Until today, I thought it was when you don't perform as well as you usually do. However, I keep reading that we had an off day today, but I thought we performed just as well as we usually do. We didn't play as well as we did against Everton by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought the Everton game was exceptional, completely out of the ordinary, way above our usual level. Today was very similar to the majority of games I've seen from us under Johnson. Admittedly, we weren't as sound defensively as usual, so in that respect I suppose it could be described as an off day, but our general play and potency in attack was on par with Burton and Bradford and any number of games I saw last season. Better than some. The Everton game was superbly entertaining and despite the defeat a number of our players, and the manager, deservedly received a lot of credit (if all football matches were like that I might start watching games on the telly again), but I fail to understand how that game can be considered the norm.
The Everton game was a one-off, a cup clash where poorer players rose to the occasion and - in parts - competed against world class players. It happens regularly in Britain - that's why our cup competitions are so loved. Cups still bring magic. Our team deserved credit after Wednesday, but the reaction has been a bit OTT in my opinion. We conceded five goals and lost the game - hardly a season-defining moment. Johnson has done OK and I like the squad he is building, but nothing has changed to alter my pre-season prediction that we aren't strong or experienced enough to challenge promotion.
I think it's a bit more complex than this, chaps. That performance against Everton wasn't just a plucky underdog having a right go - it was a performance genuinely built on skill, quick thinking and good passing. I would concede that it took much more effort on our part to play like that than it did for Everton, but we matched them for 90 minutes. Having played like that once, we have shown that given the right circumstances, we can do it again. The challenge for Lee is to create the right circumstances for such performances to become more frequent, if not the norm. Anything difficult that you do in life is hard the first time, but gets easier if you are able to repeat it. A key is the motivation. We can't kick off to a cup tie atmosphere every game like we did on Wednesday, but start lesser games at a high tempo and you get the crowd buzzing. It's not easy, but we have shown what we are capable of. Shrewsbury needs to be another Everton.
Of course it was a plucky underdog having a go. We did incredibly well but they scored five and had 34 shots. There's no shame in that - we did amazing to compete in such a game, but they were below par and we were above our normal game. That's why we are two leagues in part - their players are worth up to £30m and ours are mainly free transfers, youngsters and players from the lower league. I'm comfortable with what we are doing but a side this young and inexperienced will struggle to gain promotion. Hope I'm wrong.
I can appreciate one or two players having an off day on any given matchday, but 11 at once is a bit hard to swallow
Trust me 14 players were off it today. And off it from minute 1 to minute 95. I know not why. Tired legs doesn't help but frankly yesterday wasn't just about tiredness. I'm putting it down to bad day at the office, at least when we have not entertained in the last few games we have ground out a result. LJ talks of how good we are when we play with energy. Yesterday we had none and were pedestrian at best.
It did seem to me more of a return to the norm than an off day. We played in a very similar way against Bradford, Chesterfield and Burton. Rochdale are just a better team so hammered us. Again comparing results against the same team last year progress is not evident.
But results compared with last year will never be the same. Does that mean that when we play Swindon at home you expect a 3-0 defeat?
Not at all. You have to have some yardstick to determine progress. One, but not the only, factor can be how do you measure up against teams you have played relatively recently ( others being points achieved and the entertainment/style of play). Every team we have played this season that we played last we have got worse results. That's a pattern. However it's very early days and it can change.
If we have progressed I'd expect the games against Swindon to be closer than they were last season. If they aren't then I'd say we have not made progress against a rival.
I can see it's a good way of determining process but of course there are a lot of factors which can change. We may have got better/worse but also the opponents may have got better/worse as well. I'm sure comparative results will balance out during the season
And I hope they're a lot closer too! But if we beat them 3-0 that may mean that both we've got better and they've got worse. Against Burton, we only won 1-0 probably because we played worse than against them last season but also because they have got better
look at it another way, if the cup match hadn't happened ,the Rochdale match would have been yet her league match where we have offered little or no cutting edge and conceded bad goals. The Everton match showed what we are capable of in creativity so that's good, the rest of the season we have played pretty but largely impotent football that for long periods has been boring. Now that's not moaning that's a fact, and yes Johnson needs time to finish his squad and hopefully take us forward (the Everton match will hopefully make us a more exciting proposition to players) The thing is you can see why some fans aren't happy, that's because we have been asked to be patient for so many seasons now and folk get fed up, particularly watching a team that produces very few attempts on goal.
I'm not saying it's the only way but if you take it with a similar points total (1 less this season) and a dull style of playing progress is really not evident. Not that I attach any blame to alLl to LJ he's a young guy learning and making an occasional mistake. I'm sure he will be a good manager for us. It's just a result of sacking your manager every 5 minutes which puts you further back as the new guy will have his own ideas/ wasn't his own players this stymies progress.
Very true. I think that this time we will give Johnson time after what Cryne said the other night. Hope so too as it will mean we will be able to progress
It's not a fool proof guide to our progress, or the lack of it. In a one off game, anything can happen. But if the majority of our results continue to be inferior to what we achieved last season then at some point we're going to have to admit that it can't be that every other club are getting better, but we are actually getting worse. Early days though and the sample size isn't nearly big enough yet to see a trend. Having said that, we were considerably worse yesterday than our performance at Rochdale last season, even if they were better, which they were. "He's got a plant pot on his head" was funnier though.
You must be joking. The amount of unforced errors and individual mistakes was something I've rarely seen us do. Roberts, Mawson and Hourihane all passing it to the opposition on a number of occasions. Hourihane getting caught in possession 2-3 times. Davies at fault for the corner. The energy in the team was zero. We're normally full of energy. If we performed like that every week we wouldnt have any points this season.
