Okay, so I called this one totally wrong.
It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last, I can assure you of that.
And while I’m very downbeat after this result, I really think we need to put things in perspective a little.
It would seem we’re still very fragile, although I’m not quite sure why that should be. We’ve got rid of most of the gutless/disinterested culprits and the rest have been condemned to the kid’s string, so they can’t interfere.
But just as we were romping this game for the first hour, so we collapsed as soon as the opposition scored.
Which is the bit I don’t quite understand.
Why do we still seem to have this “bottling” type of mentality? We saw the same against Luton.
It’s a puzzler and I suspect the biggest hurdle that the manager will have to over-come, if we’re to achieve promotion at the first attempt.
I’ve commented on the goalie previously and I’m not going there again, save to say we should get another one in; one with more experience, it’s as simple as that.
I looked at the stats on the OS and it seems we conceded 3 goals with 3 GK errors?
Until I’ve seen the goals for myself, I don’t know. But Gollini is beginning to look like a big liability, in my opinion. Pull the kid, before his confidence is shot too, I say.
I have to say I wondered why we signed him in the first place, as a young goalie is the last thing you want at a club with such high expectations in the Championship.
Expectations, that are going to be our biggest problem.
Ok, we bottled it today, but we romped this game for the first hour and proved that we can dominate for long periods.
Yes, we didn’t get the result, but I can’t help noticing how quickly some have jumped on the bandwagon of slating everything the club has done since Dr Xia took over.
Indeed, it seems there was a fair few who booed the side off the pitch.
I’d suggest this isn’t the way to go and it will only add to the lack of confidence.
Of course, our travelling support is amongst the best anywhere and they’re entitled to voice their opinions.
But I get the over-riding feeling that if we don’t give the team a chance, we’re only going to drive ourselves into a worsening spiral.
It’s still very early days in what’s going to be a long, tiring season.
And while we still look light in certain areas, particularly attack and midfield, the window isn’t over yet and we may still add.
And we do still have a decent squad, which I’d emphasise again, will come into play.
While today was disappointing, I won’t be making any firm assumptions just yet.
