At home but where is the comfort?

[chippy]

I don't post here often (but I come in here to read others comments everyday).
I don't think we should be hitting the panic button just yet. Lambert has only had one full season and one season is nothing to go by in football. I admit that there should be some sort of progress this season (finishing higher than 15th least).
We have to consider the teams we've been playing so far. Most of them have been top 8 teams. Ok we lost against Newcastle which was disappointing but we have beaten Arsenal and Man city. Our defensive side has been not bad considering who we've been playing. We haven't taken any hammerings yet which is good.
Ok the goals have tried up as of late and like others, I am concerned about our weak midfield. But lets look at the situation after 19 games. If after that point we're lower than where we are now then I want RL to tell PL that he needs to bring in some proven quality midfielder in January. If he doesn't then yeah I'm happy for a change.

[eastie]

I don't post here often (but I come in here to read others comments everyday).
I don't think we should be hitting the panic button just yet. Lambert has only had one full season and one season is nothing to go by in football. I admit that there should be some sort of progress this season (finishing higher than 15th least).
We have to consider the teams we've been playing so far. Most of them have been top 8 teams. Ok we lost against Newcastle which was disappointing but we have beaten Arsenal and Man city. Our defensive side has been not bad considering who we've been playing. We haven't taken any hammerings yet which is good.
Ok the goals have tried up as of late and like others, I am concerned about our weak midfield. But lets look at the situation after 19 games. If after that point we're lower than where we are now then I want RL to tell PL that he needs to bring in some proven quality midfielder in January. If he doesn't then yeah I'm happy for a change.

Good points chippy, you should post more often , my friend.

[supertom]

I don't post here often (but I come in here to read others comments everyday).
I don't think we should be hitting the panic button just yet. Lambert has only had one full season and one season is nothing to go by in football. I admit that there should be some sort of progress this season (finishing higher than 15th least).
We have to consider the teams we've been playing so far. Most of them have been top 8 teams. Ok we lost against Newcastle which was disappointing but we have beaten Arsenal and Man city. Our defensive side has been not bad considering who we've been playing. We haven't taken any hammerings yet which is good.
Ok the goals have tried up as of late and like others, I am concerned about our weak midfield. But lets look at the situation after 19 games. If after that point we're lower than where we are now then I want RL to tell PL that he needs to bring in some proven quality midfielder in January. If he doesn't then yeah I'm happy for a change.

Good points chippy, you should post more often , my friend.

Seconded.

[Ad@m]

From our next three games we should be looking at a minimum of 5 points, a realistic target of 7 points and ideally 9 points. 

If we get 7 or 9 I cannot wait to see the inevitable change in tone around this place!!

[eastie]

From our next three games we should be looking at a minimum of 5 points, a realistic target of 7 points and ideally 9 points. 

If we get 7 or 9 I cannot wait to see the inevitable change in tone around this place!!

Of course there will be - its a results business , if we had got got 7 from the last 9 we all be delighted and rightly so , but its understandable there are concerns after 1 in 9.

[supertom]

Really hate saying it but I can't see us beating the Tescos. They're a solid side and I think they might bully us out the game somewhat. I'd take a draw at this point.
5 should be bare minimum and if we can sneak a couple of wins in that run then that would be good. With the defence in pretty solid form, particularly against the lower end opposition who lack that extra quality, I fancy 2-3 more clean sheets. Cardiff is the one for me. We've got to win that game. If you look at the equivalent last season you'd compare them with Reading perhaps. We won that game last season in a period where we were struggling to win.
Sunderland is difficult to gauge. If Di Canio was there I'd actually fancy it as a nailed on 3 points. Poyet has a job and a half to do but he's at least level headed and smart, so we shall see. They will be looking at our home form and fancying that as a result that could help turn a corner. A draw or win. Preferably the latter.

