Don't let the win fool you

[Frank the tank]

Not when it's every game
Eventually it'll catch up when decent teams are lined up against us.

So either you are angry because you think we are a good team playing shit or a shit team playing good
Which is preferable to you ?

 

[FMBlade1]

Not when it's every game
Eventually it'll catch up when decent teams are lined up against us.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63436041

 

[HarryHaslam]

We have some extremely strange creatures that follow us

 

[Houso]

Not when it's every game
Eventually it'll catch up when decent teams are lined up against us.

And of course, we don't play according to who we're playing.

Look at the teams around us today. Burnley struggled against an injury ravaged Cov. Watford also made hard work of a shit Blackpool. WBA, though the biggest worry for me, let in two in the first half against another team in indifferent form.

The last time we played a top two side, we gave them a shooing. And it's not like we'd be doing that to others prior to that.

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

I have never seen a team perform so average and yet consistently pick up results

Call me a Debbie downer but I don’t have a clue how we are 11/12 points clear of 3rd

Hope it continues like

 

[georgebernardshaw]

It is possible to win and be crap
We've played some very poor and short on confidence teams, Blackpool, Wigan, QPR, Stoke, Huddersfield, Cardiff and Rotherham since battering Burnley and we've made all of them look decent.

I dread to think what an energetic Watford, Boro and West Brom and Norwich will do to us

If you’re going to shit yourself, could you go somewhere else and do it please?

 

[Bladepicker]

That's the 5th game on the trot where we've looked poor bar a 15 minute period and some individual brilliance.

If Ndiaye is out for a period then don't be surprised if the wheels start falling off... They're wobbling at the moment.

Don't forget this is stoke fighting off relegation who we let run the midfield.

Every single promotion winning team will win a whole host of matches that they scrape wins or don't play brilliant - yet are solid enough and have enough class on little spells to turn those performances into 3 points.

I just don't get the mentality of someone, 20 minutes after a win to extend our gap in 2nd, coming on here to say we have been shit and don't let the fact that we win every week fool you?

Forget posting pictures of signs with a player's name on them. This is the true measure of a wanker post.

 

[dublin 10 blade]

It is possible to win and be crap
We've played some very poor and short on confidence teams, Blackpool, Wigan, QPR, Stoke, Huddersfield, Cardiff and Rotherham since battering Burnley and we've made all of them look decent.

I dread to think what an energetic Watford, Boro and West Brom and Norwich will do to us

Same as top of the league Reading -Blackburn and Burnley came into town and smashed us to bits

 

[AnstonBlade1]

Second half was poor

 

[Willie Carlin]

I have never seen a team perform so average and yet consistently pick up results

Call me a Debbie downer but I don’t have a clue how we are 11/12 points clear of 3rd

Hope it continues like

Debbie Downer

 

[dublin 10 blade]

I'll take "lucky" 3-1 wins til the end of the season.

I’ll take lucky 1-0 wins for 9 out of our remaining games

 

[Big.Dane.w]

Maybe we should sign a car mechanic to tighten up the lug nuts on those wheels....?

They’re wheel bolts this side of the pond

 

[TimofeeVee]

How many times have we come up against sides going for promotion, they've not looked the best, and they've won (loads)......that's how it works. UP the Blades!

 

[Montymagic]

Shape and berge should have been subbed at half time.

 

[Bennyand the Blades]

We've got from bed wetting to total full incontinence at this point. We've won three one what's everyone upset about?

I think it could be the fact we won 3-1.....

 

[cahill]

You don't tend to dominate the full 90 mins really.
We were much the better team 1st half but let them back into it before they scored. However before then we could have perhaps been more than 2-0 up.

2nd half we didn't really do enough with the ball going forward and then of course Bogle pops up with the decider. Berge could have done the same 10 mins previously.

Goals change games, we come out after 1st half at 2-0 up and Stoke need to commit more forward and leave more holes at the back. 2-1 makes it finely poised.

N'diaye is a really crucial player for us, he's a bit of a cheat card really. Can make something of nothing, excellent skilful player and big assist/goalscorer.
I really hope it's not really an injury. Can ill afford to lose him for any time, but if we do lets hope it's only a week or 2.

For me today main thing that was wrong was Berge had a stinker for most of it. He never really got into the game, never got any runs going and was poor defensively.
He can press but rarely does he put a challenge in I find. All players have games where they are off the pace lets hope he's better next time out.

Have to say was surprised Hecky kept him on. I'd have put Doyle on for Berge.
Can only assume it's fitness and perhaps McAtee might have not maintained for the full 90.

Back to the posters comments about the last 5 games I'm assuming we are talking just about league games:
Today - not great but could have been better still came out 3-1 winners
QPR - Admittedly I was not impressed with out performance, yet we stuck in there to grab an equaliser
Blackpool - Up until they scored we were in control of that match an OK away performance
Coventry - Expected toughest match of the season for us, thought this was a decent performance. Penalty save was crucial to how that game panned out
Wigan - Again an away performance that we were in control of until they scored.

