The idea that just because we are in the premier league we shouldnt expect more (1 Viewer)

[Russell Slade]

Watching Sunderland vs Leeds is doing my head in too. Not much quality but a lot of physicality and a will to not concede. We need to get better at simply staying in games

 

[Russell Slade]

Be careful someone will want you banned for this

It’s also forbidden to complain about 8/11 of our starters being last season’s side

 

[stupot07]

At 2-1 down v Spurs, we were pushing against a very good side and almost equalised. We didn't but if we had the KKH substitution wouldn't have been mentioned. Yes weve *reportedly spent £120m sone of our competitors are spending that on one player. We all knew this would be a fight, after the Hull game the criticism was we should've played last year's team. What did you realistically expect this season? Id have had us on barely any more points, just different games, but we're not adrift and there are 30 to go.

If we had equalised the KKH substitute would had made sense. Protecting an away point.

I expected us to struggle but I expected us to go down fighting.

 

[Briles]

Is driving me mad

weve lost 6 games in 8 , had a stroke of luck at forest and won well v newcastle .

Unlucky at man city granted

We are barely competing and im being told by fans and manager alike we should be ok with it because its the premier league .

Tactically we play shit scared at times but the passive slow nature of our game is horrible to watch .
We dont press , we rarely counter so what actually are we trying to achieve ?


I cant be told by people that i shouldnt expect more because weve just been promoted , both ipswich and hull are making a better fist of this


Surely frank can see that what we are doing is not working , if we win 2 in every 8 games we go down

I left the ground miserable yesterday , angry and fed up because it feels like i can see whats going to happen to us

Some fans were always set up for a fall expecting us to stay up/be comfortable. I am enjoying the ride because if this is the last time we are in the prem for a while i want to have enjoyed it as best i can.

 

[clint van damme]

It’s also forbidden to complain about 8/11 of our starters being last season’s side

So forbidden its been mentioned in numerous posts!

 

[Garlana86]

I think it's magnified by the both Hull and Ipswich are putting up more of a fight and appear to have a clear style of play and they know their best 11.

 

[Cally Fedora]

I’m afraid the OP and a lot after is just incredibly naive. Evo states “Fulham were a poor side”. No they are not. No one wants to see us lose. But the reaction when we do is absolutely woeful. It’s not going to be easy. We won’t dominate. It is because we’re in the PL like it or not

 

[petch86]

Said the same on Monday as soon as we got the equaliser. We shat ourselves and stood off a spurs team that if pressured with high tempo could have easily crumbled with the pressure from the home fans. And Saturday just carried on the same.

I don't see any other team anywhere allowing players to run with the ball unopposed for 20 yards without someone putting pressure on.

Every time we won the ball it was just hit and hope for cherif in the 1st half. Or it went backwards

 

[usskyblue]

We’re very inconsistent when you look at the league games where we’ve properly competed, especially at home.

Arsenal - A - No
Hull - H - No
Man City - A - Yes
Brighton- H - No
Forest - A - Yes
Newcastle - H -Yes
Spurs - A - Yes
Fulham - H - No

It’s not unusual to have changed systems and played players out of position but what’s more worrying, is how many Championship players are still commanding the majority of the starting places, ahead of expensive new signings that were bought in to avoid this kind of start to the season.

I trust that Frank and the coaching team will figure this out, but they need to show they can fire this squad up and get them to be way more competitive than they are at the moment.

 

[Flying Fokker]

Think Forest result was lucky tbh. If it was Hull or Ipswich did that, people would be saying it was luck so I don’t know how it’s any different with us.

To have been told you’re deluded to expect increased tempo or any improvement in the basics by the ‘ooh it’s Premier League’ brigade is just plain stupidity.

Na. We deserved Forest win. They were errant.

BTW. Hull were lucky against us. And Man C.

Look at the way Newcastle shot up the table with just 1 win. We’re now 2 wins behind Hull. Making things hard for ourselves when it didn’t need to be like that.

 

[long way home]

I still think FL picks the side on his belief the players can dictate the game. Unfortunately the game goes the other way and we end up without control. And ultimately lose on small margins because we cant get out, just trying to hang in is not good enough.

Time to change personal and try to exploit any traps we set to break.

 

[Old Warwickshire lad]

I think Lampard has done well since he came. He has players he said were over performing in the championship, and expects them to do the same in the prem.
But we can all see they can’t do it, no slur on them they have just found the step up a step too far.
Unfortunately for us if Frank has a weakness, it’s he is stubborn and won’t accept it.
It’s his way or the highway.

