this month is vital

[gavtheblade]

Dont want to state the obvious here,but with the teams were up against this month,if we dont do the buisness and WIN against the likes of scunny,ipswich and palace,the coffin lid will be waiting for nails come march.
im that serious.

 

[Selly]

You ain't stating the obvious, but you are covering old ground. Add your thoughts to the existing thread here

 

[gavtheblade]

pardon me.excuse me.im sorry.accept my sincerest apologies.

 

[Selly]

Oh piss off, just trying to keep the forum tidy!!!

 

[SwissBlade]

its a valid thread Selly

So onto the thread, Gaz, this month isn't vital. Its the same as any other month, lets not get all hollywood, lets not get champions league, lets not get super sunday must win clash... Its February, a traditionally busy month, sure a time to pick up points where we can, but lets not dress it up as the month where it'll all be decided.

 

[Ollessendro]

its a valid thread Selly

So onto the thread, Gaz, this month isn't vital. Its the same as any other month, lets not get all hollywood, lets not get champions league, lets not get super sunday must win clash... Its February, a traditionally busy month, sure a time to pick up points where we can, but lets not dress it up as the month where it'll all be decided.

So when exactly do you expect Adams to turn it around Swiss? If we don't pick up points away at Plalce and Scunny, do you think it will be ok? Not a big deal. Not supoer Sunday these winnable home games against Milwall, Reading and Derby. So Feb is not a big deal. We keep losing, but sure the team will gel in March and we'll go on to stuff Cardiff, Leeds, QPR and Swansea to get safe.

And it is not a valid thread. If he had taken the time to read other threads he would have seen that I said exaclty the same thing a week ago and there has been some interesting, healthy debate on it.

 

[Micalijo]

its a valid thread Selly

So onto the thread, Gaz, this month isn't vital. Its the same as any other month, lets not get all hollywood, lets not get champions league, lets not get super sunday must win clash... Its February, a traditionally busy month, sure a time to pick up points where we can, but lets not dress it up as the month where it'll all be decided.

I'm sure you said yesterday that we have to look at one game at a time, each game is vital etc etc. Maybe I'm misunderstanding and am not intellectually strong enough to comprehend what is going on.

 

[SwissBlade]

So when exactly do you expect Adams to turn it around Swiss? If we don't pick up points away at Plalce and Scunny, do you think it will be ok? Not a big deal. Not supoer Sunday these winnable home games against Milwall, Reading and Derby. So Feb is not a big deal. We keep losing, but sure the team will gel in March and we'll go on to stuff Cardiff, Leeds, QPR and Swansea to get safe.

And it is not a valid thread. If he had taken the time to read other threads he would have seen that I said exaclty the same thing a week ago and there has been some interesting, healthy debate on it.

Perhaps you misunderstood my point Olle, I wasn't questioning the need to turn things around. I wasn't saying that we shouldn't be winning games all I said was that its ridiculous idea to suggest that February is vital. Its no more vital than Jan, March or April. Nothing gets decided now, but of course (as I said) we need to pick up points.

You can pretty much guarantee that even teams that are flying won't pick up wins every game. Games that, based upon the league table and form seem winnable, perhaps won't be, because teams are fighting to stay up. You mention certain teams like Millwall, Reading and Derby as winnable and i'd be inclined to agree. However, when you look that we got hammered at home to lowly Scunny and then went on to beat high flyers Swansea it kind of makes this division unpredictable.

Reading for me are a high flyer, but they could come unstuck. Cardiff, traditionally bottle it, QPR could have an off day.

17 games left, all to play for, it'll come down to the wire and yes unless we turn things around soon then we'll be right in it.

But Leicester are a free spending team on the up and we apparently, created enough chances to win 2 games!

I'm certainly not going to get into a Diva fit if we drop points.

