Reflections on today

[Zippity]

I've given up calling it the positives because it restricts debate, I think.

Today was a bridge too far for our team.

If we were a boat, we'd have been a wreck when Howe took over. He's done an incredible job to patch up the holes, fix the sail and stop us sinking. We're now beginning to list a wee bit and let in a bit of water as the fixes give way a little under the constant strain.

What we're seeing is the result of years of neglect and we've done remarkably well to get as far as we have. We might end up limping back to port rather than storming home but we know that the right tools and materials are going to be made available when we get there.

Leaving that rather painful analogy aside, we were beaten by a better side today. They managed the game better and offered more in the final third. We offered very little in terms of a cutting edge and Wilson has produced this sort of performance more often than not recently.

Miggy isn't good enough to start next season as first choice.

Our fans were fantastic-that show of support at the end encapsulated everything we've said abiout our team-we don't demand a team that wins, we expect a team that tries. We tried today but it just wasn't our day.

The future is bright, keep the faith.

Over to you.

[Jammy89]

Basically - exactly that Zip.

We can hold our heads high and we didn't disagrace ourselves.

[MidsMagpie]

Similar to the liverpool game plenty of possession but no real end product,The saint had some quality moments Isak looked decent and great to have Bruno back but again a lot of the deadwood needs shifting in the summer to make room for genuine quality. Wilson sadly looks totally off the pace since the world cup and thats a worry. Onwards and upwards im sure there will be big changes in the summer.

[toptoon]

You can tell how thin the squad is by the feeling of utter dread when one of our players gets hurt, like today with Schar (we all knew who was coming on if he went off).
We have only the spine of a decent team (possible theme for another thread) currently and a few players who would be good back up. We will get there and it can’t be a quick process due to FFP rules but we will get there.

[Zippity]

The truth is that, today, Chris Wood couldn't have done any worse than Wilson. He looks way off the pace, literally as well as mentally-his pace of thought and his actual pace are both sluggish-he seems to have taken a lot longer to recover after his latest unjury.

i agree, Isak looked decent and Maxi got into some decent positions-never amounted to much as he was always crowded out by 2 or 3 of their players.

incidentally, what has happened to our high press? Have we stopped doing it or is there something I'm not quite getting (always a high possibility)?

[Jammy89]

I think our high press has exhausted us through early part of the season.

We were use to it and then World Cup came and we lost it, trying to get it back isn't working at the minute.

Basically . . . World Cup came at awful time for us.

[Ragatino]

Similar to the liverpool game plenty of possession but no real end product,The saint had some quality moments Isak looked decent and great to have Bruno back but again a lot of the deadwood needs shifting in the summer to make room for genuine quality. Wilson sadly looks totally off the pace since the world cup and thats a worry. Onwards and upwards im sure there will be big changes in the summer.

Man Red weren't very good, we were worse. They sat back and played counter attack, concerned about their dodgy back line. We had no plan to break them down.
Wilson was useless, did he even get a shot on target?
I don't understand why Miggy has become so scared once again? He was ripping it up, had he continued in that vein he'd have at least drawn fouls and got penalties. However nothing.

What is more concerning is Set Piece situation. Before the WC we had several clever plays which lead to goals now nothing. Defensive Set pieces we were bulletproof, since the WC we look shaky. Against Liverpool and again today we lost the match due to long balls in between the CBs.

This has to be sorted out or we'll continue sliding down the league and this season will end up as a very disappointing 8-10th place finish. One plus - No crap Euro competition but this will damage any chance of getting the top top transfer targets.

I do hope that EH uses this loss in the final as fuel for the fire to drive the boys on to a strong back end of the season.

[5under1and]

I think we should be proud of our team we lost to a good cross (maybe offside) and a deflection we weren’t out classed with nearly 70% possession but just not the players to finish that will come it’s only just over a year
We have over 40 points I can think of half of the premiership teams that would be very happy with that
Keep the fait and the next few years will be a great ride

[Zippity]

All good points. We've come so far in just 16 months, it's easy to let the last few blind us to that fact.

[toonfalifekevbrown]

Here is my penny worth
It's a couple of seasons too quick for us to win a cup or challenge the big boys
Squad depth shows how average we are
We were awful under Ashley and it was going to take time ,luckily we went on a good run and morale was winning is games ,but we've been very ordinary in many games and I now hope we can keep going
I won't comment on Eddie Howe tbh