Is our season about to fall apart?

[Oldtimeram]

With the dismal performance on Saturday and the rumoured injuries to Bent and Thorne maybe being bit more serious than first thought (yes, I am just looking on the pessimistic side of things as a worst case scenario).

We have also lost Eustace for quite a while and maybe Martin may take a few games to get back to full fitness. Add to that, the loss of form of Mascarell and Christie, should we be worried?

Norwich ore looking ominously threatening and Boro are always going to be a threat. Does anyone think we might fall into the dreaded play offs again?

I am a glass half full guy usually (I think I am still), but neither do I look through rose tinted glasses either. The above factors could have a part to play and we could find ourselves still in this division again next season and I dread to think what implications that will have!

Thoughts guys?

Thought I would cheer you up a bit

[yamyamram]

I've just posted my play off worries on 'Norwich win' thread OTR. I share your views. A good win Tuesday night & Saturday should restore everyone's confidence.

[Rapid]

you love a bit of mischief don't you old boy? ;-)

to be fair it's a compelling argument. we knew last season if martin got injured we'd be stuffed. same this season until bent came along - now they're both injured.

then we have the thorne situation which is more of a mental thing than anything. we haven't had him all season so shouldn't make any difference but he was billed as the messiah, we all thought it was ours for the taking when he got back. just didn't see '1 and a half games and then injured' coming.

on the positive side of things we have to commend the team on it's character. Rotherham springs to mind. then take a look at all our bad results which were almost immediately followed by an excellent performance. this side definitely has the mental strength and experience from last season.

of course it's football fans' jobs to look at worse cased scenarios.

best case - martin and thorne both back for Norwich. job done.

we'll have to wait anxiously for announcements from th

[Oldtimeram]

I can cheer folk up so much I can make it rain on a sunny day

[vanderlaans_header]

Time to roll up the sleeves and prove we are up for the challenge. If we are, we will achieve promotion if not, then it's back to the drawing board...

[derbystig]

It will only fall apart if we let it. What was a tough two games have become extremely difficult but not impossible. We have to get on with it, and hope that the league table does not lie and that we are better than Brighton and Birmingham and we have to find away to win.

[turbobob]

This isn't about one player. It's about the squad. And if we aren't good enough to go up with one or two players out, then we aren't good enough. I say that our squad is strong enough. Yes we played poorly against Fulham. But I would have to give them credit. They knew our strengths and nullified them. But we have enough quality in our squad to adapt. Which against Fulham we didn't do. Something that surprised me was that Ince and Lingard didn't swap sides.

Injuries are part of football and it gives the opportunity for another player to show they are worth a place in the team. I think we'll get a positive reaction from the team against Brighton.

[swaledale]

With the dismal performance on Saturday and the rumoured injuries to Bent and Thorne maybe being bit more serious than first thought (yes, I am just looking on the pessimistic side of things as a worst case scenario).

We have also lost Eustace for quite a while and maybe Martin may take a few games to get back to full fitness. Add to that, the loss of form of Mascarell and Christie, should we be worried?

Norwich ore looking ominously threatening and Boro are always going to be a threat. Does anyone think we might fall into the dreaded play offs again?

I am a glass half full guy usually (I think I am still), but neither do I look through rose tinted glasses either. The above factors could have a part to play and we could find ourselves still in this division again next season and I dread to think what implications that will have!

Thoughts guys?

Thought I would cheer you up a bit

In one word NO! believe we will over

[AdiSalisbury]

Unfortunately, I fear you are right OTR, I am really worried, and I'm usually optimistic.

With Martin out, we conceed more as we hold the ball better with him in the side. Bent made up for his lack in this department by being killer in front of goal, so we've been scoring lots to outweight the bad defending. But with both of them out, we put a lot of pressure on the players covering.

Russell, Ward, and potentially Lingard, Ince and Dawkins, are all able strikers - but are they good enough to handle our promotion hopes?

If we were mid-table, I'd not worry at all. But in our position, every game we don't win has a huge impact. Gutted we didn't take control Saturday, that could have given us a nice little buffer whilst Martin recovers.

Add to that Mr Thorne, lots of pressure on his head when he came back. He performed well, but now we hope he isn't injured for another 6 weeks. I really hope he does come back as he handles the expectation better than Mascerall, and Eustace is always

[Ramondo]

I have to say that it might do.

This is Steve's biggest test by far since he arrived. He's got his team to overcome poor spells after only 3 or 4 matches several times and gone on to produce some great runs. But this is the first major injury worry he has.

No Martin or Bent, No Thorne. Those are three hugely key players to lose simply because we don't have anyone close to good enough to cover for them.

Losing Russell was a blow, but we had other players. Losing Bucko or Keogh, or Grant, or Ward, or Hendrick, or Bryson etc, those are all blows but we have players who can cover those roles very well, in some cases nearly as well, others a bit better.

But Thorne has been a loss all season. Losing both strikers is massive!

It's going to be about team management now, how Steve sets up the side to play for at least the next couple of games/weeks, what mindset he produces from them. If he gets it right and we win the games that are winnable even with players missing (providing we play t