Anyone else think that's a good result long-term?

[stannyblade]

We have lost one game ffs. We aren't playing well but are second. Would you rather we were bottom but playing well? I just want to get out of the pub league myself and if its how we are doing it at the minute I will take that

 

[dingledog]

We are in the third division, in a sport that is probably financially bankrupt.. It is crap to watch though.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Good point, but worth noting that the 30 players signed on will earn, in total, probalbly only twice as much as the 4 players lost in the summer.

Also worth noting that despite the unimpresssive nature of our play, we are in an automatic promotion spot.



UTB

Yep, and Wilson can argue that his tactics and team selection therefore have been right, while it's impossible to prove that another approach would have been more effective. But he's had options, he's signed them himself.

We lost good players yes, it's a valid point. But when the budget is the highest, the squad is big enough and been put together by the current manager, it is no longer a (very) relevant point, other than we should acknowledge it takes a bit of time for a revamped side to gel.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Don't you think he would have played Gallagher on the wing instead of a full back, if he'd been allowed to sign him?
I'm not sure where you get 30 first team players from. I would say we have 16 Senior players and 14 prospects.

I think Gallagher would have kept his place if he had stayed on loan yes.

I consider all players above 18 years old on professional contracts a first team squad member, and I also include the U18 players that have been in contention.

 

[God]

It has been mentioned that when our inevitable defeat game, it might change our approach to matches and stop this negative 'let's not lose' type football?

We have gone away with a negative approach again, and been found out. Hopefully Wilson will realise that this cannot continue, and that playing a Left Back (A bad left back) on the left wing is not the way you win matches.

Come on Danny, now show us you want to win games, starting with Stevenage who have just been hammered at home.

DW has definitely got to shake things about now with the injuries to Williams & McMahon. Its got to be time now surely for Porter & Miller up front with Blackman pushing out right .Its a more attacking option than what we've been playing IMHO. Would give us a bit more much needed pace out wide too.
Cant see it happening though, as I Think DW will pick McAllister and go with same old same old.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

I'm still not convinced Gallagher is the answer. Don't get me wrong, he'd be straight in the side and an improvement on those that are filling in at the mo. But the style of play and our approach to games was fairly similar with him in the team. I'd rather we used any manuveurability in the January window to try and get someone in that offers more movement, and in particular genuine creativity in that position. I don't think Gallagher really offers either. He offers an extra attacking threat, has a decent shot, but isn't really going to help us get back to the way we attacked last season.

 

[Toronto Blade]

Surely a loan player is to be brought in to cover the injuries to McMahon and Hill.
There must be funds ,Gallagher was sent back to fund a replacement keeper which hasn't happened as Long has remained steady.
No club in the league comes anywhere near our attendance how do these other clubs do it.There must be enough for some sort of loan whether as cover for the injured or for a winger.

 

[Fiery Blade]

Yesterday was awful - it also highlighted why Williams and Westlake are not first choices as full backs - neither are good enough - even in this poor league!
The tactics were appalling yesterday and for anyone expecting it to get better - it won't
The players are not up to it and neither is the manager!
To come out with ' the lads didn't deserve to lose after that performance' is bizarre - they did deserve to lose because they played rubbish!
Wilson obviously was watching a different match to the one I went to see!

 

[Bladesway]

I think losings great, it gives some people something to talk about. Can we do this again so more people can be happy?

 

[Bladesway]

Wilson obviously was watching a different match to the one I went to see!

Just Wilson?

 

[georgebernardshaw]

If, at the start of the season, you'd offered me second place in mid November in a crap league, playing crap football, I'd have torn your arm off. The whole season is going to be like this, so let's just get promotion, and consign this season to history.

Things could be infinitely worse - you could be an oink, watching reasonable football in a competitive league, and getting stuffed three weeks out of every four.

George.

 

[Kenilworth]

No use moaning about the last minute pen awarded. There was a definite penalty not awarded earlier when Harry slid in. It could have been worse for us as Harry could have been given a red at that point.

More worrying is the number of times we (don't) work the opposition goal keeper. That's been a major concern of mine all season. We are playing very deep with the tactics employed - the midfield does not get up to support the front two - hence the lump and chase scenario - it's all very reminiscent of Blackwell's tactics but with poorer players.

