austin, phillips, simpson...........

[Dazzer1977]

Who would you pick instead of O Neill / Carroll? Henry and Jenas maybe

As I said in a previous post, Harry hasn't been able to pick the same 11 for more than two games on the bounce. He don't keep changing the team willie-nillie. Most of the changes are enforced changes because of niggles and knocks. Personally I'm of the rule 'if you're fit enough to be on the bench then you should be fit enough to play', but judging by what Harry has been doing I think he sets us up initially not to go a goal down and then we ramp it up as a team to go an win the game later on as the opposition tires. For me that is the only reason why we tend to be poor in the first half, in just going through the motions and then we get stronger as the game goes on. Burnley for me has been the only game that has differed from that game plan in our last 7 or 8 games. Unfortunately we've not closed the game down in the first half enough and when we go 1-0 down it then becomes a struggle playing catchup. Just my take on it.

[qpr]

And Faurlin

[brightonr]

As I said in a previous post, Harry hasn't been able to pick the same 11 for more than two games on the bounce. He don't keep changing the team willie-nillie. Most of the changes are enforced changes because of niggles and knocks. Personally I'm of the rule 'if you're fit enough to be on the bench then you should be fit enough to play', but judging by what Harry has been doing I think he sets us up initially not to go a goal down and then we ramp it up as a team to go an win the game later on as the opposition tires. For me that is the only reason why we tend to be poor in the first half, in just going through the motions and then we get stronger as the game goes on. Burnley for me has been the only game that has differed from that game plan in our last 7 or 8 games. Unfortunately we've not closed the game down in the first half enough and when we go 1-0 down it then becomes a struggle playing catchup. Just my take on it.

Think you are definitely right Dazzer. Very risky strategy though, as it is proving. Very high chance of having to chase the game if things aren't going to plan.

Personally, I think this approach has an awful lot to do with the atmosphere. The crowd always seem to be up for it at the start, only for the team to usually waste the entire first half not creating much at all, giving them nothing to get excited about. This in turn leads to frustration and the crowd getting on players backs as it gives the impression, probably wrongly, that they aren't that bothered.

We just need to be positive from now on in, ratch it up a fair bit and all should be well. Not holding my breath mind.

[stainrodisalegend]

How surprising is our injury list really? Johnson and Zamora - not exactly strangers to injury are they? Faurlin? Missed most of the previous season. Even Austin was affordable to us because he had failed a medical at another club. Isn't the average age of our team nudging 30? Hardly surprising it is so injury prone and we've actually been pretty lucky with Dunne who was out for ages before coming to us. Plus despite the injuries we have the likes of SWP and Diakite not getting a look in while we persist with players like Carroll and the utterly pointless O'Neil. Our season falling apart owes as much to bad judgement as bad luck imho. Countless people were posting on here months ago "what happens if Charlie gets injured?" and even Bond admitted we were over-reliant on him. No great surprises then.

[hh9]

Lets check out halftime score in the last 10 games and remember we had Simpson, Austin, Phillips available in most of these games
0-0 Blackpool
0-1 Leicester
0-1 Nott For
0-0 Watford
0-1 Doncaster
0-0 Ipswich
0-0 Huddersf
1-0 Bolton
2-1 Burnley
0-1 Derby
For me there is something wrong with how the boss approaches matches and he should have learned by now