Relegation

[ohjimmyjimmy]

I have a dream:

I dream of the day when we'll realise just how many balls we whack out of defence every game, every season, that go straight back to the opposition because there's nobody outside the last quarter of our field. A day when we realise that a box packed with a "defence" where everybody gets in each others way because panic strikes every time the opposition mounts an attack isn't working. A day when wingers/wide men and strikers actually hover around the half way line and said wide men aren't supposed to spend all there time "helping out the defence" but doing what wingers should do and be part of an attack force.

I dream of midfielders who actually have somebody free to pass to when they get the ball instead of "over to you Charles" passes that inevitably go backwards and finish with Jussi leathering the ball to a front man with less company in his teams colours than a leper in an A & E ward. A midfiled who can shove telling balls forward at levels less than rarified oxygen heights and give strikers a chance to run with the ball instead of needing an ariel tracking device to find it.

I dream of tight man marking and hassling by a defence that doesn't gift space and possesion to the opposition like birthday presents, and most of all I dream of action taking place in the opposition half of the field......

And then I wake up....

Makes a change from the Swedish ladies beach volleyball team lesbian free-for-all training session dream, i suppose

[TANGODANCER]

I have a dream:

A midfield who can shove telling balls forward at levels less than rarified oxygen heights and give strikers a chance to run with the ball instead of needing an ariel tracking device to find it.

are you subliminally suggesting we bin off Kevin Davies??

Or possible use more sparingly him with some fast company occasionally, instead of being Billy no Mates.

[thebish]

I have a dream:

A midfield who can shove telling balls forward at levels less than rarified oxygen heights and give strikers a chance to run with the ball instead of needing an ariel tracking device to find it.

are you subliminally suggesting we bin off Kevin Davies??

Or possible use more sparingly him with some fast company occasionally, instead of being Billy no Mates.

do you want to see KD run with the ball?

[Gary the Enfield]

Not worried.......yet.

Not expecting a bean v Chelsea but the next six games are massive in terms of defining our season.

We didn't have Holden, CYL and Elmander at the beginning of the season when we beat QPR. We played well against Man City and lost to the odd goal. We beat Villa in the cup who were unbeaten thus far. We matched Arsenal first half last week. If Wheater hadn't been sent off we could have had a point.

There's enough there for us to have a semi-decent season still. Look at the amount of injuries and the start Everton had at the start of last season and where they finished up.

I for one am not worried.......yet.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Im feeling pretty glum about our chances this morning too, the worst I have since probably that 4-0 at Villa under Megson

Oh yeah, we were down then, too

As well as the aforementioned, the one that sticks out for me is losing 3-1 at home to Derby in mid-March that first Prem season. Was working with a Rams fan who texted gloatingly and gleefully post-match.

I honestly though we'd had it, got a bit down and in true Homer Simpson style stopped shaving – so when I saw us win the following week at The Valley (Youri overhead, two red cards) it became a lucky beard. And when we beat Villa 3-2 at home a week later (from 2-1 down after two Villa goals in three minutes, Bobic scoring the equaliser) the missus despaired more than me. Luckily for her we lost the next match at Everton but we stayed up, Derby went down... and I won the ethical battle by not gloating back.

One thing all these 'relegation' memories have in common is that we didn't go down. Can't rely on that continuing and I am slightly worried, despite the tough-fixtures caveat. I remember reading something illuminating back in the day about the differing managerial philosophies of Keegan and Ferguson: how Kev would build up his players to feel like uber-popular world-beaters but Ferg would make it a siege mentality. Problem with positivity is that when it goes wrong, it can utterly wrench players into blinking disbelief. I worry that this is the first serious problem patch in Coyle's career – I don't know his full record, but I doubt he's had 10 defeats in 11 games before – and I wonder how he's going to cope.

The first thing to do is solidify. In front of the best four defenders (choose wisely, Owen), play Muamba and NRC. They will track and harry and protect and pass to people who can do things with the ball. It's not defensive to have two diligent central midfielders, especially if you've got four attackers in front of them.

Who those four are and what their starting position is should depend on opposition. The 4-2-3-1 which got the win at Villa was working at Arsenal before Ngog went off and Wheater was sent off; it is not necessarily a defensive formation, considering Barcelona play it (or a slight variation on it), just pragmatically able to switch from defence to attack and back again. Chelsea have a lot of men in the central area so we should play it this weekend; we could start with Mark Davies in the centre of the 3 and shift him wide right if we need to bring Tuncay on to replace Eagles – who may not be a top-10 winger but works hard for the team, which will be needed against Ashley Cole. If need be Coyle can make those attacking substitutions he so loves – perhaps push Pratley or MDavies as one of the 2, etc. Start solid; gamble if need be. Much as we craved it under the last bloke, the carefree football has to be tempered with tactical nous.

[Lofthouse Lower]

Davies M?

[lovethesmellofnapalm]

Only pick players who are "up for it"

so despite their obvious limitations Steinsonn and Robinson stay in (for now)
Knight and Mark Davies - no, not at the moment- and perhaps not ever again.

and if Petrov keeps flattering leave him out as well

[jaffka]

I am worried and not expecting any points this weekend either.

[Lord Kangana]

I dismissed this thread for the garbage it was when the 2 year toothache and constant relegation battle wasn't mentioned.

Wasn't worried? Wasn't sober more likely.

[BWFC_Insane]

DSB has got it right, and I too thought we were doomed after the Derby game. I think not being worried now would be a bit complacent.

