Perhaps it was a little naïve to expect us to snap out of the funk we have been in this season and suddenly turn in the first good performance of the season against the owls.
Its time to be realistic and admit that we will not be challenging for the play-offs this season, there are still just shy of 20 games left but we are a very long way from being a side that can put a run of wins together. We are not putting in the kind of performances that deserve to win games and so whilst I will continue to back the blades, any expectations of success that I have harboured this season have been well and truly dismissed.
The fluctuations of Robbo’s opinions about our playing staff are perhaps the most worrying thing for me. After Bristol we were told that the players aren’t good enough. A few weeks later we are told that they are good enough. Before the Derby he said that no new arrivals were expected and that we had started to turn a corner and at full time we are told that promotion is unlikely and wholesale changes are required.
There are 2 ways to get out of this division; inspiration or perspiration. The teams that can play the classy football (West Brom, Reading, Birmingham) will not only get promoted but also make a decent fist of staying up. The teams that battle and work hard (Watford, Stoke, Sheff Utd circa 2006) will usually find themselves battling against relegation from the premiership. The teams that fall in between the two camps remain in limbo and at the moment I have to say that I have seen none of the pass and move football promised by Robbo and none of the never say day battling spirit which once flowed through the blades under the previous management team. It is this lack of an absolute style of play which I think is the major contribution to our poor form this season.
So I suppose we have to wait and see whether the kind of classy football Robson has promised will ever be delivered, I certainly don’t think he is the kind of manager that can get a team battling and scrapping for results. One thing of which I am in no doubt is that if he wants us to play the ball on the deck, a massive shake up of the playing staff is required and I doubt he will find affordable players with the technical ability in this country. We have to look abroad.
Its time to be realistic and admit that we will not be challenging for the play-offs this season, there are still just shy of 20 games left but we are a very long way from being a side that can put a run of wins together. We are not putting in the kind of performances that deserve to win games and so whilst I will continue to back the blades, any expectations of success that I have harboured this season have been well and truly dismissed.
The fluctuations of Robbo’s opinions about our playing staff are perhaps the most worrying thing for me. After Bristol we were told that the players aren’t good enough. A few weeks later we are told that they are good enough. Before the Derby he said that no new arrivals were expected and that we had started to turn a corner and at full time we are told that promotion is unlikely and wholesale changes are required.
There are 2 ways to get out of this division; inspiration or perspiration. The teams that can play the classy football (West Brom, Reading, Birmingham) will not only get promoted but also make a decent fist of staying up. The teams that battle and work hard (Watford, Stoke, Sheff Utd circa 2006) will usually find themselves battling against relegation from the premiership. The teams that fall in between the two camps remain in limbo and at the moment I have to say that I have seen none of the pass and move football promised by Robbo and none of the never say day battling spirit which once flowed through the blades under the previous management team. It is this lack of an absolute style of play which I think is the major contribution to our poor form this season.
So I suppose we have to wait and see whether the kind of classy football Robson has promised will ever be delivered, I certainly don’t think he is the kind of manager that can get a team battling and scrapping for results. One thing of which I am in no doubt is that if he wants us to play the ball on the deck, a massive shake up of the playing staff is required and I doubt he will find affordable players with the technical ability in this country. We have to look abroad.
