"We've tried everything" Agree with that Keith. I've never known a manager try so many different formations and team selections. Short of sticking two 'keepers in goal I don't know what else we could try. Trying everything isn't working. Stop trying everything and go back to the one thing you really believe in and stick with it for a few games, even if we lose. If we're going to lose let's do it with our best team out there in a formation our manager thinks is the right way to go. At the moment none of us know what that is. Show us.
I don't think it's any coincidence that we were doing better with a weakened squad, that the team picked itself and remained stable through necessity. That did include Bobby Hassell and Chris Dagnall who both showed good form but have been dropped from Keith's thinking never mind the first team. There was so much going right in the first 10 games, so much so that teams became very wary of us, very fast. We played with flair and purpose and were very difficult to get the ball off, the kind of possession that folk are now calling 'tippy-tappy' - but with an end result, and dare I say it - endeavour. We have players whose form has fell way dramatically, what has happened to Jacob Mellis is anyone's guess but he's a shadow of the player who started the season. Wiseman has gone from an average, adaptable defender to an absolute liability and at the moment John Stones is nowhere near the prospect he appeared to be 10 games in. Fozzie has been playing out of his skin but he needs a dependable partner. At times he could look a lesser player at the side of Jason Shackell, but now he is so far our best defender it gives you a good idea how far the quality has dropped. The loan signings have obviously not provided any solutions, we have ended up with a stodgy midfield with too many players occupying the same space, trying to do the same job and basically getting in each others way. This has to come down to Keith, he picks the team. Against Sheffield Wednesday we had all the balance of me and Biglil on ice skates. There are too many players now existing on the periphery of the squad, McNulty, Dagnall, the academy grads, the danger being their careers going into limbo and just going through the motions, out of form, low on confidence and no desire to fight for a first team place. It's time for the players to stand up and be counted, to be responsible for their own game and make themselves difficult to leave out. Keith is unfairly getting all the flack, he's trying to cover loss of form now, not injuries. And it seems there are too many options and permutations that no-one knows what to expect anymore and it becomes more difficult to exact any game plan. We need to re-assemble all the elements that made us competitive early in the season, the loanees will be leaving in 3 games time, then I think it is time to commit with Jim O'B, Perks and perhaps re-introduce Dagnall from the bench.
Despite partly agreeing with the first paragraph the first 11 games produced 11 points and the second 11 games have produced 7 points. We were gaining more points last season when we were playing well and this season we aren`t. That is my main worry the good displays still aint producing enough points on the board.
We did have some very tough games early on. The points dropped to ipswich and Peterborough were the killer, but you are right it's about results from here on in - bugger the long term. We need to win 10 games effectively which will mean overturning tradition and having a stronger second half to the season. Treat every game like an independent do or die knockout match, evident against Boro in the first match of the season. The players have to rise to the challenge and if it means winning ugly, we have the squad size to cope.
