'Papering over the cracks'

[withdeanwombat]

I never wanted McGhee to go.

Nor Steve Gritt.

 

[SittingbourneSeagull]

Yes we finished with 69 points and we won a good number of games at home, however, lots of those were won against the run of play and the win was quite often undeserved.

Just because we won games does not mean we played well. We had a relatively good defence, but actually the standard of football was not much if any better.

 

[Padders]

I wasn't convinced last season that Wilkins had us playing in a style that was either pleasing on the eye or which would help us progress. There was too much long ball and not enough progressive passing through the midfield and out wide.

However I was rather gobsamcked when he was sacked after finishing 7th.

But I remembered fondly the way that Adam's team had passed the ball and was encouraged by his appointment. However there has been little evidence so far of any improvement in the style of play

Let's hope things improve, otherwise it will have proved to be a bad decision. But I still think it is too early to judge.

 

[Acker79]

Yes we finished with 69 points and we won a good number of games at home, however, lots of those were won against the run of play and the win was quite often undeserved.

Surely if you score more goals than your opponents, you deserve the win? I don't like this attitude (in football in general) that says the team that has the all more, that attacks more 'deserves' to win.

Why does an impotent attack, paired with an inept defence trump a stout defensive performance and an efficient forward line?

I mean, if one team attacks 100 times and doesn't score and their oppoents attack three times and score once why is the 100 failed attacks more deserving than the one successful attack? One forward line has a 0% conversion rate, the other 33.3%, and conversely, one defence is 100% successful, the other is only 66.7% successful.


I digress... I saw the team play about 10 times last season, and I thought only two of those games were bad performances. The football league is about winning, which Dean was doing. We played effective football, football that got the job done. It may not have always been pretty, but at this level pretty football is very difficult to play and to be successful with.


It is a disservice to Wilkins to suggest he wasn't getting the job done, but over the past season and up until his ban I've been enjoying Harty and the phone in less and less.

 

[Mendoza]

Last year we didnt play great football, but when we played bad we still picked up points, even wins.

This year when we play badly we lose. We have scraped a couple of draws, but never really won when playing badly.

So what if last year was boring, we got results, this year, has been bad performances and bad results.

How many times have we conceeded 3 goals in a game this season? 5, maybe 6 times. I can remember it happening twice last season, but when we played badly we were still solid enough at the back.

Luckily for us we have Murray banging them in and playing well, otherwise we may well be in the relegation zone.

 

[Gritt23]

If we had not drawn so many games we would be sitting pretty now in the league.

If my Aunty had bollocks she'd be my Uncle.

It is what it is, we are struggling in mid-table looking over our shoulder, when the managerial change was supposed to take us forwards not backwards.

 

[Elder for England]

If my Aunty had bollocks she'd be my Uncle.

It is what it is, we are struggling in mid-table looking over our shoulder, when the managerial change was supposed to take us forwards not backwards.

God I'm so sick of hearing this 'supposed to be taking us forwards not backwards' remark, it's been 3 months!!! What part of that don't people understand. If it was like this after two seasons I'd see your point, but we're not even half way through the season. Ok so it's not as rosey as we'd have liked, but what did you expect, instant results and instant progress within the first few weeks? So what if we're not going forward just yet, give it time (and by time I don't mean one month).

 

[Mendoza]

God I'm so sick of hearing this 'supposed to be taking us forwards not backwards' remark, it's been 3 months!!! What part of that don't people understand. If it was like this after two seasons I'd see your point, but we're not even half way through the season. Ok so it's not as rosey as we'd have liked, but what did you expect instant results and instant progress within the first few weeks, so what if we're not going forward just yet, give it time (and by time I don't mean one month).

For me it is not the results or league position that is the issue. It is the manner of which we have achieved that. It has been baffling to say the least.

I dont expect us to have instant reward for changing the manager, but I at least expect something that gives us a clue that things will be better, which at the moment is hard to see.

There have been some basic errors made by the manager, ones that the majority of the fans could see, yet nothing was done about it.

Things can indeed turn around, but if we want to do it this season, then we havent got much time to do it

 

[Gritt23]

God I'm so sick of hearing this 'supposed to be taking us forwards not backwards' remark, it's been 3 months!!! What part of that don't people understand. If it was like this after two seasons I'd see your point, but we're not even half way through the season. Ok so it's not as rosey as we'd have liked, but what did you expect, instant results and instant progress within the first few weeks? So what if we're not going forward just yet, give it time (and by time I don't mean one month).

If we were sat here with Wilkins in charge today, having had this start to the season, we would all be saying that we have gone backwards this season. Or do you disagree?

 

[BensGrandad]

Only 90 points, nearly 2/3 if the season.

