Thinking The Unthinkable

[Holte L2]

The thing is, Lambert is hardly Guardiola is he?  Norwich's football last season was functional, but certainly not spectacular, and Lambert seems to be getting away wih poor results simply because he isn't McLeish.  Even Mark Hughes tries to play better football than McLeish, so does just about every manager in the league.

No, he's not Guardiola, you're right there, but he is compared to McLeish. We've played more decent football this season so far than in the entirety of last.

Nobody is particularly happy with the way things are at the moment, but beyond being angry for the sake of it, what are the ultimate options available to us? What should we do?

Sack the manager? Get some quality in in January? Start getting behind the team more? Start booing them to show how unhappy we are?

Serious question - what should we do?

The Board have got to give Lambert the financial backing we need.  Otherwise, Lambert's just being hungout to dry.  The difference between the scenario from last season is we made the boards life easy for them becasue we didnt like TSM.

If the Board don't back Lambert the knives will seriously be out for Lerner as it's so apparant we need funding.

We're playing much better football than last season and we are at least showing a willingness and commitment. This wasnt there last season. 
From a supporters point of view, we need to concentrate our efforts on getting behind the team.  A Full vibrant crowd is only going to encourage the team.

[curiousorange]

A couple of wins will not make it okay. We need a couple of wins followed by some better form. No point dragging yourself clear only to sink back into the mire. Reading got a great result against Everton but I can't see them putting together a run as they're too brittle. Sunderland could go either way - terrible against us, better yesterday (though not great). Southampton are one of those sides too, and I can't imagine Norwich, Stoke or even Swansea being safe until close to the end of the season. What we need is to get clear soon and stay clear. If we've a buffer by January we'll stay clear.

One thing I think is that you'll be able to spot the relegated teams a mile off by mid-season. It'll be the bottom three playing catch-up.

[Risso]

A couple of wins will not make it okay. We need a couple of wins followed by some better form. No point dragging yourself clear only to sink back into the mire. Reading got a great result against Everton but I can't see them putting together a run as they're too brittle. Sunderland could go either way - terrible against us, better yesterday (though not great). Southampton are one of those sides too, and I can't imagine Norwich, Stoke or even Swansea being safe until close to the end of the season. What we need is to get clear soon and stay clear. If we've a buffer by January we'll stay clear.

One thing I think is that you'll be able to spot the relegated teams a mile off by mid-season. It'll be the bottom three playing catch-up.

I think we're in for a season of struggle with Saints, Reading and Wigan.  Sunderland will come good as they are showing signs of doing.  Norwich will be OK as they seem to be getting more and more confident and have a decent defence.

[VillaAlways]

A couple of wins will not make it okay. We need a couple of wins followed by some better form. No point dragging yourself clear only to sink back into the mire. Reading got a great result against Everton but I can't see them putting together a run as they're too brittle. Sunderland could go either way - terrible against us, better yesterday (though not great). Southampton are one of those sides too, and I can't imagine Norwich, Stoke or even Swansea being safe until close to the end of the season. What we need is to get clear soon and stay clear. If we've a buffer by January we'll stay clear.

One thing I think is that you'll be able to spot the relegated teams a mile off by mid-season. It'll be the bottom three playing catch-up.

I think we're in for a season of struggle with Saints, Reading and Wigan.  Sunderland will come good as they are showing signs of doing.  Norwich will be OK as they seem to be getting more and more confident and have a decent defence.

We,d been showing signs of coming good.We've just got no bloody consistancy and are incredibly brittle.We desperately need some experienced heads in the side

[pauliewalnuts]

A couple of wins will not make it okay. We need a couple of wins followed by some better form. No point dragging yourself clear only to sink back into the mire. Reading got a great result against Everton but I can't see them putting together a run as they're too brittle. Sunderland could go either way - terrible against us, better yesterday (though not great). Southampton are one of those sides too, and I can't imagine Norwich, Stoke or even Swansea being safe until close to the end of the season. What we need is to get clear soon and stay clear. If we've a buffer by January we'll stay clear.

One thing I think is that you'll be able to spot the relegated teams a mile off by mid-season. It'll be the bottom three playing catch-up.

I think we're in for a season of struggle with Saints, Reading and Wigan.  Sunderland will come good as they are showing signs of doing.  Norwich will be OK as they seem to be getting more and more confident and have a decent defence.