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

I’m afraid the OP and a lot after is just incredibly naive. Evo states “Fulham were a poor side”. No they are not. No one wants to see us lose. But the reaction when we do is absolutely woeful. It’s not going to be easy. We won’t dominate. It is because we’re in the PL like it or not

No ones expecting us to dominate, we want to have a fighting chance. To many times already this season we haven't gone into matches giving us the best fighting chance.

 

[fernandopartridge]

Fulham are a poor side and controlled the game against us .. its a poor showing and a worrying performance overall

They've had the majority of possession in all their games this season, average 57%. I wasn't expecting us to be dominant.

 

[Skybluekyle]

I’m afraid the OP and a lot after is just incredibly naive. Evo states “Fulham were a poor side”. No they are not. No one wants to see us lose. But the reaction when we do is absolutely woeful. It’s not going to be easy. We won’t dominate. It is because we’re in the PL like it or not

Hmm, can't say I agree with the premise of this. I don't think anyone is expecting us to dominate games, as you pointed out we're in the Premier League. I think most people, including the OP, realise it's not going to be easy, but we have to be braver than we showed at times on Saturday.

I think you're right to challenge where the OP says "Fulham are a poor side", I don't think they are, but they were a team struggling for form and clearly also struggling for confidence. We were the home team but we were chasing shadows at times, especially in the final ten minutes, which is not good enough and I think it's fair to ask for a little bit more.

 

[Esoterica]

I still think FL picks the side on his belief the players can dictate the game. Unfortunately the game goes the other way and we end up without control. And ultimately lose on small margins because we cant get out, just trying to hang in is not good enough.

Time to change personal and try to exploit any traps we set to break.

I don’t think that’s true, the set up out of possession is so deep. And there’s some weird zonal marking thing going on the midfield too. One of the stark differences I’ve seen this season is how many teams get their wingers driving into the box, one on one. We are so slow to get the ball up the pitch we are left static on the touchline, hoping to get to the byline and lump a cross in to a completely organised penalty area

 

[The Philosopher]

It should have king telling frank to buck his ideas up and fast

If we lose to sunderland weve lost 80% of our games this season against prem teams

I think the real risk to Frank is if, say Eddie Howe or similar taps Doug on the shoulder.

We saw with Robins that Doug has a ruthless streak.

And before all the usual dribblers trot out with “Eddie Howe would never come here”, I know, most probably not. It would not surprise me however if Doug has indirectly spoken to other managers in the summer when there was a possibility of Frank leaving.

If Doug does change it will be in the next month or so, so a new manager has time and a window.

My guess (and I do like FL) is that he’ll go mid November if we are still as poor as we have mainly been.

See Hull for comparison.

 

[Chris1987]

I can't comprehend spending big ( by Cov's standards) and not playing those signings. Surely Lampard had the final day in buying those players and has to have the man management skills to sort out any fallout ..Just not playing them them is poor in my opinion . Additionally how Mfuni isn't starting every week is mystifying.

 

[Matt smith]

I can't comprehend spending big ( by Cov's standards) and not playing those signings. Surely Lampard had the final day in buying those players and has to have the man management skills to sort out any fallout ..Just not playing them them is poor in my opinion . Additionally how Mfuni isn't starting every week is mystifying.

He will start now.

Torp should be given a run now too.

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

In 2021 (5 and a bit years ago) we were grateful for Ostigard scoring to beat Rotherham away 1-0, to help secure our Championship status. We had a team that included Gyokeres, Hamer, O'Hare and (competition winner) Julian da Costa. We have strengthened consistently since then, own our own ground, and have a fantastic base yo enjoy the next 5 years (in terms of the health of our club) We will lose games and win games, as we always have - as fans we love and follow our team, but we cannot 'demand' success or indeed anything. The boys at the top of the food chain have got the £££££s to buy success, and asset strip the smaller fry. We just need whoever owns us to run us properly =hopefully become a 'Brighton/Brentford (easier said than done) so that we can continue to enjoy following the team.

 

[JimmyHillsbeard]

Like FP I wasn’t expecting us to dominate possession against Fulham but I was expecting us to create some proper chances against a team that hadn’t won away since last February.

We have been incredibly passive against the last two teams we have played when both would have been nervous and vulnerable to a more aggressive opponent.

The midfield is a massive concern, the new players we have bought (save Yerenkyi) are not getting a look in, the team that scored more set plays than anyone else in Europe last season haven’t been able to cause a single problem from a set piece in the league, and two of the players that I really expected to be able to make the step up from the Champ to the Prem (MvE and Rushworth) have not started well to say the least.

