Only two wins in 10. What has gone wrong?

[Ian Nacho]

Since Southampton away, we've only won twice, against Huddersfield and Watford. What has gone wrong? Or has anything gone wrong at all? 

[oxtonfox]

We thought we were better than we actually are. Our current form is bottom five along with Burnley so we better pull the collective fingers out or the dross of this league will have caught up with us again. 

[SheppyFox]

Nothing, just fans getting carried away.

[Sir Shep]

We are at our level that’s all. 

[murphy]

I think the Mahrez saga has affected the team and hamstrung us for the Everton and Swansea games.  We should have had 4pts from those games and got 1.

[Ian Nacho]

1 minute ago, Sir Shep said:

We are at our level that’s all. 

Agreed. 

[Captain...]

Lots of games including tough games, poor performances, credible draws, unlucky not to win, deserved nothing. We’ve had injuries, disruption and new players to incorporate into the team.

 

We’re not far from where we should be, settle it down this month and push on. No reason to panic:

 

Cue panic!

[ARTY_FOX]

Nothing, we've had games where we should have buried the opposition. Swansea for example we should have been well away at half time. Just not taking them. 

[Corky]

We've played well in a few (Man United, Chelsea, the two wins, the first halves in the past two games) and poorly in others (Palace, Watford, Everton, second half today).

 

We are one of 14 average teams. Not one below the top six has a positive goal difference- awful.

[Ian Nacho]

Just now, ARTY_FOX said:

Nothing, we've had games where we should have buried the opposition. Swansea for example we should have been well away at half time. Just not taking them. 

 

2 minutes ago, Captain... said:

Lots of games including tough games, poor performances, credible draws, unlucky not to win, deserved nothing. We’ve had injuries, disruption and new players to incorporate into the team.

 

We’re not far from where we should be, settle it down this month and push on. No reason to panic:

 

Cue panic!

Good to see everyone isn't losing their sh*t. 

[Monsell1976]

1 minute ago, SheppyFox said:

Nothing, just fans getting carried away.

Fans can are allowed to want better than 2 out of 10, it’s a unrealistic want.

 I’m more realistic in the fact that puel has done a good job with a limited ability squad, and we haven’t got good enough players.

 The squad needs a serious overhaul if the  club want to move forward, and off load the average players, as we have to many average, or limited ability players, and players past their best.

 I’m still excited about what puel can achieve when he recruited his own players, just feel he’s setting them up, and some just haven’t the ability to carry out the task.

[kingfox]

This was to be expected yet you had fans getting ahead of themselves. Talk of top six, even talk of top four by some fans, complete idiocy.

 

I said a few weeks back we are where we should be, this team some weeks will look very good then for a few weeks they'll look very bad. We're a decent side but we're nothing more than 7th-10th material. 

[Ian Nacho]

Very fine margins as far as I'm concerned. 

[ScouseFox]

tbf it's pretty much just the palace and maybe everton games that can be described as "going wrong". 

 

Liverpool, Chelsea (where we actually played really well), city away, united at home etc are all games you'd expect nothing from, the two wins you mentioned and we caught Swansea at the wrong time with a bit of a cloud over us post-riyad transfer saga. 

 

steady progress in the cup, too. 

 

we're just another run of the mill team now, we'll lose against most the top 6 and probably average out to beat more of the bottom half than beat us, but still get done in on our bad days. get used to it. 

[coolhandfox]

He's trying to change our style, which is resulting in mistakes, limited players playing in the wrong areas!

 

The squad needs a overhaul, but judging our recruitment record that's not going to be easy! 

 

 

[Hammo]

The inability of the team under Puel to put in a 90-minute performance, that's what.

 

A good first half is never coupled with a good second - and vice versa.

[Fightforever]

I think since we dropped iborra we've been worse

[NewEnglandFox]

People lost their touch of reality when we beat Peterborough 5-1 which was only 2 weeks ago. There were 2 threads that stuck out from that day: one asking if we had a better squad than when we won the title and another hailing Puel a genius. We were never that great.

