Truth time it is then and the reality is that I didn’t really expect to win this one.
Yes, I said I was confident on here, but I was telling the lads at work that I’d be very happy with the draw.
I think it stems from the criticism a while back, that the site was overly negative and me not wanting it to seem like that.
That said, my overall confidence is genuine and when we’ve been achieving results, well, you just can’t be negative, can you? There’s also no better time to be optimistic.
Anyway, the point of my admission is to say that I don’t believe this was a bad result.
Apart from the fact that our excellent run had to end sometime, it’s also no disgrace losing to a good Fulham side that have an excellent record at home.
Of course, it wasn’t a good result either, but what’s more important is how we bounce back from it.
In that sense, I think we’ll be ok.
What’s more disconcerting is that the performance was pretty disjointed.
There’s the valid excuse that we missed Grealish and Adomah, but that makes it a bit worrying that the team seems so reliant on them to make us creative.
Then again, losing two of your best players against a team performing very well, will always be a big problem and while Steve Bruce shuffled the team round to try and adapt, so it didn’t really work and he might have to look for another solution.
So what’s the point of this post?
The truth is I don’t really know and I’m just musing on the possibilities.
Much depends on how long both Grealish and Adomah are out, particularly together, as we could probably stand just one of them being out of the side.
Get at least one back in and things will be better.
But as it stands, both are looking doubtful for the Preston game, which will make that one another tough contest.
I’m not offering any thoughts as to what we should do to try to remedy things, as the manager is very much his own man and will do what he wants, regardless of what we think.
And I’ve no reason to doubt him anyway, as we’re still sat in a very decent position, as much as these latest injuries might make things immediately more difficult.
“Twists and turns”, I keep reminding myself.
It’s what makes the Championship such an interesting league.
And frankly, much better than the Prem, I’m finding more and more.
that utd loanee has improved our defence for sure a improvement on elmo
preston coming back into this game now. two decent strikes on our goal
i think snoddy may be carrying a injury
hogan is looking sharp
we are having a massive wobble
Movement is poor and we lack options when defending.
i cant say movement is bad as it offends this site. but your correct its terrible. they started ok but they are stationary and passes are overhit and underhit
sadly we have lost our way. its all preston
Draw might be a good result and more injuries? We are jinxed and doomed!
hutton to the rescue. power driver saved for a corner
Jeesus 🙁
goalkeeper error 1 nil preston
bye bye 2nd lol hello playoffs
What a dirty, whining team Preston are. I thought they were better than that.
Keep the faith. We still have Whelan on the bench to save the day.
hutton is the only player we have that is driving at the preston defence, maybe snoddy too but thats sad when its the left back doing these runs
Consolation is Small Heath losing 2-0
preston are gonna catch villa with a sucker punch
We deserve to lose for being cautious and negative. Absolutely diabolical management.
Onomah should be sent back to Tottenham at half time, a gutless and spineless nobody who thinks he’s too big for this club.
Still in love with Bruce then Villain1!
Joking apart I really don’t rate Onomah at all – why can’t we play O’Hare rather than some Tottenham wannabe?
The system was working… it should never have been changed. Grabban should have come in for Adomah and Lansbury / O’Hare for Grealish. When you try to be overly cautious, it normally backfires and here we have the perfect evidence
Villain – agreed I had the team at Fulham except I would have switched Hutton right and brought in Taylor with Grabben in for Elmo playing wide but then everyone said the Manure youngster played really well. Still agree we should have played Grabben wide.
Bruce really needs yo show some faith in a couple of our U23’s especially if Grealish / Adomah are out for an extended period.
Need to drop the dm and go 442. Bring grabban on for birkir and lansbury for jedi. Have to go for it now. No messing around make the subs early for a change.
Hourihane’s been totally anonymous, for me.
I think i need to try and watch him more to see what he actually does.