Anybody starting to get worried…… again?

[Steve67]

Burnley have Wolves and Watford next. Two wins and Everton and Leeds are dragged back in. Erm, we need a couple of games where we don’t concede daft early goals.  Norwich has to be three points, be happy with a point against Leicester.

[Behind Bluenose Lines]

Hopefully Marvelous will start against Leicester and bolster our midfield from here on in. He'd been playing so well before his injury. We all need our nerves settling now, particularly after tonight.

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Smith and Gerrard have the same issue in midfield; its not very good, particularly off the ball and in covering our concentration deficient centre halves.

[Beard82]

Hopefully Marvelous will start against Leicester and bolster our midfield from here on in. He'd been playing so well before his injury. We all need our nerves settling now, particularly after tonight.

Think Marv will help.  I think our team lacks balance - too many similar players - midfield has basically 3 8's trying to covering the rest

Mings and Konsa are both good defensively, but not great on the ball.. etc

Think Marv adds a something different - hes not perfect but think hes energy and more defensive midset will balance the team better

[olaftab]

I have to admit I'm starting to get a little concerned....that I might be trampled in all the backtracking that will be going on next season when we're doing well.

I will just love it yes LOVE IT if we do…

[Villafirst]

Smith and Gerrard have the same issue in midfield; its not very good, particularly off the ball and in covering our concentration deficient centre halves.

Nakamba's return will help protect the the CB's allowing McGinn and Luiz more freedom in a better balanced midfield. The legacy of not signing a top DM in January after Nakamba got injured.

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Think the lack of draws is testament to that. 11 wins and 17 defeats, with 3 draws. A few teams like Leicester have pretty barmy result sets like that.

While I appreciate some are talking about relegation battles, and whether they're being genuine I don't know, but we've lost 9 games by a single goal. How many gifts? How many moments of individual stupidity? How many genuine goals where you've shrugged and gone, fair play, worldie that? It's heavily and almost exclusively ladden with the former.

Sides aren't working hard to score against us as we are beyond generous. We have been all season, slightly less generous under Gerrard as there's more structure, but even turning 2 into wins and 2 into draws nestles us within a shout of top 8. Extrapolate that over Smith's 10 and who knows.

I wasn't a fan of Marv, but he has impressed me though and proved me wrong. I don't think he's long term the answer for top half and beyond, but I am pretty convinced Ramsey and McGinn will.operate better with him than Luiz. Same goes for Konsa/Chambers and Mings.

[ROBBO]

I'm worried because I hav'nt seen any indication of Gerrard coming to terms with how to structure the side. I see Young playing left back and shudder I see Luiz out of form yet his names always on the team sheet. Newcastle has gone above us with what is for me a far inferior squad. I worry that yet again we will let a new manager, unproven at the top level, spend a fortune on players only to be sacked a few months later. I feel depressed.

[OzVilla]

I'm worried based on the fact that I don't see where our next point is coming from and I'm not sure the players are mentally as invested as they should be.

Right now, I'm basically putting everything on beating Norwich and not losing to Burnley twice.  If we don't do either of those things then we could be in trouble still.

Thank McGrath we've already got to 36 points, so of course we should be safe, but the above is an absolute recipe for disaster.

[olaftab]

The inescapable truth is that Gerrard has placed us in our current predicament at this juncture. I think we are safe but, bloody hell, being 15th and fretting about other teams results is a terrible indictment of Gerrard’s performance so far.

[Big Ming]

 Can't understand why Chambers never got a run out as a defensive mid - a position he has experienced before.

Persisting with Luiz has been a mistake. He should have been pushed further forward at the expense of McGinn or Ramsay (McGinn has been particularly sloppy and his loss of possession has been directly responsible for key goals against).

Whether Marvelous make the difference rather depends on which version we are going to see.

[Mister E]

Whether Marvelous make the difference rather depends on which version we are going to see.

After the injury he's had, how long will it get up to speed? Relying on him as the man to halt the losing streak seems a little hopeful; much as I'd love it to happen, starting tomorrow.
Perhaps interchanging him and Chambers at DMF would work - to ease him back into the game - but Mr Gerrard has not used Chambers in that role as yet.

[kippaxvilla2]

In all seriousness I do think we’ve just about done enough to stay up at this stage.  But I still have this massive sense of anti climax and disappointment at his performance especially since Christmas.  It’s essentially his tactics and inability to spot danger and change during a game that are my biggest concerns.  That seems to be ingrained and any amount of money thrown at the squad isn’t going to fix that unless he learns quickly.  Which in turn annoys me that we’ve appointed a rookie manager to do just that.

[N'ZMAV]

The inescapable truth is that Gerrard has placed us in our current predicament at this juncture. I think we are safe but, bloody hell, being 15th and fretting about other teams results is a terrible indictment of Gerrard’s performance so far.

Gerrard alone?

[Beard82]

This has been a hugely disappointing season - we were aiming for a top half finish - and apparently budgeted for that.  To an outsider it will look like we are further away than last season.  Which is a shame after the progress we made in the previous 3

I think everyone involved with the club has to take there share of responsibility for that.  Both managers have failed to get us the results that our squad deserves.

Our transfer business last summer looks Poorly thought out in hindsight.  Failure to get more options in midfield was also a big mistake

The players, Cash and Ramsey aside have all been worse this season than last season

Our pre season was a joke.

Everyone involved needs to learn lessons from this if we are to progress significantly.

It’s a big ask, and for some involved it will be too big a ask - but it’s essential we get these things right or the next year or two otherwise we risk becoming Everton. 

We’re not going down, Gerrard is going to get backed in the summer and a lot of the ingredients are there - so let’s hope we can lift the curse of averageness that has hung over the club for too long

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