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Why are we so crap at the beginning of the season..?

Thedelldays

By Thedelldays,
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whizzpop

whizzpop

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There must be an underlying reason to it, pre-season ideals? I cant see why myself, but it seems to the culture at the club. The last time we won on the opening day was against Coventry in 1999.

 

Furthermore I seem to remember it was about 10 years since we last won on the first day when we won way back then as well!

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shinyhappysaint

shinyhappysaint

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Spot On - Should be no excuses whatsoever - very poor!

Well we aren't crap because of our record ten years ago etc. We are crap because we are not playing anywhere near potential for some reason, don't seem to have prepared well and haven't added much quality. But we had our first 11 out there today and they have the ability to win that comfortably. Pardew has to take the blame. Probably ridiculous to change manager so early but I'm already tired of the excuses because we've been patient but at the end of the day this is a pathetic league and we have spent a lot of money.
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JibMcdo

JibMcdo

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There must be an underlying reason to it, pre-season ideals? I cant see why myself, but it seems to the culture at the club. The last time we won on the opening day was against Coventry in 1999.

 

Furthermore I seem to remember it was about 10 years since we last won on the first day when we won way back then as well!

 

The Dutchee's won on the opening day.

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captainchris

captainchris

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To those who don't think pre season results are important. The writing was on the wall before the season started in the same way we all knew England were not up to it.

 

AP says pre season about fitness and playing very low standard teams in preparation for winning promotion. Like saying good preparation for the olympics would running against local joggers - it's kids stuff - rank poor preparation every year and poor management!

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Xchurch_Saint

Xchurch_Saint

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We had poor starts in the top flight when there was no expectation. Now we should have players able to handle expectation. If they bottle it in league 1 they have little hope in higher leagues.

 

 

maybe we are just crap then? Im not saying its the fans fault, im just saying that we fans do expect a lot - we still think we are a premiership side and we just aint! Time fans realised we have no God given right to promotion and its going to be hard work. Think we need to get behind the team and the manager and stop all the knee jerk reactions. (Surely players react to negative reaction) We fans need to be the 12th man on the pitch not the cause of the team looking like 10 men.

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BallBoy

BallBoy

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I agree with RedArmy that we havn't actually been crap. We have largely overwhelmed both opponents so far but we are still below our best. We just cannot afford to drop points so easily if we are going to seriously challenge for automatic promotion. It is hugely dissapointing. I really thought we could hit the ground running this season but too many players are below their best.

 

Lambert is clearly carrying too much weight. He has the turning circle of a double decker bus. Lallana and Puncheon are below par. Jaidi scares me.

 

I am mystified as to why this always happens to us.

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SaintNeil90

SaintNeil90

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No excuse this year. We have a quality team in an average division. Last year we had not had a pre-season and had a patched up squad. This year we have pretty much the same squad and have had a full pre-season... no excuses for this poor start. Same old problem, not being able to break down a team that puts 11 men behind the ball when plan a doesnt work.

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Danish Saint

Danish Saint

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It's all about nerves...

 

AP and the players are carrying a larger burden of expectation this year.

It feels like it's been raining for quite some time now and the dam is about to burst.

 

Only two games into the season and some people are already calling for a sacking.

 

 

 

 

And they say NC is bad......

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harvey

harvey

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I've always said that if you're gonna do well at the start of the season, you have to start with a team that has had pre-season together....that's my opinion anyway.

 

****** to the 'waiting until the end of the window incase we miss any bargains'....we've dropped 5 points already!

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SNSUN

SNSUN

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I'm slightly losing faith in Pardew but we never seem ready for the start of the season. Sort the signings out at the start of summer, play pre-season against tougher opposition and get more luck! Everything is in the playing staffs' hands except for the luck.

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Minty

Minty

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We weren't crap. We played well but then allowed anxiety and frustration creep into our play and stopped doing what we were doing well, before a late flurry. The woodwork and their keeper denied us scoring at least 6. It's not a good result, but the performance was FAR from crap.

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SparkySaint

SparkySaint

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There must be an underlying reason to it, pre-season ideals? I cant see why myself, but it seems to the culture at the club. The last time we won on the opening day was against Coventry in 1999.

 

Furthermore I seem to remember it was about 10 years since we last won on the first day when we won way back then as well!

 

And I was there. Was it Pahars that scored our goal that day?

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Rebel

Rebel

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pre-season was a joke

 

we should have played 3 decent teams in Switzerland - and then come back home and played 3 decent teams at St Mary's in a 4 wat Ted Bates Cup!

 

We should also have taken the Eastleigh game a bit more seriously as well

 

the team look like they are still playing pre-season friendlies to get match fit

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NickG

NickG

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There must be an underlying reason to it, pre-season ideals? I cant see why myself, but it seems to the culture at the club. The last time we won on the opening day was against Coventry in 1999.

 

Furthermore I seem to remember it was about 10 years since we last won on the first day when we won way back then as well!

 

in last 10 years we have had 14 managers, probably all with their own preparation. Numerous players.

 

A lot of it has to be coincidence - there is no consistent factor over those years... apart from us!

