Imagine for one second

[dsr-burnley]

There are no Blades fans up and around today who don't acknowledge and remain grateful for the position Hecky and the squad have put us in. We're grateful, believe us.

However, I personally don't see a complete project. A game like yesterday's was, on paper and looking at the tactics and strategy a far easier task than say, the Burnley game was. On that day there wasn't one player who came off that pitch who didn't pull equally and the result - 5-2 was richly deserved and indicative of just how well we can play when every player resonates an output in harmony. Yesterday we did ... for ten or so minutes and then some came out of synch.

And Burnley's game yesterday was against Coventry who are on paper far easier than Middlesbrough and Blackburn and QPR who we beat by 3 recently, and yet Coventry were the better side in the first half (and should have taken the lead) and although Burnley were far better in the second half, we still misfired in front of goal and only scored from a corner, in the 82nd minute. This happens when you're better than the rest - sometimes you play well and hammer the opposition, sometimes you play poorly and win anyway.

 

[Maidenhead]

You don't have a great game, but you win............ consistently

Promotion winning teams do that.

Nobody has conceded less than us, and only Burnley have outscored us.

Is this confirmed?

Your record with rumours is pretty poor

 

[BladesOnToast]

You don't have a great game, but you win............ consistently

Promotion winning teams do that.

Nobody has conceded less than us, and only Burnley have outscored us.

This current run is outstanding - 28 points from a possible 33 - it's our best run at this level for 18 years (since taking 30 points from a possible 33 at the start of the 2005-06 promotion season). Bizarre that this superb run of form isn't the talking point really.

 

[DifferentClass]

Imagine for one second Raquel Welch in sheer lingerie covering herself with honey and inviting you to lick it all off...

 

[FriethBlade]

Imagine for one second Raquel Welch in sheer lingerie covering herself with honey and inviting you to lick it all off...

It would be the wrong kind of honey

 

[Blade56]

We start off ok but then after 20 mins and we switch to team “B” mode all our avaiable energy is used on clenching collective buttocks and there’s nowt left for singing.

 

[Keen Blade]

There are no Blades fans up and around today who don't acknowledge and remain grateful for the position Hecky and the squad have put us in. We're grateful, believe us.

However, I personally don't see a complete project. A game like yesterday's was, on paper and looking at the tactics and strategy a far easier task than say, the Burnley game was. On that day there wasn't one player who came off that pitch who didn't pull equally and the result - 5-2 was richly deserved and indicative of just how well we can play when every player resonates an output in harmony. Yesterday we did ... for ten or so minutes and then some came out of synch.

It seems that we have a pattern going on and that is dangerous in football unless it is a proven one that non one has a solution for. Back in the ascending Wilder days no one could deal with the overlapping centrebacks overload and we bagged a load of goals and points through that. It worked in that first season in the PL too up until lockdown when it was evident teams had discussed how to shut us down and we had no real plan B to switch to. Now our pattern again relies on wingplay and distribution from deep and the mercurial creativity of NDaiye. We use this to smack teams early and bag some entry into the game and then we switch it off and allow the opposition, however poor, to gain a foothold. The key to not letting this happen is the 'creatives' in the squad, NDaiye being one, McAtee being another and one would hope Berge being a third. NDaiye always attracts two opposition players to go on him, one to press and one to sweep and sometimes a third. McAtee is just finding his sweet feet now and the other bloke makes himself conspicuously absent both in presence and contribution. To sustain that pressure we need these people to be on their game at all times. If NDaiye is being marked and Berge playing his absent number eight shirt game that just leaves the little lad to carve out chances for Billy and any other attacking presence. It allows them back into the game and puts us on the back foot. Berge sauntered around yesterday, when on the ball was muscled off it, put in laughably shit heading challenges and gifted them their opportunity to score. Stoke should have been nowhere near our goal for most of the game yesterday whilst they dealt with the triple threat of NDaiye, McAtee and Berge. Their defensive midfield was a bit poor and they should be occupied with dealing with us, not dealing with some of us. To that end, we finish the game defending more than attacking and worried, right up to Bogle's coup de grace, that we'd give two points away with a stupidly conceded late goal rather than playing up in their half.

pommpey

This is bang on.
Remember the old recruitment poster with Lord Kitchener pointing and saying "Your country needs you".
The one for Berge would say
"Your team needs you"
(so feckin wake up + join the fight)

 

[Dkc]

This is bang on.
Remember the old recruitment poster with Lord Kitchener pointing and saying "Your country needs you".
The one for Berge would say
"Your team needs you"
(so feckin wake up + join the fight)

If a player's out of form, it doesn't mean that they are 'lazy'. Lots of players lose form for various reasons. I doubt they wake up one morning and decide they can't be arsed. Playing at their best is the biggest buzz a player can get.

