14 games left in our season, on the back of 3 straight clean sheets AND wins. Nicely poised you’d think?
Watch me lose the next 14 games and finish midtable and win nothing.
True, we probably can’t win anything this season, but maybe a top 4 finish could get us something in Europe – another avenue?
Everyone’s favourite ginger does the business against Barnsley
Moldovan DOESN’T score. What strange times we live in. Gifton N-W gave them a great start and we have one chalked off so wasn’t optimistic, but Thomo, Scholeso and Hitoto do the job.
The run had to end sometime. 4th placed Boro beat our 5th placed boys.
We have so many chances to get something out of this one. We feel flat.
Scouts are out, recruitment is trying to get something in. Everyone is saying No. #Standard
I’ll be honest. It’s really starting to grate that we can’t really get anyone in.
It’s nice to get a tie sown up within the opening exchanges.
Last kick of the flipping game. Gut wrenching. Admittedly we didn’t deserve anything, but that’s not the point. Kirk Russell’s OG didn’t help.
A new striker – he looks very good. But he’s been signed from a Minor Team so will fail massively. It’s just what happens.
Pascal makes his debut at West Ham – he was poor. But so were the other 11. The Hammers have two chalked off.
Tea-Cakes, Hair-Dryers, Coffee Cups – Everything is thrown around at full time. We dominate but let Leeds score 3. We even got back into it from 0-2 to bring it back to Desmond.
The kind of result and performance that gives you optimism for the future. Regular goals and a clean sheet.
Standard opponent keeper gets man of the match. The Sol man gets crocked. His season is probably done.
Another hard luck story. The case of what might have been. One day I might actually feel content and happy with this squad. The Sol man’s replacement will only miss the international break so that’s something.
The final home game of the season. 2nd place Newcastle but Sir Alex already has the title. The magpies force 4 corners in the 90th minute with the last one proving decisive.
We let a striker with 3 in 25 score twice in four minutes. And never get back into it. Never mind Mary, there’s something about Palace we just cannot fathom.
Liverpool must win or they are relegated. We need a win for top 10. They absolutely batter us for 20 minutes but we hang on and then cruise ahead. Defensive frailties in the 2nd half and the result is just like Christmas if you are an adult – You don’t get anything really.
9th again. That’s another £8m into the bank, not that we are really able to spend it.
Rather than running away into the next season, I think I’ll take some time to talk through my thinking with the squad for next year.
In goal is Nicky Spink, he’s a current England U21 international and has been 1st choice for two season’s, he should be first choice for most of the rest of the save.
I’m relatively happy with my Centre Backs. The Sol man is the main man and Mark Fish will always give us the same level each week. Slaven Bilic is due a retirement fairly soon I would expect and Udo Christie is learning. Robbie Elliott has been LB since the start and I’ve not been able to find better. RB is Spencer Hewlett, he’s learning but not performing. Shaun Gale was on loan last year.
Kurt Russell is a Wales U21 star and performed well in his debut season. Roger Hitoto could retire and we would miss him terribly. Both Marlon Warner and Graham Babb cannot hold a candle to either. We need someone really good in this CM spot. In the AMCs we have Osorio, Pedersen, Notman and Thompson – all are fairly consistent. Maybe a better version of Thompson is needed. I’m not sure Notman is going to improve.
Up front. We got goals and assists but we dont get good average ratings. Scholes did well and Rankin does what Rankin does. Ayorinde is settling in nicely – 2 in 8 in Bolton colours. Anelka has had his day.
On the face of it, I think we have a decent Premier League team now – very much mid table as 9th and 9th finishes reflect, we need to kick on and bring in more star quality. I am not convinced if the club’s reputation ever increases – we cannot convince anyone getting anything close to regular game time at this level to talk to us. We have £30m in the bank but we just cannot spend it.
Hopefully we get the chance to splash it soon.