winning when you play badly

[swaledale]

So we have won two consecutive games (at home admittedly) against our two close rivals (geographically) and some say that the art of success is to get positive results when the team plays poorly.

After all we have all had seasons where the football has been exciting but ultimately we have failed to deliver, what do fans want?

A team that grinds out results even though it does not play very well, or the exciting football of yesteryear which ultimately failed to win anything?

[Andy_Faber]

So we have won two consecutive games (at home admittedly) against our two close rivals (geographically) and some say that the art of success is to get positive results when the team plays poorly.

After all we have all had seasons where the football has been exciting but ultimately we have failed to deliver, what do fans want?

A team that grinds out results even though it does not play very well, or the exciting football of yesteryear which ultimately failed to win anything?

Win first, let the good football flow from the confidence of winning

[Romanis]

So we have won two consecutive games (at home admittedly) against our two close rivals (geographically) and some say that the art of success is to get positive results when the team plays poorly.

After all we have all had seasons where the football has been exciting but ultimately we have failed to deliver, what do fans want?

A team that grinds out results even though it does not play very well, or the exciting football of yesteryear which ultimately failed to win anything?

I think the answer is obvious. Remembering that in recent years, both Southampton and Norwich went from Tier 3 to Tier 1 in successive seasons, with their time in Tier 2 marked by dull 1-0 wins. Even Huddersfield today.

I think the championship can be best described as similar to qualifiers for the WC or Euros, nobody really cares what or how their side did in the qualifiers, so long as they qualified. It's what transpires in the tourney itself that matters more.
So a string of boring dull wins is no matter, if the end result was promotion. Then the new season in the Prem will be the 1 talked about.

(Tongue in cheek: I know my fellow fans will be happy to talk your most recent season in the Prem, but I do remember we were Tier 3 at the time, and I know which Tier I would want my team to be in)

[mistaram]

We went up winning 1-0 under BD everyone thought he was a genius

[Romanis]

We went up winning 1-0 under BD everyone thought he was a genius

And to be fair he was - siege mentality, pushing players and making teams tight at the back.
Alas it got to his head and he thought just because he was the manager, he was bigger than anything else at the club, maybe even the club himself.
He made demands and when his demands were not met....well you know the history anyway.

But his philosophy then wasn't wrong..

[MadAmster]

In all honesty, our most successful season this century wasn't exactly the most exciting ever. A 4-3 defeat at Colchester, a 3-0 home win against Southend, 5-1 home win over Colchester and a 3-1 home win against Cardiff being the only 4 games in which we scored more than 2 goals in a League game. That same season we scored 2 goals in 16 of our fixtures. That means that we scored 0 or 1 in 26 of the 46 games. Most of the wins were ground out 1-0 or 2-1 wins.

If we can grind promotion out this season, I think we will be in a far better position than we were back in '07 because we have Mel's millions in the background and, having won promotion, we would be allowed to spend heavily on improving the team/squad. Back in '07 we didn't have a pot in which to urinate as BD had spent it all in the January window to take the side from being a few points clear at the top to a 3rd place finish and the lottery of the playoffs. He then made the PNE comment on the Wembley pitch and went off on holiday for 3 weeks, IMO, safe in the knowledge that he couldn't buy quality as we had no money to spend...... on his return we acquired nobody of real quality and, at the death, the board, allegedly, went out and bought Earnshaw for 3 million. That appeared to irk BD as Earnshaw never got a look in and he must have been mightily pleased to leave the club.

Sometimes you do have to grind out a win or a draw, however, I would not be/am not happy for that to be the main tactic. You can get stuck in that mode, as we were IMO, in NCs reign. That siege mentality was needed at the start because he had to offload a whole bunch of overpaid and underperforming drains on resources and could only get bargain basement players in. Once things improved financially, he appeared to be unable to get out of that mentality..........

[roger_ramjet]

We went up winning 1-0 under BD everyone thought he was a genius

In fairness in many ways he was, up until the day at Wembley when he totally fouled up and lost all credibility and support. He may have wished that success for his previous club, but you dont say so in the circumstances of our promotion party. Thereafter it all became "me me me" and it unravelled in a sequence of inaction on the transfer front and then disasters in it.

Then at Forest his style again brought success - at least as much success that they have had this century. But again his ego fouled it up.

So a good manager but a compromised person: perhaps a tortured soul. However I would take his style and success over what we have had since. Villified he may be but his managerial success cannot be denied.

[AdiSalisbury]

Good question Swale, win first for me, as it shows that we're doing the important things right. Where do you stand?

Good football these days bore me anyway, ultra safe and risk free. I'd rather we take a few individual risks and bundle though, than put 38 passes together and tap it in an empty net. The goal the Southampton player scored at the weekend, that gets me excited. Tactics and pretty football aside, individual skill is what I enjoy watching, though I may be veering off your question.

[mistaram]

Roger I was not knocking him he was a very good manager for us Just that fans are know criticising the way we are playing when they were quite happy to go to Wembley playing very similar to what we are doing now He was a very troubled soul everything was me me me Remember when he first came he scrapped the reserves with some youngsters shunted out never to have a career Then he chopped the width of the pitch to suit his style He made the big mistake of taking on Adam Pearson only ever going to be one winner there He did the same with Fawaz at Forest

[Bloomeram]

Win first, let the good football flow from the confidence of winning

Agreed, we seem to have stopped losing games in the final few minutes, so some stability to the defence may have happened. Joe Ledley seems to have added backbone (that beard would scare the crap out of most people) so long may we remain unbeaten.........................Although some of the chances we have had against us should have been dispatched.