We cannot finish the season like this

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

The performance tonight has now made it 3 frankly embarrassing premier league performances since the return from lockdown. The first of which in particular versus Southampton was the poorest and most disappointing I have seen since the Fulham / Colchester turn outs. 

The worst part is that there are simply no excuses for this, the pandemic served as a HUGE opportunity for us, an unprecedented 4 month gap just before the final run-in and the true crunch time of the season. Extra time to analyse and improve on our pitfalls, refocus the team mentally, and reenergise fitness levels to peak levels (of course without 'match fitness' but this is true for every other team).  We really could've used that extra time to give ourselves a serious edge. 

Versus Southampton, we failed horrifically in every way; our pitfalls were more on show than ever, we looked defeated and half-hearted, and physically we were ran off the pitch. Why is a team with nothing to play for being prepared in all those months tactically, mentally and physically so much better than us - when we still have everything still to play for? 

A win in this game would've provided a platform for a possible fight back, it really is not that much of a leap to think this in the favourable circumstances that we were offered. But we didn't just fall short of a possible fight back, we completely capitulated in every way, and our league performances since have been only very slightly less pathetic. During this spell there have been no more hard luck stories, little to no positives, no 'well at least we gave it a good go'. And yes before you say it, I know, I am ignoring the spirited performance against United in the cup, but this red herring performance where we showed a mentality and physicality that looked competitive against a good side just begs my question even more so - why has our league form has been so inexcusably and embarrassingly ****? 

I also do not align any of the injuries (i.e. loss of Zimmermann) or slices of bad luck with anything close to what we have seen on the football pitch since the restart. Just look at our performance versus Man City where we had about 8-9 first team players out - where has that desire and heart gone? There is simply no justification for these last 3 premier league matches.

This now feels like a steady unravelling of much of the good Webber and Farke have built in the past 3 years. It feels like the life is being sucked out of the team, and each and every whimpering performance is another blow to how well we could bounce back next season. 

As we've seen in the past, once the decline starts, it is often hard to rectify without significant changes, look at what happened when things reached saturation under Worthington, Neil, Hughton, Adams. They were all given a good amount of time to steady the ship but nothing materialised.

Obviously you may suggest Farke already has experience leading the team through such a period, with a poor first 18 months before we started to see improvements, however I would argue that during this time we had not reached any saturation point following growth as we had with the other managers. This time round under Farke, the good will of past successes has reached this point and is starting to fade with every non-display, the tide is now going out but next season will hopefully be the start of a new successful period under Farke. I'm sure the vast majority are still strongly behind him as am I.

But this phase we are going through right now cannot be healthy for the team. If we continue this trajectory for the remainder of the season, turning the tide in the next one will be much more difficult. Fans will lose positivity and grow impatient, players may want to stay and fight back up with the club next season and ill feeling may even develop between the players and coaching staff. Nothing good can come of this turgid slump we are in. 

Right, I must now change my pants as they have been completely ruined whilst writing this. That said, I honestly don't think I am being overly unreasonable - maybe I am and just feeling pained at the performances since the restart. But I really felt like we could turn it around or at least make a good fight of it - and that's the real killer. 

However, moving on from this it is vital that our performances improve before this season ends or I fear this all may spill into the next one. Let's hope we start to see some green shoots of recovery in our next fixture.  

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

PS and sidenote to all of the above, can everyone please stop blaming everything on our new signings and players who are now being given a go? Rupp, Duda, Drmic have all been pretty **** don't get me wrong, but how they can they expected to do anything else when the entire team is playing equally ****? I think its interesting just how much stick these players have been getting, yet players like Pukki and Buendia are consistently let off the hook despite their form falling off an absolute cliff. Yes Pukki had an injury, but he has had however long to recover his form and clearly hasn't, he's been arguably worse than Drmic in some games since the restart IMO. And why are these players, who we know and have seen play much better, escaping with little criticism in comparison to the new signings? Shouldn't we more annoyed at these players than the additions who have never formerly shown us any great form?

