Keanish I will respond to that but it will be tomorrow... some good points, again good to see someone offer more than simple opinion and sly digs, actual analysis.

A lot of people are saying look to the lower leagues. . . but who?

Keanish,

I think to suggest I'm cherry picking extracts is unfair, I feel I addressed most of the points within your previous post. I can only counter the points you made and think I've done that. If you feel I've missed something then please draw it to my attention and I will.aim to address it.

I agree hitting the post can be unlucky but that depends on circumstance. From 30 yards out yes, in this instance no. The player should have hit the target, had it been a town player they would have been slated on here. It is this double standard that I have issue with.

Yes. We deserve to win, it's interesting the different perceptions ppl have but I think my view of the game is in line with almost every report I've read, pundits seem to think we deserved it and even Wes Hoolahan said post game we could consider ourselves unlucky not to have taken the 3 points. I think that tells you all you need to know.

Furthermore I think you underestimate the importance of a legit goal being ruled out. It's sends a wave of belief through the team and impacts the state of mind of both, look at Norwich after they scored. They were the better side in the second part of the first half and that is because they scored. Had that goal ( and the pen) been given what would the impact have been on a side that as you say we're excllent in the fist 20 Mins (and indeed the confidence bred into a team with 12 points from 5 that should be there now) As for the second half, yes it was more scrappy but I think we created more and I think we defended better. So based on that i absolutely think its reasonable to suggest we deserved the win.



As for Barnsley no I wasn't there but you can only beat the team in front of you on the day. As for the rest of the season maybe they have got better but maybe not... maybe actually we (relative to the rest of the division) better than some would have us belive.

None of us can really comment unless we have seen more of them but still as per my previous post 4 past any side in the same division is far from poor.

As for mistakes well they happen in every game. It just comes down to whether the other team then takes advantage. Almost every team across the whole league will make a few mistakes in the course of the game to expect anything else is overexpectation. What helps is good managers who pick players who if they do make mistake bust a gut to correct it, players who get back to clear off the line.

You say but for 2 mistakes it would have been a clean sheet but I'm not sure that's what you mean, I think you mean but for those 2 particular mistakes because no doubt more will have been made. Those 2 stick in the mind because we conceded from them but that is the same for most teams most weeks. Ocassionally a team really dominates a game but most ebb and flow with changes in tempo, energy and momentum. Do people really think a team is going to play like Barcelona for 90 mins each game over 46 games? In the championship? Absolutely not, it's a league where so many points have to be fought for. Nicking those 1-0s is even more important in such a league but even if we look at the prem, how important could Rashford's winner against Hull be? There are some on here with over ambitious expectations and it's not winning the league, it's doing iI in a manner that is Roy of the Rovers. The belief that we will and should just dominate every game because it rarely actually happens.

You talk about last season being Miserable, we finished 7th. No it wasn't pretty but still 7th suggests to me that we took advantage of more mistakes then most teams did against us or that actually we made fewer mistakes than most or both. Again when your 3 best and most creative players are out for large swathes of the season it's going to have an impact and in spite of that we still finished 7th and when that is the case especially if limited by a small squad then it becomes a case of getting the job done. Now we didn't quite but it was damn good effort, had those players been fit who knows, but the likelihood is that we would have made top 6.

I think we have improved the style there is a clear move towards trying to play out of the back more and a clear hunt for wingers who will finally deliver the crosses needed for the likes of Pitman to feed off. Yes the ball goes long still but we are mixing it up more

I suspect that the truth is that you see more of the long ball stuff because you are hyper tuned to it given your personal view and equally I see less of it given mine and that actually the improvement is not as big as I would like to think and not as small.as you would but... I would also point to the fact that a change in system takes time to take hold and for players to adjust. As I said we went from $4!#3, ,to tough to beat to competitive in 3 seasons and that is progress. We now see a move towards a more attractive style but as always with Mick one built on a solid base. That's is progress year on year and only waylaid by 3 season impacting injuries.

My assesment is we beat Barnsley, were crap at Brentford, we did enough to beat Wolves and we're robbed agaisnt Norwich and again I didn't see PNE but we won.

I agree we have to see negatives too but again I think I'm pretty reasoned, I conceed Re Style of play regularly on here and I agree an attacking MF and a RB are sorely needed and I certainly haven't shouted about every one of Micks additions. I think I'm actually pretty centrist.

But equally pragmatic, building a promotion winning takes time, Boro and Leicester are both examples of year on year building and progress. Given the dross Mick inherited i think he deserves a little more time. It IS a results based business and saved from an almost inevitable relegantion, top half and 7th, 6th, 7th are decent (not great but decent especially given a shoestring budget and aforementioned injuries)

But none of this actually goes to the heart of the point I'm making which is this.

Had a town player hit by he post he would have been slated, every team we play are crap in some people's eyes and it's simply not true. The club gets slated for things it hasn't done all the time. Signing older players a prime case in point. This article is another, players haven't signed and the knives are already out- not for the linked players but for the club because we MIGHT be interested. By all means debate and discuss whether we like the sound of said players, I'm all for that, but don't slate the club for not having done something. Half the time on here people are whinging about stuff that hasn't happened, doesn't happen and if we thought about it for 1 min probaby won't ever happen. To often I see caps lock wanging on about ambitiion when a player is linked with a move away and then suddenly with the benifit of hindsight after 3 injury prone seasons, we should have sold him when we had that chance, yeah we should but that's not what anyone said at the time. It's the constant about turning by some to suit an agenda and as said by others above I can live with people not liking Mick but just come out say you dont like the bloke. How many people predict relegation every season and then bitch when the teams makes a play off push.that we are underachieving.

As I said I think he deserves a bit more time as in my opinion we have moved forward under him. He's had ( and hopefully has) some money now so let's see what he dies with it. I

For me failure to make playoffs this season would be hard to take and I do think that would be time to make a change and I think that's a fair crack for Mick. Rome wasn't built in a day but maybe we have seen the palasides and walls going up.