Lets put one thing to bed

[Red Wing Blade]

I'd argue that the arrival of Berge had more of an impact on why we didn't start well after the restart. We kept tinkering with formation, team selection and tactics to incorporate him and it affected us negatively. Before that we all knew who the likely starting eleven was, the formation and tactics and the consistency got us results.

I'm not blaming Berge himself, but his arrival did more bad than good and still does. He's obviously a talented footballer but he doesn't suit us. He's not an out and out defensive midfielder and he's not a box to box midfielder. I'm sure he'd be better in a flat midfield 4 than 3 or 5.

Arguably the severe loss of form of Fleck and Stevens also didn't help and they've never recovered a year later and are both absolutely dire to watch.

 

[alcoblade]

Ok what's the excuse the last home games with 28K+ fans backing them

You do understand that a number of things affect the results of football matches?

I haven’t met a single person who thinks our fortunes are all down to the presence or lack of fans.

 

[Red Wing Blade]

It's funny how so many other teams continued to win games on a consistent basis, get promoted, win leagues, win trophies and not get relegated without fans.

 

[ATL Recs]

No, it did affect us. Look at the back end of the season before.

Utter bollocks if you believe that shit

 

[Blade56]

Promotion. There I said it

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Its widely known, that it was all Lundstram's fault, and now hes gone, it's the midfield's fault. It's also the prince's fault, Wilder's fault, and the board's fault, but tomorrow it will be Slav's fault, and probably the player's fault too.

Phew - really didn't want a mention in dispatches this time.

 

[Grizzly blade]

Clearly folk have little respect for good old momentum….you know, getting in that winning mentality. Players at the peak of their fitness having played and trained constantly while that lesser known phenomena at the Lane known as “unity”…with probably 90% of the fans all on board with the team and what the manager was trying to do.

We had a couple of good results early doors and the players had belief…they want all out and we got rewards.
Now if anyone thinks the abrupt and sudden stop of both games and training didn’t impact on us hugely…and then losing that extra push from the fans on top with the intimidation a full Lane ALL pushing our lads didn’t make any difference last season then I’m sorry there’s little hope for you.

We were a championship side, unable to compete with clubs in the same league financially but expected to manage and had to eel every minute advantage we could from the hand we got.

On the restart those lads were shot, and so were we from that point on. They’ve never been the same since. JOC granted was a massive blow, still is, but I doubt he would have kept us up.

Fact remains we needed to replace every player and had to hope we could do that over several years. Instead we are just selling and going meekly back to how we were…and are most of the time

 

[ShropsBlade]

Let’s get real a bit.People go off like bramall lane is some bear pit atmosphere and one of the best in the country.Very good on its day.But it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[Jon Bon II]

Having fans back is like using a sticking plaster to stem an arterial bleed

Did you buy the Crab Private Healthcare Plan as well then?

 

[FMBlade1]

If we have such a profound bearing on the team's fortunes, we should be able to attend for free, if not the club should be paying us.

 

[Stretch]

Empty stadiums clearly did effect the players, but in the ultimate irony, a full BL might now end up working in the opposite direction, as a lot of our fanbase will not put up with this hollowed out team that we see before us.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if we will get most of our results away from home this season.

 

[Gavlar]

Empty stadiums clearly did effect the players, but in the ultimate irony, a full BL might now end up working in the opposite direction, as a lot of our fanbase will not put up with this hollowed out team that we see before us.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if we will get most of our results away from home this season.

Some truth in that mate. Fans can certainly turn against the team.
I’m worried we won’t get enough results home or away to stay up.

 

[Wright1889]

Its widely known, that it was all Lundstram's fault, and now hes gone, it's the midfield's fault. It's also the prince's fault, Wilder's fault, and the board's fault, but tomorrow it will be Slav's fault, and probably the player's fault too.

Well, it’s bloody somebody’s fault!

 

[HoodedClaw]

pommpey, I think wilderball was studied and out-thought. For our team to have continued to be successful using that system, 1 of two things needed to happen, some small adaptations or investment in better players all over the pitch. what we had was neither. We stood still and stubborn and allowed others to overtake us. I’m not sure if theres a core of arrogance or ignorance at the club.

Not replacing JOC rendered our system pointless, to then think that purchasing a striker for £23m was the answer was and still is mind blowing.

I'm not sure that small adaptations would've helped. JOC had an advantage of playing that system for 3 - 4 seasons I don't know if anyone could've come in and got up to speed over a Covid affected summer, but hey lets buy a striker and see if that helps.

 

[mattbianco1]

Ok what's the excuse the last home games with 28K+ fans backing them

We're in a rut. Losing mentality brought on by last season.

No fans 100% affected us

 

[HeySethUTB]

Not replacing JOC rendered our system pointless, to then think that purchasing a striker for £23m was the answer was and still is mind blowing.

I'm not sure that small adaptations would've helped. JOC had an advantage of playing that system for 3 - 4 seasons I don't know if anyone could've come in and got up to speed over a Covid affected summer, but hey lets buy a striker and see if that helps.

