Bubble burst very quickly

[BedsFFC]

On the face of it, I know my football. Won't bore you with my credentials but I am starting to think I really don't know very much.

I really thought Slav was the man. A proper manager. Strong willed and tactically astute. And really refreshing, an attacking coach. We haven't had a good attacking coach for a very very long time. Quality defenders.

I thought our signings fit the bill, leaving the door ajar for a dip in, in January.

Sitting here now. Totally confused and deflated.

Are the players not as good as I thought? Is Slav a one-dimensional coach? Have the players turned? (Parker had the hump)
Is it the fact that some players weren't Slavs? etc etc.

I just don't think we can keep changing things. We have to stick with the plan and support the players through this one.

My biggest concern is Sessegnon. We lost our young stars because we got relegated. I felt we just needed to be pushing the top 6 to keep Ryan. I fear a period of doom with fans getting on players backs and another season of torrid football and results.

Today was ridiculous as it was so predictable but you felt that it couldn't happen as we wouldn't fall into the same trap. But oh god, we fell right in. Going to away games is considered the sign of a true fan as on top of the travelling and the expense, you will invariably not be in the game as much and will lose more than you win. With Fulham, we have had that at home now for the 4th season running. Throw in the fact that coming to SW6 is many fans fave away game has meant that going to the cottage has become a real chore.

The one saving grace is that whilst 0-4 hurts. There is no hiding from it.

I do think we need to stick in with the mgr and players. It feels bad right now but not as bad as it has felt over the last 3 years. I do think we have the players to turn this around.

[Twig]

On the face of it, I know my football. Won't bore you with my credentials but I am starting to think I really don't know very much.

I really thought Slav was the man. A proper manager. Strong willed and tactically astute. And really refreshing, an attacking coach. We haven't had a good attacking coach for a very very long time. Quality defenders.

I thought our signings fit the bill, leaving the door ajar for a dip in, in January.

Sitting here now. Totally confused and deflated.

Are the players not as good as I thought? Is Slav a one-dimensional coach? Have the players turned? (Parker had the hump)
Is it the fact that some players weren't Slavs? etc etc.

I just don't think we can keep changing things. We have to stick with the plan and support the players through this one.

My biggest concern is Sessegnon. We lost our young stars because we got relegated. I felt we just needed to be pushing the top 6 to keep Ryan. I fear a period of doom with fans getting on players backs and another season of torrid football and results.

Today was ridiculous as it was so predictable but you felt that it couldn't happen as we wouldn't fall into the same trap. But oh god, we fell right in. Going to away games is considered the sign of a true fan as on top of the travelling and the expense, you will invariably not be in the game as much and will lose more than you win. With Fulham, we have had that at home now for the 4th season running. Throw in the fact that coming to SW6 is many fans fave away game has meant that going to the cottage has become a real chore.

The one saving grace is that whilst 0-4 hurts. There is no hiding from it.

I do think we need to stick in with the mgr and players. It feels bad right now but not as bad as it has felt over the last 3 years. I do think we have the players to turn this around.

Good post and I share pretty much all your opinions and sentiments.

[Texas White]

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Seems like that is what we are doing. The bubble has truly burst.

[Lighthouse]

First of all I think we need to be careful about over reacting to this result. If you look at it we really didn't deserve to lose by 4 goals. In fact had we scored and not hit the woodwork when we did. Had we been more accurate, had we had a possible penalty etc etc. Secondly we have to be honest and say the manager is not and has shown he is not anything special. I know people thought he was wonderful but he has shown no sign at all of being anything but a very ordinary Championship manager while he has been with us. Bar a few early narrow results this season.

Thirdly we have an average squad who will finish in the top half but are are a work in progress. Further building needs to be done and hopefully we will not need as many changes as we have done in the last few seasons. Sess is a great, young p[layer but as such is great going forward but will clearly leave gaps that somehow we haven't as a team learned to cover. I would have thought this was pretty basic stuff. But on both sides our attacking full backs are left horribly exposed at times.

So a result that frankly has been coming and now hopefully a manager will learn that putting two defensive midfielders together at home doesn't work, putting Carney and Aluko  in designated positions, one out wide and one a number 10 is better than the confusion we often see with players far too close to each other. 

Things are not as bad as they may seem but not as good as many thought earlier. Does that make sense? No need to panic but we need a manager who is aware of the problem. Tuesday will see if he has at last seen the problems.

[Oakeshott]

We seemed better when we had fewer players, who had been around "pre season". Although we obviously needed to expand the squad, J didn't have long with the later arrivals and it must be tricky immediately to work out the best team/formation. Hopefully he will do that quickly, so that we play as we did pre the international break but with even more quality, as some of the later arrivals seem good players.

In fairness to J, he was clearly concerned about the time it was taking to get the newer players in, and we really don't know which if any were his choices and which were bought on a "stats" basis. In time neither of these points matters - the squad as a whole is surely better than at this time last year, with the important exception of the strike force - and it is up to S to sort out the most effective team/formation pretty quickly. Personally I am confident that he will, and that we will not be anywhere near relegation, but unless our on-loan striker does markedly better than he has shown so far a top six place looks most unlikely.

[davew]

I love the optimism about where we might finish if this and if that happens, the fact is that at the moment we are accelerating downwards to the relegation zone and maybe in 6 games time we might even be in the bottom 3. My optimism is that we won't fall below 18th!!