 

On that day I wrote:

 

On 1/27/2018 at 16:38, NewEnglandFox said:

The time for these threads is not after we drubbed a league one side. That goes for the other I-told-you-so thread about Puel as well. Three weeks ago we failed to record a shot against another League One side. Any time we get a couple good performances in on the bounce the Foxestalk consensus is that we can take on the world and a poor performance is unforeseeable. We're still very capable of getting smashed by Everton or Swansea and will probably be thrashed by Man City. Temper your enthusiasm.

[StriderHiryu]

No cause for concern from me, even if our form has been disappointing. The Mahrez saga certainly had an effect, but it should also be noted that we are undergoing a transition season which I believe is the real culprit. In today's starting lineup we were missing Kante, Drinkwater, Mahrez, Huth, Morgan, Simpson, Okazaki from the title winning team. So I don't think anything is alarmingly wrong, but we are just too jekyl and hide at the moment due to bedding in many new players.

 

I still think there are promising signs but the team needs a lot of work on the training ground in the summer as we are too inconsistent in our play. Today's result doesn't bother me, this season it's been games against Bournemouth, Huddersfield, Palace, Everton, Watford and Swansea where we've dropped obvious points with poor displays that have annoyed me. Well maybe not against Swansea so much as they scored with their only shot on target, but that was a frustrating game. At the same time even though it was "only" Peterborough, we looked incredible in that game, and this season some of our performances (Southampton away, Chelsea away) have been as good as anything I can remember seeing including our title winning year.

 

Having been in 7/8th for a lot of the season I would be gutted not to make Europe next year, but even if we didn't then as long as there are signs of progression I am relatively happy. I think next season is a bigger test for us. Can we really be successful with Puel's style and kick on and get closer to the top 6, or is it chasing a pipe dream because you need too many quality players? In my opinion it is possible as Spurs have proven. We will lose Mahrez, but Spurs lost Bale a few seasons ago and though it took them quite some time, a new manager and the emergence of Harry Kane, they managed to become a great team though good coaching and some smart acquisitions. I might dislike their club, but you have to give them credit where it's due.

 

Despite some poor performances of late, I have overall been very impressed with Puel, and even think he dealt with the Mahrez saga well. This is a job that needs time to get right and I'm still very happy for him to be given the chance to help develop the club for the foreseeable future.

Edited 10 February 2018 by StriderHiryu

[Rogstanley]

This is what being “established in the premier league” looks like. Most of us used to dream of these days.

[StriderHiryu]

2 minutes ago, Rogstanley said:

This is what being “established in the premier league” looks like. Most of us used to dream of these days.

Well said!

 

It's like being back in the MON era when we would always do OK in the league and have good chances in the cup. Ultimately after tasting the incredible high of 15/16 I'd love us to be even more competitive, but we are hardly in a bad spot. I remember back in the Championship days after we fell apart after Christmas going from first to squeaking into the playoffs if we would ever make it back to the Premier League again, and of course there are those dark days of relegation to League One.

 

If we finish 7th, that would be our second best finish in the Premier League ever. Hardly a bad season.

[Blanchflower78]

We are currently second in Premier League tier 2. However, we could easily be many places below come May. We simply compete within that, ignore places 1-6 other than you can pick up the odd bonus points there.  

[SheppyFox]

Comical to me that if we lost 5-1 to Barcelona you’d see less theatrics from the simpletons on here, they’re on a similar level to the European elite and outclassed us, It’s really quite straightforward.

[Monsell1976]

24 minutes ago, Blanchflower78 said:

We are currently second in Premier League tier 2. However, we could easily be many places below come May. We simply compete within that, ignore places 1-6 other than you can pick up the odd bonus points there.  

Frustrating thing is if we could be consistent, 7th is a realistic target, and could get europa league football the players say the want, but seem to be going through the motions, and putting mediocre performances, or just turning up for one half or the other

[Aus Fox]

Concentrating on the FA Cup init.