 

[Blade56]

Playing at their best is the biggest buzz a player can get.

Sorry, got to disagree. Loyalty has gone out of the window in football. Hoping for a big money move is the biggest buzz a player and their agent can get these days. That’s why we and society is where it is today!

 

[ATL Recs]

Inspired ?
By our greatest failures
Strange mentality

Inspired is a strange choice of words for sure, but I get the point. That last minute loss to Chelsea that sent us down in 1994 was also a royal kick in the cojones.

read the post I’m replying to should I have added Boxing Day - Mike McDonald and Warnock in front of inspired ?

 

[Gin&Juice]

I honestly think it’s the players. I think they know that for 45 mins they can blow teams away, and the rest of the time they just conserve themselves and risk any injuries or fatigue. Probably wrong, but feel the mindset is basically, for about 80% of the teams we can brush them aside and just stand off for the rest as there is no point. I’m probably completely wrong, but it just seems like the case at the moment.

 

[BobblesBlade]

I think we are saving ourselves for the last ten matches then will win em all easily giving us the title as Burnley run out of steam.

 

[djbaldken]

Genuine question.....does anyone really expect us to be on top in any game for the full 90 minutes?

Yes.
I 'll give you some clues.
His name starts with an F.
He claims to have a UAFA A coaching badge. (think he found it in a Cornflake packet)
He thinks the sun shines out of Sean Dyches arse.
FACT, is one of his favourite words.

 

[Jinxy1966]

Imagine for one second Raquel Welch in sheer lingerie covering herself with honey and inviting you to lick it all off...

I’ve imagined it & now I can no longer enjoy honey in my porridge

 

[RammyBlade]

I’ve imagined it & now I can no longer enjoy honey in my porridge
View attachment 151124

 

[Torrix1889]

Some tough games coming up

 

[BettingBlade]

I honestly think it’s the players. I think they know that for 45 mins they can blow teams away, and the rest of the time they just conserve themselves and risk any injuries or fatigue. Probably wrong, but feel the mindset is basically, for about 80% of the teams we can brush them aside and just stand off for the rest as there is no point. I’m probably completely wrong, but it just seems like the case at the moment.

This is exactly how I’m starting to see it. Previously I thought that we’d get dicked at some point by a Burnley for example….and then we turned them over when it mattered. It seems as though its almost too easy at times and the players just do enough.

The fact whenever we’ve played a team in and around the play offs, we’ve blown them away has eased my concerns somewhat.

As long as we dont become too complacent, I honestly think we could be up by the beginning of April. It’s not always exciting and it seems as though we’re going through the motions a lot of the time but we’re rarely in danger.

 

[west_yorks_blade]

Yes.
I 'll give you some clues.
His name starts with an F.
He claims to have a UAFA A coaching badge. (think he found it in a Cornflake packet)
He thinks the sun shines out of Sean Dyches arse.
FACT, is one of his favourite words.

Ah hang on. I think I have it.
Is he also a dim witted wind up merchant by any chance?

 

[DifferentClass]

I’ve imagined it & now I can no longer enjoy honey in my porridge
View attachment 151124

I meant the 70s model!!!

 

[Selly]

As long as we dont become too complacent, I honestly think we could be up by the beginning of April.

There are 8 games left at the beginning of April - we'd be hard pushed to be definitively up by then - especially when you look at the fixtures in March...

 

[Jinxy1966]

I meant the 70s model!!!

I don’t think she’d have been much better in her 70’s to be honest

 

[jt64]

There are very few players who haven't had injuries this season, a lot who were out several weeks because of this. Could this be affecting the overall performances? Players just back from injury, others worried about getting injured.

Worrying about getting injured is a great way to get yourself injured

 

[Sheffsteel]

Nailed it Pommpey. At the risk of dogs abuse I'd add a huge amount if not all the reponsiblility for ensuring high standards for 90 minutes lays with the management.
I've thrown this out before but I have a feeling our manager in't a manager. He's an Alan Knill and we haven't got a Wilder. Imagine the players looking to the bench for guidance, encouragement and support and seeing the lone figure of Knill practicing his bendy leg thing and no-one else. Same now with Heckinbotham. and his face inscrutably involved in seeing how many fingers he can get in his mouth at the same time. Things only liven up when McAll gets dragged into a lengthy top security conversation for about 15 minutes which usually results in the implementation of Plan B. Doyle for McAtee.
In conclusion we are grinding out wins without performing close to our best for more than half per game. The potential problem there is that if/when we face opponents who aren't basically rammel like Stoke we have'nt got a fall back position of easily raising our game because it isn't in our DNA to perform for 90 mins. No-one wants us to win the league, let alone finish second more than me. Any criticism is meant as constructive as having seen what this team is capable of it frustrates and worries me to see it doing "just" enough too often. Only takes the odd mistake, ref decision or flash of something from the opposition and that narrow margin is gone. I really feel the in game management needs to be much better and proactive as does the use and timing of subs.

