| Forum Reply | Madsen at 22:12 4 Oct 2024
Absolutely expected us to be higher than bottom three, but I disagree with views on our form. I think we have played very well in parts of games, and have achieved some very creditable results, played well twice against Luton and showed a lot of guts in other games like Sheff U, and were very unfortunate v Plymouth. Until a week ago, we'd only lost once and were about where i expected us to be. My expectations are certainly to be comfortable in mid table, but I didn't expect more than that, because we almost got relegated last season, lost a key player who helped turn our season (Hayden) and, whatever you think of him, lost Willock too, who was a regular starter. Les was much derided but he was very honest about signings - for any club, the ratio of 'success' (as in, immediate, effective, first team regulars) is not high. So I was prepared for some of our signings to not work out. I'm not massively worried about where we are now. We have a good manager, he's proved that, and he'll turn it around. but if you think getting rid of a goalie and a few players who barely played for us anyway and a few signings are going to make us into promotion challengers, yes, in my view, that's a tad unrealistic. And I'm not sure where I blamed fans expectations for anything - that's ridiculous. But fans will get more upset about bad results if their expectations are higher than the reality. Last season we all knew we had a poor side, and actually the fans were very supportive and forgiving. This year, essentially, a 4-0 win v Leeds has raised the expectations of some fans to a silly level. That doesn't mean we shouldn't demand better, but if you spend this season believing this squad is anywhere close to being promotion challengers beyond a sort of streaky crack at 6th, you're going to be very angry all season. Your note about a whole pre-season is a great case in point. On day one of this season, we had a team that did not include Saito, Madsen and Dembele. So, in terms of what we'd call our first eleven, a third of them weren't even at the club during that period. |
| Forum Reply | Andre Grey at 16:54 4 Oct 2024
amazed how fondly he's remembered here for a couple of good finishes. neither he nor austin got many starts for one very good reason: they were not fit enough to play championship football. |
| Forum Reply | Madsen at 14:42 4 Oct 2024
yeah, but i think almost every team in the league has 'play-off form' at some point in the season. You look at our last 6 games of the season and if you discount the dead rubber against a shot Cov side, we only really played well v Leeds. Expectation is a huge issue. I was disappointed with the boos on Tue. Who were they booing? I get the last 20 mins were disappointing, and mistakes were made all round, but not one player out there, in my opinion, was coasting. As usual, when things are really bad we get people saying 'i just want players who care' - but that's such fan bullsh!t. 'All' some fans want is to win every week. And don't say I'm exaggerating: every defeat we have is treated like the end of the world by a lot of fans. |
| Forum Reply | Madsen at 12:41 4 Oct 2024
I mean who on earth seriously thought we were play off contenders? Based on what? |
| Forum Reply | Stuttering QPR’s home woes continue against Hull – Report at 10:20 3 Oct 2024
Yeah annoying to have 'big moments' so early in the season. It's a shame, because post Luton things looked so positive. I guess at least shows how quickly things can turn around though (Hull also an example of that). Such a weird game. I thought 1-0 was really unfortunate, 2-0 not in any way a fair reflection, and then by the end of the game 3-1 was the least Hull deserved. All in one game. We were both battered and there were also signs of hope - particularly Saito. Why wasn't their full back booked for that handball for the pen by the way? It's Millwall 1995 levels of inexplicable on the replay. |
| Forum Reply | Stuttering QPR’s home woes continue against Hull – Report at 08:15 3 Oct 2024
Agree about Santos, Clive. Thought he did some good things and worked hard on Millar, but for every good thing he did two bad things and badly needed subbing. I fully expected the Fox switch and was surprised it never came. We need a win, any win, to just recharge us or it starts looking like Hughes’s second season, where we played really well in some early games, got nothing from them, and hot steadily worse as confidence drained. |
