by CountryRoyal » 26 Feb 2017 20:27
by CountryRoyal » 26 Feb 2017 20:28
by Top Flight » 26 Feb 2017 20:43
by Hound » 26 Feb 2017 21:01
by WAZZOCK » 26 Feb 2017 21:05
by CountryRoyal » 26 Feb 2017 21:07
WAZZOCK Phew, that's a weight off my mind.
by Ian Royal » 26 Feb 2017 21:22
CountryRoyal It's no secret that most of our play and possession is within our own half and between our back 4/5, with Al-Habsi topping the short passes list and Moore and McShane up there as well.
by paultheroyal » 26 Feb 2017 22:11
CountryRoyal What Stam has achieved, especially under the ownership uncertainty, is nothing sort of miraculous. To transform a team and the clubs fortunes in such a short space of time is a fantastic achievement which very few fans sane of mind would disagree with, even if some perhaps aren't enthralled with the style of play which has got us here.
How are we where we are? By definition if the opposition doesn't have the ball they can't score, control possession, control the game. Limit your opposition's chances and dictate the tempo of play. Patiently waiting for an opening in attack, dragging defenders out of position and tiring the defence. That's how it should go anyway. The fact is that for team that prides itself on this we're actually not very good at it, at least not in the right areas. It's no secret that most of our play and possession is within our own half and between our back 4/5, with Al-Habsi topping the short passes list and Moore and McShane up there as well. Teams are by and large happy to allow us to do this and slowly press up in an organised fashion and wait for us to make a mistake, which we quite often have done. Invariably we are not quite as successful when we break into the opposition half where quite often we run out of ideas, in part due to increased pressure from the defence. Seldom to we seem to dominate in the opposition half, peg teams back and build pressure ourselves. It's not to say it doesn't happen, just doesn't happen enough.
So what's the reason? The truth is as others have said we just aren't simply good enough at the moment, and that's perfectly acceptable. We don't have the entire personnel to consistently carry out the style of play that is being asked of them at the moment as is demonstrated by how we cope when teams press high and we have less time on the ball so have to take quicker touches/one touches, be a bit stronger, more accurate in the passes...etc and when that occurs it highlights our flaws. Even against Huddersfield when overall we played well, for the first 20 minutes we were really under the cosh, had they scored it could have been a very different scoreline. What was frustrating was when we had soaked up the pressure, won the ball back had an opportunity to break and then fluffed our lines with a panicked pass or wrong decision. Once we calmed down a bit and got a foothold in the game we demonstrated how we could play and consequently ran Huddersfield close, far more so then when they beat the current league leaders.
How many times have we had a counter attack, 3 on 1, 4 on 2, any favourable attacking outcome and fluffed our lines? Not capitalising on opportunities that have presented themselves. We are a good team and we are where we are for a reason but we're not there yet - again, a blindingly obvious fact that no one will disagree with.
Being in the top 6 at this stage of the season with a barely positive goal difference (+2) seems remarkably low, though I can't be bothered to go back and see if that is the case, but it really tells you quite a lot. We are very good at picking up points, we seldom win by more than 1 goal but equally don't lose too often. As we have demonstrated that at times our soft underbelly has lead to some heavy defeats, they are few and far between and if nothing else our style of play by and large limits how many chances our opponents create, a tad worrying perhaps considering how many goals we ship! I look at games against teams lower down in the league and how we just scrape the win, but a win is a win...etc. I think the fact that we don't consistently out play teams of any ability, yet still get a positive result on the majority of occasions is testimant to how far we have come and what Stam and the backroom staff have done in a short space of time with the current players while learning a new style of play.
People keep saying "wait til we start playing well", dishearteningly I don't think this current team will perform how we think it should or at least over 90 minutes how they show they can in glimpses, not this season at least. I certainly don't see us beating anyone 4/5/6-0 at any point. We seem to make far too many mistakes and when we have come up against the best teams in the league we have by and large been markably second best.
I don't like the line "I'd rather not go up this year". Promotion isn't one of those things that you can just pick and choose when you want it (if you want it at all that is, but that's a different point). Yes without a doubt IF all things remain equal, we keep the players we want, add appropriately, keep Stam and the back room staff, sort the ownership...etc then yes, we should be in a better position to continue building what we've started and really mount a legitimate and controlled promotion charge rather than one which has taken everyone by surprise. Is that likely though? My fear is that we might not get that opportunity. You can only do what you can do though and take each game as it comes, I won't be disheartened if we don't go up this season put it that way, as always all I expect is to see players playing to at least the level they are capable of, hence my annoyance yesterday when that was most definitely not the case.
We're not going to play well every game otherwise we would be first and not fifth, but sometimes the level of performance is so below what the players are capable of and that's the dissapointing aspect. They are grown men and model professionals, no one was unjust in their criticism of the team yesterday I don't think. In that dressing room I can't imagine anyone sat down and said "oh well, tbf they are top of the league", bullshit. They will be dissapointed with themselves because they didn't get close to showing how good they can be, on an individual level and as a team.
We've done a great job so far and I think we should have enough within ourselves to finish in the playoffs, can you imagine that we'd be saying that in the summer? Crazy. I think the realisation is starting to hit home that even if we do that's all we will probably achieve, the other teams around us are just simply better and it's difficult to see us beating any of them in one game, let alone 3. Although with Reading you just never know.
So thank you Stam and the team for what you have achieved this season and given us something to cheer about, though enjoy your day off and put yesterday's shit show to bed and focus on Wolves, a much much better performance needed.
Feel free to use this thread as reference for after we win every remaining game and storm to our 3rd championship title.
by ILoveMoonPig » 26 Feb 2017 22:30
by paultheroyal » 26 Feb 2017 23:23
by BR0B0T » 27 Feb 2017 01:34
CountryRoyal Inb4 did not read lol
by CountryRoyal » 27 Feb 2017 07:36
BR0B0TCountryRoyal Inb4 did not read lol
could you summarize?
by Royal_jimmy » 27 Feb 2017 08:13
CountryRoyal What Stam has achieved, especially under the ownership uncertainty, is nothing sort of miraculous. To transform a team and the clubs fortunes in such a short space of time is a fantastic achievement which very few fans sane of mind would disagree with, even if some perhaps aren't enthralled with the style of play which has got us here.
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by genome » 27 Feb 2017 09:10
Royal_jimmy I like your post as a whole but can you stop licking Stam's feet please. Other clubs have had bigger swings than us after a bad season. Look at Brighton 2 years ago then they nearly went up last year after finishing 20th. Stam has made a lot of mistakes with subs and selections over the course of the season and played wrong formations and tactics.
by From Despair To Where? » 27 Feb 2017 09:44
by genome » 27 Feb 2017 09:46
From Despair To Where? It took Coppell 2 full seasons, a lot of shit signings and his fair share of poor results to get it right. I remember the bollocks written on here between 2003 and 2006. It also took Pardew 2 years to get a relatively stronger squad out of a relatively weaker division.
by From Despair To Where? » 27 Feb 2017 09:52
by genome » 27 Feb 2017 09:55
From Despair To Where? Stoke were a decent team and we didn't travel well so that was understandable but the performances at home to Wimbledon and Palace were, gutless and abject. I think it was the start of a 2 month run without a league win.
by From Despair To Where? » 27 Feb 2017 10:05
by Ian Royal » 27 Feb 2017 10:12