After watching the Tottenham game I was prepared for the management to be telling the press that we did well and were unlucky - I naively thought this was for public consumption and privately they would address our passivity. By naming an unchanged side and by rolling out the same ineffective and seemingly premeditated substitutions, I was disappointed by their actions. Consequently I’ve been very pissed off by being told we were unlucky again yesterday.

 

[wingy]

Stud's in,a forgotten motto?

 

[Bigelvesy]

We've lost the last two in pretty tight games where the opposition had zero big chances, we are competing but to do so we've probably gone a bit too far trying not to concede at the cost of our attacking threat

If we’re gonna lose, id rather lose 2-3 than 0-1.
Saturday was fucking turgid, shit football in shit conditions granted but i cant watch us be fucking spineless in attack all season and just watch games pass us by. Id rather us be an active participant.

 

[Skyblueabo1111]

Is driving me mad

weve lost 6 games in 8 , had a stroke of luck at forest and won well v newcastle .

Unlucky at man city granted

We are barely competing and im being told by fans and manager alike we should be ok with it because its the premier league .

Tactically we play shit scared at times but the passive slow nature of our game is horrible to watch .
We dont press , we rarely counter so what actually are we trying to achieve ?


I cant be told by people that i shouldnt expect more because weve just been promoted , both ipswich and hull are making a better fist of this


Surely frank can see that what we are doing is not working , if we win 2 in every 8 games we go down

I left the ground miserable yesterday , angry and fed up because it feels like i can see whats going to happen to us

Our selection is worse than last year..no problem if we go down, I was expecting it. However, pick a team that looks like it wants to win..This league looks poorer than I have seen for a long time, but Franks selections are damage limitation. Apparently we just accept it.

 

[Para1140]

I'm not surprised by the results because I'm a realist it's always going to be difficult to compete in the Premier League with the stablished teams.

Ipswich and Hull seem to be doing ok. Both teams finished below us last season and had less time to prepare and sign players. Our recruitment has been poor and underwhelming

 

[Shannerz]

I’m afraid the OP and a lot after is just incredibly naive. Evo states “Fulham were a poor side”. No they are not. No one wants to see us lose. But the reaction when we do is absolutely woeful. It’s not going to be easy. We won’t dominate. It is because we’re in the PL like it or not

In the context of the Premier League Fulham are a poor side. We saw that on Saturday.

Going in to the season with the understanding that it's going to be extremely difficult and expecting more than we are showing at the moment are not mutually exclusive standpoints.

I'm not sure why you're looking at this with no nuance at all.

 

[covcity4life]

In the context of the Premier League Fulham are a poor side. We saw that on Saturday.

Going in to the season with the understanding that it's going to be extremely difficult and expecting more than we are showing at the moment are not mutually exclusive standpoints.

I'm not sure why you're looking at this with no nuance at all.

The next 2 games will give us a better picture. They used to say don't look at league table till 10 games gone back in the day.

After 10 games we could have 20 percent win rate or 40 percent win rate. One has us depressed the other would have us elated

Just got to be patient and hope for better performance on Saturday now

 

[thekidfromstrettoncamp]

My thoughts Saturday .We played a side who's position in the table was false. The games they have lost have all been by the odd goal and their stats against Hull were far better than against us.It always looked a 1-0 either way game .We need to play a few more risky foward passes.To try and pressurise teams and less sideways safe passes.Have faith in FL it's a long season.
Enjoy the ride.

 

[alexccfc99]

Think a lot of our fans are now realising how big the gap is - I remember the other season we were on one of the best runs of form in the clubs history and we played an Ipswich side who were a poor Premier League outfit in the FA Cup and we were still routinely battered 4-1, that day was when it hit home to me how big the jump we had to make is should we do it in my lifetime

If you were genuinely expecting or hoping for anything other than a slog for 17th place at any point this season you were deluding yourself

 

[skybluecam]

So many overreactions to Saturday

Our main problem is that a front 3 of BTA, Cherif and Sakamoto is not going to cut it in the prem, and we just looked unlikely to score.

Outside of that it was a very tight game with little chances for both sides, and settled by one great piece of play by Bobb where Rudoni has ended up defending 1v1 in our own box.

I trust Lampard to sort whatever is going on personnel wise and I think we can field much more dangerous from 3s than that.