Again, at this point I'd take a couple of sloppy 1-0 wins, and it may have to come to that. Whilst the defence is doing well, hopefully we have the resoluteness to do that. It might be time to give a few players a rest and see how hungry the likes of Helenius, Sylla and Tonev are. I'd also consider re-instating Lowts and pushing Bacuna further forward as his delivery from wide is fairly good. Weimann is doing nothing at the moment. Westwood and KEA are both poor. Benteke needs help.

[Ad@m]

From our next three games we should be looking at a minimum of 5 points, a realistic target of 7 points and ideally 9 points. 

If we get 7 or 9 I cannot wait to see the inevitable change in tone around this place!!

Of course there will be - its a results business , if we had got got 7 from the last 9 we all be delighted and rightly so , but its understandable there are concerns after 1 in 9.

Call it 2 in 12 if it makes you feel more despondent.

But that ignores the fact we've got two points and two clean sheets in our last two away games and lost the two home ones in between to teams who've been up around the Champions League spots consistenty for the past decade and in both we got a significantly better performance and slightly better results (-4 goal diff vs -6 goal diff) than in the same games the year before.

Oh, and the game before this run we beat a team who's spent more money on their team in the past 5 seasons than we've spent in the club's history.

[eastie]

Really hate saying it but I can't see us beating the Tescos. They're a solid side and I think they might bully us out the game somewhat. I'd take a draw at this point.
5 should be bare minimum and if we can sneak a couple of wins in that run then that would be good. With the defence in pretty solid form, particularly against the lower end opposition who lack that extra quality, I fancy 2-3 more clean sheets. Cardiff is the one for me. We've got to win that game. If you look at the equivalent last season you'd compare them with Reading perhaps. We won that game last season in a period where we were struggling to win.
Sunderland is difficult to gauge. If Di Canio was there I'd actually fancy it as a nailed on 3 points. Poyet has a job and a half to do but he's at least level headed and smart, so we shall see. They will be looking at our home form and fancying that as a result that could help turn a corner. A draw or win. Preferably the latter.

Again, at this point I'd take a couple of sloppy 1-0 wins, and it may have to come to that. Whilst the defence is doing well, hopefully we have the resoluteness to do that. It might be time to give a few players a rest and see how hungry the likes of Helenius, Sylla and Tonev are. I'd also consider re-instating Lowts and pushing Bacuna further forward as his delivery from wide is fairly good. Weimann is doing nothing at the moment. Westwood and KEA are both poor. Benteke needs help.

We need to beat Cardiff and Sunderland really and build some confidence at home - i fancy a draw at the hawthorns , I think all 3 will be very tough games though - no easy games at this level.

[supertom]

From our next three games we should be looking at a minimum of 5 points, a realistic target of 7 points and ideally 9 points. 

If we get 7 or 9 I cannot wait to see the inevitable change in tone around this place!!

Of course there will be - its a results business , if we had got got 7 from the last 9 we all be delighted and rightly so , but its understandable there are concerns after 1 in 9.

Likewise it depends on the manner of how we'd get 7 or 9 points. If we dish out 3-0 hidings and suddenly look brilliant in attack then a change of tone will hardly be surprising.

But obviously last season we had a short run where we played the 5 at the back where we went 5 unbeaten, including the impressive Liverpool win. It looked like a turning of the corner at that point, but we all know the run we went on after that. So I don't think 3 wins in the next 3 games will have everyone on here doing cartwheels.

Where we are by January is the key for me. I just want to get through xmas with us comfortably over the 20 point mark and well on the way to having survival locked up with a month or two to spare.

[Ads]

I saw the Albion at Stoke. They're no better than us.

[supertom]

Really hate saying it but I can't see us beating the Tescos. They're a solid side and I think they might bully us out the game somewhat. I'd take a draw at this point.
5 should be bare minimum and if we can sneak a couple of wins in that run then that would be good. With the defence in pretty solid form, particularly against the lower end opposition who lack that extra quality, I fancy 2-3 more clean sheets. Cardiff is the one for me. We've got to win that game. If you look at the equivalent last season you'd compare them with Reading perhaps. We won that game last season in a period where we were struggling to win.
Sunderland is difficult to gauge. If Di Canio was there I'd actually fancy it as a nailed on 3 points. Poyet has a job and a half to do but he's at least level headed and smart, so we shall see. They will be looking at our home form and fancying that as a result that could help turn a corner. A draw or win. Preferably the latter.