In Micky we trust

 

[sheffielder]

Swiss, sorry pal but if you don't think Feb is vital your off your nuts mate. I know your a positive guy but please tell me how when playing Ipswich Palace and Scunthorpe this month with a few other games we need to be winning is not vital? When does it become vital

I think you have dug a hole here

 

[Ollessendro]

Swiss, sorry pal but if you don't think Feb is vital your off your nuts mate. I know your a positive guy but please tell me how when playing Ipswich Palace and Scunthorpe this month with a few other games we need to be winning is not vital? When does it become vital

I think you have dug a hole here

I think Sheffielder is right Swiss. It takes a real man to admit his mistakes and say he was wrong

Perhaps you misunderstood my point Olle, I wasn't questioning the need to turn things around. I wasn't saying that we shouldn't be winning games all I said was that its ridiculous idea to suggest that February is vital. Its no more vital than Jan, March or April. Nothing gets decided now, but of course (as I said) we need to pick up points.

You can pretty much guarantee that even teams that are flying won't pick up wins every game. Games that, based upon the league table and form seem winnable, perhaps won't be, because teams are fighting to stay up. You mention certain teams like Millwall, Reading and Derby as winnable and i'd be inclined to agree. However, when you look that we got hammered at home to lowly Scunny and then went on to beat high flyers Swansea it kind of makes this division unpredictable.

Reading for me are a high flyer, but they could come unstuck. Cardiff, traditionally bottle it, QPR could have an off day.

17 games left, all to play for, it'll come down to the wire and yes unless we turn things around soon then we'll be right in it.

But Leicester are a free spending team on the up and we apparently, created enough chances to win 2 games!

I'm certainly not going to get into a Diva fit if we drop points.

In Micky we trust

A lot of what you say is true, but this month will be crucial. If we don't start picking up points now it will make March and April even more difficult. If we fall deeper into relegation it will make it more difficult to get out. The fact that you can look at the next 6 fixtures and not really fear any of the teams means something. Normally we'd be looking at the next 6 matches and saying 'we can win all these'. You cannot say that for March and April. Nah mate, February will be a crucial month.

 

[SwissBlade]

I think Sheffielder is right Swiss. It takes a real man to admit his mistakes and say he was wrong

Swiss, sorry pal but if you don't think Feb is vital your off your nuts mate.

I'm sure you said yesterday that we have to look at one game at a time, each game is vital etc etc.

Ollie i'm not sure what I've been wrong on in relation to this. And Sheffielder, its not about being positive or negative.

It was stated that Leicester was a Massive/ must win game. I disagreed.
Its been stated that February is Vital. I disagreed.

Why did I disagree? Because I don't think its any more vital than any other month. I've never once said though, that Feb is any less important though, so don't assume that.

Of course there are winnable games, I thought that we should've picked points v Leicester at home, but we didn't but then I wouldn't have thought we'd get 3 points at home to Swansea in December, but we did.

The problem I have with this throwaway February is Vital statement is that it doesn't address the issue. From Feb 12th to March 12th, we play Tues-Sat-Tues. Thats tough going for any side, regardless of league position. This period always throws up a few odd results, but from Mar-April it levels out again.

Last season, for example, there was a similar run of games. Sat 23rd Jan to Tues 16th Feb, we picked up 2 wins and a draw in 8 games. And its fair to say that our form last season was better than our current form going into this. We had big games in March/ April as well.

If we don't pick up points now, how will it make picking up points in March/ April more difficult? We won't get a free ticket to the next month! Those games remain against the same teams. Yes if we fall deeper into relegation we will need more points, but does that mean it becomes more difficult? No

You can look at each and every game and try to predict which is winnable. But good luck for Feb, I think you can't predict much between 12th Feb to 12th March.

The funny thing about this is that Ollie has talked about the clubs he reckons will fall into the dog fight, I can't remember them all, but take a look at April and there are Boro, Preston, Bristol C and Barnsley who I am sure a few of which will be dragged into the mire.

Does April become less important than Feb if we pick up a rake of points this month? Not at all.

So like I said, all games are vital in their own right, but if we drop points against the likes of Leicester or Ipswich, then it doesn't get me nervously looking at the table. Its the bigger picture. What should be the points target until the end of the season?

