Lets face it we are not good enough

[Yellowhammer 86]

Lets face facts we are not good enough for this division ,strikers and defence are poor , think alex will walk or will be gone soon . Not enough money spent in close season ,do this every time we get promoted .

[grefstad 0]

We are a limited team, in this division, yes.

We lack skills needed, especially in the defensive part AND the offensive part. Our midfield is probably on par with most of the lower half of the Premier.

I have said many times that we lack physical attributes that make a difference. I am not talking only about stamina (although that is an issue too). Sprinting ability is poor compared to other teams. Lack of height in certain positions is the same.

For us to compete in this division, we need to be on top of our game in almost every game. We have not been that for too many games this autumn.

We rely too much on Wes, and we rely very much on other teams having an off day against us. If 75% of the Premiership teams have a "normal" day against us, they will likely beat us. Home and away.

So, we need new players in January, and AN need to create better competition in the team. VOO, Lafferty, etc have not got a look-in.

Howson is a certain starter in every game, even when off form. O´Neil is probably a better def mid than Dorrans, but "never" get a chance to show it.

It is no real competition in the team, and we are suffering when we hit poor periods of form, like these days.

[kick it off 1,952]

Bottom 3 by 4pm tomorrow if Newcastle win the Tyne/Wear Derby and Bournemouth can nick a win against Spurs.

We play decent football, but the formation is leaving the striker isolated far too often. Redders and Jarvis need to be bombing on if we''re to continue to play this way, but whilst they have pace, it''s not their natural game, they''re more suited to traditional winger roles of hitting the byline or cutting inside and shooting than bombing up and playing as part of a front 3 on the quick counter.

Defence is what will ultimately take us down though. We are embarrassingly poor, and I literally can''t understand why we didn''t improve the defence over the summer. It is beyond my comprehension. It was shambolic when we went down, and to not improve it was criminal. It should have been priority number one and it wasn''t even addressed. I don''t care how hard they tried, it HAD to be improved, whatever the cost. I called it on deadline day that we''d go down if we had this defence through until January, it was obvious.

[grefstad 0]

Agree, kick it.

Mbokani is left isolated because there is no penetration from the midfielders. Howson and Wes are not supporting the way they should.

Against Newcastle Howson was supporting too much, leaving space behind him, today too little, which leaves Mbokani isolated.

In a 4-5-1, (or 4-1-4-1), one of the DM´s and the AM must support the striker when attacking (when the winger, especially Jarvis) has the ball. Jarvis got around his fullback every time, and it is almost criminal to see Howson holding back with Tettey, when WBA were camping just outside their box.

Having said that, I would rather have had Jerome on earlier, and subbed a midfielder. We needed 2 forwards to create some mess in the box when WBA were so deep. Espescially after going down, 2 forwards were needed.