Again, at this point I'd take a couple of sloppy 1-0 wins, and it may have to come to that. Whilst the defence is doing well, hopefully we have the resoluteness to do that. It might be time to give a few players a rest and see how hungry the likes of Helenius, Sylla and Tonev are. I'd also consider re-instating Lowts and pushing Bacuna further forward as his delivery from wide is fairly good. Weimann is doing nothing at the moment. Westwood and KEA are both poor. Benteke needs help.

We need to beat Cardiff and Sunderland really and build some confidence at home - i fancy a draw at the hawthorns , I think all 3 will be very tough games though - no easy games at this level.

Indeed. There's very little between the current bottom 12 (minus Palace who are virtually gone already). Even Sunderland have a few half decent players who could turn things round for them if they hit some form. Adam Johnson still needs to prove his worth there. Fletcher has shown he's got goals in him at this level. It's actually a lot of O Neill's signings ironically that might turn things for them, more so than Di Canio's largely head scratching selection from the 15 players he bought in.

[eastie]

From our next three games we should be looking at a minimum of 5 points, a realistic target of 7 points and ideally 9 points. 

If we get 7 or 9 I cannot wait to see the inevitable change in tone around this place!!

Of course there will be - its a results business , if we had got got 7 from the last 9 we all be delighted and rightly so , but its understandable there are concerns after 1 in 9.

Call it 2 in 12 if it makes you feel more despondent.

But that ignores the fact we've got two points and two clean sheets in our last two away games and lost the two home ones in between to teams who've been up around the Champions League spots consistenty for the past decade and in both we got a significantly better performance and slightly better results (-4 goal diff vs -6 goal diff) than in the same games the year before.

Oh, and the game before this run we beat a team who's spent more money on their team in the past 5 seasons than we've spent in the club's history.

You seem to be placing everton and spurs on something of a pedestal there , almost as if we shouldn't expect anything against either.

Brings back memories of Mcleish with his what do you expect attitude against the so called big boys .
Tottenham and everton are from arsenal and man utd.

[supertom]

I saw the Albion at Stoke. They're no better than us.

That would suggest a draw is on the cards mate!

Ads, you're a brave man for watching that game too. It must have been horrific.

If we win against Cardiff we then have the break before the next game so that could well give us enough time to really get Benteke up to 100% fitness. The baggies game will be very tight and it might take a bit of class to win it. Benteke would be the one to provide that as they don't really have that standout sort of player at the moment.

[Ads]

They had some decent chances, especialy at the end. I tell you what, they're a right bunch of slack jawed yokels too.

A derby game is a great leveller. Look how awful we were from December to February, yet we could and should have been four up at half time.

I think it will be a draw too; a good result, especially if we pick up six points at home. We would be on 18 going into more winnable games in December.

[Ad@m]

You seem to be placing everton and spurs on something of a pedestal there , almost as if we shouldn't expect anything against either.

Brings back memories of Mcleish with his what do you expect attitude against the so called big boys .
Tottenham and everton are from arsenal and man utd.

I'm not placing them on a pedestal at all.  I just remember Everton ripping us to pieces in 45 minutes at the start of last season and had they not given up at half time we'd have conceded a lot more than the 3 we did concede that day.  And Spurs did much the same last season without really breaking sweat.  I'm not fawning over those two but the reality is they've both got much better teams and squads, yet despite that we could've and should've beaten Everton and made much more of a game of it against Spurs than we did last season.

If that's not classed as progress I'm not sure what is.  To be expecting us to go from being utterly thrashed by those teams one season to expecting us to be doing the same to them the following season without spending too much money is crazy.