Negativity

[eastie]

Everything is not great and our home form is a great concern as is okore being injured - but a week ago there was a really good positive feeling around - surely one defeat as poor as it was shouldnt cause so many alarm bells to ring ?

Win at Norwich and things will be much more positive.

Saturday was unacceptable as a display but thats our 1st poor game this season.

[Ron Manager]

Perhaps we ought to play all out home games at Northampton. We could share with Coventry!

[Irish villain]

I just sometimes feel we have been left behind somewhat. I cannot believe the likes of Newcastle, Leeds, Everton and Spurs have played in the 'modern' Champion's League and we haven't. I think not qualifying for it at east once in the past ten or fifteen years has held us back. Money wise, player wise.

A club of our size needs to be playing in Europe more regularly. The last time you could say we ripped up any trees on such a stage was 1998 in the Uefa Cup. Like, seriously, we have been underachieving for absolutely ages. We probably were a bit unlucky that the few good seasons we had since then (the sixths under DOL and MON), weren't enough for automatic European qualification.

[KevinGage]

Totally agree. 

We have no divine right to it, but a club our size should be looking to qualify (and then compete) in Europe on a regular basis. 

A lot is made of the UEFA Cup/ Europa League not being what it was, but there are still top draw sides in it who seem to be able to take the thing seriously.  Ajax at home and Hamburg away were some of the best nights in the clubs recent history, and I fail to see how games such as those wouldn't help our development. 

The previous argument (that there were too many games, and it might be a distraction for sides with Chamions League aspirations) doesn't really apply to us anymore. And won't for the foreseeable.    Unless we are now one of those clubs for whom the Premier League alone is enough, and survival means everything. 

Cut the budget to the extent that we have since 2010, and that's the knock on effect.  Low aspirations and low morale across the support base and across the club in general.

[ozzjim]

I was a bit surprised at how little we spent again this summer I have to admit. I though we would, with the TV deal, spend a little more on 2-3 players that could make the difference, but hopefully they are still targets.

[dave.woodhall]

I was a bit surprised at how little we spent again this summer I have to admit. I though we would, with the TV deal, spend a little more on 2-3 players that could make the difference, but hopefully they are still targets.

I was surprised how little was spent by most clubs. The bankrolled and the desperate threw money around but the rest of us weren't much bigger spenders than usual.

[ROBBO]

Saw your interview before the Newcastle game, i would have liked for him to have interviewed you after the game as well.

[Ads]

You would think that we stand a decent chance of coming close to turning a profit this financial year.

[paul_e]

Everything is not great and our home form is a great concern as is okore being injured - but a week ago there was a really good positive feeling around - surely one defeat as poor as it was shouldnt cause so many alarm bells to ring ?

Win at Norwich and things will be much more positive.

Saturday was unacceptable as a display but thats our 1st poor game this season.

To add further context to this, in 2013 our record is played 22, won 7, drawn 5 and lost 10, for 26 points and a goal difference of +1.  Extended to 38 games that 45 points which would've seen us in 11th last year.  So whilst Newcastle was bad, the idea that Lambert is under pressure to keep his job or that we're going to be in a relegation battle all season again isn't based on the facts of our extended form this year or on our performances this season.

[supertom]

Everything is not great and our home form is a great concern as is okore being injured - but a week ago there was a really good positive feeling around - surely one defeat as poor as it was shouldnt cause so many alarm bells to ring ?

Win at Norwich and things will be much more positive.

Saturday was unacceptable as a display but thats our 1st poor game this season.

To add further context to this, in 2013 our record is played 22, won 7, drawn 5 and lost 10, for 26 points and a goal difference of +1.  Extended to 38 games that 45 points which would've seen us in 11th last year.  So whilst Newcastle was bad, the idea that Lambert is under pressure to keep his job or that we're going to be in a relegation battle all season again isn't based on the facts of our extended form this year or on our performances this season.

The worry though Paul, or one of them at least, is that we might have had our card marked. I actually don't think our away form will be as effective as it was in the tail end of last season, and even so, we only really beat the sides in and around us. Our total lack of a plan B could be a major problem, because if we continue not winning at home, it puts enormous pressure on us to win away. The Arsenal game will wake a lot of the bigger teams up to our threat on the counter, they'll be a lot more careful playing us on their own patch, and even so I wouldn't expect us to win more than 2 away games against top 6 sides for the rest of the season.

Again, a major issue is that everything appears to be on Benteke right now. We're almost expecting him to score 2-3 a game in order to win because we can't keep clean sheets. We need other players to chip in with goals. Thus far, though Gabby's made several of our goals, he's not looked like scoring, and nor has Wiemann really. Glaring misses by both haven't helped. Delph seems like he could potentially provide goals from midfield, but he needs more freedom, because hes basically carrying the can for the entire midfield at the moment.

If we're gonna rely purely on away form it might not be enough. Home form should be a primary focus. It's got to improve. Even if that means stepping it up from piss poor to average, that should see us finish mid-table.

[MarkM]

Everything is not great and our home form is a great concern as is okore being injured - but a week ago there was a really good positive feeling around - surely one defeat as poor as it was shouldnt cause so many alarm bells to ring ?

