Fans Not Confident

[NavMan 0]

My dad went to queue at the Canary Shop this morning for Preston tickets (which he got) and whilst there he got talking to many supporters and what came out of those conversations is that:

The fans:

a) Are very wary of Sunderland and Sheff Utd closing the gap
b) Cant understand the recent slump in our performances especially from individuals
(McVeigh mainly singled out)
c) Cant understand Worthys selections especially what has happened to Brennan
with no apparant injury

I appreciate that to whom he talked to was only a very small minority of supporters but I still believe that it shows the feeling of the City faithful at the moment and lets hope that all these thoughts can be put to the back of our minds with a good performance against Stoke on Sat which will ultimately lead to the three points.

[ZLF 271]

a) Fans are right to worry about the gap closing - but it needs to be put in perspective; we are top, have lost 2 out of three yet are still 8 points clear at the moment, having been 10 3 games ago. All the team below us have to play each other which with only 9 games left the chances to close the gap are few and far between and more dropped points to follow. We are in the driving seat and there is no complacency which killed wolves...

b) The midfield has underperformaed for a while now, with the exception of Holt. The passing has been poor and the movement invisible. Francis has paid as being the worst culprit, McVeigh has suffered as Worthy has tinkered with Right Midfield rather than solve it properly .. Keep Faith with McVeigh on the left, Cooper is in for the right and two from three of Holt and Muller/Francis with some key fans suppport will see us through. Please Worthy keep the same midfield for a few games though - the constant changing after two games does disrupt the flow.

c) Worthy obviously wanted to reward Shackell for a couple of good performances when he came in, he was solid defensively but lacks distribution/over lapping skills at the moment. Looking at the bench it was an aggressive attacking mix for Sat and it looks like Brennan was just odd man out. To repeat the mistake would be madness though - Drury or Brennan at left back against stoke is a must.

Onwards and upwards - it is in the players and the fans hands.

[Arganth 0]

a) OK we''ve lost 2 out of the last three, but that''s also 2 of the last 10. Perspective people!

b) I thought Cooper looked handy on Sat. Agree with your midfield 4 though.

c) Do we KNOW for certain that Brennan wasn''t suffering from his injury again? Perhaps Worthy was forced to go with Shackell?

[Dr. Jonathan Zizmor 0]

Surely Mark Rivers could do a job on the right?

[Archie 0]

bloke,are you an ipswich fan??
the conversation was much the same in the loos at half time at selhurst - admittedly it was after our first half performance,but everyone seemed to be thinking that we wouldnt make it

[gazzathegreat 0]

spot on zipper

we must get back to playing decent passing football with everyone in their best positions. I thought brennan was injured, to have not played him on saturday seems a trifle strange ........

also, essential to play mcveigh in positon, as he is just a passenger at present.

[Foghorn 0]

I don''t want to be alarmist, but I''ve heard a story from a strong source that Drury''s injury may keep him out for the rest of the season, because it''s more serious than was at first thought. I hope this is wrong, but if it is correct, then Brennan is a must for left back, with McVeigh in the wide left berth, and presumably Cooper on the right. The centre mid-field is then Holt plus either Francis or Mulryne, depending perhaps on who the opposition is.

Up front that leaves Huckerby and A.N.Other - Roberts/Svenson/McKenzie - but I''d like to be in the position of being able to take on giving Jarvis a full game or two before the end of the season, which means we have to have it sown up by then.

I agree that we shouldn''t be panicking because of the last two away results - a lot will depend on the games where the chasing pack have to play each other.

We WILL do it - keep the faith!!!