Whenever you only have a goal up in a game as the game progesses nerves kick in. We've had a fair chunk of that in our recent games.
Means that after 70mins you are thinking more about not over commiting and are retreating further to you're own goal. Which of course encourages the opposition whatever the quality.

Getting or maintaining a 2 goal advantage at least means this doesn't happen.

At 2-0 I was relaxed and everything seemed to indicate a match where I could finally not have my nerves shredded but that weird goal changed everything. I left on 85mins so missed the 3rd. They forced quite a few corners second half surprised they didn’t capitalise on one of them. Just a seperate observation but I thought their vocal support for such a large away following was negligible

 

[1973Blade]

We weren't great, but look at the league table and enjoy. These are good times to be a Blade!

 

[georgebernardshaw]

We weren't great, but look at the league table and enjoy. These are good times to be a Blade!

Today’s Times Sport….

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Are we bossing games like we did under peak Wilder? No. Maybe not. More a team with great stand outs than a well oiled machine but that side hardly had any injuries so it's not surprising.

Are we far better placed in a promotion race than either of those two championship years? Yes

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

That's the 5th game on the trot where we've looked poor bar a 15 minute period and some individual brilliance.

If Ndiaye is out for a period then don't be surprised if the wheels start falling off... They're wobbling at the moment.

Don't forget this is stoke fighting off relegation who we let run the midfield.

Also you could probably trip up walking home and fall under a bus, squashed to death and the bus veers off into the orphanage, bursting in to flames.

 

[Stretch]

Don't let this thread fool you.

Most of our fanbase are not hopeless pessimists.

 

[1066blade]

Everyone says Blackburn are in a false position. Obvs. But I think to a certain extent so are we. Being 11 points clear of 3rd, with the way we've dug out points is not leaving me with a confident end of season run in. I think we'll get auto, but hang on for a white knuckle ride to the final games.

 

[jt64]

We were a bit shit today, but won. Isn't there some sort of media narrative about that?

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Not when it's every game
Eventually it'll catch up when decent teams are lined up against us.

Like Burnley?

 

[borg elite]

I dread to think how some people would've reacted had they been around for our promotion in 89/90. Towards the end of the season we put in some really indifferent performances but got results. The 4-0 defeat at Leeds would've led to a full on meltdown nowadays.

 

[JJBlade]

Same as top of the league Reading -Blackburn and Burnley came into town and smashed us to bits

That's my whole point
It was during a time when we played in a quick, energetic manner
We haven't seen that for several weeks, and if this slow, boring version of us turns up against West Brom, Middlesboro, Norwich and Watford we'll get beat by each of them

We might up our game against those teams, but it's not easy to just switch it back on again when the languid, boring style is what you've been perfecting for months has to be changed

 

[United Aren't Back.]

It is possible to win and be crap
We've played some very poor and short on confidence teams, Blackpool, Wigan, QPR, Stoke, Huddersfield, Cardiff and Rotherham since battering Burnley and we've made all of them look decent.

I dread to think what an energetic Watford, Boro and West Brom and Norwich will do to us

Not a lot, methinks.

 

[Sheffsteel]

That's the 5th game on the trot where we've looked poor bar a 15 minute period and some individual brilliance.

If Ndiaye is out for a period then don't be surprised if the wheels start falling off... They're wobbling at the moment.

Don't forget this is stoke fighting off relegation who we let run the midfield.

1: Agree we have had a recent trend of generally "looking poor", but it's in the middle 3rd we struggle.
However in the defensive 3rd we often look comfortable then in the final 3rd we have quality individuals who can score from nothing,
This is the type of team that gains promotion.

It's not the Wilder style but this team have far higher quality individuals.
Just imagine what we'll do when the team clicks....like it did for 30 minutes against Burnley.

2: Again agree that we lose a lot if attacking threat if N'Diaye is out.
However thought Bogle was our most threatening player today. We also have McAtee who can create great chances too.

3: Agree Stoke are fighting relegation but at 2-0 down they literally had nothing to loose.
All the nerves disappeared and they produced a very positive attacking performance.
Arguably Stoke deserves a draw but we'll take the 3 points and I'm not too concerned about our future results.

 

[Large Mendonca]

So when everyone else wins, they’re all flawless wins with no dramas and complete perfection. Only blades win ugly apparently……..

 

[100% part time blade]

Average points for a promoted team is 1.9 per game (not 3).
Average points for a relegated team is 0.8 (not 0).
A good season or a bad season comes down to some fine margins.
We’re not a million times better than all the other sides: we’re a bit better.
Today we were a bit better than Stoke.
Some weeks, some teams will be a bit better than us; to get promoted, we need to a bit a bit better than the opposition most of the time - which is exactly what we’re doing at the moment.