I personally think its more vital to address the problem areas, I've said this since back in December and unfortunately during the last game I watched v Norwich we failed to deal with corners. And during the Norwich and Leicester game (i'm reliably informed) our attacking set pieces were poor.

 

[norfolkblade]

I think the point is that February is vital owing to the teams we are playing, if we don't get the points now, I can't see us picking up many in March against Pompey, Forest, Watford or Leeds, and April is leaving it very very close to the edge.

 

[Big Mart]

Think the problem with your synsopsis is that February isn't important Swiss. Your post comes across as though everything's rosy so far and that even if we f**k up in February things still won't be so bad.

May be wrong, but that's how your summation of the situation appears.

 

[Ollessendro]

Ollie i'm not sure what I've been wrong on in relation to this. And Sheffielder, its not about being positive or negative.

It was stated that Leicester was a Massive/ must win game. I disagreed.
Its been stated that February is Vital. I disagreed.

Why did I disagree? Because I don't think its any more vital than any other month. I've never once said though, that Feb is any less important though, so don't assume that.

Of course there are winnable games, I thought that we should've picked points v Leicester at home, but we didn't but then I wouldn't have thought we'd get 3 points at home to Swansea in December, but we did.

The problem I have with this throwaway February is Vital statement is that it doesn't address the issue. From Feb 12th to March 12th, we play Tues-Sat-Tues. Thats tough going for any side, regardless of league position. This period always throws up a few odd results, but from Mar-April it levels out again.

Last season, for example, there was a similar run of games. Sat 23rd Jan to Tues 16th Feb, we picked up 2 wins and a draw in 8 games. And its fair to say that our form last season was better than our current form going into this. We had big games in March/ April as well.

If we don't pick up points now, how will it make picking up points in March/ April more difficult? We won't get a free ticket to the next month! Those games remain against the same teams. Yes if we fall deeper into relegation we will need more points, but does that mean it becomes more difficult? No

You can look at each and every game and try to predict which is winnable. But good luck for Feb, I think you can't predict much between 12th Feb to 12th March.

The funny thing about this is that Ollie has talked about the clubs he reckons will fall into the dog fight, I can't remember them all, but take a look at April and there are Boro, Preston, Bristol C and Barnsley who I am sure a few of which will be dragged into the mire.

Does April become less important than Feb if we pick up a rake of points this month? Not at all.

So like I said, all games are vital in their own right, but if we drop points against the likes of Leicester or Ipswich, then it doesn't get me nervously looking at the table. Its the bigger picture. What should be the points target until the end of the season?

I personally think its more vital to address the problem areas, I've said this since back in December and unfortunately during the last game I watched v Norwich we failed to deal with corners. And during the Norwich and Leicester game (i'm reliably informed) our attacking set pieces were poor.

Geez. Your tactic to bore me into submission will slow me down, but it will not put me off!? It's your round the next time I see you if you keep putting out these essay for me to read!?

Points and good performances build momentum and confidence. Both of those will lead to a greater chance of winning future games. (Look at Milwall. They are shit, We beat them at their place and they were very poor. Since then they have scraped a few games, put a bit of a run together, are working ahrd and things are paying off. They are playing with confidence and are difficult to beat). Carry on not picking up points and you keep losing morale. You get into a habbit of winning, being down on your luck and games will be harder to win. I am not saying we cannot turn it around, it just makes it more difficult.

I agree about other clubs. Barnsley and Bristol will be dragged into the dog fight. Coventry are poor and will also be down there. there's no guarantee that Boro and Ipswich will pull away. But Swiss, we cannot rely on other teams being crap. WE have to get ourselves out of this mess.

April will come easier than Feb if we are 6 points above the bottom 3 (see my point on momentum). If we are in the bottom 3 at the start of April it will be even more difficult to get out. I undertand the point about each month being important, but this is a real chance to get ourselves out of the shit!* Come on Blades.


* I know it is feasible we could lose all our games this month and still stay up. It is also a possibility that we could win all our agems in Feb and then go down. However, both are highly unlikely (for reasons I pointed out above).

