It won’t get better until..

[ramone]

12 minutes ago, owls maniac said:

The atmosphere at the start of the Derby was superb- what happened? The team didn’t turn up. 

We gave a free kick away after 2 mins, they scored and the crowd weren’t heard until half time... superb

[Ante's Bubbly]

On 19/11/2017 at 01:02, ka58 said:

 

Were doing ok.

 

plenty of time.

 

we drew 0-0 today against a team that has only lost 2 games all season.

 

 

Never underestimate the restless minority though ka58.

 

Just out of curiosity, how many of the 25K do people think were booing on Saturday?

 

From a personal perspective I felt a bit flat afterwards because I thought we could have given more and won it, but I also thought we could have also given a bit less and lost it.

 

My first pre-match thoughts were that we should beat Bristol blinking City, but how much of that belief was based upon the reality of both team's situations right now and how much was based on my perceptions of what Sheffield Wednesday are/should be and what Bristol City are /should be, I am not too sure. I settled on a draw, because the cynic in me thought that Bristol City being 4th and having a young dynamic hard fighting manager and team, would come back from the break fighting fit, working very hard not to be beaten by the team or the crowd and much more up for it generally than we would be. I had read that Lee Johnson had told his players that they would have to try even harder against us and I had read Carlos's pre-match briefing which spoke a lot about respecting Bristol and the game for me had 1-1 written all over it.

 

It has been a very difficult season to predict so far, with some teams that we could easily have lost to being thoroughly beaten by us, either by the number of goals (Leeds, Nottingham and Villa) and/or by the manner in which we beat them and on the other hand there are those teams we have really struggled against and/or lost to, who we really should, according to history, club size and the general perception of some Sheffield Wednesday fans have beaten easily.

 

Then you factor in things like injuries, missing key players and all the other stuff that held us back last season, like star players not performing and so on, cropping up again and add things like the anti Carlos faction in the local press and radio, as well as on social media sites and it really all looks very unlikely for us to get anywhere near the top two we were allegedly targeting this season. We can swing between a team full of energy and ideas that can rip other teams apart and a team that looks like it has spent the two week holiday resting up in McDonalds, with no stamina or energy to match the opposition's workrate, or any real intention of kicking or heading the football at the opposition's goal.

 

My expectations were undented though when Carlos told us that there were certain teams that we struggled against, because of their style of play, but then my expectations were given a real bashing, when that list of teams grew from Preston and Burton Albion, to include teams like Sheffield United, QPR, Barnsley, Bolton, Cardiff, Sunderland and now blinking Bristol City! 

 

Don't get me wrong, there is still time and games for us to turn this season around and apparently 11th position is where we should be, based on how much the current squad cost, but good grief, if we are being outplayed by teams like Bristol City, Bolton Wanderers, Sunderland and Burton Albion, we really need to look at the way we are approaching games and change something quickly because we are not looking at all convincing this season as promotion contenders, or is that all just part of some wicked masterplan?

 

Come on Wednesday, work harder, do better and start now!

[owls maniac]

21 minutes ago, ramone said:

We gave a free kick away after 2 mins, they scored and the crowd weren’t heard until half time... superb

Probably because we spent the half been carved open. The fans are turning up in big numbers, they are simply not being given a reason to get excited. Notice how the volume goes up when we start properly attacking rather than passing it across the back 4.

[ramone]

3 minutes ago, owls maniac said:

Probably because we spent the half been carved open. The fans are turning up in big numbers, they are simply not being given a reason to get excited. Notice how the volume goes up when we start properly attacking rather than passing it across the back 4.

Translated to -  'we only sing when we're winning'

 

Embarrassing

[Ante's Bubbly]

58 minutes ago, owls maniac said:

You’re saying the fans don’t create a positive environment. I would argue we’re no different to any other club in the country. No set of fans would be fired up watching that tedious dross. The atmosphere at the start of the Derby was superb- what happened? The team didn’t turn up. 

 

How long have you been watching football for then? I should think most fans can remember watching Sheffield Wednesday teams play much worse than this and still getting better support for it. Sheffield Wednesday fans were well known for supporting their team loud and proud no matter how badly they played. I remember watching us play at Leicester many years ago when the Leicester fans clapped us as we left the ground at the end of the match singing, "Always look on the bright side of life", after losing 7-1 in an absolutely dire game. I hate to think how that would go down now! The pathetic support would no doubt be screaming for CC's head and trying to justify it afterwards by saying that our 11th place spending should guarantee us first spot and two victories over the pigs every season.

