The Real Cause of Our Desperate Season

[kingy10]

Zero team spirit.

Having seen first hand the divisions in our squad it is clear to me that this lack of 'all in this together' team spirit has caused our terrible performance this season and led to near certain relegation.

The squad is firmly split across a number of areas primarily based on language/nationality, you have the French mafia (Diakite, Mbia, Remy, Adel, Traore, Cisse, before he left), Portuguese crew (Bosingwa, Cesar, Fabio, Granero (Spanish I know) Brits (Hill, Mackie, Bothroyd, Derry, SWP) and Reserves (Green, Ephraim, Hoilett, Park).

Not only do these groups not really interact, there is the added split across the group of players between those on extortionate contracts and those on promotion winning wages. You've then got Zamora who doesn't interact with anyone.

Harry has had little impact in improving this situation as the damage done under Hughes was far too great. Had Harry been in charge in August this situation would have never developed, so Hughes has a lot to answer for in that respect. In Pre-season Hughes ignored the Brits on smaller contracts thinking that they were not good enough (probably true), this understandably led to resentment amongst them as they saw the new guys on great money hugely under performing. The divide was there. Dubai was an attempt to resolve this. For what its worth it didn't work.

The most frustrating thing is the talent/ability in our squad should mean that we are mid-table at worst. I genuinely do not see any team in the bottom half with more ability in the squad, however the attitude and team spirit has led us to be where we are.

In the situation we are in now we are totally reliant on our strength of character, will to win and the desire of the players to put in every ounce of effort they have into the cause of keeping us up. For a normal side this is already installed as the basics of team spirit (look at Norwich, Swansea etc). Unfortunately we do not have this and we rely on 75% effort and hope for an occasional moment of genius from someone like Adel, as he did in the Fulham game, to get something.

Players minds are elsewhere thinking of what will happen next season, where will they be playing? You only have to watch the simple errors being made, poor touches, not picking up from corners, terrible set plays attacking and defending, how many times have our corners/attacking free kicks failed to beat the wall or the front post defender, I would say literally 50% or more - this is truly disgraceful. How many times has a decent cross been played in the corridor of uncertainty only to find we have our centre forward on the edge of the box? Way too many.

We are now totally reliant on a miracle. We need something to happen - I think if we lose Saturday, which is very likely, I think we are gone.

[Kirill]

Sad but true. On paper these players should do better, they are just not a proper team.

[Del]

All clubs with have small groups who get on and mix better than others, same as any workplace tbh, it shouldn't be used as an excuse... they are professional footballers.

For me i think the cause of our shocking season is a wasted and substandard pre season. We played conference quality sides in games, hence we won 5-0 even when playing kids.... this is not preparation for a tough premier league season to follow. We were winning easilly and that led to complacency from players and management imo, what with the "unbeaten" pre season etc..... That culminated in the embarrassment on the opening day against Swansea which we've since struggled to recover from.

I honestly feel if we'd played tough sides in pre season, we would have been fitter, sharper and more mentally prepared and would've got wins early in the season and never looked back, probably hovering around mid to lower mid table from the off.

It became a farce the longer it went without a win, adding pressure onto players, which then compounded the situation further.

[Ed the Ball]

Zero team spirit.

Having seen first hand the divisions in our squad it is clear to me that this lack of 'all in this together' team spirit has caused our terrible performance this season and led to near certain relegation.

The squad is firmly split across a number of areas primarily based on language/nationality, you have the French mafia (Diakite, Mbia, Remy, Adel, Traore, Cisse, before he left), Portuguese crew (Bosingwa, Cesar, Fabio, Granero (Spanish I know) Brits (Hill, Mackie, Bothroyd, Derry, SWP) and Reserves (Green, Ephraim, Hoilett, Park).

Not only do these groups not really interact, there is the added split across the group of players between those on extortionate contracts and those on promotion winning wages. You've then got Zamora who doesn't interact with anyone.

Harry has had little impact in improving this situation as the damage done under Hughes was far too great. Had Harry been in charge in August this situation would have never developed, so Hughes has a lot to answer for in that respect. In Pre-season Hughes ignored the Brits on smaller contracts thinking that they were not good enough (probably true), this understandably led to resentment amongst them as they saw the new guys on great money hugely under performing. The divide was there. Dubai was an attempt to resolve this. For what its worth it didn't work.

The most frustrating thing is the talent/ability in our squad should mean that we are mid-table at worst. I genuinely do not see any team in the bottom half with more ability in the squad, however the attitude and team spirit has led us to be where we are.

In the situation we are in now we are totally reliant on our strength of character, will to win and the desire of the players to put in every ounce of effort they have into the cause of keeping us up. For a normal side this is already installed as the basics of team spirit (look at Norwich, Swansea etc). Unfortunately we do not have this and we rely on 75% effort and hope for an occasional moment of genius from someone like Adel, as he did in the Fulham game, to get something.