With Hill and McMahon injured (probably for some time, especially in McMahon's case) a huge amount of experience has been lost from the back four so the tactics of shutting up shop will be severely tested over the next few games. I don't believe the lads who will come in to replace Hill and McMahon will be up to the task.

That said, I cannot see how DW can change the tactics. Who have we got with any pace or guile that can play wide midfield and stretch teams? I suspect we will try to muddle through and end up dropping more points because of an inability to create and stick away chances. In this respect I see Cofie as the only potential outlet. He was brought in for his pace (albeit that he is young and raw) but I have no faith in such a young man being our game changer - nor is it fair on the lad. So, the only answer is Dave Kitson - he is the only one with the experience, guts and talent to keep us in a game. If he is not available I cannot see us troubling the goals for column very much.

 

[Selly]

To answer to OP.

No.

A defeat is never a good thing in isolation. We may look back at the end of the season and pinpoint this game as the one which was a turning point. But that could go in either direction.

Defeats can only ever be seen as beneficial in hindsight, if what follows is a change in approach resulting in an improved set of results.

 

[HoodedClaw]

Not a good result in the long term for me, as unfortunately DW doesnt feel we lost the game by our performance but by a dodgy ref decision, he won't be changing a thing tatctics wise.

Im concerned for the next few games with McMahon and Hill injured, thats 50% of the back four that have been DW's tactics. Cant see us scoring and now cant see us keeping clean sheets.

People have said it may be poor tactics and crap to watch, but its got us to 2nd in the league, which is fair but nothing Ive seen has convinced me it will keep us there come end of May.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Defeats can only ever be seen as beneficial in hindsight, if what follows is a change in approach resulting in an improved set of results.

What will our training focus be this week - how to create more chances, or how to keep the ball in the corner? We may find out on Saturday!

 

[Grecian2000]

We aren't playing well but are second. Would you rather we were bottom but playing well?

You see that's the problem I have.

In all the years I've watched United, I've never seen us "playing well and being bottom". When we've had teams that've played well we've always been in and around the top. that's usually how it works.
If you get the performances right, the results follow almost inevitably. If you are scraping results, not playing well, then the results will eventually dry up.

I would much prefer a season like last, when we started adequately and steadily improved until, by Feb/Mar we were head and shoulders the best side in the division. In any "normal" season (and disregarding our penchant for the spectacular fuck-up) we would easily have secured promotion. This season the performances have never shown me that we are improving or about to be a good team (and I know full well the reasons, but that's not what I'm discussing here) and I have nowhere near the confidence (misplaced as it turned out) I had going into the final couple of months last time around.

For what it's worth, I don't think we've got the means to buy our way into form in January and we may be stuck with this all season. If we are then I fear the worse. We do need to improve whatever position in the table we currently sit in.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

It would have been interesting to see comments on here had we played like this last season. We were spoilt last year with our attacking play but as people have said, we've lost 60 plus goals and countless assists from the 1st team so with having to cut costs etc, I think DW has done a great job to get us where we are.

It's a difficult situation, does he try and be more attacking which would undoubtedly make us weaker defensively but the bottom line is, how can he change it much given the squad we have and the money he doesn't have ?

I can't see the approach changing as things stand, even the injuries at the weekend will probably just mean Williams to LB and McAllister wide left so no real change.

 

[Bergen Blade]

I can't see the approach changing as things stand, even the injuries at the weekend will probably just mean Williams to LB and McAllister wide left so no real change.

As our new full backs will be not as good defensively as the first choices, there's an argument for needing to protect them even more on Saturday.

It will probably be McAllister on the right and Flynn on the left.

 

[super_pig]

we've been pretty poor all year tbh.. this time we got caught out..
can you get promoted using this tactic?? i'm not so sure. like leroy roseigneour said the other night ..'better to win 12 lose 4 than have win 8 draw 8 .. you get more points'
at least we'll get rid of the monotonous 'we're unbeaten' counterargument now

 

[Sothall_Blade]

at least we'll get rid of the monotonous 'we're unbeaten' counterargument now

Only MK Dons have beaten us since 6th March 2012 though.
We should be ok until 9th March 2013 now

 

[Micalijo]

we've been pretty poor all year tbh.. this time we got caught out..
can you get promoted using this tactic?? i'm not so sure. like leroy roseigneour said the other night ..'better to win 12 lose 4 than have win 8 draw 8 .. you get more points'
at least we'll get rid of the monotonous 'we're unbeaten' counterargument now

To be repalced by - 'we are second, stop moaning etc'.

