Honest question!

[portlock seagull]

Being dirty or not is of course a matter of opinion. I'm just going by official stats which say we are. Whether you chose to wake up to this fact is entirely down to each individual though. Personally I converted to the we have a problem side a little while ago. And would like to see poyet attend to it ASAP.

 

[Arkwright]

Injuries and suspensiobns have not helped Gus but I also think Gus has not helped himself by signing players who in general have made little to no impact to the side. Good Division One players are average Championship players we lack quality.

 

[Doc Lynam]

One problem is when we recieve the ball in a tight spot we are not comfortable with it and tend to panic. This is a lack of technique English players tend to have due to not learning these skills early in life. The continentals seem much more adept with their first touch and at shielding the ball with small body movements etc to give themselves time to think.

Very true.

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

we're gonna fuckin TONK someone soon.

 

[portlock seagull]

We are a very very slow team in this division. At the back it's literal. Going
Forward it's because we tend to pass the ball side to side rather than a defence splitter.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

We are a very very slow team in this division. At the back it's literal. Going
Forward it's because we tend to pass the ball side to side rather than a defence splitter.

...and for that reason my answer to the original question is Gary Dicker getting injured. The guy made mistakes and we can argue all day about whether he is upto this level as an all-round player, but he is the only midfielder we have (Vicente excluded) that turns defence into attack with passes, and always turns upfield. Navarro hasn't put a foot wrong, but doesn't do the same job, Sparrow I think drifts forward more, and Harley was signed for that reason, but seems to slow play down more than anything.

 

[Doc Lynam]

So on to the second part of my question what are Southampton doing that we are not, because correct me if im wrong but their squad is basicaly the same as last season isn't it?

 

[Lifelong Supporter]

Injuries and suspensiobns have not helped Gus but I also think Gus has not helped himself by signing players who in general have made little to no impact to the side. Good Division One players are average Championship players we lack quality.

Yes and as a result we have become increasingly defensive.

 

[Seagull27]

So on to the second part of my question what are Southampton doing that we are not, because correct me if im wrong but their squad is basicaly the same as last season isn't it?

Comparisons with Southampton shouldn't really be made. If we're honest with ourselves they had a better squad, man-for-man, than we did last season and were much more Championship-ready. We just happened to have a fantastic season under some brilliant management with some fairly good players, and one or two excellent ones, playing really well as a team.

Another way to look at it - their most influential players last year were probably Lallana and Lambert. Ours were Murray and Bennett. Not worth dwelling too much on that though, we weren't in as good a position to keep those two as Southampton were with theirs.

 

[Amex_Charlie]

Poyets tactics confuse me alot of the time, actually i feel his substitutions are negative, for example; reading second half are biggest threat coming from the wingers Buckley and Lualua, takes them off for some reason?

 

[Johnnyboy]

What's gone wrong since the beginning of the season?
From storming the league at the start, to now struggling to get a shot on target.
I dont get to see many games but seen a few online. How can we go from having crucial players in the league below only hear that they are the weak links this time around. And how come Southampton who were runners up to us have stormed the championship with largely the same squad.
Is it tactics?
A lack of confidence from the players?
Or is just the players aren' t up to the standard required to play Gus's style?

I think several factors have been in play this season. The difference in class between the 1st division and championship has been immense. In the 1st division most teams had one or two players at most that could change a game. Most of these were loan players so our style and team performances stood us well. In the Championship most clubs seem to have 3/4 players who can change a game, seem physically stronger, more street savvy in referee management and have a core of players that played at this level or higher last year. That combined with having different starting elevens for most matches I believe has hindered our points total. It took Gus the first season in Division 1 to formulate his approach to the great escape and I personally think it will take this season for our players to gel and become fitter, stronger and more streetwise to form the basis of a realistic Championship challenging squad. Plus Gus will be aware of what is needed to make the next move.

That said considering how badly we have played this year according to some of the <supporters> on NSC it is quite amazing we are within 3/4 back to back wins of being strongly established within the play off places. I did notice in the <How happy are you with the current position voting?> that it is a 90% to 10% vote in favour of being pleased with our position. I can only comment on home matches as with the purchase of a season ticket this year I promised the current Mrs Johnnnyboy I would not attend any away matches this year. Still hoping for an amnesty for the Coventry game!

Southampton, I think the jury is still out on Adkins. Most of his initial squad was inherited, astute buying has meant he hasn't had to cope with large scale changes or extended runs of poor form. Although he did well at Scunthorpe or was that Andy Crosby?

For the future? Football is a game of confidence, belief and consistency. The question is probably, can Gus provide the knowhow the players need and do we as supporters have the confidence and belief in the team? To allow them to develop the consistency needed to cream these Championship rivals?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

What about the way we ran Liverpool ragged in the second half? Are they a lesser team?

We also had Leeds beat from 2-0 down. Are they a lesser team?

For me our performances took a major downturn as soon as Palace equalized. Why?

We lost to Liverpool and drew with Leeds no matter how you wish to dress it up.

 

[NMH]

we're gonna fuckin TONK someone soon.