| Forum Reply | Hull Reflection at 14:37 2 Oct 2024
i will say he had two very good chances to feet, but for both the pass was just slightly off (one from Andersen, one from Lloyd). So chances are being created, just not quite laid on a plate. |
| Forum Reply | Hull Reflection at 13:42 2 Oct 2024
Well stats houses miss stuff all the time. They're only human. The one I referred to was a big tackle that everyone actually cheered. Did you get there late? I did say I agreed with your overall point though. |
| Forum Reply | Hull Reflection at 12:48 2 Oct 2024
I mean, all teams do stuff like that. In the YouTube age, all we get is highlights and people forget even City players boot the ball into touch sometimes or balloon a shot. It happens. In every match. I agree with Hunter we're too lopsided at the moment, and we need that tough streak we had later in the season. However, while I'm still very guarded with regards to Nourry - in that it's very, very early days (I did say the shine would come off that boil quickly if we weren't winning), I do agree with him on something from Monday: progress is rarely smooth. Even last season, which we view as a success in the context of the Ainsworth disaster, that progression was not linear. It was up and down, right until the very end. We're on a bad run, but I disagree people saying we've been poor all season. We were good in both Luton games. Good eventually at Sheff U. Pretty OK v Plymouth, really. None of these performances have been in the realms of last season's early losses where we were lucky not be tonked by more than the 4 we were on a couple of occasions. The important thing is: do we trust the manager and think he's a good one? That's different to saying you can't criticise him, and different to saying he doesn't make what some fans might believe are poor decisions (I think a lot of fans get mixed up between what Marti (and any manager) might want and what we actually see - last night he was often gesturing to defenders to get it forward quicker and take a long pass on, but the perception is he's told them to only play short sideways passes). If we think he's a good one (I do), we have to be prepared for a rough ride at times, but trust he will find a way, as he did in a much worse situation last season. |
| Forum Reply | Hull Reflection at 12:18 2 Oct 2024
I thought Celar came out with a rocket up his Rs. He was rampaging about, won a couple of headers, put himself about. Then he missed the header and Andersen played him a poor ball in the box for whatb should have been a great chance. Then couldn't sort his feet out for another chance. Grabbed the ball for a free kick (which was awful). Then his head went down. The bloke desperately, desperately needs a goal. I'm clinging to the fact that whenever he comes on he has more shots than anyone else, but he can't put the thing in the net. Yet. |
| Forum Reply | Hull Reflection at 11:56 2 Oct 2024
Agree with a lot of that, but Madsen won the ball three times in the first 15 minutes, one with an excellent sliding tackle. Your point stands though. |
| Forum Reply | Corners at 11:43 2 Oct 2024
Absolutely. Last season we were conceding so regularly from corners that it was like giving away a penalty. So they began bringing everyone back for them, and it helped stem that flow of goals. |
| Forum Reply | And for my next trick – Fans Forum at 14:36 1 Oct 2024
Thanks so much Clive. Feel guilty I didn't have to go, nor transcribe it, and could get the gist of it all in 20 mins at lunchtime. Appreciated! |
| Forum Reply | Fans Forum 30/09/24 at 14:18 1 Oct 2024
oops wrong thread! (edit) [Post edited 1 Oct 14:36]
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| Forum Reply | Fans Forum 30/09/24 at 11:56 1 Oct 2024
Is it baffling? I have plenty of reservations about Nourry because it's so early on, but it makes a fair bit of sense to me to announce them at the same time at an event like a forum. |
| Forum Reply | Fans Forum 30/09/24 at 10:43 1 Oct 2024
What you're saying is they deliberately saved up some good news to release directly to fans at a forum. Not quite sure what's so evil about that, but carry on. |
| Forum Reply | Fans Forum 30/09/24 at 10:42 1 Oct 2024
I have to laugh. For the last few years one of the chief criticisms was about lines of accountability, the vagueness of who was responsible for what. Someone comes in and takes control and suddenly he's a control freak. you gotta love football fans. |
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