Excellent post...

My concern (which often angers me) is that Hecky never even raises this in his post match interviews.

Wilder was always pretty honest and would tell it how it is.....he'd say how we defended well but we need to take better control of the game in the late stages.
I would expect Hecky does know we have this knack in the latter stages of a game when a victory is in site of "sitting back parking the bus" and just "giving up trying to win midfield". It's almost funny to see how several of our players totally lose composure on the ball and just hoof it up field or out of play inviting more pressure.

Maybe it's a deliberate tactic because as mentioned....even when the defence is under immense pressure for long spells the opposition never look like scoring.
I suppose it's more about frustration....when it's 0-0 we can see just how good and entertaining our team can be.
As mentioned for the 1st 30 minutes against Stoke we were superb and looked much the superior side.
Then when we went 2-0 up we slowly took our foot of the pedal.....and let them slowly come back into the game.

It's the "taking the foot" off the pedal that need to be addressed by Hecky, surely they are aware of it?
Also we haven't conceded many goals this season but many of them have been stupid/ soft goals.

 

[Selly]

As mentioned for the 1st 30 minutes against Stoke we were superb and looked much the superior side.

And by that point we were 2-0 up, and eventually won 3-1.

If we are keeping something in the tank that we can break out during matches against Boro, Blackburn, Watford then all the better - the last thing we need is to run out 6-1 winner against Stoke completely knackering ourselves in the process.

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

How long do people have to say it for before it becomes accepted?

The Manchester and Liverpool Agricultural Society: Meeting at Manchester”, in Farmer's Magazine‎[1], London, 1867, page 294:Following the example of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, instead of one of the more wide-awake maxims of our great-grandfathers, which teaches us that when we cannot get one thing to make the best use of the other, the meeting appointed to be held at Stourport last year was abandoned; although, as the proof is in the pudding, as seen at this and other gatherings, there was ample material even without cattle, to make a capital show.

A variant of the complete proverb , ‘The proof of the pudding is in the eating’ can be traced back as far as 14th. century and an almost word for word translation to 1682 . This has a clear and easily understandable message , I.e. that real value of something can only be judged when it is tested against the purpose for which it was intended .

For me , the the abbreviated version is merely a misquote which has no such obvious meaning and basically makes no sense .

The fact that it started to be used as an alternative to the original in the USA in the 1950’s and has now spread over here does not give it credibility or validation imo . After all , there are a number of phrases or sayings in relatively common usage such as the appalling ‘ should of ‘ instead of ‘should have’ and the nonsensical mixing up of two different metaphors in ‘ He couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo’ often seen on here .

What’s that old saying , “Two wrongs don’t make .......

 

[247Blade]

Imagine for one second Raquel Welch in sheer lingerie covering herself with honey and inviting you to lick it all off...

What now at her age .... Pass!

 

[N20 Blade]

Nailed it Pommpey. At the risk of dogs abuse I'd add a huge amount if not all the reponsiblility for ensuring high standards for 90 minutes lays with the management.
I've thrown this out before but I have a feeling our manager in't a manager. He's an Alan Knill and we haven't got a Wilder. Imagine the players looking to the bench for guidance, encouragement and support and seeing the lone figure of Knill practicing his bendy leg thing and no-one else. Same now with Heckinbotham. and his face inscrutably involved in seeing how many fingers he can get in his mouth at the same time. Things only liven up when McAll gets dragged into a lengthy top security conversation for about 15 minutes which usually results in the implementation of Plan B. Doyle for McAtee.
In conclusion we are grinding out wins without performing close to our best for more than half per game. The potential problem there is that if/when we face opponents who aren't basically rammel like Stoke we have'nt got a fall back position of easily raising our game because it isn't in our DNA to perform for 90 mins. No-one wants us to win the league, let alone finish second more than me. Any criticism is meant as constructive as having seen what this team is capable of it frustrates and worries me to see it doing "just" enough too often. Only takes the odd mistake, ref decision or flash of something from the opposition and that narrow margin is gone. I really feel the in game management needs to be much better and proactive as does the use and timing of subs.

In the event of us being promoted would you be brave and sack PH and his team, then replace them? Thinking of Southampton with Adkins.