 

[super_pig]

these are the most massive games.. umm .. since the last most massive game.. and seeing as we 'always' lose massive games.. i'm worried

 

[SwissBlade]

Geez. Your tactic to bore me into submission will slow me down, but it will not put me off!? It's your round the next time I see you if you keep putting out these essay for me to read!?

Points and good performances build momentum and confidence. Both of those will lead to a greater chance of winning future games. (Look at Milwall. They are shit, We beat them at their place and they were very poor. Since then they have scraped a few games, put a bit of a run together, are working ahrd and things are paying off. They are playing with confidence and are difficult to beat). Carry on not picking up points and you keep losing morale. You get into a habbit of winning, being down on your luck and games will be harder to win. I am not saying we cannot turn it around, it just makes it more difficult.

I agree about other clubs. Barnsley and Bristol will be dragged into the dog fight. Coventry are poor and will also be down there. there's no guarantee that Boro and Ipswich will pull away. But Swiss, we cannot rely on other teams being crap. WE have to get ourselves out of this mess.

April will come easier than Feb if we are 6 points above the bottom 3 (see my point on momentum). If we are in the bottom 3 at the start of April it will be even more difficult to get out. I undertand the point about each month being important, but this is a real chance to get ourselves out of the shit!* Come on Blades.


* I know it is feasible we could lose all our games this month and still stay up. It is also a possibility that we could win all our agems in Feb and then go down. However, both are highly unlikely (for reasons I pointed out above).

Alright Fella you're on, my round, perhaps at Palace/ QPR away if I can convince our lass that I'll fly into london Fri night/ sat Morn, or I can arrange a fri Meeting in London and go up to sheff after the match. Otherwise it'll be in the Lion on a home game.

Anyway, I digress. I have never said that to carry on in the poor run will be a good thing, I've just said not to panic. So yes getting a run together is the biggie. I just don't think a winning run is vital or indeed crucial to our survival. I also don't think its realistic.

And you're right we need to get ourselves out of the mess, but what I was saying was that other teams will have bad runs of form, not for us to rely on them being crap. So we can hit teams like Barnsley (perhaps) or Cardiff when they are in bad form.

How many sides have we played who've been in good veins of form, reading look like being one of them!

Its been a real chance since August, unfortunately events have limited our chances to do this. Thats not an excuse by the way.

And as super pig says, we always lose the massive games, so lets not build them up

 

[Grecian2000]

If we don't pick up points now, how will it make picking up points in March/ April more difficult? We won't get a free ticket to the next month! Those games remain against the same teams. Yes if we fall deeper into relegation we will need more points, but does that mean it becomes more difficult? No

You can look at each and every game and try to predict which is winnable. But good luck for Feb, I think you can't predict much between 12th Feb to 12th March.

The funny thing about this is that Ollie has talked about the clubs he reckons will fall into the dog fight, I can't remember them all, but take a look at April and there are Boro, Preston, Bristol C and Barnsley who I am sure a few of which will be dragged into the mire.

Does April become less important than Feb if we pick up a rake of points this month? Not at all.

1. Yes. If we don't pick up points now then March/April become more difficult because there will be more pressure on them. There comes a time when having to win games becomes an enormous albatross around the neck and weighs the players down (as opposed to the flock of seagulls that are currently in place).

2. If we haven't got enough points in the bag by the time the likes of Boro and Bristol come around then they might be academic anyway. How difficult April becomes will depend on what we do now.

3. If we pick up 18 from the remaining 6 games in Feb then we would only need a couple of wins out of March AND the 7 games in April. Far easier to win if the pressure isn't on so YES April becomes easier if we deliver now.

February is vital because we have winnable games. If we end the month not having won any of them then we are fucked.

 

[gavtheblade]

sorry olly,i didnt want to step on your feet with this thread,i was purely getting things of my chest without looking too far down the previous post.
Its still looking bleak though.

 

[SwissBlade]

And now Birch is building it up....

"We've got five vitally-important fixtures left in February which could shape our season and we need to be united to give us the best chance of picking up points.

 

[sheffielder]

how is February looking for you now Swiss?

 

[SwissBlade]

how is February looking for you now Swiss?