Yes we know the fixtures have been difficult but through history there are sides given tricky starts to the season who start badly, think hey we've got some winnable games next, but never quite recover from the start. What worries more than that is that it's a continuation of poor form collectively and individually from the back end of last season. And of course the injuries we've picked up haven't helped the cause.

We've assembled the young vibrant squad with attacking players OC craved but its all become a bit Sammy Lee esque with perhaps too many new players trying to fit in amongst the old heads, defensive confusion and a general lack of shape, organisation and structure on the pitch.

Still time to turn it round but not as much as some would have you believe. And we are not as close to doing that IMO as some may think. As I've said before know is when we find out how good or otherwise Coyle really is. He won't have faced this sort of situation before, and it's going to take more than positive thinking to get us out of it IMO!

[William the White]

I have a dream:

I dream of the day when we'll realise just how many balls we whack out of defence every game, every season, that go straight back to the opposition because there's nobody outside the last quarter of our field. A day when we realise that a box packed with a "defence" where everybody gets in each others way because panic strikes every time the opposition mounts an attack isn't working. A day when wingers/wide men and strikers actually hover around the half way line and said wide men aren't supposed to spend all there time "helping out the defence" but doing what wingers should do and be part of an attack force.

I dream of midfielders who actually have somebody free to pass to when they get the ball instead of "over to you Charles" passes that inevitably go backwards and finish with Jussi leathering the ball to a front man with less company in his teams colours than a leper in an A & E ward. A midfiled who can shove telling balls forward at levels less than rarified oxygen heights and give strikers a chance to run with the ball instead of needing an ariel tracking device to find it.

I dream of tight man marking and hassling by a defence that doesn't gift space and possesion to the opposition like birthday presents, and most of all I dream of action taking place in the opposition half of the field......

And then I wake up....

Makes a change from the Swedish ladies beach volleyball team lesbian free-for-all training session dream, i suppose

There used to be a lesbian line dancing group in bristol (may still be). It was called the Kiss My Posse.

[irie Cee Bee]

My optimism is at a very low level, not so much because of our current position at the bottom because we have played mostly the best teams in europe, but HOW we have played. Apart from the Man City game, we have not played well. Our players look well below par. We could just have easily lost the first game if QPR had taken their early chances. We would certainly lose to them now.

With confidence of the players at a low level, and our best two players out for the season, what will cause me to now believe that after the Chelsea match, all will be well, and that we will go clear of relegation ? The other teams at our level are displaying better levels of organization than we are at the moment. can someone tell me what the silver bullet is ?

[TANGODANCER]

My optimism is at a very low level, not so much because of our current position at the bottom because we have played mostly the best teams in europe, but HOW we have played. Apart from the Man City game, we have not played well. Our players look well below par. We could just have easily lost the first game if QPR had taken their early chances. We would certainly lose to them now.?

We won 4-0. That's a fact. Let's not live in "if" land.

[Worthy4England]

I have a dream:

I dream of the day when we'll realise just how many balls we whack out of defence every game, every season, that go straight back to the opposition because there's nobody outside the last quarter of our field. A day when we realise that a box packed with a "defence" where everybody gets in each others way because panic strikes every time the opposition mounts an attack isn't working. A day when wingers/wide men and strikers actually hover around the half way line and said wide men aren't supposed to spend all there time "helping out the defence" but doing what wingers should do and be part of an attack force.

I dream of midfielders who actually have somebody free to pass to when they get the ball instead of "over to you Charles" passes that inevitably go backwards and finish with Jussi leathering the ball to a front man with less company in his teams colours than a leper in an A & E ward. A midfiled who can shove telling balls forward at levels less than rarified oxygen heights and give strikers a chance to run with the ball instead of needing an ariel tracking device to find it.

I dream of tight man marking and hassling by a defence that doesn't gift space and possesion to the opposition like birthday presents, and most of all I dream of action taking place in the opposition half of the field......

And then I wake up....

Makes a change from the Swedish ladies beach volleyball team lesbian free-for-all training session dream, i suppose

There used to be a lesbian line dancing group in bristol (may still be). It was called the Kiss My Posse.

And did you?

[thebish]

DSB has got it right, and I too thought we were doomed after the Derby game.

DSB pretty much always has it right, let's face it!

[Prufrock]

Should be BWFCi's sig that; but, yeah, sense.

As for the team, I'd have CAPS' team, organised like Dibble said, with Pratley instead of Mark Davies.

[thebish]

My optimism is at a very low level, not so much because of our current position at the bottom because we have played mostly the best teams in europe, but HOW we have played. Apart from the Man City game, we have not played well. Our players look well below par. We could just have easily lost the first game if QPR had taken their early chances. We would certainly lose to them now.?

We won 4-0. That's a fact. Let's not live in "if" land.

or, indeed, dream land!

[BWFC_Insane]

Should be BWFCi's sig that; but, yeah, sense.

As for the team, I'd have CAPS' team, organised like Dibble said, with Pratley instead of Mark Davies.

I agree with your team Pru even though you was being a cheeky fooker!

[Harry Genshaw]

Excellent post DSB.

The law of averages suggest a side of our size must go down eventually. We have had a lot of luck in the past that now appears to be deserting us. It might be our turn but lets give it another month before we start shaking buckets and setting the sat nav for Doncaster.

[Gooner Girl]

The law of averages suggest a side of our size must go down eventually. We have had a lot of luck in the past that now appears to be deserting us. It might be our turn but lets give it another month before we start shaking buckets and setting the sat nav for Doncaster.

Isn't it a tad early to be worrying about this? Its only September - if you're bottom at Christmas thats when you should start getting antsy. Coyle's a great manager, have a little faith!