The cause of the symptoms for the treatment...

[PEARCEY]

Good post, Pete.

Good effort.

We're going down with just 1 more point than we have now.

Your comments are the best reasons I've read for our demise.

It's a real,real shame.

I was really sure we'd stay up but after watching the Fulham game my hopes were dashed. Wigan and Arsenal haven't helped either.

I hope I'm wrong but I doubt it.

Very surprised by your comments GC. You are usually optimistic in these things. Its still in our hands and Spurs away form is dreadful and Derby's home food is not up to much.
I think we will just about stay up but it is too close to call.

[SpaceCruiser]

Very surprised by your comments GC. You are usually optimistic in these things.

GC, optimistic? No way!

[papereyes]

Whilst I don't have quite as negative an opinion of this as Papereyes

Its not like I am positive or negative but I've based my thoughts and comments on what I've seen and what the club have done.

We're not down yet, we still have a chance to stay up BUT I genuinely believe that our actions or lack of action has made this season harder than it should be and we could have been more proactive last summer, last January and this January so that known issues with the squad (as detailed in the thread) were sorted.

If the club's financial position meant that we genuinely couldn't do that, then fair enough. But, as yet, I've not seen any sign or been told that that has been the case.

[PEARCEY]

Very surprised by your comments GC. You are usually optimistic in these things.

GC, optimistic? No way!

I dont know GC but he tends to be more positive than most(on here anyway) and was of a view that we would stay up...until the Fulham game whilst others thought we were down by about October. Hence the optimism comment.

[Cookie]

Good post, Pete.

Good effort.

We're going down with just 1 more point than we have now.

Your comments are the best reasons I've read for our demise.

It's a real,real shame.

I was really sure we'd stay up but after watching the Fulham game my hopes were dashed. Wigan and Arsenal haven't helped either.

I hope I'm wrong but I doubt it.

Very surprised by your comments GC. You are usually optimistic in these things. Its still in our hands and Spurs away form is dreadful and Derby's home food is not up to much.
I think we will just about stay up but it is too close to call.

Why are we all shitting ourselves about Derby? Has anyone seen them?

[Ian Royal]

Very surprised by your comments GC. You are usually optimistic in these things.

GC, optimistic? No way!

I dont know GC but he tends to be more positive than most(on here anyway) and was of a view that we would stay up...until the Fulham game whilst others thought we were down by about October. Hence the optimism comment.

you missed him in our promotion season where he kept on about us slipping up and Leeds catching us then. I'm not sure he acknowledged our promotion even after the Leicester result...


I'm more confident than ever that we'll stay up now GC has finally started to think we're doomed! It was worrying having the same opinion as him.

[PEARCEY]

Aaagh I see so Mr Cummings is an STG after all. The old boy has hidden it fairly well to us newcomers this season

[Hoop Blah]

Whilst I don't have quite as negative an opinion of this as Papereyes

Its not like I am positive or negative but I've based my thoughts and comments on what I've seen and what the club have done.

We're not down yet, we still have a chance to stay up BUT I genuinely believe that our actions or lack of action has made this season harder than it should be and we could have been more proactive last summer, last January and this January so that known issues with the squad (as detailed in the thread) were sorted.

If the club's financial position meant that we genuinely couldn't do that, then fair enough. But, as yet, I've not seen any sign or been told that that has been the case.

Absolutley spot on. We failed to plan and give ourselves the best chance of staying in the league that we could.

That's bad management.

Couple that with some bad use of our existing resources and I think your see two of the main reasons for this seasons struggles.

[Hoop Blah]

lots of sense written on this thread.

Whilst I don't have quite as negative an opinion of this as Papereyes, it is very hard to argue against his points. I still think Oster has been unfairly slated and has performed fairly well recently, though isn't good enough to be more than a squad player and he looked promising just before his injury against Everton.

I think I'm right in thinking that you watch most of the games on the net or on the telly yeah? Although Oster has had some good moments, his general contribution is marred by his lack of defending and the number of times he gives the ball away. That doesn't always come across when your not at the game.

The fact remains that the injury was before the window closed and before Seol went, if not before the deal was arranged. Now maybe we were expecting it to be a much less significant injury, and Fae and Rosenior to be capable of filling in until Little and Oster returned. That was clearly a mistake with hindsight. This could also have been mitigated by Convey finding his fitness and form, agains something that just didn't happen.

We have made mistakes, and they have been big ones. BUT those mistakes have been highlighted by the sheer bad luck in having so many extended crucial injuries, new players who haven't stepped up to the challenge and proven players who've played like total fairies for some if not most of the season.

I agree we've had a few injuries to players that haven't really helped our cause BUT these are part and parcel of the game, and the squad should be put together to cope with these. Our policy of signing players which represent more of a gamble and a reluctance or inability to attract players who are proven at this level has left us more exposed to the injuries we've faced.

It seems that we've suffered a lot of injuries this season, but I don't think we've been worse off than most, it probably seems that way because for the last 3-5 years we've been very lucky (or well prepared/fit) not to have many injuries.

[Vision]

Whilst I don't have quite as negative an opinion of this as Papereyes

Its not like I am positive or negative but I've based my thoughts and comments on what I've seen and what the club have done.

