Another disappointing result to add to the list this season. Though mitigated somewhat by Burnley’s good home form this season, it’s still a potential six-pointer squandered.
As usual, looking at the shot-count seems to support the argument that once again we’ve been competitive in an away game. 23 shots to Burnley’s 8. Even the highlights reel was dominated by near-misses from West Ham. It’s such a carbon copy of so many games this season.
That’s why feelings of despair are still mitigated by genuine hope that we can deliver on what we’re actually showing in matches. It’s been such a weird season – for all of our failings points-wise, I’ve only seen one performance that I was truly disappointed with, and that was last week’s goalless draw against Blackburn.
But it’s getting to the stage where the hope of improvement, and the excuse of reasonable performances no longer cuts it. Of the 8 remaining home games we realistically need to win 5. Recovery cannot start after the next match, it needs to start right now.
It’s always been my opinion that we were ‘unlikely’ to be relegated. I felt that at the start of the season, at Christmas, and even up to the last week. I still think it’s more likely that we will survive, but the odds are mounting after every disappointing result.
Looking around the fan forums, I can see the belief starting to wane, even among the stalwart Zola supporters. I think we’re pretty close as a club and as a support to being in relegation panic mode. I think on the whole we’ve been commendably calm about the situation this season, given the mitigating circumstances, and the on-paper level of ability in our squad. But the mood is definitely on the turn.
I would say that if we want to comfortably avoid an acute relegation scrap we must beat Birmingham this Wednesday. Any less than 3 points and the mounting pressure will turn into real panic. And maybe rightly so.