Stop this unneccessary blaming of individuals and give everyone a clean slate come the start of next season!

Edited July 2, 2020 by Hank shoots Skyler

[Making Plans 936]

We cannot finish the season like this

I think you'll find that we already have

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

 

10 hours ago, Making Plans said:

We cannot finish the season like this

I think you'll find that we already have

It is looking increasingly likely that we will but there is still plenty of time to think about and lay the groundwork for next season.

Remember the 0-0 draw at Chelsea when Adams first joined us? Realistically a must win game for any survival chance but what we seemed to see was damage control and an attempt to steady the sinking ship. Not to plough on full throttle in spite of the water rushing as such. And what about the  cracking win at home versus Watford after we’d already been relegated? 

Some competitive performances like that to turn around our current demise would be very welcome. Especially given there is now no hope of survival. 

[cambridgeshire canary 6,674]

Sadly we have. How many goals have we scored since the restart? 0?

 

[lake district canary 4,531]

I don't look too hard or think too much about past performances. It is what you do next that is important and just because we've had a bad loss, doesn't mean the next one will be.  The Southampton game was followed by a better, tighter match and that was followed by a good effort in the cup. Even at Arsenal we were doing ok and Godfrey rattling the cross bar with his superb effort indicated to Arsenal we were up for it, until it unravelled with the mistakes from Krul and Drmic.

So while it looks bad if you look at results, there is hope - and I do not hold any truck with those that think they are not trying - we simply need a bit of luck in front of goal to get ahead in a match - as we could have done last night.  Get that bit of luck, or inspiration and things can improve.  If Godfrey's Company style shot had gone in, the belief would have soared yesterday......it just needs something like that to kick start us. 

Edited July 2, 2020 by lake district canary

[hogesar 9,615]

I don't think losing 1-0 to Everton is embarrassing.

I think the scoreline against Arsenal is bad but equally it wasn't a performance of a team who had already given up. They really came out and gave it a go second half but you can't legislate for the mistakes made in that game.

Bournemouth just lost 4-1 at home to Newcastle which is at least on par with our Southampton game which is the only one i'd call embarrassing.

[Uncle Fred 526]

Just now, hogesar said:

I don't think losing 1-0 to Everton is embarrassing.

I think the scoreline against Arsenal is bad but equally it wasn't a performance of a team who had already given up. They really came out and gave it a go second half but you can't legislate for the mistakes made in that game.

Bournemouth just lost 4-1 at home to Newcastle which is at least on par with our Southampton game which is the only one i'd call embarrassing.

#tryingtomakeasilkpursefromasowsear

[TIL 1010 4,718]

So 0-2, 0-1 and 0-4 for a team allegedly fighting for their lives is not embarrassing, yeah righto ...whatever.

[hogesar 9,615]

Just now, TIL 1010 said:

So 0-2, 0-1 and 0-4 for a team allegedly fighting for their lives is not embarrassing, yeah righto ...whatever.

As always, depends how simplistic you want to be.

Since it's you, yeah, I guess you would say embarrassing.

[yellow_belly 226]

The league does not lie. Unfortunately. ☹️
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/tables

[TIL 1010 4,718]

5 minutes ago, hogesar said:

As always, depends how simplistic you want to be.

Since it's you, yeah, I guess you would say embarrassing.

Well i am sure you can list some positives to take out of those games based of course on your football expertise. Looking at your Drmic posts which are at variance with virtually everybody on here i look forward to your latest effort at talking down at posters who do not subscribe to your take on things.

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by TIL 1010

[yellow_belly 226]

[hogesar 9,615]

4 minutes ago, TIL 1010 said:

Well i am sure you can list some positives to take out of those games based of course on your football expertise.

 

As always Til, it doesn't have to be one extreme or the other.

We're bottom. We deserve to be bottom.