Any more blanks and we'll be seeing the start of serious dissent at BDTBL.

 

[raul]

 

[FleaPitBlade]

To quote Siralex... “Only true champions come out and show their worth after defeat- and I expect us to do that”

 

[blader]

Quick bump. Any more of you agree with the OP now?

 

[Bergen Blade]

Quick bump. Any more of you agree with the OP now?

I'm certainly glad that Danny Wilson agreed a change in approach was needed. We have good players at this level, we should have confidence in their ability, and that includes the squad players. We managed to change our style without loan players. Let's hope we can build on that and keep improving from now on.

 

[Selly]

Quick bump. Any more of you agree with the OP now?

As I said before, you can only judge a the end of the season. If we continue to play and get results as on Saturday, then I'd agree.

If we revert to more defensive, and still get promoted, I won`t agree, but will still be happy.


If we revert to more defensive, and miss out by 2 points to MK Dons, it will, in context, be a f**king terrible result. Just like the draw at home to Wednesday was around the same time last year. That looked like it gave us a kick up the Jacksie in the following weeks. I need not remind you what happened at the end of the season, need I?

 

[blade too long]

we are second on merit , a good side reacts well to losing , we have
compare our results to say off the top of my head sheff weds ,
Away table
P W D L GF GA Dif Pts
1 Crystal Palace 8 5 1 2 11 10 +1 16
2 Charlton 9 4 3 2 13 9 +4 15
3 Brighton & Hove 9 4 3 2 12 9 +3 15
4 Huddersfield 8 4 1 3 11 12 -1 13
5 Middlesbrough 9 4 1 4 11 12 -1 13
6 Hull City 9 4 1 4 11 13 -2 13
7 Blackburn 9 2 6 1 17 14 +3 12
8 Watford 8 4 0 4 17 16 +1 12
9 Nottm Forest 8 2 5 1 14 11 +3 11
10 Blackpool 9 3 2 4 10 13 -3 11
11 Millwall 8 2 4 2 14 14 0 10
12 Leeds Utd 9 2 3 4 12 14 -2 9
13 Birmingham City 8 2 3 3 11 13 -2 9
14 Wolverhampton 9 3 0 6 9 12 -3 9
15 Leicester City 8 2 2 4 9 10 -1 8
16 Derby County 9 2 2 5 7 15 -8 8
17 Ipswich Town 9 2 2 5 5 23 -18 8
18 Cardiff City 8 2 1 5 14 18 -4 7
19 Barnsley 9 2 1 6 10 15 -5 7
20 Peterborough 8 2 0 6 8 13 -5 6
21 Burnley 8 2 0 6 13 21 -8 6
22 Bolton 8 1 2 5 10 16 -6 5
23 Sheffield Wed 9 1 2 6 10 16 -6 5
24 Bristol City 8 1 1 6 6 13 -7 4
now thats cause for complaint

 

[Selly]

now thats cause for complaint

I actually don`t think it is. If Wendy fans were anything like rational they'd realise that Jones got them promoted a season too early.

There is an arguement that so would Wilson, but at least he had been at the club a full season.

 

[Darren]

As I said before, you can only judge a the end of the season. If we continue to play and get results as on Saturday, then I'd agree.

If we revert to more defensive, and still get promoted, I won`t agree, but will still be happy.


If we revert to more defensive, and miss out by 2 points to MK Dons, it will, in context, be a f**king terrible result. Just like the draw at home to Wednesday was around the same time last year. That looked like it gave us a kick up the Jacksie in the following weeks. I need not remind you what happened at the end of the season, need I?

Thats a bit of revisionism. After the draw with Wednesday on 15th Oct our following 5 games saw us win 2 draw 2 and lose 1 - i.e. 8 points from 5 games. These games included disappointing draws with Orient and Exeter and a defeat at Stevenage. It was only after the cup win over Oxford on 12th Nov that we kicked on and won 6 in a row.

 

[blade too long]

I actually don`t think it is. .

think ID BE UNHAPPY WITH 5 POINTS FROM 9 GAMES IN THE PREM ,NEVER MIND THE CHAMPIONSHIP