2 Played,2 Lost.....

[byf]

Not the time to press any panic buttons but....it's the wort start we could have had....scoring in my opinion is going to be a big problem...

If we lose on saturday.....then I'm personally going to start worrying..because it's going to start looking like one of wilkin's famous little runs he puts together as manager...problem is there losing streaks..not winning ones.

Only my opinion....but the guy just isnt a manager.

That is all.

 

[byf]

I agree with some of that, and disagree with other bits.

Firstly, it's a bit misleading to start saying "played 2 lost 2," because tonight was a cup match against a higher team, and after 90 minutes we DREW. It doesn't really tell us anything about how we are going to do in our division.

However, you're on the money with the trouble scoring goals bit. This team couldn't score last season, and whilst we may have added a good striker (who doesn't actually score THAT many), the midfield which will supply him is incredibly feeble. As for Wilkins, time will tell, but what is for sure is that while last season he got the benefit of the doubt (rightly, I feel), all the blame this season will be laid at his door.

True...but managers are judged on results and when the sack door slams...no-one mentions the last minute losses and the unlucky penalty decisions....If lady luck isnt with him like its been with other managers..then it may just be a too big of job for him..

It has shown in the past..you need a real decent football brain and decent exp to be able to get a team playing and playing well at withdean....Im just worried he doesnt have it in him to be able to do it.....I hope im wrong....But he could'nt seem to stop us losing last term and it happend 2 or 3 times..lots of defeats in a row...

Lets just hope this little run isnt another 1!

I like many other fans arnt even expecting much...a lot better home performances, gates above 6k..which will come if the team are producing and no relegation battle...

 

[Robot Chicken]

I just hope we never have another Jimmy Case/Jeff Wood scenario when a loss was pretty much guaranteed before the game and the same old excuses were trotted out every single time.

 

[byf]

Yep, that all seems fair enough. The thing with Wilkins though is that last season he took over someone else's team. I know he was in charge for the majority of the season, but it was still someone else's team. In fact, the signings he did make (Whing, Savage, Bertin) went on to be our best players last season, and you could argue that without those players we may have gone down. I agree though, there were worrying signs that he couldn't halt a run of defeats, but this is what I mean by giving him the benefit of the doubt - we just have to hope that that was his learning curve, and that should we lose three in a row this year it won't turn into six or seven.

Anyway, whatever people's opinions on last season are, I think most would agree that this year the buck stops with Wilkins. He didn't release, and subsequently sign, as many players as I would have liked this summer, but that's his choice and he'll live or die by it. Personally, my total faith in him is starting to diminish, purely because he seems to be playing the same old idiots that let us down last season, and mainly the season before. I don't think we can score goals, I don't think we can break teams down, and I don't think we will entertain. But, it's his team, it's his job, and as fans it's far too early to write him off. If he turns this squad of players into a top half team, then he will have worked a small miracle in my eyes, and I'm not going to call for his head unless it looks pretty much certain that won't be possible.

Yeah agree with that.

Wilkins also seems to believe robinson is the answer to all our prayers and as you said is continuing to play a lot of the players in the same positions that nearly got us relegated.....well the time has come for him to live by what he has done in pre-season...

No more excuses about old managers players...no excuses about transfer windows, he's had two......, a full pre-season and a budget to sign players....

Good luck deano....but I think the odd's are well and truly stacked....unfortunately I can see a tasty compo package going to the wilkins house-hold....in september

 

[Djmiles]

Just got back from the game, and I had high hopes seeming this is the first game I have attended since West Ham (Bournemouth, Oldham, Carlisle, Yeovil before that before someone calls me a glory fan!).

It's still the same old basic issues which are our downfall.

- Throw Ins - Why are we incapable or taking them? 1st half we had about 5 throw ins in a row and Fraser insisted on camping down by the corner flag, why?

- Long Ball - We seem to play this way too often. That's fine if all 10 outfield players could HEAD the ball. It was a case of hoffing it up and a Cardiff player heading it away.


Overall it was a pretty drab performance IMO, with Elphick doing himself no harm with a solid display. Cox again was probably our best player, looked lively and willing to win the ball, but Fraser and El-Abd had pretty poor games which didn't surprise me to be honest.

Must have been around 100-120 of us there, damn fools!

 

[Yorkie]

I commented on the throw ins at the time. We just don't take advantage of them in any way.

 

[Yorkie]

It's all to do with expectation. I didn't expect to beat Crewe or Cardiff so I don't feel angry, disappointed or any other negative emotion today.

I have already posted that I think Wilkins is a great coach but I don't think he has the ability to be a good manager.
Time will tell.

 

[southstandandy]

As long as we get another striker and a creative midfielder we'll stay up I'm sure.

 

[BensGrandad]

It's all to do with expectation. I didn't expect to beat Crewe or Cardiff so I don't feel angry, disappointed or any other negative emotion today.

.

I agree and am sure that many more do also as I dont think anybody expected much out of the first 2 games. A draw at Crewe would have been an unexpected bonus going by our previous form there and nobody could expect us to beat Cardiff away even when we were both in the same division.

 

[Yorkie]

http://www.theargus.co.uk/display.var.1617934.0..php

 

[algie]

I agree and am sure that many more do also as I dont think anybody expected much out of the first 2 games. A draw at Crewe would have been an unexpected bonus going by our previous form there and nobody could expect us to beat Cardiff away even when we were both in the same division.

Spot on.We have Northampton next and i expect a win.We just need a couple of good loan players quickly.If we do get people in then there's no reason why we can't challenge for a playoff spot

 

[Jam The Man]

It's all to do with expectation. I didn't expect to beat Crewe or Cardiff so I don't feel angry, disappointed or any other negative emotion today.

concurred

 

[adrian29uk]

I like Wilkins, he is a true Albion legend but if results continue like this he will be replaced.

We should be fighting towards the top, not the bottom of this League.

Lets see how the next 5-6 games go?

 

[Napper]

can't really say I expected anything from forst 2 games but 2 defeats is still bad. I'm looking for Wilkins to get a reaction from the players on Saturday, if we fail to win vs The Cobblers then I am going to be pretty pi*sed off about the seasons prospects

 

[Icy Gull]

I speak from no experience of this season's games, but it seems DW may have already learnt something from the run of damaging 5 plus games defeats from last season. It seems he put out a defensive minded team whereas last season he may have tried to take the game to Cardiff. Being unable to stop a run of defeats was my only real concern about him last season , given the handicaps being manager of this club imposes. If we manage to stop the rot next game then I will be happy as not getting beat again is more important than winning imo given what happened last season once we started losing.

My expectations are quite high for this season but 5th from bottom will be accpetable

 

[Napper]

My expectations are quite high for this season but 5th from bottom will be accpetable

DK says Wilkins has one of the biggest budgets in the league, as supporters we pay one of the highest for ST in the league.

5th from bottom won't be acceptable

 

[Gordon the Gopher]

Spot on.We have Northampton next and i expect a win.We just need a couple of good loan players quickly.If we do get people in then there's no reason why we can't challenge for a playoff spot

Agree. We are two or three players short of being fairly decent. My only worries about Wilkins is his faith in too many of our younger players. Whenn we do get loan players in, we need a couple of older players, the sort that don't take prisoners and provide a bit more drive and leadership. A team with a midfield of Robinson, Cox and Fraser is too lightweight and much as I think Bodwitch is a good player, he is not the type of player we need!