Terriersmad
Jimmy Nicholson Terrier
[M0:13]
Posts: 1,515
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Post by Terriersmad on Apr 13, 2024 20:44:20 GMT 1
It boils down to those two things. We haven't done the first of those well enough to take matters away from the latter. Summer recruitment was poor. The choice of manager after Warnock was poor, whatever happened with Warnock. We got into a habit of not winning games, which was a killer. We haven't had a striker, through our own incompetence, for much of the season. We've left ourselves woefully short technically, with a lack of players who can pass a ball properly and retain possession. I have a distinct feeling that Moore killed a lot of confidence in the squad with the way he set up, almost accepting that this group wasn't good enough to win games so didn't really try. That will have had a knock-on.
That being said, every uncontrollable has also gone against us. Injuries have been beyond the pale. It's hard to imagine a worse season. Now part of that is controllable due to conditioning, but a huge part of it is down to luck. Players who never normally get injuries, such as Tom Lees, have had knocks for significant parts of the season. We've had big players injured in challenges that didn't need making - Helik missed lots of football as a result of a poor challenge when the lad went nowhere near the ball and had no intent for it, and Burgzorg, in the best form of the season, was put out for a spell by the worst challenge I've seen in a decade or more. We've fought a constant rearguard action against injury. We have no idea of our strongest eleven, partly because of that. Now, conditioning does come into it, as does the choice to sign certain players, but nobody could anticipate Healey pulling his groin 20 minutes into home debut, or Radulovic getting a back issue he hasn't had before. Ditto Balker - been playing, been fit, comes from a side with norovirus through nobody's fault, gets knocks in silly challenges. Hogg suffers a broken clavicle, by the sounds of it. You can't legislate for things like that. Every team had injuries, but not to this extent.
Then there have been the decisions. I have said on another thread, the only decision I can remember going for us this season is Tom Lees not being flagged offside for our goal at QPR, when he was half a body width off. And that's it. I can't think of things we've got away with. I'd be grateful to be set right in the replies as I have no doubt there are things I'm forgetting. Everything has gone against us, all season. Going back to when we sacked Moore, we've consistently been on the duff end of decisions on an almost weekly basis. Some haven't mattered, such as the very late decision to not send off the Sunderland lad for his flying kung-fu kick in the win over them, but many have. A two-goal swing v West Brom in a five-minute period. No sanction for Bamford when he elbowed Rudoni from behind (when Hogg was rightly dismissed second yellow shortly after for a lesser elbow). The non-penalty against Rotherham then Sorba's sending off for next to nothing. The penalties this week for Preston and Bristol City. Even things like the clear foul in the build-up to Coventry's second goal. That's seven matches in the last dozen adversely affected against us, costing us points in critical, tight games. We've struggled to win games all season through our own faults, so when games are taken away from us through no fault of our own and nothing comes back the other way it's difficult to stomach. Not a single opponent has been sent off against us this season, despite three or four strong arguments for that being the case. We've received only one penalty despite numerous good shouts and several soft ones going against us.
None of that excuses some of the capitulations. Goals change games, but not to the point of losing 4-1 when we were 1-0 up. The change in momentum at Preston is on the officials giving a stinker of a penalty. The defeat and its magnitude is on us not responding well to a setback.
But for balance, we're still in with a shout of staying up despite all that. Others have had that bit of luck we haven't, giving a reminder of the old adage that it's better to be lucky than good. I struggle to think of an example of two opposition defenders failing to clear a ball, falling over, and giving our player a free run on goal for example. We are not down yet, and if we do go down we need to harness a bit of a sense of injustice rather than feel sorry for ourselves, as too many would. We've not had a fair crack of the whip this season. The playing field has felt tilted against us, partly because of our own mistakes, but also because of things out of our hands.
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boooothy
Jimmy Glazzard Terrier
Posts: 4,785
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Post by boooothy on Apr 13, 2024 20:47:20 GMT 1
Can we control the Rotherham player’s attitude next Saturday by offering them all a Rolex?
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Post by willo on Apr 14, 2024 0:28:37 GMT 1
Can we control the Rotherham player’s attitude next Saturday by offering them all a Rolex? Some of their players will be playing for contracts you would hope/think. |
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Post by wildhogg on Apr 14, 2024 0:44:57 GMT 1
What we could have controlled is signing either one or two central midfielders who were capable of accurately passing the ball during January. We ended the window with two lads who offer us the sum total of being able to run and tackle, and one knackered veteran who offers us the sum total of being able to tackle and motivate a bit.
The club has been poorly run in lots of aspects over recent years, but ultimately the people to blame for this awful season are the ones who have been/are being paid lots of money to recruit staff; and in a wider sense, the person who recruited those people.
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Post by Christ in Shades (art) on Apr 14, 2024 7:54:39 GMT 1
Can we control the Rotherham player’s attitude next Saturday by offering them all a Rolex? Some of their players will be playing for contracts you would hope/think. Well they haven't done so far have they? |
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htfcterry
Andy Booth Terrier
[M0:2]htfcterry
Posts: 3,404
Member is Online
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Post by htfcterry on Apr 14, 2024 7:57:42 GMT 1
Can we control the Rotherham player’s attitude next Saturday by offering them all a Rolex? We should introduce them to Dean Hoyles bonus structure next Saturday.. that might do it |
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Post by royrace on Apr 14, 2024 8:05:01 GMT 1
What we could have controlled is signing either one or two central midfielders who were capable of accurately passing the ball during January. We ended the window with two lads who offer us the sum total of being able to run and tackle, and one knackered veteran who offers us the sum total of being able to tackle and motivate a bit. The club has been poorly run in lots of aspects over recent years, but ultimately the people to blame for this awful season are the ones who have been/are being paid lots of money to recruit staff; and in a wider sense, the person who recruited those people. It's absolutely baffling this wasn't addressed in January and its just another case of terrible judgment. Whilst I like Matos he's just like a better version of Kasumu and a younger Hogg. We didn't need Balker, that signing should have been a centre mid with ball playing capability. |
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Post by joeyjoneslocker on Apr 14, 2024 9:10:27 GMT 1
We can talk about what has happened, should have happened, may have happened, shouldn’t have done this, should have done that, it’s all counter productive.
It’s natural and most fans of most clubs do the same.
But it’s such a pointless exercise.
All focus and energy should now be on next Saturday. That’s all we need to think about. 3 points. No less.
Yesterday was a sickener but it’s done. This is the time to really rally behind the club, all the talk and finger pointing can be done after Ipswich game. It’s not over yet.
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Post by Detective Boyle on Apr 14, 2024 9:14:33 GMT 1
I don’t really believe the injuries line. I don’t think the full strength squad was ever good enough
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Terriersmad
Jimmy Nicholson Terrier
[M0:13]
Posts: 1,515
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Post by Terriersmad on Apr 14, 2024 9:31:45 GMT 1
What we could have controlled is signing either one or two central midfielders who were capable of accurately passing the ball during January. We ended the window with two lads who offer us the sum total of being able to run and tackle, and one knackered veteran who offers us the sum total of being able to tackle and motivate a bit. The club has been poorly run in lots of aspects over recent years, but ultimately the people to blame for this awful season are the ones who have been/are being paid lots of money to recruit staff; and in a wider sense, the person who recruited those people. The big one I was thinking of. But we sacked Moore and didn’t spend the additional money. |
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