Why I'm excited for next season

[Agent Balti]

Mags and Co can't help it. It's in their genes.

Anyone who can't see the changes being made are either blinkered or have an agenda.
The signs are already there.

based on what exactly? I'm not anti Adkins either. Once the decision has been made (that i can't affect) then i'm 100% behind
whoever is in charge, playing staff etc

A few purple patches here and there but still 1 point in nine and tbf totally outplayed by each of the three teams for a majority
of the games. And no amateur hour, highly selective stats either please.

Based on the fact that the players were probably PROUD of their performance for once, rather than feeling like they were having the shit kicked out of them every week by playing Neanderthal hoofball for 95% of the season.

The situation was never one of starting from scratch. Mentally, the players were/are wrecked. Expecting them to get any more points than 1 from 9 (and let's face it, we'd have expected 1 point from Southampton more than from Liverpool, no?) is just folly.

Changing the philosophy of play, instilling some kind of belief, despite knowing you're likely to be relegated...all of that takes a lot more than 3 games. And if a 0-0 with a world class performance from your keeper does the trick, I'm not complaining. It's something to build on. It IS better than being spanked 4 or 5, even if we didn't win.

[creative_username_1]

Mags and Co can't help it. It's in their genes.

Anyone who can't see the changes being made are either blinkered or have an agenda.
The signs are already there.

based on what exactly? I'm not anti Adkins either. Once the decision has been made (that i can't affect) then i'm 100% behind
whoever is in charge, playing staff etc

A few purple patches here and there but still 1 point in nine and tbf totally outplayed by each of the three teams for a majority
of the games. And no amateur hour, highly selective stats either please.

Based on the fact that the players were probably PROUD of their performance for once, rather than feeling like they were having the shit kicked out of them every week by playing Neanderthal hoofball for 95% of the season.

The situation was never one of starting from scratch. Mentally, the players were/are wrecked. Expecting them to get any more points than 1 from 9 (and let's face it, we'd have expected 1 point from Southampton more than from Liverpool, no?) is just folly.

Changing the philosophy of play, instilling some kind of belief, despite knowing you're likely to be relegated...all of that takes a lot more than 3 games. And if a 0-0 with a world class performance from your keeper does the trick, I'm not complaining. It's something to build on. It IS better than being spanked 4 or 5, even if we didn't win.

all seems a bit subjective to me, could argue it either way. Wasn't at the game yesterday so can't comment on the atmosphere (fell asleep for the second half as well). May have felt differently if i had been there, who knows.

[Maguire]

I'm not having a go at Adkins - as you say, you can't change a team in three weeks.

Just don't really see why people are spanking themselves off after an extremely fortuitous home point, apparently because the crowd perked up when we started playing better

And lol@only being second best for twenty minutes. They had 8 shots in the first half to our 1 according to the screen.

We've not exactly got much to do except bitch about McDermott being sacked, or look forward with some optimism to next season. Of course people are going to look for, find and probably slightly over-exaggerate positives.

Yep that's exactly true.

Just makes me laugh a bit. Adkins played ALF on his own up front and we got roundly beaten at home by Southampton - if that had been McDermott you'd have all been calling for him to be castrated in Market Place. But as it's Adkins, it's all "Oh positive signs, played much better than usual, looking promising". Err no, he made odd selections and we got dicked.

I don't actually blame any of this on Nigel as it's way too soon to make any sort of judgement (earliest can be after his summer spending I reckon, and even then we'd need a dozen games of next season before drawing any meaningful conclusions).

[sandman]

Mags and Co can't help it. It's in their genes.

Anyone who can't see the changes being made are either blinkered or have an agenda.
The signs are already there.

based on what exactly? I'm not anti Adkins either. Once the decision has been made (that i can't affect) then i'm 100% behind
whoever is in charge, playing staff etc

A few purple patches here and there but still 1 point in nine and tbf totally outplayed by each of the three teams for a majority
of the games. And no amateur hour, highly selective stats either please.

Based on the fact that the players were probably PROUD of their performance for once, rather than feeling like they were having the shit kicked out of them every week by playing Neanderthal hoofball for 95% of the season.

The situation was never one of starting from scratch. Mentally, the players were/are wrecked. Expecting them to get any more points than 1 from 9 (and let's face it, we'd have expected 1 point from Southampton more than from Liverpool, no?) is just folly.

Changing the philosophy of play, instilling some kind of belief, despite knowing you're likely to be relegated...all of that takes a lot more than 3 games. And if a 0-0 with a world class performance from your keeper does the trick, I'm not complaining. It's something to build on. It IS better than being spanked 4 or 5, even if we didn't win.

You mean we raised our game against a big name side that's never happened before.

[Ian Royal]

I'm not having a go at Adkins - as you say, you can't change a team in three weeks.

Just don't really see why people are spanking themselves off after an extremely fortuitous home point, apparently because the crowd perked up when we started playing better

And lol@only being second best for twenty minutes. They had 8 shots in the first half to our 1 according to the screen.

We've not exactly got much to do except bitch about McDermott being sacked, or look forward with some optimism to next season. Of course people are going to look for, find and probably slightly over-exaggerate positives.

Yep that's exactly true.

Just makes me laugh a bit. Adkins played ALF on his own up front and we got roundly beaten at home by Southampton - if that had been McDermott you'd have all been calling for him to be castrated in Market Place. But as it's Adkins, it's all "Oh positive signs, played much better than usual, looking promising". Err no, he made odd selections and we got dicked.

I don't actually blame any of this on Nigel as it's way too soon to make any sort of judgement (earliest can be after his summer spending I reckon, and even then we'd need a dozen games of next season before drawing any meaningful conclusions).

I've actually been quite keen to see how ALF would cope on his own. He did not too bad considering, and I think he might do quite well in a team with some semblance of form and the right kind of service there. I certainly think that we'd have had a better chance of not being on another 7 game losing streak if we'd stuck with him, Hunt or Blackman upfront and continued with three in midfield whilst Pog was suspended. Especially given how fragile and open we'd been in 4-4-2 before.

We totally dominated Saints for the first 20 minutes, they barely had a kick. We were playing well up until the point they scored. With, I think, about their second or third attack. Having dominated to then conceed 10 minutes before the break it shattered our confidence and that was that.

The main difference between a response had McDermott been in charge and one for Adkins is it's McDermott who got us here and Adkins has to deal with the mess he has taken over. Obviously Adkins gets more leeway. He's still very much getting the feel of the squad and what they can do. He's had little time for any changes he's putting in place to have much effect. As you say when you can't really judge him until after the summer.

I'll continue clutching at my straws for the future for now, because it's a damn sight less soul destroying looking for signs of improvement, than it is focusing on the fact we've been utter turd this season and have got it even more wrong than in 2007/08.