The 2025 Away leg Derby to the land of the Unwashed

[OwdBillCook]

We will be lucky to get into any European cup this season and that might not bode well for some of the players.

Well, if they really want to get back into Europe next year, then they'd better start playing like it. Its looking less likely as every Prem game goes by.....

[Cannylad]

It's a pity players' contracts don't include a "pay as you play" clause, if they did this lot would be 'kin homeless. I can take losses when the team has shown effort but this one today really winds me up. It's lucky I was watching it alone, the air in my TV room today was black and blue.

[Zippity]

Aye, it's the lack of fight that gets me.

It feels like we actually beat ourselves. How that fucking shower are so high in the league is beyond me. They were shit today.

But the kicker is-they were better than us. In every aspect of the game.

[Ragatino]

Aye, it's the lack of fight that gets me.

It feels like we actually beat ourselves. How that fucking shower are so high in the league is beyond me. They were shit today.

But the kicker is-they were better than us. In every aspect of the game.

It felt like they didn't want to take risks and get beat. It was paralysis. That was the least Derby, derby until the 94th minute.

The lads own them when they rock up at SJP in March. For the fans the team must put them to the sword and beat them convincingly.

No excuses.

[Zippity]

At the minute, Rage, at the minute, I honestly don't trust the players or Eddie to put anyone to the sword.

In Taekwondo training, one of the things we do when we're sparring is 'take' one of our opponents' best techniques away from them so you might say to someone who has a really good side kick that they can't use that in their next fight (the idea is to make us less reliant on one or two stock techniques and become more rounded fighters as we have to use other techniques that we don't normally).

Our intensity is our best weapon and it's been taken away from us. Or, rather, we've taken it away from ourselves.

Now, I get what Eddie is saying about not being able to play that way every game because of the amount of games we're playing...but we haven't replaced that intensity with anything else like, for example, quick passing and movement or physicality.

We haven't just lost the high press-we used to be masters of the dark arts (for a brief, glorious period) and got in teams' faces, we used to be really physical, we used to pass it around really quickly-and accurately...all of that is gone at the moment.

If we do have a style, it's a boring 'compact, solid, cautious one. Not only that but the players are struggling mentally-leading the 'points lost from winning positions' table shows that.

It's not good, man, it's just not good.

[Ragatino]

At the minute, Rage, at the minute, I honestly don't trust the players or Eddie to put anyone to the sword.

It's not good, man, it's just not good.

I totally agree.

I get the feeling the mentality has gone from hard working, bunker mentality, world against us, under dog attitude to Nouveau riche. The feeling that we're uncomfortable in our progression to being a dominant club. There is a lack of identity as the team are playing a style they are unfamiliar with.

We were a hit a run team, physical and aggressive. The current version is trying to be clever and look for openings.

Sadly in the Prem there are no openings, even against the weaker teams. You have to fight, and force openings.

The team is not skillful enough or creative enough to open teams us. The lads have stepped off the Physical gas which was how the team break down teams and force mistakes.

Is it a transition? Or is the plan to play both styles depending on the opponent? The 2nd would be optimal, sadly, at present, they team are stuck between the two and playing the worst of both systems.

It's not pretty to watch, certainly, away from home, it's not yielding points and wins.