sonyc 5,511 Posted February 6, 2016 1. Team spirit lacking?2. Poor coaching defensively, attacking?3. Constantly changing the team?4. Not capitalising on the spells of dominance?5. Inexperience of Neil in the Prem?6. New team members not having time to gel?7. Trying to play with an isolated one upfront?8. Championship standard players?9. Poorly times substitutions? Inability to read momentum?10. Failure to invest in defence at the start of the season?Anything else?I have thought about all of the above factors being relevant at some stage.....West Ham now huge or it could develop into a big gap. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dean Coneys boots 1,400 Posted February 6, 2016 A combination of 1.3.5.8.But mainly10. We left it too late to spend and have paid for it. Rhythm all long and no time now to bed in. There is a reason no top sides spend in January. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KoromaCrab 0 Posted February 6, 2016 A general lack of pace too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mello Yello 2,289 Posted February 6, 2016 Confidence, Ability, Commitment, Fitness, Mental Aptitude, Experience, Determination, Loyalty, Integrity......and Absolute Useless fullness.....and stuff..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thecanaryfan 0 Posted February 6, 2016 The obvious reason is Newcastle 6 Norwich 1We lost all attacking ability that day, and now we have lost the ability to win a football match because we demonstrate nothing but defensive tactics. It was Neil''s obvious change of tactics that has been our downfall. He asked a bunch of confident attack minded winners into a bunch of nervous defence obsessed losers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tetteys Jig 830 Posted February 6, 2016 8. Substandard players. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
king canary 7,604 Posted February 6, 2016 There have been some pretty baffling tactical decisions all season. We clearly have defenders who struggle with the ball at their feet if pressured, teams have worked this out. Yet we persist in slow building from the back, inviting this exact pressure.Today we seemed to set up to play on the counter with two holding midfielders, yet we left our most naturally pacey players on the bench. It was noticeable that we kept getting the ball around the halfway line but didn''t have the pace to actually get at Villa in any meaningful way.Neil seems unable to install the confidence and fight into the players and seems to have a core of players he trusts (Martin, O''Neil, Howson) who play every week regardless or form or formation, while players like Redmond and Bennett are cast aside at the first sign of trouble. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
93vintage 16 Posted February 6, 2016 1/ Delia2/ Michael Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZLF 274 Posted February 6, 2016 a mixture of all of the above; but would have 10 the key failure, worded as a failure to land any of our defender targets as the most significant driver of most of our issues. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GJP 79 Posted February 6, 2016 Summer window was poor.And then AN knee jerk reacted to the Newcastle game and has never really got things back on track since. Some players get dropped for very little while other players are pretty much undroppable. Is that good for your camp? Nope, never. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Making Plans 936 Posted February 6, 2016 Failure to identify & appoint a leader on the pitch.Failure to improve the skills of any single player in the squad over the last 18 months.Poor decision making both off & on the pitch.Poor game managementSending too many young & promising players out on loan.Suspect fitness levelsPicking players who are going to do something stupid - mind you if we didn''t pick all of them then we would have run out of players by now Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crafty Canary 495 Posted February 7, 2016 We have conceded more goals from set pieces than any other team this season from set pieces. This is surely a defensive coaching issue that should have been corrected on the training pitch. Are our coaches up to standard?I also have some sympathy for AN in that some of the in play decision making by players leaves me shaking my head. Rudd''s charging off the line for Agbonglahor''s goal today is an example of this.There now seems an inevitability about the way our season is going and where we will end up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ron obvious 1,502 Posted February 7, 2016 One huge overriding factor for me.Sheer lack of energy.All teams make mistakes, all players have off days, all managers make tactical errors. But it seems like every time we do one thing wrong it leads to a goal.We cannot recover from a mistake. We have lost the ability to recover from a setback. We have given up the fight.Our confidence is paper thin. We stroke the ball around nonchalantly, then get robbed - because we invariably think we have more time than we have - &, hey presto, we''re in the mire again.I don''t know what the answer is. We''ve shown, at times, we can play some terrific football, up there with the best. But not often or consistently enough.Watching teams like Everton just now, they look unreal; Leicester are the prime example of all action teams I thought would never keep it up. But they have. It''s almost like they all have access to a drug that''s unavailable to us (I do sometimes wonder ...).But I suppose they do. It''s called inspiration & self-belief.We need it, & fast Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
norfolkbroadslim 223 Posted February 7, 2016 If what is being said on this thread is true, I am surprised that nobody has already drawn the following comparison.When Lambert et al first came to us it was commented, how underprepared, how unfit the players were and how bad the training had been under the previous regime, Gunn et al.Now - 1 - I''m not advocating having Lambert back,2 - I''m not saying that Neil is only on a par with Gunn as a manager,3 - I am saying, that if the points raised are true then I can''t but help draw the same comparisons with regards to the team. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ivan Easter 0 Posted February 7, 2016 CHANGE THE CAPTAIN Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zippy23255 0 Posted February 7, 2016 [quote user="KoromaCrab"]A general lack of pace too.[/quote]This I completely agree with.I though Klose was going to be the CB we so badly needed but he is so slow!!! The second goal yesterday proved this when he tried chasing Agbonlahor but it looked like he had concrete boots on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Bristol Nest 513 Posted February 7, 2016 Since the newcastle match we have adopted a type of football that goes against Alex Neil''s natural instincts. It shows. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZLF 274 Posted February 7, 2016 I think we need to accept that it is not constant under performance they are performing at their level with the occasional out performing not the other way around.Ruddy, Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Bennett, Olsson, Howson, Tettey, Wes are all only top end championship players who could cover in lower prem sides. They are the core of our starting XI both in the last relegation and this season so far. They have played to that level for 3/4 seasons now so its no surprise that we continue to ship goals at 2 per game, Of the additions Jerome, Mulumbu, Jarvis, Mbokani & Dorrans appear to be of exactly the same level - not quite good enough. Naismith should be fine, Brady is top notch, Klose is encouraging and it is really far to soon to assess Pinto based on just two games in a side that was already averaging nearly 3 goals per game conceded in 2016. We had a high pressing system that made the most of the strengths in the squad (attacking) - we have lost that and not improved the defending in doing so. Go back. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Making Plans 936 Posted February 7, 2016 Unforced errors. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rolf Harris 31 Posted February 7, 2016 [quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]I think we need to accept that it is not constant under performance they are performing at their level with the occasional out performing not the other way around.Ruddy, Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Bennett, Olsson, Howson, Tettey, Wes are all only top end championship players who could cover in lower prem sides. They are the core of our starting XI both in the last relegation and this season so far. They have played to that level for 3/4 seasons now so its no surprise that we continue to ship goals at 2 per game, Of the additions Jerome, Mulumbu, Jarvis, Mbokani & Dorrans appear to be of exactly the same level - not quite good enough. Naismith should be fine, Brady is top notch, Klose is encouraging and it is really far to soon to assess Pinto based on just two games in a side that was already averaging nearly 3 goals per game conceded in 2016. We had a high pressing system that made the most of the strengths in the squad (attacking) - we have lost that and not improved the defending in doing so. Go back.[/quote]Klose hasn''t looked any better than what we had already got. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites