claretspice wrote:It doesn't help that folk are getting so carried away on what is basically 2 and a half games of football, though. United/Mourinho invariably win comfortably at Burnley, so we can park that one. Which leaves away days at Fulham and today at Wolves, plus a bad half against Watford.
Signings in the summer might have made a difference, but there's a massive danger of overstating this. Even if we'd signed one or two more players in the window, there's no guarantee more than one would be starting, if any - we rarely introduce new additions wholesale. And nor would they necessarily cure our current ills, which are mainly a consequence of confidence being low. It is like the tendency for players' reputations to improve when they are injured - we tend to project the fact we want a quick fix to our problems onto a blank canvass and create a player that was never a realistc signing in the first place.
We do look a bit one dimensional at the minute, and its not just confidence - I'm not a huge fan of us playing 442 with a combination of Vokes, Barnes and Wood up front, because I think it makes us a bit functional - and today, against 3 Wolves centre halves, it didn't work because we couldn't get down the sides of the 3 defenders so we were easily boxed in deep. But hopefully over the next couple of weeks, Vydra will emerge as a real alternative option. I like the idea of him and Vokes in partnership and I thought that was our best combination today (its a bit Ings/Vokes). In the meantime, we just need a break and some backing.
It’s not just two and a half games though, Spice. This is a hangover from the back end of last season too. I was pilloried at the time for suggesting that a poor run at the end of the season could roll into the next.
Bolstering the squad and adding some greater quality isn’t just about those players going straight into the first team, it’s about pushing those already here to keep their places. We’ve stood still on last summer, a summer that was our best opportunity for many a year to be able to really attract players.
I’m certainly not one calling for Dyche’s head. That for me would be a huge mistake but there are problems, outside of a simple lack of confidence.
Even if confidence was the sole issue, we don’t have the personnel to give players a break. A midfield choice of Hendrick, Cork and Westwood just isn’t enough.
We are 100% in a scrap this season and whilst I do think we can stay up, we certainly have to be sorting out the problems both on and off the field.