Same as before, we still need to pick up points

 

[sheffielder]

Not looking vital yet then

 

[oldblade]

Perhaps you misunderstood my point Olle, I wasn't questioning the need to turn things around. I wasn't saying that we shouldn't be winning games all I said was that its ridiculous idea to suggest that February is vital. Its no more vital than Jan, March or April. Nothing gets decided now, but of course (as I said) we need to pick up points.

You can pretty much guarantee that even teams that are flying won't pick up wins every game. Games that, based upon the league table and form seem winnable, perhaps won't be, because teams are fighting to stay up. You mention certain teams like Millwall, Reading and Derby as winnable and i'd be inclined to agree. However, when you look that we got hammered at home to lowly Scunny and then went on to beat high flyers Swansea it kind of makes this division unpredictable.

Reading for me are a high flyer, but they could come unstuck. Cardiff, traditionally bottle it, QPR could have an off day.

17 games left, all to play for, it'll come down to the wire and yes unless we turn things around soon then we'll be right in it.

But Leicester are a free spending team on the up and we apparently, created enough chances to win 2 games!

I'm certainly not going to get into a Diva fit if we drop points.

In Micky we trust

Yes, the months leading up to where we are now were important. But because of our on pitch failures throughout those months, February has become much more important. I would suggest the word vital is not melodramatic. It's a pretty accurate description of it's importance. There are 6 matches - one being lost already.

By the end of the month we will only have 11 games left. That is less than a quarter of the fixture list, and if we do badly, it leaves far less room for turning things around than earlier in the season (for example after our poor Christmas/New Year return). As games run out, each bad result increases the importance of doing better in the next game.

In any season a 'tipping' point comes, where the position becomes irretrievable. If we don't win any games this month I think it's fair to say that point will probably have come. If we don't pick up wins against sides like Derby, Scunthorpe and Crystal Palace it gets difficult to see where any victories are going to come from.

We are already 4 points adrift. If we fail to pick up points from our February fixtures (and I don't mean just one or two points) we probably will be significantly more than 4 points adrift. It won't matter how we do in March or April.

So yes, February IS a pretty vital month.

---------- Post added at 08:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------

I think the point is that February is vital owing to the teams we are playing, if we don't get the points now, I can't see us picking up many in March against Pompey, Forest, Watford or Leeds, and April is leaving it very very close to the edge.

If we don't pick up points in February and March, April will cease to have any importance at all. It'll be like 1976 all over again except in a lower division!

 

[SwissBlade]

Not looking vital yet then

In a word, No.

Its no more vital than December or Jan were. Then we needed points to maintain or better our position. But we didn't. And how long have we been heading this way?

Just saying a group of games is "vital" really fails to address the "vital" points.

I said back in December that we needed to plan for January. Not just in the transfer window, which has been the obsession of many, but on the pitch. Even prior to Speed's departure I said we needed to address the problems of
- Organisation
- Defending Set pieces
- Attacking Set pieces
- Better defending (ie not losing shape and cutting out needless freekicks and guess what - Penalties)

So far we haven't addressed any of these.

So no matter how vital you see February to pick up points, its pointless to start predicting any results until we have addressed the real vital issues.

Kozluk and Willo were prime examples of how panicking and missing the real issues doesn't help. We got tonked 0-3 but the pair of them thought they were above all that and rather than just seeing the awful game out, lost their heads and add to the list of players unavailable.

Does it make February more vital? No it makes picking up points more difficult in a busy period based upon a failure to address the issues above all season. Just because we've only last week dropped into the bottom 3 doesn't divert attention away from the vital issues.

 

[Ollessendro]

sorry olly,i didnt want to step on your feet with this thread,i was purely getting things of my chest without looking too far down the previous post.
Its still looking bleak though.

No worries mucker.

In a word, No.

Geez Smithy, what will it take. Your hero Tricky Trev has even been out today saying how important Feb is!!? It appears that you have been swept away by the giant clapping vacumn that Dunc has left behind!?

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

"In a word, No."


Got to disagree Swiss cus March we are not going to get a point.