Win at Norwich and things will be much more positive.

Saturday was unacceptable as a display but thats our 1st poor game this season.

To add further context to this, in 2013 our record is played 22, won 7, drawn 5 and lost 10, for 26 points and a goal difference of +1.  Extended to 38 games that 45 points which would've seen us in 11th last year.  So whilst Newcastle was bad, the idea that Lambert is under pressure to keep his job or that we're going to be in a relegation battle all season again isn't based on the facts of our extended form this year or on our performances this season.

If we look at averages then in the last 10 years our league finishing position is 10th with 49 points.

However our last three seasons the average is 13th with only 42 points

And the last two seasons its 15th with 39 points

[paul_e]

I actually don't think our away form will be as effective as it was in the tail end of last season

Based on what?  Our 2 away games this season have been Arsenal and Chelsea, where we won one and lost the other to an offside goal to a player who should've been red carded a minute before and had a clear penalty not given in the last few minutes.  There is nothing in that to suggest we won't be as good away from home.

Again, a major issue is that everything appears to be on Benteke right now. We're almost expecting him to score 2-3 a game in order to win because we can't keep clean sheets. We need other players to chip in with goals. Thus far, though Gabby's made several of our goals, he's not looked like scoring, and nor has Wiemann really. Glaring misses by both haven't helped. Delph seems like he could potentially provide goals from midfield, but he needs more freedom, because hes basically carrying the can for the entire midfield at the moment.

We are relying on Benteke, I agree, but given that we are where a lot of people would've predicted after our incredibly difficult start that's not really a massive negative.  We won't go all season with no one but Benteke looking a threat, so we can assume that we'll get better once Weimann and Gabby start taking their chances, I also think we will see more goals from the rest of the team as the season progresses, Delph has the ability, Vlaar and Clark will get a few and Lowton and Luna have shown they have a bit of class as well, I do worry we don't have goals in the midfield as Westwood and KEA don't seem likely, and the popular choice to come in is Sylla who also doesn't seem to have many goals in him.  As the season progresses I'd suspect that 1 or 2 of Bacuna, Tonev and Gardner (even Grealish and Carruthers when they come back) will become a viable option to grab a few goals in there, even if that is coming off the bench in the last half an hour.

Everyone knows our home form needs to improve, that much is clear, but our home form in 2013 has improved from 2012 (5 wins in 11 home games in 2013, 3 in 20 in 2012) so to be panicking about our abysmal home form right now is far too soon, Liverpool we played well and deserved something, Newcastle was clearly a poor performance.  The issue is people have watch that poor performance and allowed it to become the expectation for every home game from here on in.  We won't be that poor every match at home.

[paul_e]

Everything is not great and our home form is a great concern as is okore being injured - but a week ago there was a really good positive feeling around - surely one defeat as poor as it was shouldnt cause so many alarm bells to ring ?

Win at Norwich and things will be much more positive.

Saturday was unacceptable as a display but thats our 1st poor game this season.

To add further context to this, in 2013 our record is played 22, won 7, drawn 5 and lost 10, for 26 points and a goal difference of +1.  Extended to 38 games that 45 points which would've seen us in 11th last year.  So whilst Newcastle was bad, the idea that Lambert is under pressure to keep his job or that we're going to be in a relegation battle all season again isn't based on the facts of our extended form this year or on our performances this season.

If we look at averages then in the last 10 years our league finishing position is 10th with 49 points.

However our last three seasons the average is 13th with only 42 points

And the last two seasons its 15th with 39 points

Which proves that our form in 2013 is better than it had been for a few years, thanks for the backup!.

[PaulWinch again]

It's a good point on Gardner actually, I'd like to see him being introduced because I think he'd add a goal threat to our midfield.

[supertom]

I don't think our away form will be quite as effective based on the fact we don't appear to have another way of playing. I base this on previous managers who got worked out, some more quicker than others. O Leary had us playing high tempo football intitially. He struggled initially, but for the whole of 2004 we were very good, finishing 6th, and starting the next season quite well. From then on, because he had no other way of playing, because teams had sussed us, we weren't as good.
Likewise Brian Little had two great seasons, but it all went down hill on his third. People had worked out how to counter our system.

I think teams are going to be a lot more wary of our pace on the counter this season. And what have we learned in tough times since Lambert took over? That when it comes to changing things in a game, he more often than not, makes a bit of a howler. That the 4-2-4 still crops up is evidence of that.

I hope I'm wrong, but perennially when we've only had 1-2 ways of playing, even in more successful periods, it doesn't last when some degree of flexibility isn't apparent.

I think one of the major things we've lacked in the last couple of years is that ability to just really grind out a result. I'm not sure Lambert's good at winning ugly. A lot of our wins last season were done with some element of style, or through sheer attacking will, but when the attack isn't quite doing it, we don't have the resilience to hold out and scrape a goal. Winning games 3-2 is one thing, but we need that ability to nick 1-0's in games too. That's if we want to finish comfortably in the mid level of the table. Certainly the ability to nick a win would come in mightily useful if Benteke got injured.