 

[covcity4life]

So many overreactions to Saturday

Our main problem is that a front 3 of BTA, Cherif and Sakamoto is not going to cut it in the prem, and we just looked unlikely to score.

Outside of that it was a very tight game with little chances for both sides, and settled by one great piece of play by Bobb where Rudoni has ended up defending 1v1 in our own box.

I trust Lampard to sort whatever is going on personnel wise and I think we can field much more dangerous from 3s than that.

I would like to see him be bit braver in terms of taking the game to opposition at home but this will be a learning curve for him

Even though Everton were in a relegation fight they wernt s newly promoted team with inferior squad.

 

[chiefdave]

Never really got the 'just enjoy it' thing. What is supposed to be enjoyable, seeing us lose every week? Everything about the matchday experience has gone backwards, the price of everything has gone up, the football we're playing is not just seeing us lose its boring as fuck.

People need to stop making excuses for them every game. If its not a 'free hit' its 'they're better than the position they're in'. The whole atmosphere around the club is be grateful to be here like we're on some sort of make-a-wish day out.

How many games are we going to write off? If we lose to Sunderland on Saturday will it be 'position in the table is false' again?

I would enjoy it more if we put a performance in. Its one thing to come away from games having lost but battled, we're just rolling over at the moment.

Hull and Fulham were both winnable games both on paper and based on the performance they put in on the day. We've lost both with a whimper.

When we went up I completely expected a relegation battle, and can accept going down, but what is the point of waiting 25 years if we're not going to give it a go. We've spent more money than we've ever spent and half of them don't even make the squad let alone get on the pitch.

 

[Shannerz]

Never really got the 'just enjoy it' thing. What is supposed to be enjoyable, seeing us lose every week? Everything about the matchday experience has gone backwards, the price of everything has gone up, the football we're playing is not just seeing us lose its boring as fuck.

People need to stop making excuses for them every game. If its not a 'free hit' its 'they're better than the position they're in'. The whole atmosphere around the club is be grateful to be here like we're on some sort of make-a-wish day out.

How many games are we going to write off? If we lose to Sunderland on Saturday will it be 'position in the table is false' again?

I would enjoy it more if we put a performance in. Its one thing to come away from games having lost but battled, we're just rolling over at the moment.

Hull and Fulham were both winnable games both on paper and based on the performance they put in on the day. We've lost both with a whimper.

When we went up I completely expected a relegation battle, and can accept going down, but what is the point of waiting 25 years if we're not going to give it a go. We've spent more money than we've ever spent and half of them don't even make the squad let alone get on the pitch.

It's the passivity that's pissing me off.

 

[covcity4life]

Never really got the 'just enjoy it' thing. What is supposed to be enjoyable, seeing us lose every week? Everything about the matchday experience has gone backwards, the price of everything has gone up, the football we're playing is not just seeing us lose its boring as fuck.

People need to stop making excuses for them every game. If its not a 'free hit' its 'they're better than the position they're in'. The whole atmosphere around the club is be grateful to be here like we're on some sort of make-a-wish day out.

How many games are we going to write off? If we lose to Sunderland on Saturday will it be 'position in the table is false' again?

I would enjoy it more if we put a performance in. Its one thing to come away from games having lost but battled, we're just rolling over at the moment.

Hull and Fulham were both winnable games both on paper and based on the performance they put in on the day. We've lost both with a whimper.

When we went up I completely expected a relegation battle, and can accept going down, but what is the point of waiting 25 years if we're not going to give it a go. We've spent more money than we've ever spent and half of them don't even make the squad let alone get on the pitch.

Don't have to enjoy losing. But should be an awareness that we are big picture winning as a club right now

The enjoyment in premier league currently comes from the marathon aspect of it. Wins are like goldist so enjoy them more. Each point is vital

Winning 2 games should be enough to keep you steady for another 3-4 games because it's about slowly getting to that 40 point mark

Way I see it anyway. It's a different ball game to trying to win what is the second division

 

[lowblocklounge]

So many overreactions to Saturday

Our main problem is that a front 3 of BTA, Cherif and Sakamoto is not going to cut it in the prem, and we just looked unlikely to score.

Outside of that it was a very tight game with little chances for both sides, and settled by one great piece of play by Bobb where Rudoni has ended up defending 1v1 in our own box.

I trust Lampard to sort whatever is going on personnel wise and I think we can field much more dangerous from 3s than that.

Yeah somehow after 140 million our front 3/4 is worst than last season.

BTA Cherif Rudi Tats<EMC Wright Rudi Tats