Sunderland beat Fulham, but Fulham were down to ten men. They (Sunderland) didn't look too good when we beat them recently, so where are these signs of them coming good which go beyond where we were three weeks ago?

I don't understand the logic (talking generally, not you) whereby other teams are about to spring into action when they've largely looked as poor as we have.

[ktvillan]

One area where PL has not improved upon TSM is in defending set pieces and especially corners.  At least three of those have recently cost us up to four points - against Fulham and Norwich from corners, and Man Yoo from a free kick.   We need to do what Norwich have done and tighten it up defensively. They got only 3 points from their first 7 games and shipped 5 against Fulham and Liverpool, and 4 at Chelsea.  Since then they've only conceded 1 Premier League goal in five games (against us of all teams), which has helped them to beat Man Yoo, Arsenal and Stoke and pick up 11 from 15.  They've obviously worked on something in training. 

[VillaAlways]

A couple of wins will not make it okay. We need a couple of wins followed by some better form. No point dragging yourself clear only to sink back into the mire. Reading got a great result against Everton but I can't see them putting together a run as they're too brittle. Sunderland could go either way - terrible against us, better yesterday (though not great). Southampton are one of those sides too, and I can't imagine Norwich, Stoke or even Swansea being safe until close to the end of the season. What we need is to get clear soon and stay clear. If we've a buffer by January we'll stay clear.

One thing I think is that you'll be able to spot the relegated teams a mile off by mid-season. It'll be the bottom three playing catch-up.

I think we're in for a season of struggle with Saints, Reading and Wigan.  Sunderland will come good as they are showing signs of doing.  Norwich will be OK as they seem to be getting more and more confident and have a decent defence.

Sunderland beat Fulham, but Fulham were down to ten men. They (Sunderland) didn't look too good when we beat them recently, so where are these signs of them coming good which go beyond where we were three weeks ago?

.

They(apparently) were very unfortunate against Everton and should have been 3-0 up at half time,so they are creating chances now.They have one of the best defensive records in the league

[pauliewalnuts]

A couple of wins will not make it okay. We need a couple of wins followed by some better form. No point dragging yourself clear only to sink back into the mire. Reading got a great result against Everton but I can't see them putting together a run as they're too brittle. Sunderland could go either way - terrible against us, better yesterday (though not great). Southampton are one of those sides too, and I can't imagine Norwich, Stoke or even Swansea being safe until close to the end of the season. What we need is to get clear soon and stay clear. If we've a buffer by January we'll stay clear.

One thing I think is that you'll be able to spot the relegated teams a mile off by mid-season. It'll be the bottom three playing catch-up.

I think we're in for a season of struggle with Saints, Reading and Wigan.  Sunderland will come good as they are showing signs of doing.  Norwich will be OK as they seem to be getting more and more confident and have a decent defence.

Sunderland beat Fulham, but Fulham were down to ten men. They (Sunderland) didn't look too good when we beat them recently, so where are these signs of them coming good which go beyond where we were three weeks ago?

.

They(apparently) were very unfortunate against Everton and should have been 3-0 up at half time,so they are creating chances now.They have one of the best defensive records in the league

If you take a look at the main Sunderland forum prior to last week, you'll see thread after thread lamenting just how shit they were.

This is the club that managed 7 shots on goal across 9 games.

[Kneecap]

I feel very optimistic and don't believe we've got anything to worry about.  We've had a few bad breaks this season, but they will turn around for us.  With the 3 point system a few good games and it will all look a lot different.

[Concrete John]

I agree the defending needs to improve!

I remember the almost overwhelming feeling earlier this season was that it was going to be a case of ups and downs.  Nothing has really changed, other than there being a few too many downs so far.  But with as inexperienced a side as we have, I think it was always going to be a case of the ups getting more frequent as we went along and learned from our mistakes.   

[VillaAlways]

A couple of wins will not make it okay. We need a couple of wins followed by some better form. No point dragging yourself clear only to sink back into the mire. Reading got a great result against Everton but I can't see them putting together a run as they're too brittle. Sunderland could go either way - terrible against us, better yesterday (though not great). Southampton are one of those sides too, and I can't imagine Norwich, Stoke or even Swansea being safe until close to the end of the season. What we need is to get clear soon and stay clear. If we've a buffer by January we'll stay clear.

