Meh!!!

[mangoputney]

Blatantly gonna get shot down... But is anyone else getting tired of the 'pretty football' 'entertainers' 'Berba love in' 'goals goals goals'

Not enjoying currently inability to beat those around us, put games away, defending like a sieve

Understand we have injuries etc blah blah but

IMHO Oct / Nov results already seen our Europa League aspirations down the pan

Expected 3 pts, got em v Norwich (h) come flying out of the trap, obv Dembele present but more lightweight squad, reckon we're gonna get anything off them away with their current form / ethic / system???

Man U (a) Dembele sold himself maybe a point poss, point away... Hmmmmm nah

West Ham (a) dire, enough said, are we capable of getting 3pts off them at home, complete bogey team and bit like Norwich very settled

West Brom (h) way things are panning out, 3 pt reversal

Wigan (a) nice change away, reckon do able again at home

Man City (h) really thought we'd hold out for a point, no chance away

South (a) know its been banged on about, but how we're those points dropped,

Villa (h) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz reckon 3 pts away

Reading (a) south ditto

Everton (h) first bit of luck, grinded out a result, already seemed to forgotten how to again, no chance away

Arsenal (a) loads of romanticism, plaudits blah blah pretty football, points chucked away

Sunderland (h) absolutely awful team, we had no luck whatsoever, FFC as usual giving a struggling team a leg up

Stoke (a) been away enjoying Tuscany with missus fam, expected this result, expected gripes about how tripe we are on the road, same old same old... Fulhamish... If we want rid of such tosh from football, how's about beating them, they might not be a football team but they always grind out results

Chelsea (a) reckon might squeak a draw head says absolute roasting

14 games 16 points my prediction, meh meh meh, love watching Berba et al but please lads, this is a results business

Straight into spurs, toon, poxy Arry and scousers

Hope are dec / jan don't reflect Oct Nov form otherwise def relegation form

Another meh season despite the nauseous attacking Berba high scoring nonsense

Disappointed

[DukeTyrion]

Blimey, talk about glass half empty.

I am very pleased with the way the season is going.

The average age of the team is coming down nicely, with some great young players coming through. We lost Dembele and Dempsey, plus Zamora wanted to go, but Jol has done a great job in bringing players in to keep us in the top half of the table.

If you really think we should be expecting a European place, then I think you are watching the wrong team.

Personally, I am quite happy to sit in the top half of the table, knowing we will not be fighting against relegation this year and, as always I will keep hoping for a decent cup run.

[mangoputney]

Never expected a euro place, believe that's the general consensus of the forum, top ten??? Don't think so, rele battle much more likely

I'd take 10th year in year out, can only see this season being a disappointment

I'm happy to wage we'll finish 15th... Joyous

[Aaron]

I hate "Stoke Away" and have refused to watch the fixture or even MOTD the week we're playing them in the past few seasons.  It is always a pain in the arse fixture which ends up spoiling my mood. 

You're probably right to be honest,  We're 2 pts from 15th and half the teams below us have games in hand, the wrong set of results and we could (and probably will) drop like a stone in the next few weeks.  If Spurs get a result tomorrow I'd say we're officially "detached" from the teams at the top of the table so we're definitely not a cut above the rest as we thought we might have been earlier in the season.

From the next 5 I think we'll probably only see points coming against QPR.  If we were to lose that game because of some 'Arry miracle turnaround we're going to start seeing "JOL OUT" threads all over the place :)

Still the run after Christmas contains a lot of games we should be winning and we're going to strengthen in January it would seem so it's important not to panic!  I really don't see us getting too caught up in a survival fight, maybe at worse we'll be like Villa last season and spend a month or two hover four or five points above the drop, but we won't get caught up in it. 

I'm also expecting us to do well in the FA Cup if we get the right draws so maybe an outside chance of Europe and a trophy there, we're definitely not going to getting into Europe through league position.

Keep the faith though :)

[Logicalman]

OK then, good moan, so what's the problems? Is it all down to the 'love-in' on the MB, or is there something wrong wth the team/manager/club/British Rail?

[Aaron]

OK then, good moan, so what's the problems? Is it all down to the 'love-in' on the MB, or is there something wrong wth the team/manager/club/British Rail?

I don't think there is anything wrong in terms of how we're going about things, I think it's more a case that we're currently suffering from a sense that we are better than we actually are and have distorted our expectations accordingly.

Injuries, suspensions and a lack of squad depth are probably the biggest issues but they're beyond our control.  Our defense could be better organised I guess, distribution from the back has been pretty dire across the board this year and I think we're conceding more goals than we should be even considering we're using a much more attacking system these days.. Set pieces for example, having an offensive system shouldn't effect our ability to defend these.

[mangoputney]

Spot on Aaron, even the anti FFC BBC keep on banging on about being 2nd top scorers etc... How many points is this sudden profligacy creating... Not enough

[A Humble Man]

Football is about scoring more goals than the opposition not scoring goals.  That said it is usually easier to tighten the defence than it is to score goals so I am not worried as long a Jol is looking for a keeper and at least one centre back in January.

[mangoputney]

Could be well in the toot by then... With our alleged amazing squad depth