A genuine relegation battle

[Jay_SUFC]

It’s not spinning anything, it’s bringing context.

Yes, we’re in a relegation battle, but we wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for a points deduction. That was the original point I was replying to & explaining why it is relevant.

Even your own stats there prove that point. We’re a solid, upper mid table team. Not a relegation one.

We should be doing better than being a mid table team in this league though. I appreciate we had to deal with an embargo etc, but what worries me, is we are playing worse now those things have been resolved

 

[Barling Magna]

He's got you dangling on the end of his phishing line TC.....

Mind you, there is truth in some of what he says. We do have an embarrassing small minority of idiot fans. A little respect for our opponents doesn't go amiss.

 

[GBJ]

We should be doing better than being a mid table team in this league though. I appreciate we had to deal with an embargo etc, but what worries me, is we are playing worse now those things have been resolved

Are we playing worse since then though?

I thought we bossed the two games against Barnet. We were very unlucky to come away with nothing from those two games. Most people who saw them, would agree to that. We certainly weren’t playing any worse In those games, but we were stunted due to a lack of options up front.

I didn’t see the Halifax, Eastleigh or Chesterfield games, so can’t comment on those, but we won two of them.

Gateshead and York were frustrating games, where the ball just wouldn’t go in, despite plenty of opportunities. I don’t think we looked too dissimilar to how we’ve played earlier in the season. Take the Oxford, Ebbsfleet or Kidderminster games at RH for example, we utilised the same style of play with roughly the same team. The only difference between those games and the Gateshead/York games, was that we made our chances count.

There’s a lot to be said about the loss of momentum & match sharpness. I’m confident that it’ll click sooner rather than later, and the kind of chances we passed up in the last two games, will be flying in off the lamp shades.

I’m more confident about that, than us getting a result at Oxford on Saturday tbh.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

Are we playing worse since then though?

I thought we bossed the two games against Barnet. We were very unlucky to come away with nothing from those two games. Most people who saw them, would agree to that. We certainly weren’t playing any worse In those games, but we were stunted due to a lack of options up front.

I didn’t see the Halifax, Eastleigh or Chesterfield games, so can’t comment on those, but we won two of them.

Gateshead and York were frustrating games, where the ball just wouldn’t go in, despite plenty of opportunities. I don’t think we looked too dissimilar to how we’ve played earlier in the season. Take the Oxford, Ebbsfleet or Kidderminster games at RH for example, we utilised the same style of play with roughly the same team. The only difference between those games and the Gateshead/York games, was that we made our chances count.

There’s a lot to be said about the loss of momentum & match sharpness. I’m confident that it’ll click sooner rather than later, and the kind of chances we passed up in the last two games, will be flying in off the lamp shades.

I’m more confident about that, than us getting a result at Oxford on Saturday tbh.

The first Barnet game we were still under the embargo.

In terms of the last 2 games, we missed a couple of chances, but we hardly created much (don't recall many saves by either opposition keepers) and that's what worries me.

If we dominated those games, then fair enough, but we didn't.

Saturday is a massive game, and hopefully we'll find our scoring boots, as there longer this run goes on, the more concerning it will be.

 

[GBJ]

The first Barnet game we were still under the embargo.

In terms of the last 2 games, we missed a couple of chances, but we hardly created much (don't recall many saves by either opposition keepers) and that's what worries me.

If we dominated those games, then fair enough, but we didn't.

Saturday is a massive game, and hopefully we'll find our scoring boots, as there longer this run goes on, the more concerning it will be.

In the PMT I named 6 good scoring opportunities we had against York, which were just off the top of my head. The issue isn’t that we can’t create chances, it’s that we’re not finishing them atm.

We shouldn’t need to create 20+ chances to see off a relegation threatened team, our players are good enough to put those chances away, just as they have earlier in the season. On another day, we score 2-3 of those chances and we’d be sitting here talking about still reaching the playoffs this season. It’s fine margins.

Totally agree about the run continuing though. The danger of those fine margins I mentioned above, is that we could end up slipping into a losing mentality. We as fans recognise this more than anyone, as it’s something that we’ve been cursed with for the past 6(?) seasons.

 

[Rob1920]

Often with these bad runs they go on longer than you'd expect, i.e. you lose a few, then have a supposed 'easy' game which you're convinced will turn things around, only to then lose that as well. And for that reason, it wouldn't surprise me if we lose at Oxford. That said, I do still believe we have a decent squad for this league and sooner or later will put a run of wins together & end up mid-table.

 

[Mick]

Leicester got relegated from the Championship with the best defence

They went down with Colchester (Leicester's 15 years since has gone rather better than Colchester's, not to mention ours) with a defence only bettered by Palace. Scored hardly any though. Won the League One comfortably the following season but were only 7 places above us.

 

[leeblue]

An air of WTF if I'm honest.
Team had done fantastically well under such rubbish circumstances, then embargo lifted and stability arrive, the blue touch paper lit as it were and rather than the launch we expected its just flopped

 

[Jim Levenstein]

My take is Kev got the players performing very well under the embargo instilling a 'world against us' mentality.
The embargo was lifted and there was a buzz around the place but we took a few losses and the buzz of embargo going and new beginnings wore off. Now we're not working with the 'world against us' mindset and subconsciously there has been a little foot off the gas.

We need to reset and get going again. It's actually quite funny in how we all thought play-offs a month ago and now we are where we are. Get through this season and next we go for it. I still do not think for a second we will go down.

 

[RHB]

My take is Kev got the players performing very well under the embargo instilling a 'world against us' mentality.
The embargo was lifted and there was a buzz around the place but we took a few losses and the buzz of embargo going and new beginnings wore off. Now we're not working with the 'world against us' mindset and subconsciously there has been a little foot off the gas.

We need to reset and get going again. It's actually quite funny in how we all thought play-offs a month ago and now we are where we are. Get through this season and next we go for it. I still do not think for a second we will go down.

At last, a voice of sanity and sense.

 

[SeldomSeenShrimper]

My take is Kev got the players performing very well under the embargo instilling a 'world against us' mentality.
The embargo was lifted and there was a buzz around the place but we took a few losses and the buzz of embargo going and new beginnings wore off. Now we're not working with the 'world against us' mindset and subconsciously there has been a little foot off the gas.

We need to reset and get going again. It's actually quite funny in how we all thought play-offs a month ago and now we are where we are. Get through this season and next we go for it. I still do not think for a second we will go down.

I've very much been in the camp of staying up and seeing what happens.

You can't take 10 points from a team with no money and expect anything more than a brave relegation battle.

Kev and the players have simply over-achieved all season, but we are starting to run out of steam and need to find a second wind.

The world is still very much against us! until we start next season on an equal points tally, the world is still against us

 

[Gremlin]

They lost to Peterborough Sports in the FA Trophy on Saturday.

With, it has to be said, a much changed Harriers team. I think only four of the players that had started the previous league game started this one.

Phil is clearly prioritising league survival.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

The break between games due to postponements probably hasn't helped us too much either.