We played Arsenal with one fit CB yesterday. There's a whole host of caveats and reasonings but I didn't see a side that gave up after going one goal, two goals down. They kept fighting.

[Mello Yello 2,277]

4 minutes ago, TIL 1010 said:

Well i am sure you can list some positives to take out of those games based of course on your football expertise.

 

And off we go.......

Well as it'll be the norm on here.....I'm pretty confident that our self-appointed 'True Fan's Voice Pink 'Un Forum Unofficial NCFC Board Butt Kissin' all things positive concerning our Club Apologist PR Team'. Are at this very moment in time, frantically group 'Whatsappin' each other and sortin' their stuff out, in eager preparation and anticipation of what's gonna be their immediate post-match plan of action?

Initially the 'True Fan's Club Voice Sycophant Squad' will sit and hold back and monitor the situation. It'll probably commence with the initial saturation of this forum, with a plethora of their usual damage limitation excuses. Then it'll be which 'weak' negative poster to round on, and when poster is identified, encircle and then snipe, snap and attack. Then it's which poster to belittle and discredit...Then answer a question with a question.....Then deflect from our club's failings by mentioning our Suffolk neighbour's or some other club's plight....Etc, etc, etc......Throw in a few of the 'Pink 'Un Pseudo Intellectual smarty pants brigade' who'll strut around arrogantly pecking into a few forum threads like peac0cks from Oxbridge' using some big words and flaunting their cleverness.....Then there's gonna be the dearie me, liar, liar forum kn0bnoxious antagonist....

Anyway, it's another poor performance and defeat.....Bring on the next mini cup-final.....

Deja Vu on this forum really......oh yeah....Deja Vu..... 

[TIL 1010 4,718]

Just now, hogesar said:

As always Til, it doesn't have to be one extreme or the other.

We're bottom. We deserve to be bottom.

We played Arsenal with one fit CB yesterday. There's a whole host of caveats and reasonings but I didn't see a side that gave up after going one goal, two goals down. They kept fighting.

Well if that was a team ' fighting ' in football terms i hate to think what would have happened if the white flag had been raised. 4-0 against an Arsenal side who have not troubled the top 6 all season is embarrassing in my book.

[hogesar 9,615]

4 minutes ago, TIL 1010 said:

Well if that was a team ' fighting ' in football terms i hate to think what would have happened if the white flag had been raised. 4-0 against an Arsenal side who have not troubled the top 6 all season is embarrassing in my book.

Like I said, it depends how simplistic you want to be. If you want to pluck a result out ignoring context then of course, you can say whatever you like. That's your prerogative, of course.  Other's want to analyse slightly more than that, which is their (or my) prerogative. 

[TIL 1010 4,718]

5 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Like I said, it depends how simplistic you want to be. If you want to pluck a result out ignoring context then of course, you can say whatever you like. That's your prerogative, of course.  Other's want to analyse slightly more than that, which is their (or my) prerogative. 

We are not plucking a result as it is 3 on the bounce that have produced zilch for a club seeking to avoid relegation. Simply not good enough whatever spin you put on it.

You don't want to give some positives to take moving forward then ?

Edited July 2, 2020 by TIL 1010

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

20 minutes ago, hogesar said:

I don't think losing 1-0 to Everton is embarrassing.

I think the scoreline against Arsenal is bad but equally it wasn't a performance of a team who had already given up. They really came out and gave it a go second half but you can't legislate for the mistakes made in that game.

Bournemouth just lost 4-1 at home to Newcastle which is at least on par with our Southampton game which is the only one i'd call embarrassing.

Aa mentioned in the OP, we were given a unique opportunity to completely overhaul and revitalise the team. Taking this into context, since the restart we have been embarrassing yes. The Southampton game being the clear worst of it of course. 

Yes you could probably isolate the Everton game and give us a 5/10 - at best - but there was still little to nothing to be actually positive about, just slightly less negatives. When you sandwich it with the league performances that preceded and followed it really doesn’t merit a mention. 

