ChrisBlade
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It is an interesting moment in our season to take stock. The next week will certainly be huge. And there are so many different angles one could take to taking stock.
I remember my post when Nick Blackman was sold where I asked people to state their expectations of United's finishing position with or without Blackman as a yardstick for future reference. Back then we were on a crap run. Not surprisingly, the general gist was that with Blackman it would have beeen play-offs, without him we'd make the play-offs, too, or just about miss out. As it stands, we are looking at the play-offs as a minimum. So within that collective reference system of early February, we should be more or less feeling as if we are on track and yet we all are disappointed as there is a feeling that we are gradually pissing away automatic that was there for the taking.
I suppose that shows that we all are guilty of what Olle loves to call "scoreline journalism". It is difficult to keep up a consistent expectation level without reacting to ups and downs.
The moment I kind of felt like we are forever running in circles in a hamster's wheel was the evening after Carlisle. That day I thought that the parallels to 2009 were suddenly too striking to ignore. Blackwell was also pinching lots of away points on 4-5-1, generally to groans of "lack of poise or entertainment". Good Friday we had landed a massive 1-0 win away at Reading (read Tranmere 2013) only to be held 0-0 by time-wasting Notts Forest in a hugely underwhelming Easter Monday home match (read Carlisle). We then lost away to Burnley, of course, and went into the last day knowing that a game between rivals Reading and Brum offered us a lifeline as we ourselves played opposition with nothing to play for. To me, that painfully looks like Brentford vs Doncaster or Tranmere vs Bournemouth on the last day this year...
Swindon or Brentford could easily become 2009's Burnley, first condemning us to play catch up for automatic shortly before the season's end before then polishing us off in the play-offs soon after. The Porter - Craig Beattie analogy has already been spotted by a few others on here.
I suppose this is all rather sad - as it is a sorry snapshot of where we are with no hint of a solution. I am not normally a knocker at all. But I struggle to see how the outcome is going to be different to 2009 or indeed last season.
However, last year's so called "failure" was easy to love, easy to forgive for. This year or 2009 is not. If you play a certain dour "the end justifies the means" style, you are condemned to actually do it. If you don't get there, the lack of "sexiness" makes the team rather difficult to adore regardless.
One last point maybe, failure... I have resigned myself to Bournemouth finishing on 85 points, i.e. beating Shrewsbury, Carlisle and Tranmere. While I agree that it seems as if we already wasted a ridiculous amount of opportunities this season (rotten 0-0s vs Orient, Franchise and Carlisle, 1 point from 6 at home vs Bury and Hartlepool, the soul-destroying away draw at Notts County), you'd also have to say that there is an element of "credit where it's due" if Bournemouth were to do a Wednesday this year. You don't have to "collapse" or "fail" all that badly if a team overtakes you by getting 27 points from 27 available. Wednesday's run equally was amazing and overshadowed our similarly strong points collection rate last year.
The problem with groundhog days always is, how do you break the cycle? How to convince yourself that all too familiar patterns will not be repeated? I'll watch versus Crawley with my customary blurry-eyed hope and enthusiasm but I won't be able to shake a feeling of dejà vue whatever happens.
Prove me wrong, Blades!
I remember my post when Nick Blackman was sold where I asked people to state their expectations of United's finishing position with or without Blackman as a yardstick for future reference. Back then we were on a crap run. Not surprisingly, the general gist was that with Blackman it would have beeen play-offs, without him we'd make the play-offs, too, or just about miss out. As it stands, we are looking at the play-offs as a minimum. So within that collective reference system of early February, we should be more or less feeling as if we are on track and yet we all are disappointed as there is a feeling that we are gradually pissing away automatic that was there for the taking.
I suppose that shows that we all are guilty of what Olle loves to call "scoreline journalism". It is difficult to keep up a consistent expectation level without reacting to ups and downs.
The moment I kind of felt like we are forever running in circles in a hamster's wheel was the evening after Carlisle. That day I thought that the parallels to 2009 were suddenly too striking to ignore. Blackwell was also pinching lots of away points on 4-5-1, generally to groans of "lack of poise or entertainment". Good Friday we had landed a massive 1-0 win away at Reading (read Tranmere 2013) only to be held 0-0 by time-wasting Notts Forest in a hugely underwhelming Easter Monday home match (read Carlisle). We then lost away to Burnley, of course, and went into the last day knowing that a game between rivals Reading and Brum offered us a lifeline as we ourselves played opposition with nothing to play for. To me, that painfully looks like Brentford vs Doncaster or Tranmere vs Bournemouth on the last day this year...
Swindon or Brentford could easily become 2009's Burnley, first condemning us to play catch up for automatic shortly before the season's end before then polishing us off in the play-offs soon after. The Porter - Craig Beattie analogy has already been spotted by a few others on here.
I suppose this is all rather sad - as it is a sorry snapshot of where we are with no hint of a solution. I am not normally a knocker at all. But I struggle to see how the outcome is going to be different to 2009 or indeed last season.
However, last year's so called "failure" was easy to love, easy to forgive for. This year or 2009 is not. If you play a certain dour "the end justifies the means" style, you are condemned to actually do it. If you don't get there, the lack of "sexiness" makes the team rather difficult to adore regardless.
One last point maybe, failure... I have resigned myself to Bournemouth finishing on 85 points, i.e. beating Shrewsbury, Carlisle and Tranmere. While I agree that it seems as if we already wasted a ridiculous amount of opportunities this season (rotten 0-0s vs Orient, Franchise and Carlisle, 1 point from 6 at home vs Bury and Hartlepool, the soul-destroying away draw at Notts County), you'd also have to say that there is an element of "credit where it's due" if Bournemouth were to do a Wednesday this year. You don't have to "collapse" or "fail" all that badly if a team overtakes you by getting 27 points from 27 available. Wednesday's run equally was amazing and overshadowed our similarly strong points collection rate last year.
The problem with groundhog days always is, how do you break the cycle? How to convince yourself that all too familiar patterns will not be repeated? I'll watch versus Crawley with my customary blurry-eyed hope and enthusiasm but I won't be able to shake a feeling of dejà vue whatever happens.
Prove me wrong, Blades!
Anyone who in January expected United to finish in the play-offs with Blackman would have had a strong empirical sample from August to January, leading them to believe that, no, United weren't good enough for automatic. He then gets taken out and replaced with players you looked at in January and thought, no, still not good enough for automatic.