One thing I think is that you'll be able to spot the relegated teams a mile off by mid-season. It'll be the bottom three playing catch-up.

I think we're in for a season of struggle with Saints, Reading and Wigan.  Sunderland will come good as they are showing signs of doing.  Norwich will be OK as they seem to be getting more and more confident and have a decent defence.

Sunderland beat Fulham, but Fulham were down to ten men. They (Sunderland) didn't look too good when we beat them recently, so where are these signs of them coming good which go beyond where we were three weeks ago?

.

They(apparently) were very unfortunate against Everton and should have been 3-0 up at half time,so they are creating chances now.They have one of the best defensive records in the league

If you take a look at the main Sunderland forum prior to last week, you'll see thread after thread lamenting just how shit they were.

This is the club that managed 7 shots on goal across 9 games.

I haven't looked but I bet the forum makes different reading today.I just would't be surprised if thet put tugether a string of results now.MO'N has it in him to do that unfortunately

[pauliewalnuts]

A couple of wins will not make it okay. We need a couple of wins followed by some better form. No point dragging yourself clear only to sink back into the mire. Reading got a great result against Everton but I can't see them putting together a run as they're too brittle. Sunderland could go either way - terrible against us, better yesterday (though not great). Southampton are one of those sides too, and I can't imagine Norwich, Stoke or even Swansea being safe until close to the end of the season. What we need is to get clear soon and stay clear. If we've a buffer by January we'll stay clear.

One thing I think is that you'll be able to spot the relegated teams a mile off by mid-season. It'll be the bottom three playing catch-up.

I think we're in for a season of struggle with Saints, Reading and Wigan.  Sunderland will come good as they are showing signs of doing.  Norwich will be OK as they seem to be getting more and more confident and have a decent defence.

Sunderland beat Fulham, but Fulham were down to ten men. They (Sunderland) didn't look too good when we beat them recently, so where are these signs of them coming good which go beyond where we were three weeks ago?

.

They(apparently) were very unfortunate against Everton and should have been 3-0 up at half time,so they are creating chances now.They have one of the best defensive records in the league

If you take a look at the main Sunderland forum prior to last week, you'll see thread after thread lamenting just how shit they were.

This is the club that managed 7 shots on goal across 9 games.

I haven't looked but I bet the forum makes different reading today.I just would't be surprised if thet put tugether a string of results now.MO'N has it in him to do that unfortunately

Like this place did after we beat Sunderland?

And even after we lost to Man United? Which, lest we forget, was only a week ago.

[exiled on the wirral!]

What does worry me is that we dont seem to have much luck this season, saturday a perfect example. Its almost as if we used all our good luck in stopping up last season when we relied on others failures in the end. On the plus side 7 of our first 12 games have been away from home so it was always going to be difficult. With 3 of our next 4 games at home maybe we can string a bit of form together, and after boxing day the fixtures look a little kinder to us, so i dont think its time for desperation just yet.

I would be happy with a boring 0-0 on against Arsenal, it might install confidence in our very brittle defence and give us a platform to build on. What has to improve though is our defending especially at set peices, we are only going 1 way if that isnt sorted soon.

[not3bad]

A couple of wins will not make it okay. We need a couple of wins followed by some better form. No point dragging yourself clear only to sink back into the mire. Reading got a great result against Everton but I can't see them putting together a run as they're too brittle. Sunderland could go either way - terrible against us, better yesterday (though not great). Southampton are one of those sides too, and I can't imagine Norwich, Stoke or even Swansea being safe until close to the end of the season. What we need is to get clear soon and stay clear. If we've a buffer by January we'll stay clear.

One thing I think is that you'll be able to spot the relegated teams a mile off by mid-season. It'll be the bottom three playing catch-up.

I think we're in for a season of struggle with Saints, Reading and Wigan.  Sunderland will come good as they are showing signs of doing.  Norwich will be OK as they seem to be getting more and more confident and have a decent defence.

I take it you think QPR will also be OK once they've got rid of Hughes?

[Risso]

Like this place did after we beat Sunderland?

And even after we lost to Man United? Which, lest we forget, was only a week ago.

After the Man U performance we had lots of people saying the usual "if we play like that every week.....".  As I said at the time, it never, ever works out like that.