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Lots of people moaning on here and a number railing against such moaning. Personally I'm very much on the fence.
16th place coming into January is fine on the face of it and we have ground out a decent home record whilst often not playing well. However we have, in Premiership terms, had a run of very winnable home games so the second half of the season at home will be much harder. That brings me onto our away form, the joint worst start of any team in Premiership history. We have though played most of the better teams in the division so our away run in should be easier.
We have looked very vulnerable at the back both home and away and been very reliant on Charlie banging in the goals. Our midfield seems to struggle at keeping possession placing more pressure on our wobbly defence. For us to survive we need to tighten up so we can continue to get results at home and start getting some away. Whilst we have gaps in our squad we should be getting some points away from home. Other teams near the bottom appear to have a real go and whilst it often doesn't work they do get some results and it those 'surprise' points away which could be the difference between relegation and survival. Burnley getting draws at Man City and Newcastle in successive games, Leicester winning at Hull and drawing at Liverpool, Palace drawing their last two away games. Other teams are able to do it but we can't seem to. No real excuses for it.
'Arry needs to set the squad up better away both mentally and tactically. 9 defeats on the spin is inexcusable. We haven't been terrible in all those games but whilst statistics can be misleading this is too stark to ignore.
I'm in the camp that I think 'Arry has been a poor appointment but changing now would carry a huge risk and it's not as if we are adrift at the foot of the table. Also Tony has more than enough on his plate so regardless of what anyone thinks I'd be amazed if 'Arry wasn't manager for the rest of the season. Frustrating thing is he has the players to stay around the 14th-16th mark, just needs to use them better.
An encouraging thing this season is we are creating more chances. Last season was depressing, we created very little for much of the season, ironically relying on keeping possession which we can't seem to do now!
Touch and go for us this season. A couple of right sort signings and bit more from 'Arry and the squad second half of the season and we have a reasonable chance but things need to improve otherwise some of those below us will overtake us between now and the end.
16th place coming into January is fine on the face of it and we have ground out a decent home record whilst often not playing well. However we have, in Premiership terms, had a run of very winnable home games so the second half of the season at home will be much harder. That brings me onto our away form, the joint worst start of any team in Premiership history. We have though played most of the better teams in the division so our away run in should be easier.
We have looked very vulnerable at the back both home and away and been very reliant on Charlie banging in the goals. Our midfield seems to struggle at keeping possession placing more pressure on our wobbly defence. For us to survive we need to tighten up so we can continue to get results at home and start getting some away. Whilst we have gaps in our squad we should be getting some points away from home. Other teams near the bottom appear to have a real go and whilst it often doesn't work they do get some results and it those 'surprise' points away which could be the difference between relegation and survival. Burnley getting draws at Man City and Newcastle in successive games, Leicester winning at Hull and drawing at Liverpool, Palace drawing their last two away games. Other teams are able to do it but we can't seem to. No real excuses for it.
'Arry needs to set the squad up better away both mentally and tactically. 9 defeats on the spin is inexcusable. We haven't been terrible in all those games but whilst statistics can be misleading this is too stark to ignore.
I'm in the camp that I think 'Arry has been a poor appointment but changing now would carry a huge risk and it's not as if we are adrift at the foot of the table. Also Tony has more than enough on his plate so regardless of what anyone thinks I'd be amazed if 'Arry wasn't manager for the rest of the season. Frustrating thing is he has the players to stay around the 14th-16th mark, just needs to use them better.
An encouraging thing this season is we are creating more chances. Last season was depressing, we created very little for much of the season, ironically relying on keeping possession which we can't seem to do now!
Touch and go for us this season. A couple of right sort signings and bit more from 'Arry and the squad second half of the season and we have a reasonable chance but things need to improve otherwise some of those below us will overtake us between now and the end.
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