 

[Spiros]

Much as I thought sacking Wilkins to put Adams in charge was a backward step I am willing to give Micky a chance. First time round the football served up by his teams for the first season and a bit was pretty dire and it was only the euphoria of being back in Brighton that kept crowds coming. I remember one or two games at the start of our championship-winning season ending with fans having bust-ups with Micky behind the dugouts. But once he got the players he wanted things clicked and the result wasn't just one promotion but two.

I think he's still trying to find where his best players play best and how to get the most from the squad he's got. I'll pass my judgement once the January window has closed and he's had another chance to mould a team the way he wants it, rather than trying to fit the pieces of Wilkins jigsaw into his own puzzle. In the meantime I'll consider to grit my teeth among the moaners and whingers of C Block who think that we should win every game at a canter.

 

[Mendoza]

Only 90 points, nearly 2/3 if the season.

Indeed, impossible is nothing.

We have a 10 point gap to make up over 30 games to get into the play offs, or a 14 point gap to bridge if we want to go up as Champions.

The season isnt over, but it is getting close, if we seriously want to challenge for promotion.

You would expect us to win at least 10 of the 30 left, as for the other 20, who knows....

 

[El Presidente]

There is no doubt we have been poor this season. Some players have lost form (Cox, Whing), some have been injured (Forster, Murray, McLeod), some have not been replaced by anyone better (Butters, Racon, Westlake), some have failed to live up to expectations (Thomson, Livermore, Hawkins) and some think they are too good for the club (Lynch).

Wendy was not however sacked for football reasons, so it is no point going on about it and then trying to hound out Mickey as some sort of justice.

And would anyone like to comment on the Port Vale match under Wilkins at home last season, it was one of NSC's finest binfests (until Walsall at home this season of course)

 

[El Presidente]

If we were sat here with Wilkins in charge today, having had this start to the season, we would all be saying that we have gone backwards this season. Or do you disagree?

So what's the solution? Until the club is financially viable then there are going to be countless gambles on players, this season they have not come off.

Why not just accept it, we're a tin pot provincial club with a hard core fan base of 5,000, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Elder for England]

There is no doubt we have been poor this season. Some players have lost form (Cox, Whing), some have been injured (Forster, Murray, McLeod), some have not been replaced by anyone better (Butters, Racon, Westlake), some have failed to live up to expectations (Thomson, Livermore, Hawkins) and some think they are too good for the club (Lynch).

Wendy was not however sacked for football reasons, so it is no point going on about it and then trying to hound out Mickey as some sort of justice.

And would anyone like to comment on the Port Vale match under Wilkins at home last season, it was one of NSC's finest binfests (until Walsall at home this season of course)

Mansfield?

 

[Elder for England]

If we were sat here with Wilkins in charge today, having had this start to the season, we would all be saying that we have gone backwards this season. Or do you disagree?

Honestly, I would see it as a bad start to the season and eventually things will get better.

 

[Gritt23]

So what's the solution? Until the club is financially viable then there are going to be countless gambles on players, this season they have not come off.

Why not just accept it, we're a tin pot provincial club with a hard core fan base of 5,000, nothing more, nothing less.

Oh trust me mate, I've been going to the Albion long enough to know exactly what we are, and to set my expectations accordingly. But that doesn't stop me from feeling frustrated when we start to get things right - as I felt we were doing last season - only to turn it all upside for no apparent reason.

You won't find a "sack Adams" post from me anywhere, because it is far too soon, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm thoroughly hacked off with how things have gone since the end of last season, and I won't make any appology for expressing my displeasure.

 

[trueblue]

Harty clearly did not like Wilkins. He clearly loves Adams, because of what he did here before.

i think he has what's known as a 'sense of perspective', and is looking at the likely long term effect rather than over-reacting to every result.

A shame there's not more of it about.

 

[Gritt23]

Honestly, I would see it as a bad start to the season and eventually things will get better.

But you would be wondering why we have spent money in the summer on seemingly better players, only to have seen results drop off.

However you dress it up, or the resons you give for it, the start of this season has fallen way below expectations. Yeah sure, it's only 3 months in, and plenty could change around yet, but we can only comment on what we've seen so far, and that has been pretty poor, when we all expected so much more.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Oh trust me mate, I've been going to the Albion long enough to know exactly what we are, and to set my expectations accordingly. But that doesn't stop me from feeling frustrated when we start to get things right - as I felt we were doing last season - only to turn it all upside for no apparent reason.

You won't find a "sack Adams" post from me anywhere, because it is far too soon, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm thoroughly hacked off with how things have gone since the end of last season, and I won't make any appology for expressing my displeasure.

Spot on.