Or....not.

And why is someone talking about continentals, as if our team is all English?
We probab;y have more non-English than most in this league

 

[jevs]

Gus Poyet is your problem...he's totally out of his depth. Before we start on the "f*** off back to your own forum" or "what gives a west ham fan the right to comment" blah blah blah, sometimes it takes someone without the blue and white tinted specs on to see the problems.

You have some superb players and Gus isn't getting the best out of them. Playing in this division is a million miles away from div 1...there are some superb teams and many are very physical....i don't think Poyet has yet realised that or at least worked out how to deal with it. Same with his tactics, he has got to adapt his team and style of play depending on the individual opposition...im not sure he's doing his homework.

You'll stay up comfortably this year....put a run together and you're in with a playoff shout

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Gus is too defensive, one up front isn't enough with 4 good defenders in this div, he's over happy with the score at 0-0 & the trouble with that is the oppo often scores first & we're playing catch up

 

[trueblue]

Gus is too defensive, one up front isn't enough with 4 good defenders in this div, he's over happy with the score at 0-0 & the trouble with that is the oppo often scores first & we're playing catch up

The "Gus is too defensive" myth is the latest mantra for the "no plan B" crowd - take a nonsense phrase and repeat endlessly. At Reading, we played 1 holding midfielder, 2 attacking midfielders, 2 wingers and a striker. How is that defensive? Barely a tackler in the team beyond the back 5.

If anything, we're too attacking. Get a grip on the ball in midfield and provide a quality supply up front. When we went 3 at the back (oh look, a plan B) we did better as it allowed us to get more meaningful possession through weight of numbers in midfield.

It also helped that CMS had someone alongside him.. But saying we look better if we have 2 up front is not the same as being "defensive" if there's 1 there... With Buckley and Lua Lua joining up, it would actually be 3 up front in games where we're on top. But I don't think our central midfield is strong enough to play that way yet... No point having 3 attackers if you can't get the ball to them.

 

[crasher]

Gus Poyet is your problem...he's totally out of his depth. Before we start on the "f*** off back to your own forum" or "what gives a west ham fan the right to comment" blah blah blah, sometimes it takes someone without the blue and white tinted specs on to see the problems.

You have some superb players and Gus isn't getting the best out of them. Playing in this division is a million miles away from div 1...there are some superb teams and many are very physical....i don't think Poyet has yet realised that or at least worked out how to deal with it. Same with his tactics, he has got to adapt his team and style of play depending on the individual opposition...im not sure he's doing his homework.

You'll stay up comfortably this year....put a run together and you're in with a playoff shout

Interesting to hear those comments but arern't you contradicting yourself? We'll stay up comfortably but Poyet is out of his depth? He put this team together so - if we do stay up comfortably - he seems to know what he's doing.

My tuppence on all this is that we're still looking for our best formation and starting 11. This is partly down to injuries and suspensions and partly down to finding out who can cut it at this level. The thing that I genuinely don't get is how - if we play with two strikers - are we going to accommodate Noone, Kaz and Buckley at the same time? Where does Gus see Buckley playing when everyone's fit? Wide, up front, advanced midfield? Once this is sorted I think we'll look a lot stronger.

Southampton have a better squad than us and they did last year too. They basically had the resources to pay a team of championship quality players championship wages to get them out of League One. We played above our level and they slightly below theres. And we had to sell Bennett while they've been able to hang on to Lallana.

They key test for any club is are we getting stronger each season. And I think we are.

 

[sir albion]

we're gonna fuckin TONK someone soon.

Actually if anything we'll be thrrashed soon,normally when a team is due to thrash someone that means they,ve created bucket loads of chances and been unlucky,is that really us?

 

[sir albion]

Interesting to hear those comments but arern't you contradicting yourself? We'll stay up comfortably but Poyet is out of his depth? He put this team together so - if we do stay up comfortably - he seems to know what he's doing.

My tuppence on all this is that we're still looking for our best formation and starting 11. This is partly down to injuries and suspensions and partly down to finding out who can cut it at this level. The thing that I genuinely don't get is how - if we play with two strikers - are we going to accommodate Noone, Kaz and Buckley at the same time? Where does Gus see Buckley playing when everyone's fit? Wide, up front, advanced midfield? Once this is sorted I think we'll look a lot stronger.

Southampton have a better squad than us and they did last year too. They basically had the resources to pay a team of championship quality players championship wages to get them out of League One. We played above our level and they slightly below theres. And we had to sell Bennett while they've been able to hang on to Lallana.

They key test for any club is are we getting stronger each season. And I think we are.

He has a point,a lot of our best players are not utilised properly and to me thats a massive waste.Its becoming way to easy for managers to suss us out and like many have said its way to predictable.

 

[kevtherev]

Its simple, we are playing at the second level of English football where opposition managers are not fools. Stop Brighton playing out from the back and they have no plan b, its that simple. Another thing that is starting to be a real problem, is the fact the world seem to be against us and for the reason for that, look no further than Poyet and his constant whinging about refs and decisions.