Agreed. In relation to the JOC transfer debacle, it’s the reason I stated 1 of 2 things. If we couldn’t find an adequate replacement (which is bollocks BTW, because he arrived last week) we should have adapted the way in which we play, investing in a couple of wingers or an attacking midfielder instead of paying for the empty harrods carrier bag that is Brewster. Instead we signed no additional replacement for JOC or for a system that had small adaptations.

 

[HoodedClaw]

Agreed. In relation to the JOC transfer debacle, it’s the reason I stated 1 of 2 things. If we couldn’t find an adequate replacement (which is bollocks BTW, because he arrived last week) we should have adapted the way in which we play, investing in a couple of wingers or an attacking midfielder instead of paying for the empty harrods carrier bag that is Brewster. Instead we signed no additional replacement for JOC or for a system that had small adaptations.

I agree totally.

For me even if we managed to get Davies in last season, given the short pre-season I don't think he would've offered us the same attacking threat that JOC did so the system would've neede changing, but he certainly would've been better at defending than the myriad of players we tried there.

I look at Bash and JOC's positions as quite specialised, if we'd got decent backups that had an understanding of the requirements for playing either position then there may have been more scope for carrying on playing it, however we didn't and it's almost neglegent that we didn't try to do something different, wingers new midfield anything but as you say we thought the answer was an "empty harrods carrier bag"

 

[pommpey]

We're in a rut. Losing mentality brought on by last season.

No fans 100% affected us

And on Saturday?

pommpey

 

[BrianBadonde]

Utter bollocks if you believe that shit

If I believe having no fans affected us? The worst technical team in the division?
It wasn’t the only thing but it was a huge factor.

Rangers pissed the league, unbeaten. First away game with fans back in grounds they lose to Dundee United. Coincidence?
Man City won 20 games in a row. 20. Coincidence?
More away games were won than any other premier league season, coincidence?

What we’re seeing now is just the after effects of being bopped week in week out.

 

[mattbianco1]

And on Saturday?

pommpey

You can't just change overnight. The players lost 29 (?!?) games in 38. The losing mentality of the players will take a while to get out of their system. A couple or 3 back-to-back wins will soon change that.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

The one thing that needed putting to bed was me but I'm up and about, had breakfast and rumoured to be working.

While I can accept that no fans will have impacted some clubs more than others I think it's dodgy ground to use it as an excuse for under performance in our case.

The reality of our fall from grace as I see it is players peaking by age and/or ability and awful recruitment.

 

[pommpey]

You can't just change overnight. The players lost 29 (?!?) games in 38. The losing mentality of the players will take a while to get out of their system. A couple or 3 back-to-back wins will soon change that.

They lost 29, in front of no fans

They'lost 2, in front of fans

So it's not 'fans'

pommpey

 

[wizadry]

Quite clearly having no fans in the grounds has an effect on results, every manager and pundit are saying exactly the same, it wasn’t the only reason we’ve been utter shite though for some time, we haven’t got enough hours in the day to discuss the other issues.

 

[mattbianco1]

They lost 29, in front of no fans

They'lost 2, in front of fans

So it's not 'fans'

pommpey

Fans not in the stadium definitely had an affect on us. Many other things did too - the team were very close knit and had to change everything, lifestyle etc. We were the 12th man. We had a squad of players giving their all, admittedly up against much better players. If we went behind, the crowd lifted them back up. If we went behind last season it was noticeable how the players heads dropped, playing in silence.

I haven't said fans was the ONLY reason and it's not like a switch you can just flip back on.

But I forgot, Thou shalt never question pompeys posts

 

[mattbianco1]

Quite clearly having no fans in the grounds has an effect on results, every manager and pundit are saying exactly the same, it wasn’t the only reason we’ve been utter shite though for some time, we haven’t got enough hours in the day to discuss the other issues.

Correct.

 

[BushBlade]

It's funny how so many other teams continued to win games on a consistent basis, get promoted, win leagues, win trophies and not get relegated without fans.

Only ten teams get relegated, Covid or not, you can’t relegate all of them. And ten get promoted every season, irrespective of what happens.

Plenty of people in the game have spoken about the effect of no crowds and how it tended to suit the teams with technical players, how they can be put off by the opposition fans and, just as importantly, by their own fans urging them to drive forward.

Was it the sole cause? Not in my opinion, it was one of a number of things that went against us. Is it of any benefit constantly going over this stuff again and again when it can’t be changed and the effect, if there was one, can’t be proven? No, it’s tiresome, it’s like the missus dragging up shit than happened ten years ago every time you have a disagreement. It’s done and everything that can be said about it has been said, repeatedly.

 

[Champagneblade]

I'd argue that the arrival of Berge had more of an impact on why we didn't start well after the restart. We kept tinkering with formation, team selection and tactics to incorporate him and it affected us negatively. Before that we all knew who the likely starting eleven was, the formation and tactics and the consistency got us results.

I'm not blaming Berge himself, but his arrival did more bad than good and still does. He's obviously a talented footballer but he doesn't suit us. He's not an out and out defensive midfielder and he's not a box to box midfielder. I'm sure he'd be better in a flat midfield 4 than 3 or 5.

Arguably the severe loss of form of Fleck and Stevens also didn't help and they've never recovered a year later and are both absolutely dire to watch.

He has had a bit of a Tino Asprilla impact, hasn't he?