We're not down yet, we still have a chance to stay up BUT I genuinely believe that our actions or lack of action has made this season harder than it should be and we could have been more proactive last summer, last January and this January so that known issues with the squad (as detailed in the thread) were sorted.

If the club's financial position meant that we genuinely couldn't do that, then fair enough. But, as yet, I've not seen any sign or been told that that has been the case.

Absolutley spot on. We failed to plan and give ourselves the best chance of staying in the league that we could.

That's bad management.

Couple that with some bad use of our existing resources and I think your see two of the main reasons for this seasons struggles.

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with the above and we've been here before but i'm still not convinced that we are/were in a position to secure the required quality of replacements however well the planning might have been. In my view its the fact we've lost the leader (Sidwell) and the only truly creative individual (Little) of the group that has performed so magnificently over the previous 2 seasons that has been our downfall. Of course its the job of the management to secure these replacement but in my view they represent more than just the positions they occupy in terms of what they meant to this team. Much much harder to immediately replace in my view than simply picking up a supposedly proven Premiership central midfielder or right winger.

I actually think its the 2nd paragraph which has been as much the problem this season and would be my gripe with Coppell. he simply hasn't made as much use of his squad as he should have done. The relative performances of some of his supposedly inferior cup team compared to his favoured League side indicates to me that there is more depth in quality than most of us would think.

The main problem for a club like us though is that the management can't afford (financially and practically) to make mistakes in the same way that clubs with bigger resources can. Unless Coppell and co get 90% of things right it will always be a struggle for us in my opinion.

[Hoop Blah]

I guess we'll never really know how much of a chance we had of getting in 'suitable' players over the last 18 months, but when you consider we're willing to pay £25k a week for our top earngin current players I don't think we're miles away from being able to pay the going rate for a couple of players we needed.

I think it's an often overlooked point in terms of Sidwell that he was a leader of one of the clique's in the squad. It's his attitude we've possibly missed as much as his playing ability.

[old woman]

From games I've been to this season poor refereeing has played it's part.
Some very harsh sendings off,poor offside decisions(especially Villa away when they kept showing it over and over again on the big screen)

[Wax Jacket]

From games I've been to this season poor refereeing has played it's part.
Some very harsh sendings off,poor offside decisions(especially Villa away when they kept showing it over and over again on the big screen)

never EVER blame refereeing decision for a team being absolute crap over a season

[Gordons Cumming]

I guess we'll never really know how much of a chance we had of getting in 'suitable' players over the last 18 months, but when you consider we're willing to pay £25k a week for our top earngin current players I don't think we're miles away from being able to pay the going rate for a couple of players we needed.

I think it's an often overlooked point in terms of Sidwell that he was a leader of one of the clique's in the squad. It's his attitude we've possibly missed as much as his playing ability.

Yes

That clique consisted of Sidwell, Little, Shorey and Oster + maybe one other.

[Ian Royal]

lots of sense written on this thread.

Whilst I don't have quite as negative an opinion of this as Papereyes, it is very hard to argue against his points. I still think Oster has been unfairly slated and has performed fairly well recently, though isn't good enough to be more than a squad player and he looked promising just before his injury against Everton.

I think I'm right in thinking that you watch most of the games on the net or on the telly yeah? Although Oster has had some good moments, his general contribution is marred by his lack of defending and the number of times he gives the ball away. That doesn't always come across when your not at the game.

The fact remains that the injury was before the window closed and before Seol went, if not before the deal was arranged. Now maybe we were expecting it to be a much less significant injury, and Fae and Rosenior to be capable of filling in until Little and Oster returned. That was clearly a mistake with hindsight. This could also have been mitigated by Convey finding his fitness and form, agains something that just didn't happen.

We have made mistakes, and they have been big ones. BUT those mistakes have been highlighted by the sheer bad luck in having so many extended crucial injuries, new players who haven't stepped up to the challenge and proven players who've played like total fairies for some if not most of the season.

I agree we've had a few injuries to players that haven't really helped our cause BUT these are part and parcel of the game, and the squad should be put together to cope with these. Our policy of signing players which represent more of a gamble and a reluctance or inability to attract players who are proven at this level has left us more exposed to the injuries we've faced.

It seems that we've suffered a lot of injuries this season, but I don't think we've been worse off than most, it probably seems that way because for the last 3-5 years we've been very lucky (or well prepared/fit) not to have many injuries.

In answer to your first point yes, I don't get to many live games, but the ones I have seen have shown very little difference in Oster's contributions on th epitch than the ones I've listened to or watched on the net/in the pub.

The injuries.. I don't think we've suffered that many, but combined with the loss of form and failure to step up of others it has been horrific. The injuries we have had have been in already weak areas or to critical players, sometimes both. IMO

[Get Carter]

It's glaringly obvious - we cannot score goals - we have failed to score in 10 out of 16 premiership games since Jan 1.Whilst you can debate this and that and who was not replaced, if you cannot score goals, you cannot win matches - if we can stay up, we need to sign at least two quality strikers.

[Ian Royal]

It's glaringly obvious - we cannot score goals - we have failed to score in 10 out of 16 premiership games since Jan 1.Whilst you can debate this and that and who was not replaced, if you cannot score goals, you cannot win matches - if we can stay up, we need to sign at least two quality strikers.

This may be hard to understand, but some of things discussed may possibly have contributed to not scoring goals.

Not scoring goals is another symptom, not a cause.