 

Sorry mate but there are far more supportive sets of fans out there who have had to go through far worse than us overt the past two seasons and still get behind their team. We actually have better support away from home as far as getting behind the team and yes Saturday's game was dire, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse and everybody with half a brain knows that. Just because we beat Aston Villa so convincingly does not make us world beaters every game from now to May. To get maximum points from now to then we have to be a lot more canny and although I thought we should have beaten any Bristol City team at one time, I really do think that a fully rested Bristol City on Saturday were more likely to beat us than we were them. Maybe if we had not had the break we could have pipped them, but we lost our momentum and they regained theirs. Our fans really have not got their undying support going this season and I have felt the fear and doubt in our fans going back to last season when a lot of then still seemed to be bitter about the Wembley loss. Getting behind the team does not guarantee success, but we are more likely to fail when we all pull in different directions and give the team stick for every little mistake. Joao was being groaned at almost as soon as he came on the pitch and yet he was given nothing balls from the fans favourite, with his back to goal and withnobody making the effort to give him a pass to make? What was that about then? Supporting the player? Supporting the team or finding a scapegoat?

 

The point was nothing to get too giddy about, but we are still making our way back to being contenders this season. It is not as dramatic as we would like it, but we are slowly rising up the division again. Fingers crossed and singing loud, we can help them get there again I reckon.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2017 by Ante's Bubbly
Ante's typo

[Hack-Abusi]

16 hours ago, ka58 said:

Stop worrying about united.

Why though? I'm not worried that its United at the top of the league table, its more down to the fact that they are up there playing good football week in week out, fighting for the right to be up there and showing lots of effort, spirit, fight and leadership on a flipping paltry budget compared to ours. Same for Cardiff .. its just so frustrating seeing other teams play really well and we turn up once in a while with a decent performance followed by some really medicre tiresome ones ... so frustrating!

 

16 hours ago, Athelwulf said:

If Carlos were to go, it's unlikely we'd get anyone as good as Wilder.

But any standard Championship manager would get more out of this squad than the incumbent.

The main thing is that it's a change.

New tactics and a line drawn under the disappointments of the past.

A feel-good factor for fans and players alike.

Paul Hurst is it at Shrewsbury?

[cognacbarnowl]

On ‎19‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 10:11, ka58 said:

 

Wow - I didn’t realise it was my fault we aren’t in the top 2.

 

sorry everybody......

Don't worry ka. You're forgiven  

[sheffield_dave]

To be honest I'm even starting to get sick of hearing what a nice man he is.

 

Carlos is as much about self interest and self preservation as any other football manager. We were charmed by a man who was bright, enthusiastic, charismatic and energetic in that first year. His interviews now are bitter and bizarre, with meaningless swipes in any (or no) particular direction in order to distract. Carlos' interviews used to be dynamic, the way he spoke about the game and this side masterful. Now the only thing masterful is his ability to pluck utterly meaningless stats out of thin air to try and dictate the local conversation about this team and its utterly unfounded "misfortunes". 

 

It feels like an almost 1:1 trajectory with Jose Mourinho's career in England, once lauded as a majestic genius and now a tedious, self inflated chore. Carlos has certainly learnt well. The only difference is that unlike Mourinho, Carlos will leave this club having achieved absolutely nothing.

 

The Carlos Carvalhal of 2017/2018 is an absolute shell of the one from 2015/2016. They barely resemble the same man. And it's absolutely infuriating to see fans of this football club put a 12 month charm offensive above our own interests and ambition. 

[Roscoe P. Coltrane]

3 hours ago, sheffield_dave said:

To be honest I'm even starting to get sick of hearing what a nice man he is.

 

Carlos is as much about self interest and self preservation as any other football manager. We were charmed by a man who was bright, enthusiastic, charismatic and energetic in that first year. His interviews now are bitter and bizarre, with meaningless swipes in any (or no) particular direction in order to distract. Carlos' interviews used to be dynamic, the way he spoke about the game and this side masterful. Now the only thing masterful is his ability to pluck utterly meaningless stats out of thin air to try and dictate the local conversation about this team and its utterly unfounded "misfortunes". 

 

It feels like an almost 1:1 trajectory with Jose Mourinho's career in England, once lauded as a majestic genius and now a tedious, self inflated chore. Carlos has certainly learnt well. The only difference is that unlike Mourinho, Carlos will leave this club having achieved absolutely nothing.

 

The Carlos Carvalhal of 2017/2018 is an absolute shell of the one from 2015/2016. They barely resemble the same man. And it's absolutely infuriating to see fans of this football club put a 12 month charm offensive above our own interests and ambition. 

IMO Carvahal is dragging this football club down in the same mould as Dave Jones.