We were dreadful on Saturday I thought. It’s the first time this season that I’ve actually thought “you know, if we carry on playing this badly, we could be relegated.” The season has been littered with plucky performances that didn’t lead to the right result, but this was a pitifully poor performance that we just about scraped home with in a goalless draw.
Looking around the net, at the forums on WHO, and on some of the other blogs, there seems to be a reluctance to criticise the performance. Perhaps because of the Sullivan/Gold factor – are new owners allowed the same sort of Honeymoon period as new managers? I don’t think the owner should make a blind bit of difference to the performances on the pitch. It’s slightly weird, but perhaps a sign of the times – somehow we know so much about the inner workings of our club these days, that perhaps many fans simply aren’t willing to criticise under new ownership.
The story playing out in many fans’ minds is that Duxbury and Nani were bad, and we must be better now that they are gone – I hope this fairy story turns out to be the truth.
The weakness in the squad that worries me has nothing to do with formations, or lack of players, or of an unbalanced squad. It’s the lack of real belief or drive in the players that has concerned me this season. We are a side that can chug through a game at various levels of efficiency (Saturday being about the worst) but we are just not a side that can come out at the start of a match and take the game to the opposition. We eased Blackburn into the game for 45 minutes on Saturday, then were surprised that they got comfortable enough to start causing us problems. Nobody in our side grasped the mettle/nettle – nobody looked willing to take a risk.
I do support Zola, and I do think we’ll be safe this season, but there are problems here that need sorting out either on the training pitch or in the transfer market. Something is definitely not quite right – obvious statement I know 
.
