Quote from: CT on September 16, 2021, 08:00:42 AMQuote from: Risso on September 16, 2021, 07:37:33 AMThe trouble is how often have we said "if we play like that all season we'll be fine" to then not go and play anywhere near as well in the next game.How many times have we heard that over the years? “This is the standard, this is our benchmark” and then play nowhere near that standard. Yep. Perfect example last season, stuff Liverpool at home and then deservedly beat Leicester away, to ship 7 goals in losing to Leeds and Southampton at home. Beat Leeds away, then lost at home to Sheffield United. I guess that's football to an extent, but Smith's teams always seem to struggle with consistency.
Quote from: Risso on September 16, 2021, 07:37:33 AMThe trouble is how often have we said "if we play like that all season we'll be fine" to then not go and play anywhere near as well in the next game.How many times have we heard that over the years? “This is the standard, this is our benchmark” and then play nowhere near that standard.
The trouble is how often have we said "if we play like that all season we'll be fine" to then not go and play anywhere near as well in the next game.
Quote from: Risso on September 16, 2021, 09:23:34 AMQuote from: CT on September 16, 2021, 08:00:42 AMQuote from: Risso on September 16, 2021, 07:37:33 AMThe trouble is how often have we said "if we play like that all season we'll be fine" to then not go and play anywhere near as well in the next game.How many times have we heard that over the years? “This is the standard, this is our benchmark” and then play nowhere near that standard. Yep. Perfect example last season, stuff Liverpool at home and then deservedly beat Leicester away, to ship 7 goals in losing to Leeds and Southampton at home. Beat Leeds away, then lost at home to Sheffield United. I guess that's football to an extent, but Smith's teams always seem to struggle with consistency.I think consistency is something you don't see much of in the Premier League outside the top 4. Leicester, who only missed out on the Top 4 on the last day lost back-to-back games four times last season, and only won one of their last 5 games.I'd love us to be consistent, week in, week out, but the reality is we're going to have bad games, games where we're simply outplayed, and games where we give the opposition the result rather than them 'earning' it like we did against Chelsea.For me, this season has to be about avoiding long runs of bad results, which has been fairly typical when we've been without Grealish in the past. Let's see if we can avoid going three or four games without a win. Let's try and make back-to-back wins a more regular occurrence (we only did it once in the whole of the second half of last season). If we do that, we'll match last season and maybe even better it.
Quote from: Smithy on September 16, 2021, 11:36:25 AMQuote from: Risso on September 16, 2021, 09:23:34 AMQuote from: CT on September 16, 2021, 08:00:42 AMQuote from: Risso on September 16, 2021, 07:37:33 AMThe trouble is how often have we said "if we play like that all season we'll be fine" to then not go and play anywhere near as well in the next game.How many times have we heard that over the years? “This is the standard, this is our benchmark” and then play nowhere near that standard. Yep. Perfect example last season, stuff Liverpool at home and then deservedly beat Leicester away, to ship 7 goals in losing to Leeds and Southampton at home. Beat Leeds away, then lost at home to Sheffield United. I guess that's football to an extent, but Smith's teams always seem to struggle with consistency.I think consistency is something you don't see much of in the Premier League outside the top 4. Leicester, who only missed out on the Top 4 on the last day lost back-to-back games four times last season, and only won one of their last 5 games.I'd love us to be consistent, week in, week out, but the reality is we're going to have bad games, games where we're simply outplayed, and games where we give the opposition the result rather than them 'earning' it like we did against Chelsea.For me, this season has to be about avoiding long runs of bad results, which has been fairly typical when we've been without Grealish in the past. Let's see if we can avoid going three or four games without a win. Let's try and make back-to-back wins a more regular occurrence (we only did it once in the whole of the second half of last season). If we do that, we'll match last season and maybe even better it.It’s just a worry that if you take the second half of last season into account, we’re still bumbling along at just over a point a game, which given the money spent is a bit crap.
At the risk of using the phrase 'false narrative', I think the 'money spent' argument is a distorted chronicle. We had to spend half the money to even be in with a shout of standing still. Then a big chunk of it came from the sale of a Man City player who had been pretty integral to what we were. Obviously, it could go tits-up, but we haven't really had a chance to see where we can go with these new lads.
I think it does nowadays.Lampard - Tuchel Etc