Players minds are elsewhere thinking of what will happen next season, where will they be playing? You only have to watch the simple errors being made, poor touches, not picking up from corners, terrible set plays attacking and defending, how many times have our corners/attacking free kicks failed to beat the wall or the front post defender, I would say literally 50% or more - this is truly disgraceful. How many times has a decent cross been played in the corridor of uncertainty only to find we have our centre forward on the edge of the box? Way too many.

We are now totally reliant on a miracle. We need something to happen - I think if we lose Saturday, which is very likely, I think we are gone.

How do you know any of this is true, where did you get your info?

[hh9]

How do you know all this - do you attend practices?
There are groups in every team also pub teams it is normal. It is the role of the manager to get the players to work as a team.
You are saying if Harry would have been since august the group situation would not have developed - I think you are wrong there.
The sad truth is that Harry, has not been the motivator of people I was hoping for. He has been here for 3 months and you say there is zero team spirit, his fault IMO. (Someone who was staying at the same hotel in Dubai said Harry was at another hotel - how strange is that if you are working on team spirit).
You say players minds are elsewhere thinking of what might happen next season - again how to you know that. It is in the players hand NOW in which division they will be playing - I hope and still believe it will be in the PL.

[Rich]

How do you know any of this is true, where did you get your info?

It's there for all to see, infront of your eyes, week after week. No inside knowledge is required.

[SaintsForever]

Zero team spirit.

Having seen first hand the divisions in our squad it is clear to me that this lack of 'all in this together' team spirit has caused our terrible performance this season and led to near certain relegation.

The squad is firmly split across a number of areas primarily based on language/nationality, you have the French mafia (Diakite, Mbia, Remy, Adel, Traore, Cisse, before he left), Portuguese crew (Bosingwa, Cesar, Fabio, Granero (Spanish I know) Brits (Hill, Mackie, Bothroyd, Derry, SWP) and Reserves (Green, Ephraim, Hoilett, Park).

Not only do these groups not really interact, there is the added split across the group of players between those on extortionate contracts and those on promotion winning wages. You've then got Zamora who doesn't interact with anyone.

Harry has had little impact in improving this situation as the damage done under Hughes was far too great. Had Harry been in charge in August this situation would have never developed, so Hughes has a lot to answer for in that respect. In Pre-season Hughes ignored the Brits on smaller contracts thinking that they were not good enough (probably true), this understandably led to resentment amongst them as they saw the new guys on great money hugely under performing. The divide was there. Dubai was an attempt to resolve this. For what its worth it didn't work.

The most frustrating thing is the talent/ability in our squad should mean that we are mid-table at worst. I genuinely do not see any team in the bottom half with more ability in the squad, however the attitude and team spirit has led us to be where we are.

In the situation we are in now we are totally reliant on our strength of character, will to win and the desire of the players to put in every ounce of effort they have into the cause of keeping us up. For a normal side this is already installed as the basics of team spirit (look at Norwich, Swansea etc). Unfortunately we do not have this and we rely on 75% effort and hope for an occasional moment of genius from someone like Adel, as he did in the Fulham game, to get something.

Players minds are elsewhere thinking of what will happen next season, where will they be playing? You only have to watch the simple errors being made, poor touches, not picking up from corners, terrible set plays attacking and defending, how many times have our corners/attacking free kicks failed to beat the wall or the front post defender, I would say literally 50% or more - this is truly disgraceful. How many times has a decent cross been played in the corridor of uncertainty only to find we have our centre forward on the edge of the box? Way too many.

We are now totally reliant on a miracle. We need something to happen - I think if we lose Saturday, which is very likely, I think we are gone.

And the cause of you signing players with big names and no effort? Tony Fernandes. (But probably good for branding.)

[Jeems]

Prior to Swansea (one off according to HR) and Man U (expected), we went unbeaten in 5, including wins against the scum, and draws against Spurs and Man City.

I saw players put their bodies on the line in those games.

Team spirit generally goes down when results arent coming, I think you're assuming the worse.

[TBLOCKRANGER]

Don't agree at all with the op, the reason we are in the mess is because the players we have save for a couple aren't good enough.
The categories aren't national or language but grouped as follows
1 Good championship players rhat have done admirably in the circumstances in the prem.
2 injury prone players.
3, players nearing end of their careers and only motivation is one last big play off.
4, foreign signings that aren't good enough to adapt to prem.

The idea that infighting is the downfall simply fuels the false notion that these clowns we have are good players. They ain't and have beenfound out for whatever reason, we all know jokers at work who have made high office for reasons unknown, football is no different but the problem for us is that rather than one or two jokers in the pack we've had about 20 bussed in.

