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Relegation

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I don’t think we’ll get relegated but that midfield is so pedestrian and slow. Gomes and Allan look like they’re wearing diving boots. No pace whatsoever. Awful to watch.
 
The biggest issue in this team is the lack of characters and leaders and those are the qualities you need in a relegation battle.

I really do fear for us if we don’t win on Saturday we’re gone
 
I don’t think we’ll get relegated but that midfield is so pedestrian and slow. Gomes and Allan look like they’re wearing diving boots. No pace whatsoever. Awful to watch.
 

The frustration for me is that we aren't far off being out of this mess but we just keep pushing ourselves further into a battle. 2 wins would have pushed us up the table! its crazy especially when we have played Norwich and Brighton of late. Beat Leeds on Saturday and we go above them and make the gap with the bottom 3 slightly bigger, lose and Leeds do the same. I cant bare the thought of a loss.

I'm praying for a win on Saturday!
 
Lanolin said:
This is what I mean though, the players you're deciding aren't good enough are the ones who have obvious technical issues. The ones that my 8 year old nephew would be able to say 'he's rubbish' when watching a game. The players who are technically better you automatically assume the reason they don't perform well is because they don't try hard enough, because you're not taking into account that being a top class footballer isn't just about having a few good attributes and trying. You're really oversimplifying it to a massive extent.

Holgate for example struggles to make the right decision both on the ball and off it, that is a talent issue not an effort one. There's a post in his thread where somebody's highlighted the poor decision he makes leading to a goal, and unfortunately that isn't uncommon for him. Sometimes he will go 90 minutes without making a poor decision, sometimes he will make poor decisions which he gets away with, and sometimes he will make poor decisions which cause a problem. It's not that he isn't trying to make the right decision, it's that he doesn't know what the right decision is. Godfrey is one who basically relies on his physical attributes, he's not brilliant positionally and not the best at sensing danger but he is very quick and strong and can often use those attributes to great effect. Sometimes he can't though, and that's when he looks poor. Gomes looks good with time and space but struggles when pressed and when up against people who are stronger and faster than him. These are all limitations in the ability of the player.

I'm not saying they all have the perfect attitude and none of it is related to that, but it's much more down to talent. You don't have to be great or awful, many of our players are reasonably talented but also have fairly big weaknesses. Unfortunately we currently have some combinations - centre half and midfield in particular - where we're partnering people together who have the same weaknesses, and it causes a huge problem.
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I've said similar before... We have many players with one very good or outstanding ability, but are average/below average at everything else. Throughout the team we have far too few 'good' at everything players, those that will get 7/10 or 8/10 every game. Instead we have a mix of players that will get 3/10 to 5/10 most games, then occasionally an 8/10.

I saw signs with VDB last night of being comfortable on the ball, looking for the forward pass and movement off the ball... Even Dele at times showed that he will be handy in possession, moving with the ball. My main worry though is the balance of accommodating the forward thinking players while trying to protect a terrible defence, with not much better 'defensive' midfielders.
 
My concern is how easily we leak goals due to mistakes and spineless set piece defending. We just don’t look like a side who can snatch and grab.
 

GETEM said:
My concern is how easily we leak goals due to mistakes and spineless set piece defending. We just don’t look like a side who can snatch and grab.
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We have to be free scoring to get out of this mess because we will concede every game. That's the reality of it. We needed to bolster our defence/midfield, but did a Koeman in the transfer window. Could pay off if we score enough goals, but easier said than done.
 
sbbefc said:
We have to be free scoring to get out of this mess because we will concede every game. That's the reality of it. We needed to bolster our defence/midfield, but did a Koeman in the transfer window. Could pay off if we score enough goals, but easier said than done.
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We don’t score goals either.
 
DL100 said:
The frustration for me is that we aren't far off being out of this mess but we just keep pushing ourselves further into a battle. 2 wins would have pushed us up the table! its crazy especially when we have played Norwich and Brighton of late. Beat Leeds on Saturday and we go above them and make the gap with the bottom 3 slightly bigger, lose and Leeds do the same. I cant bare the thought of a loss.

I'm praying for a win on Saturday!
Click to expand...

My only hope for 3pts v Leeds is that they have a day less than us for the next game, so hopefully they are a bit more fatigued. We are down to bones though with injuries to key players & others not 100%
 

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