That Everton game would’ve been the equivalent of our other poor displays early on in the season, where we looked vaguely competitive over short spells of the game but then fell short - how many 0-1s, 0-2s have there been?

The difference is, those disappointing games earlier in the season were sprinkled between games where we actually showed some serious bite and competed much better. 

The fact this level of performance now appears to be our stand out best simply shows how far we have fallen.

[hogesar 9,615]

 

12 minutes ago, Hank shoots Skyler said:

Aa mentioned in the OP, we were given a unique opportunity to completely overhaul and revitalise the team. Taking this into context, since the restart we have been embarrassing yes. The Southampton game being the clear worst of it of course. 

It's worth noting that results wise it's been the same for the bottom clubs. West Ham got a slightly fortunate win last night but But haven't the bottom 4 now played like 14 premier league games and mustered a total of 6 points or something ridiculous? Maybe the whole no-fan thing really does impact lower-clubs more than their bigger counterparts.

[hogesar 9,615]

14 minutes ago, TIL 1010 said:

We are not plucking a result as it is 3 on the bounce that have produced zilch for a club seeking to avoid relegation. Simply not good enough whatever spin you put on it.

You don't want to give some positives to take moving forward then ?

Happily.

The players didn't give up despite being 2-0 down and 7 points adrift at the bottom of the table with no fans in attendance to hold them to account.

Cantwell played quite well again.

Idah looked a handful and I think will be a big player for us next season assuming it's in the Championship.

We should have 2 CB's for our next game. 

[daly 500]

At the beginning of the lockdown we were dead and buried by all, had we taken 6  points from the first 2 games we would have been in with more than a shout.

Bottom line the team is just not good enough for the Premiership 

[Uncle Fred 526]

3 minutes ago, daly said:

At the beginning of the lockdown we were dead and buried by all, had we taken 6  points from the first 2 games we would have been in with more than a shout.

Bottom line the team is just not good enough for the Premiership 

But who takes the responsibility Daly? 

[Mello Yello 2,277]

4 minutes ago, Uncle Fred said:

But who takes the responsibility Daly? 

Erm....any strugglin' scapegoat outside of the close-knit NCFC Boardroom?.....

[Christoph Stiepermann 1,131]

Ignoring the top 5 for me it's no coincidence that the bottom 4 teams probably all have the smallest teams physically and generally attempt to keep it on the deck whereas the teams who have shone the year relative to expectations like Wolves, Burnley, Palace, Newcastle etc are all big, fast sides that play direct, counter attacking football. 

 

You can't play a technical passing game, with small players at this level anymore unless you're one of the big clubs with hundreds of millions to spend. It used to be difficult but doable, now it's just no longer a viable way to compete for the smaller clubs in this league. Sad but it's true, it's just the way this league is now. 

 

Almost every game for us it's men against boys and that can't be fixed in the short term so do not be surprised if these results and performances carry on till the end of the season. We'll probably put up decent performances against Chelsea and Man City as they'll let us play our game, but I'm not looking forward at all to the other fixtures. 

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

30 minutes ago, hogesar said:

 

It's worth noting that results wise it's been the same for the bottom clubs. West Ham got a slightly fortunate win last night but But haven't the bottom 4 now played like 14 premier league games and mustered a total of 6 points or something ridiculous? Maybe the whole no-fan thing really does impact lower-clubs more than their bigger counterparts.

Yep that’s a good point actually and it’s hard to say how much it would’ve affected us - obviously strictly for the home games. Unfortunately Arsenal didn’t seem to miss their crowd yesterday, but they probably spend most of the 90 mins booing Xhaka and Luiz so not sure that’s a great comparison.

I suppose we’ll see when things eventually return to normal, be interesting if the next season starts with no crowds still and then we revert to normality part way through - will make this impact either way more noticeable.