Is absolutely the right response.James P wrote:In response to Puff, I'd say we need to remember that this is still a very new teams. Tuesday night we had a new goalkeeper, a re-signed left back, a new centre back, a centre back who featured little last season and a front six of players who weren't at the club last season and of which most have less than half a dozen starts this season.
We might want to "wipe the floor with these teams" but we don't have a divine right to just because we're "big" West Ham and "big" Newcastle did it a couple of years ago. It'll take time for a team of new players to come together to such an extent that they can adjust to and overcome all opponents. As it stands we're in an automatic promotion place and are better equipped than most to cope with the strenuous winter months ahead. We might not set any league records this year but we still have every reason to see ourselves as credible championship contenders.
Anyone that goes to West Ham expecting us to just march through the league and beat everyone we come up against must be having a hernia watching the Premier League and seeing Newcastle 4th and Arsenal 10th.
As has been mentioned by a few of the more sensible amongst us, these performances are a little concerning. Not at all because we lost to a decent side, but because we're struggling to find rhythm and a little bit of a settled side/formation. Blackpool for dogshit on Saturday and we hammered them, we were average on Tuesday night and got beaten by a side who I think will be there or there abouts at the end of the season. This league isn't about having the best players, it's about consistency, going the distance, being organised and strong. If you think that the Newcastle side that went up 2 years ago wasn't as good as ours, maybe you should look at how a lot of those players are doing in the top flight this season.
We've been absolutely dogshit for 2 years, why the hell anyone would expect us to suddenly just start battering teams left right and centre is beyond me. Forget looking at the squad folks....if you start doing that you'll be left scratching your head for the next 3 months trying to work out how Ipswich could lose 1-7 to Peterborough and then beat us!
Football doesn't always make sense. Sometime teams raise their game, sometimes they underperform. Yes, we lost...but that really isn't the issue. The performance needs to improve and become a little more consistent. As I said before the season though, if we can be in the top 2 at Christmas, I think we'll win the league. Our squad and strength in depth will help us through.