and Saturday are very winnable games and he's got to prove he can deliver. As I said, we will lose matches, but we can't allow the Wigan result to be the start of another losing run.
I expect us to lose. That's not me being negative, I'm just basing it on four months of competitive football and we've already lost 13 times in this division. But I suppose we're due a home win in the league and the players have been well rested for 9 days, no excuses on that front. I'm hoping we see Ryan Williams get a start on the opposite flank to Adam Hammill and Sam Winnall getting on the scoresheet. They're hopes though, not expectations. I'd be pretty ****** off if we lost again, and pretty ****** off if it saw the end of Lee Johnson's reign. Not because I think he deserves to stay but because it'd make no sense at this stage. He should have gone weeks ago. Why now? Give him the window he keeps referring to. If nothing improves over the next 6 or 7 games, fair do's. In my ******* opinion.
It's mental we are odds on to win today. Blackpool haven't done bad lately beating Wigan to nill who beat us to nill and didn't let us have a shot on target. I think at around 3/1 they are massively overpriced to beat us.
But if we gave a new manager the window then wouldn't that be better? Stop LJ bringing in any more deadwood? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You think that'd happen? I don't. I think they'd give the job temporarily to one of the many ex players at the club and the 'transfer committee' would continue to sign players. Not a chance of us sacking him before January and having a proper manager in place to recruit his own players. And according to form, Lee hasn't been signing these laikers..... maybe that's what'll change, he'll be allowed to bring in lads he genuinely wants?
Its not as if they haven't had long to line up a replacement if he does finally go! Other clubs have foresight to prepare suitable replacements so the change is made quickly. What do we do? If you thought 2015 was bad for BFC just wait for 2016!!!!
Don't think you'll mind me bringing this back to the top after such a good win. Hope the second half performance today restored a bit of pride for you. One swallow doesn't make a summer, but it usually signals the start of one. You reds.
Jay, absolutely not old boy. One of those occasions when I'm delighted to be wrong. In some ways it's very predictable that we put up such an unpredictable performance. Against Wigan (home) I felt sure we had enough recent positives to get a result and I was as disappointed as I've been all season when we didn't perform. There were lots of flaws yesterday, but By God wasn't it entertaining? Be nice to get the defence sorted, but if we can carry this sort of attacking threat even when shaky at the back, you'll hear no complaints from me. So many positives yesterday. Isgrove, Hammill, Watkins, Sam, White, Pearson, Hourihane all had storming games for my money. Before yesterday, I was withholding even my miserable £5 for Fleetwood in protest. I put that right last night. You know what happens next!