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SNSUN

SNSUN

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Don't think Lambert and Lallana are match fit yet and what's happened to Dickson, is he carrying an injury?

 

Too early to start worrying yet IMO

 

The team that started today seems to be Pardew's first team, so no look in there for Dickson*, I didn't see him play against Bournemouth, but against Plymouth I feel Harding was the better left back. (I would say that as a Harding fan though...)

 

*which I suppose begs the question of "why did we sign him..."

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sfc6mufc3

sfc6mufc3

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This season is because of a couple of things

 

1 - Pressure is on players/manager because we are favs for promotion

2 - We haven't added to a squad that wasn't (but should have been) good enough last season.

3 - No replacement for Lambert and already this reason and reason 2 have cost us 5pts.

 

You look at Norwich, they needed to improve their squad and did so and aren't near the bottom. You can say the same about Notts County & Blackpool. We did we not realise additions were needed. Yes we added a couple of defenders but it's a CM and forward that is needed. We must have money so why not buy Antonio? I can only imagine Pard's has ben told "You've had money already, work with what you have".

 

Carlisle are top FFS and they are pony.

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Junction 9

Junction 9

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FC Thun and Reading are both of a higher standard than us and put 4 past us. I fail to see how getting an even bigger dicking pre season would have helped. We are in League one, to this day people seem to forget that. As Pardew says, it was primarily about fitness.

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alpine_saint

alpine_saint

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FC Thun and Reading are both of a higher standard than us and put 4 past us. I fail to see how getting an even bigger dicking pre season would have helped. We are in League one, to this day people seem to forget that. As Pardew says, it was primarily about fitness.

 

Which goes completely against APs "winning mentality" mantra.

 

I reckon he doesnt know what pre-season was about.

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Saint_clark

Saint_clark

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To those who don't think pre season results are important. The writing was on the wall before the season started in the same way we all knew England were not up to it.

 

Well then what about the season we got relegated from the CCC? We had an excellent pre-season there, but we were still awful when it kicked off...

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NickG

NickG

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Which goes completely against APs "winning mentality" mantra.

 

I reckon he doesnt know what pre-season was about.

 

if he doesn't and you, with no football knowledge or seeing the team play, could do it so much better - why, I wonder does Cortesse pay him so much money to do the job?

 

Interesting thing on talksport the other day, there's new book on football management. They were saying how fans think they could do a better job. This guy who did the research was saying how fans think managers make a handful of decisions and judge them on those - there are the tip of the iceberg and often ones that have less to do with the success.

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derry

derry

Posted
Posted (edited)

As a matter of interest Bolton who we play on Tuesday have had a decent start. They had a six week pre season and played 8 first team matches in the middle four weeks, 3 in the US, Rochdale and Oldham, then to Scotland against Falkirk and St Johnston who were well ahead in their preparations, finishing up with a game against Osasuna. We on the other hand played Thun and Sochaux early on, apart from Barnet and finally Reading our other games were non league stroll outs. All the games were played with virtually two teams the second of which was made up of youth/young players who, apart from OC will probably not be seen again. Until the Plymouth game the first team didn't play together as a team because of the 45 minute mix and match. Apart from inclusion playing the kids detracted from the preparation. No wonder we have had a poor start it was a poor preparation.

Edited by derry
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alpine_saint

alpine_saint

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As a matter of interest Bolton who we play on Tuesday have had a decent start. They had a six week pre season and played 8 first team matches in the middle four weeks, 3 in the US, Rochdale and Oldham, then to Scotland against Falkirk and St Johnston who were well ahead in their preparations, finishing up with a game against Osasuna. We on the other hand played Thun and Sochaux early on, apart from Barnet and finally Reading our other games were non league stroll outs. All the games were played with virtually two teams the second of which was made up of youth/young players who, apart from OC will probably not be seen again. Until the Plymouth game the first team didn't play together as a team because of the 45 minute mix and match. Apart from inclusion playing the kids detracted from the preparation. No wonder we have had a poor start it was a poor preparation.

 

Exactly. I made the same point.

 

If it wasnt for knowing who played at the end of last season, you wouldnt have been able to work out our starting line-up for Plymouth on the basis of the friendlies.

 

I think the manager should know his best XI, and play them together for most of the matches in pre-season, building up their fitness, their familiarity with each other and working on tactics.

 

It aint rocket science as to why the start of this season has been a complete f**k-up.

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alpine_saint

alpine_saint

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Sadly not. Even when we were on a roll last season and doing well he had his critics, you being one of them Alps.

 

Nope. You are making it up.

 

We werent winning every game 3-0. I was criticising him for not being able to beat the likes of Wycombe.

 

I do not recall a single game we won where I criticised him after the match.

 

As usual, you are a lying WUM.

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NickG

NickG

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Nope. You are making it up.

 

We werent winning every game 3-0. I was criticising him for not being able to beat the likes of Wycombe.

 

I do not recall a single game we won where I criticised him after the match.

 

As usual, you are a lying WUM.

 

an away draw at Wycombe (away draws pretty much what you need to get promoted)

 

which came after - winning 7 out of last 12 league games, and in 3 games before we beat Norwich, got to final of JPT and played well against prem skates - fair criticism or criticising as soon as you can?

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