morty
Moderator
Staff member
Little bit of a recap / summary of moans and gripes on Twitter last night / brain download.
We all know the challenge, we know we're too good for the Championship, but not quite good enough for the Premier league. We all know the reasons why too, we are massively punching against our weight, given our self funding structure, up to you whether or not you like it, personally I do, I find it unique and sustainable. I remember, some years ago when FFP was first introduced and I was of the belief that one day this would benefit us, step forward Derby and Reading to kind of prove I was thinking along the right lines. So we know the challenges we operate under, and the problems our model brings, but I do admit the likes of Talksport saying we should spend money we simply do not have, on the same day Derby slip into administration, is genuinely hilarious, and makes our point.
Nobody has enough money, Spurs, Man Utd and Arsenal all want more, they want to spend a billion quid like Man City do, so it begs the question, does money actually buy football happiness? Is it just a relentless crack of the whip from our Sky masters to spend more and more and more? Making them more money in the process?
So we are where we are, and I doubt our ownership model is going to change anytime soon.
So here we are in the Premier league again, just 6 league games ago we were lifting the Championship trophy and all was great in the world. We had Covid issues causing pre season games to be cancelled, and we also left a lot of our business late, but on the whole I think most fans started the season fairly upbeat, fully aware of our position and aware of the job ahead. We all looked at the first four games of the season, and likely wrote them off in our heads, the fixture computer dealt us a hard start there. We got through those games with mixed performances, Leicester was okayish, Arsenal maybe a bit unlucky. So we came to Watford, which was our first game of the season, kind of, and it obviously did not go well. Last night, cup game, bit of a free hit, some things were okay, some not so much, and suddenly social media absolutely exploded. Many calling for Farke to be sacked, which isn't entirely realistic. I understand people are upset, but I don't think I have ever seen a fanbase turn so quickly.
The case for.
We have replaced a large part of our squad, Farke has only worked with some of them for two weeks in training. There are likely still lingering Covid issues, and there are certainly issues with not having a proper pre season. Farke has said we are actually only 3 points behind where he thought we would be just now, in fact we are actually only 3 points (and some goal difference) from safety. We haven't put the same side out twice, in fact we had 3 different centre back pairings in the last three league matches, we need to be able to be put out a settled lineup at some point, especially important from a defensive point of view. We have also played four of our hardest games.
The case against.
We don't have the time to play catchup, fine we are 3 points from safety now, but what happens when that becomes 9? The longer there is that zero next to Norwich City in the table, the heavier it becomes. Heads can easily start to go down when we get whupped every week, our last 10 games of the previous Premier league campaign shows that once heads go down, there is very little way back. The manager has fewer excuses to deploy this time, our squad is decent, it is up to him to get the best out of it. We have very little actual Premier league experience, and that certainly showed against Watford, where, for me, it wasn't a team issue, but down to individual lapses in concentration that need to be cut out. Booing at full time? I can understand it, the Watford game was built up by the manager, and I think most of us expected us to get something from it, which made the fall harder.
Its going to be a long season, my thoughts? I think we could be okay, there are 4 or 5 other teams that are easily relegation material. But, we need to click, and click fast.
We all know the challenge, we know we're too good for the Championship, but not quite good enough for the Premier league. We all know the reasons why too, we are massively punching against our weight, given our self funding structure, up to you whether or not you like it, personally I do, I find it unique and sustainable. I remember, some years ago when FFP was first introduced and I was of the belief that one day this would benefit us, step forward Derby and Reading to kind of prove I was thinking along the right lines. So we know the challenges we operate under, and the problems our model brings, but I do admit the likes of Talksport saying we should spend money we simply do not have, on the same day Derby slip into administration, is genuinely hilarious, and makes our point.
Nobody has enough money, Spurs, Man Utd and Arsenal all want more, they want to spend a billion quid like Man City do, so it begs the question, does money actually buy football happiness? Is it just a relentless crack of the whip from our Sky masters to spend more and more and more? Making them more money in the process?
So we are where we are, and I doubt our ownership model is going to change anytime soon.
So here we are in the Premier league again, just 6 league games ago we were lifting the Championship trophy and all was great in the world. We had Covid issues causing pre season games to be cancelled, and we also left a lot of our business late, but on the whole I think most fans started the season fairly upbeat, fully aware of our position and aware of the job ahead. We all looked at the first four games of the season, and likely wrote them off in our heads, the fixture computer dealt us a hard start there. We got through those games with mixed performances, Leicester was okayish, Arsenal maybe a bit unlucky. So we came to Watford, which was our first game of the season, kind of, and it obviously did not go well. Last night, cup game, bit of a free hit, some things were okay, some not so much, and suddenly social media absolutely exploded. Many calling for Farke to be sacked, which isn't entirely realistic. I understand people are upset, but I don't think I have ever seen a fanbase turn so quickly.
The case for.
We have replaced a large part of our squad, Farke has only worked with some of them for two weeks in training. There are likely still lingering Covid issues, and there are certainly issues with not having a proper pre season. Farke has said we are actually only 3 points behind where he thought we would be just now, in fact we are actually only 3 points (and some goal difference) from safety. We haven't put the same side out twice, in fact we had 3 different centre back pairings in the last three league matches, we need to be able to be put out a settled lineup at some point, especially important from a defensive point of view. We have also played four of our hardest games.
The case against.
We don't have the time to play catchup, fine we are 3 points from safety now, but what happens when that becomes 9? The longer there is that zero next to Norwich City in the table, the heavier it becomes. Heads can easily start to go down when we get whupped every week, our last 10 games of the previous Premier league campaign shows that once heads go down, there is very little way back. The manager has fewer excuses to deploy this time, our squad is decent, it is up to him to get the best out of it. We have very little actual Premier league experience, and that certainly showed against Watford, where, for me, it wasn't a team issue, but down to individual lapses in concentration that need to be cut out. Booing at full time? I can understand it, the Watford game was built up by the manager, and I think most of us expected us to get something from it, which made the fall harder.
Its going to be a long season, my thoughts? I think we could be okay, there are 4 or 5 other teams that are easily relegation material. But, we need to click, and click fast.