Also I hope we don't need two wins from the last two games but I'd be supprised if we still have that chance come the last two games.

 

[SwissBlade]

Geez Smithy, what will it take. Your hero Tricky Trev has even been out today saying how important Feb is!!? It appears that you have been swept away by the giant clapping vacumn that Dunc has left behind!?

"In a word, No."


Got to disagree Swiss cus March we are not going to get a point.

Also I hope we don't need two wins from the last two games but I'd be supprised if we still have that chance come the last two games.

I don't actually see what good he's done by saying what he said today, just built up the pressure on a side that is clearly struggling under pressure.

But thats Trev. As for you two, I don't see what I've said to suggest that i'm being positive/ clapper or in fact suggesting that our current position is an illusion.

The mass hysteria of the "world's going to end" doesn't do anything. If you look at what i've said i said its about dealing with each game with its own importance and to address the issues.

I asked Mic the other day if he thought things had improved to a situation where we could stand a better chance of picking up more points. I honestly thought that we had, before Ipswich. Performances had improved generally. But on Saturdays evidence we haven't addressed the main problems which stemmed back to before Micky arrived.

We've proved that we can compete with the likes of Norwich and Leicester, so thats not a concern, so I don't think its correct to write off March/ April. But we've also proved that when we fail to address the "vital" issues, that we can also come heavily unstuck against the Ipswich's of this world. Its a combination of the whole club pulling together and making it work.

But all that said, Feb will still be hit and miss for all teams, just look back at previous season to see how true this is.

 

[ListerBlade]

i think this is a vital month, february is always a busy month, but it's the fixtures that we have that make this such a vital month.

 

[Big Mart]

In a word, No.

FFS get real, stop trying to defend the indefensible and look what's happening out there. You're like one of the Jehovah's Witnesses who bang on the door on a Sunday morning, with a scary smile and an acceptance to be called every name under the sun before sloping off thanking you very much for being so Godly.

February is vital, we're in the relegation zone and we're playing crap teams, if we can't muster a few good results up this month then it's for sure we won't manage it in March.

We're well and truly fucked, you made a bit of a nonsensical defence of your original argument, please stop making it worse by not holding your hands up and admitting you were wrong.

 

[SwissBlade]

FFS get real, stop trying to defend the indefensible and look what's happening out there. You're like one of the Jehovah's Witnesses who bang on the door on a Sunday morning, with a scary smile and an acceptance to be called every name under the sun before sloping off thanking you very much for being so Godly.

February is vital, we're in the relegation zone and we're playing crap teams, if we can't muster a few good results up this month then it's for sure we won't manage it in March.

We're well and truly fucked, you made a bit of a nonsensical defence of your original argument, please stop making it worse by not holding your hands up and admitting you were wrong.

OK...

If February is so vital, then presumably people saw it coming, but nobody mentioned how vital it would be in Jan did they. No they waited until we were touching cloth then said "i'm going shit my pants.... oops too late".

You're obviously one of the ones that I mentioned that would have a little Diva fit after a defeat. I'll say it again, February itself is not vital, its an extremely tough month and i'd hope that Micky hasn't predicted too much for this month. True the games in Mar/ April will be against some of the top end opposition, but when you throw in teams that are both struggling and fighting for survival it starts to throw up a real level of unpredictability. So is it right to make the month out to be so vital?

I've not said at any point that each game between now and the end of the season isn't important. But to put all this pomp into Feb is a bit dramatic.

But again, the rest of the season will be irrelevant if we don't manage to get these problems sorted in some way.

You call me nonsensical but if we're well and truly fucked, then Feb is not vital then is it, a large number on here already think we're down. So its not vital if its too late then is it? But its not too late is it? You're being dramatic aren't you? You're stating that its over when really at the end of Feb we'll have 12 games left, a full 36 points left to play for. Right now we're 4 points off 4th bottom, even if we don't get a single point in Feb (which, call me a clapper but i don't see happening) we won't be 10 points adrift, we'll still be in touching distance of the bottom end clubs, because like I said, Feb is a month for a few surprises.

Thank you for being so Godly...