[kingy10]

Don't agree at all with the op, the reason we are in the mess is because the players we have save for a couple aren't good enough.
The categories aren't national or language but grouped as follows
1 Good championship players rhat have done admirably in the circumstances in the prem.
2 injury prone players.
3, players nearing end of their careers and only motivation is one last big play off.
4, foreign signings that aren't good enough to adapt to prem.

The idea that infighting is the downfall simply fuels the false notion that these clowns we have are good players. They ain't and have beenfound out for whatever reason, we all know jokers at work who have made high office for reasons unknown, football is no different but the problem for us is that rather than one or two jokers in the pack we've had about 20 bussed in.

You didn't see them train in Dubai.

Should've added to the post that Mbia and Diakite are complete freaks and struggle to understand anything Harry said. Was embarrassing at times.

[jmelanie]

The main problem is that we have had no striking force all season (at least since AJ got injured). I think this is MH's fault. HR tried to sign strikers in January, but everybody knows that January is a difficult time to sign anybody.

Zamora has been suffering from injuries all season, AJ got injured which is unfortunate but then he often gets injured. Cisse lost interest though I don't think he should have been sent out on loan in January. Remy is also injury prone.

Apart from maybe the first couple of games of the season, we have not had more than one recognized striker available for any match.

[Rieger]

Zero team spirit.

Having seen first hand the divisions in our squad it is clear to me that this lack of 'all in this together' team spirit has caused our terrible performance this season and led to near certain relegation.

The squad is firmly split across a number of areas primarily based on language/nationality, you have the French mafia (Diakite, Mbia, Remy, Adel, Traore, Cisse, before he left), Portuguese crew (Bosingwa, Cesar, Fabio, Granero (Spanish I know) Brits (Hill, Mackie, Bothroyd, Derry, SWP) and Reserves (Green, Ephraim, Hoilett, Park).

Not only do these groups not really interact, there is the added split across the group of players between those on extortionate contracts and those on promotion winning wages. You've then got Zamora who doesn't interact with anyone.

Harry has had little impact in improving this situation as the damage done under Hughes was far too great. Had Harry been in charge in August this situation would have never developed, so Hughes has a lot to answer for in that respect. In Pre-season Hughes ignored the Brits on smaller contracts thinking that they were not good enough (probably true), this understandably led to resentment amongst them as they saw the new guys on great money hugely under performing. The divide was there. Dubai was an attempt to resolve this. For what its worth it didn't work.

The most frustrating thing is the talent/ability in our squad should mean that we are mid-table at worst. I genuinely do not see any team in the bottom half with more ability in the squad, however the attitude and team spirit has led us to be where we are.

In the situation we are in now we are totally reliant on our strength of character, will to win and the desire of the players to put in every ounce of effort they have into the cause of keeping us up. For a normal side this is already installed as the basics of team spirit (look at Norwich, Swansea etc). Unfortunately we do not have this and we rely on 75% effort and hope for an occasional moment of genius from someone like Adel, as he did in the Fulham game, to get something.

Players minds are elsewhere thinking of what will happen next season, where will they be playing? You only have to watch the simple errors being made, poor touches, not picking up from corners, terrible set plays attacking and defending, how many times have our corners/attacking free kicks failed to beat the wall or the front post defender, I would say literally 50% or more - this is truly disgraceful. How many times has a decent cross been played in the corridor of uncertainty only to find we have our centre forward on the edge of the box? Way too many.

We are now totally reliant on a miracle. We need something to happen - I think if we lose Saturday, which is very likely, I think we are gone.

The above is one of the reasons I rarely bother reading this site anymore. Only recently Kingy10 saw that our problem wasn't that. It was adel! Still I am sure a constant stream of negativity has fixed a lot of things in the past. Oh wait, never.

"Adel is the problem!

Firstly we have to build our formation to fit him in, he doesn't naturally fit in as he doesn't have a position. Adel is billed as our only source of creativity in the team so we try and play everything through him and to be fair he is just not good enough. For every amazing nutmeg comes a poor pass, or an easy lose of possession. Adel cannot take a corner or a free-kick, just cannot strike a ball! Also Adel's finishing is not up to scratch. Should have scored against City and should've scored again today.

So to summarise we are totally reliant on Adel to create everything for our team and when push comes to shove he is just not up to the responsibility."

[acricketer]

If it's not Adel and it's not team spirit and it's not MH because Harry's been her longer than him this season and it's not TF and it's not the fans we must be the unluckiest team in the world.

[twranger]

You didn't see them train in Dubai.

Should've added to the post that Mbia and Diakite are complete freaks and struggle to understand anything Harry said. Was embarrassing at times.

Bet you watched them train and couldnt wait to pick up on anything negative, and then come on here and spout off about it. Bet there was some positive stuff there for all to see as well, but of course, it's only the negative and down beat stuff that gets commented on....!

[themodfather]

there may be zero team spirit but they got well paid and so did their agents.
i hope we don't end with a zero bank balance!