I thought we looked creme crackered

[Making Plans 936]

Not surprisingly either. It''s been a long tough season & all the players bar none have worked hard and they''ve all been under immense pressure so most of them are bound to be feeling tired, if not exhausted. Now that safety has been achieved, it''s only natural that the players adrenaline levels will have dropped considerably.It''s difficult to keep playing with the same intensity match after match particularly in a fixture that had less meaning than all of the previous ones. The last 20 minute drubbing to ManC wouldn''t have done a lot for confidence either & once the first Blackburn goal went in it was probably game over.Probably the worst League game we''ve played in the last 3 seasons but it least it wasn''t a game that it was crucuial to get a result from.

[ron obvious 1,502]

I think you''re right. The big giveaway for me was the amount of time the ball spent in the air; when you''re knackered the easiest thing to do is get rid by hoofing hopefully rather than pick a pass - for one thing, you haven''t got to move for a return, & you can relax for a few seconds.

Bit pointless having Wes on the pitch really. First half particularly he watched the ball go sailing over his head all the time.

Bad day at the office. Never mind.

On a positive note, Wheelie was magnificent when he came on! That pull down, when the ball was behind him, & the following quick shot was excellent. Thought he was really unlucky not to score yesterday.

[Old Shuck 183]

It looks as if they all collectively dug into every last resource and bit of energy that they had left for the Spurs game, one they all wanted to win, a big scalp, result and the one which all but confirmed Prem status next season as well as, more significantly, that we are, on the day, a bit tasty and will, can, only improve.

 

Its hard to lift yourselves after a defeat but so it can be after a game like that-you have all the hype and excitement of the party and then, the next day, feel deflated and incapable of anything as you gave your all in those previous 24 hours-well, in this case, 90 minutes.

 

The spark is still there but there''s no ignition and life off-as shown yesterday.

 

Its an old argument in and amongst fans of the game-and non fans-are footballers ''entitled'' to be exhausted? I think you probably need to be, else work with, athletes at the peak of their game to know the answer to that, so I''m reluctant to jump on the "what, they''re tired, they need to do an 18 hour shift at...." thing.

 

But I''m sure that, whoever you are, you can lift yourselves to new peaks by sheer force of will...but that, once that has been achieved, then, whoever you are, its sometimes hard to pick yourself up to go again-everything has been given and new levels are a way off. And it looks as if I am making excuses for them-well, no, indeed, as much as looking for excuses for poor performance, I am also looking for how they might have achieved the big ones.

 

We''ve seen clubs that traditionally have pulled above their weight in the Prem fall away when what is needed to be done, has been done-Charlton were the prime example of this for quite a few seasons running-and, this season, its not just us-Stoke, Swansea and Sunderland have all dropped off their own pace over the last few weeks.

 

The Summer is crucial-as important a close season as any in recent years. We have progressed, significantly, in each of the last three years-but it has been tangible progress, easy to set-promotion, promotion, survival. What follows,what is progress for 12/13?