If we dont go up...

[memyselfani]

In your serious opinion ... if we dont go up...why ??????

Not just coz we thru away to Brum etc...why long term ???

[DE23]

why - we have no leader on the pitch - not had one for a few seasons

[Rattea]

Because we are not improving.

The managers signings have been poor except when he throws money at it and he's not been able to weed out diamonds in the rough like other managers before.

If you drew a line of year on year improvement that plateaued last season and now it looks like we are on a downward slope.

On the other hand if you want to wear rose coloured glasses and slag people off who say it how it is ...

[Oldtimeram]

In your serious opinion ... if we dont go up...why ??????

Not just coz we thru away to Brum etc...why long term ???

We have not consistently played well all season and have thrown away countless points to teams we really should be beating if we are serious about getting promoted.

The defence is just not good enough either.

[Ramondo]

If we don't go up it will because we are not as mentally strong as we need to be.

If Brum had given us a game today then fair enough. But we battered them and really should have had a bigger lead, we played some superb football at times today that, as Steve said afterwards, will be forgotten because of the final two minutes. But we played very well, they had nothing to offer us in return and it was a comfortable win.

Then we backed off and went defensive - that wasn't a tactical decision as per Clough (who would have done that on 65 minutes as per usual), we did what we did to Forest, we handed it to them on a plate when we were comfortable.

The players had already shown that they were good enough, but they are weak mentally collectively.

Some experienced players out there but not enough leaders to galvanise. That's our weak spot. The sad and ironic fact is that on a day we were remembering Dave Mackay we produced a cave in that would have appalled him!

[AngryRam]

Winning is a rhythm, everybody was so happy we lost to Reading when we were gaining momentum.
We broke that and are now paying the price.


Losing was seen as acceptable by the management and fans.. Win EVERY poxy game.

[ramspride]

Because we are not improving.

The managers signings have been poor except when he throws money at it and he's not been able to weed out diamonds in the rough like other managers before.

If you drew a line of year on year improvement that plateaued last season and now it looks like we are on a downward slope.

On the other hand if you want to wear rose coloured glasses and slag people off who say it how it is ...

No its not because Rattea came round the other night but I do tend to agree with him. Every one on the planet knows we need a good CB and a good leader unfortunately Keogh is neither. He's like a rabbit caught in the headlights - I won't mention his eyes and his 'like I said' interviews. No wonder you don't hear many after match interviews with him. As captain he should be on there spouting. Lets spell it out THIS DEFENCE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. IT WASN'T LAST SEASON AND IT'S NOT THIS SEASON. WE NEEDED TO STENGHTHEN IT.

[su4eranio]

So this is an "if" debate so will play along, as despite a bad 7 days, we still currently sit in top 2 with Martin, Thorne and Eustace, 3 very important TEAM players to return shortly

IF we dont go up then I would put our downfall down to a defence that lacks leadership and resilience. Not sure the midfield ever have confidence that the defence is a tight solid unit

I dont single players out, like most I have my faves and others less so. Whikst conceding goals, we have tried so many combos alongside Keogh. What ****es me off is when we play right sanded CHs out of position tho and then wonder why they dont deliver top performances. For me, I would play Bucko left CH as only one who's natursl there, then choose either Albentosa (my pref) or Shots at right CH. Lets take a look at this pairing cos the one common denominator to now has been Keogh, but he seems undropable. I would even suggest put Keogh in at RB, he's played there before at Cov!

I also believe Will should play every minu

[tricky1972]

In your serious opinion ... if we dont go up...why ??????

Not just coz we thru away to Brum etc...why long term ???

We have not consistently played well all season and have thrown away countless points to teams we really should be beating if we are serious about getting promoted.

The defence is just not good enough either.[/quote]

You have conceded the same number of goals as the team which is leading the league, if you had Bournemouth's attacking threat you would be joint top.

You have scored fewer than Watford but you are above them because you have conceded fewer.

If the season ended today it would be your defensive record that would secure your promotion not the least profilic scoring record in the top 3!!

Thank heaven for Richard Keogh, Lee Grant and Omar Mascarell.

[blackandwhite56]

Because we are not improving.

The managers signings have been poor except when he throws money at it and he's not been able to weed out diamonds in the rough like other managers before.

If you drew a line of year on year improvement that plateaued last season and now it looks like we are on a downward slope.

On the other hand if you want to wear rose coloured glasses and slag people off who say it how it is ...

So we did improve last season then ... thought your 'like for like' showed we didn't! You were making exactly the same comments about not improving this time last year.


The problem is that we haven't replaced Clough's defence - Buxton and Keogh just not good enough and right-back position not solved since the sale of Brayford, except for Wisdom's loan.