Mystified....but why?

[Population-1]

Hi all, firstly can I say there are some supremely astute comments being made on this site of late and its good to see the 'quick-fix' solutions and insane 'Levein or Adams' polls biting the dust.

I echo the thoughts that Levein has been given far from enough time to expect a dramatic turanround in fortunes given the turnover of players. I fully support him and would urge everyone to maintain their support for the manager as barracking the players or management staff is NEVER acceptable and will gain you nothing but the trepidation of players when they next step out on the pitch. An atmosphere that is as welcoming and encouraging as possible has to be produced on Sunday if we are to have any excuse to gripe should another abject performance be forthcoming.

My one concern however relates to Craig's seemingly mystified reactions post-match when summing up below-par performances. It was the case in the defeat to Luton and again on Tuesday night. Listening to the audio he accepted that he was fully aware of the formation that Burnley would play and the fact they would look to stifle the game, so then how can he justify the cautious attitude that overcame the players? It may just be that he is protecting his staff and not wanting to reveal potential weaknesses in individual and collective psyches, but it is nevertheless a worry. There appears to be no conviction in Levein's mannerisms and I do think he made a huge mistake in sticking with the same eleven following the Watford game. Hughes needs a rest as he has not hit anywhere near top form as yet and I also think Dion should have been allowed to re-charge with Gerrbrand being given a run out.

If I recall correctly, CL's initial assessment of the club when he had spent his initial month here was that there were two main weaknesses that required immediate redress:

• Lack of pace within the back four
  
• Cautious and fearful performances at the Walkers
  

As much as I support Craig and will continue to do so I must say that I question whether he has removed either of these weaknesses.

Whatever else, lets focus on the boys in blue on Sunday and not the likes of Scowcroft, Nalis, MA etc. It belittles the task the team are looking to achieve and also CL. That was then and this is now and we must get behind the lads as confidence really will ebb if we fail to collect three points on Sunday.

[Head Honcho]

Hi all, firstly can I say there are some supremely astute comments being made on this site of late and its good to see the 'quick-fix' solutions and insane 'Levein or Adams' polls biting the dust.

I echo the thoughts that Levein has been given far from enough time to expect a dramatic turanround in fortunes given the turnover of players. I fully support him and would urge everyone to maintain their support for the manager as barracking the players or management staff is NEVER acceptable and will gain you nothing but the trepidation of players when they next step out on the pitch. An atmosphere that is as welcoming and encouraging as possible has to be produced on Sunday if we are to have any excuse to gripe should another abject performance be forthcoming.

My one concern however relates to Craig's seemingly mystified reactions post-match when summing up below-par performances. It was the case in the defeat to Luton and again on Tuesday night. Listening to the audio he accepted that he was fully aware of the formation that Burnley would play and the fact they would look to stifle the game, so then how can he justify the cautious attitude that overcame the players? It may just be that he is protecting his staff and not wanting to reveal potential weaknesses in individual and collective psyches, but it is nevertheless a worry. There appears to be no conviction in Levein's mannerisms and I do think he made a huge mistake in sticking with the same eleven following the Watford game. Hughes needs a rest as he has not hit anywhere near top form as yet and I also think Dion should have been allowed to re-charge with Gerrbrand being given a run out.

If I recall correctly, CL's initial assessment of the club when he had spent his initial month here was that there were two main weaknesses that required immediate redress:

• Lack of pace within the back four
  
• Cautious and fearful performances at the Walkers
  

As much as I support Craig and will continue to do so I must say that I question whether he has removed either of these weaknesses.

Whatever else, lets focus on the boys in blue on Sunday and not the likes of Scowcroft, Nalis, MA etc. It belittles the task the team are looking to achieve and also CL. That was then and this is now and we must get behind the lads as confidence really will ebb if we fail to collect three points on Sunday.

Yes i agree Williams/Gerrbrand should have played on Tuesday, and i would even have stuck Dublin up front with Hammond.

But it was a winning team and it was probably the first time he had the chance to keep the an unchanged winning team. He may have felt he owed it to the players.

[Guest Gist]

He did the right thing keeping the same team it seemed to work until the start of the second half leicester just let burnley get back into the game and it went downhill from there

[Louise]

Some good points there.

Firstly the post-match interview thing. I don't think he says what he does without something else going on in his head. In a way I thought his post-match interview after Watford was probably the most brutal of the season. I'd imagine this is a tactic of Levein's that he doesn't want to kick his players when they're down (in public) but after a win they can take some criticism. Just because he says to the fans after a defeat that he was happy with the performance, doesn't mean he doesn't go into the dressing room and shout at them all. I think he just likes to present a calm front to the supporters.

Secondly the issue of not changing the side after Watford. Now I see where you're coming from, on the Watford match thread before the game kicked off I said that was an awful side, and generally teams play differently at home to how they play away. But we've been complaining all season about not having a settled side, we won a game and Levein took the option to give those players a chance to cement themselves in the side, they let him down against Burnley. Keeping the side the same is surely the only thing he could have done, if he'd have changed it and we'd still lost then he'd be under even more pressure. At least now we can see that the majority of the blame for Tuesday must go onto the player's shoulders and not the manager's.

Thirdly the pace of the back four. I don't think Levein intended Dublin to play much this season at all, but a combination of suspension, injury and on occasion tactics means that he's somehow found himself a regular starter. I'm not a fan of Dublin and would happily see him dropped however while the crowd is so on Craig's back - and Dublin is apparently so popular - it would be a big decision to do so. Not that he doesn't have the bottle to do it, but it would be a big risk. Johansson is also not the quickest of players and so the two of them don't make for a very good back four. I'd be happier with McCarthy and Gerrbrand in there but again that requires a lot of bottle to change around and start off with another new centre-back partnership. I don't think there is a problem with lack-of-pace with the full-backs unless Johansson is playing there or something.

And finally, the cautious performances at the Walkers. I do think Craig has tried to change this but it's an unenviable task really. The crowd are so hostile at the moment (and have been since the start of the season really, there was booing at the Ipswich game) that the slightest thing can set them off. I don't like it, but I don't really blame people, it's just years of Taylor/Adams frustration weighing down on them (I say them because while I don't blame them I'm certainly not one of them). And while some might disagree I really do think that the atmosphere affects the players, it's noticeable that they're much more panicked at home. So then you get this vicious circle where the players don't play well because they're nervous, which makes the crowd angry, which makes the players more nervous etc. Now of course they're professionals and should be able to ignore criticism but most of them are very young players and I'm not surprised it gets to them. The only solution to this I can see would be a good run of form in away games which would take the pressure off the home ones (the run of three away games after Cov for example is a good chance for this) and would put the supporters in a better mood when going to the Walkers.

[Gené and Tonic]

Personally, I think Gerrbrand will eventually come in for Dublin when Levein deems in necessary, well, I hope anyway. He's look quite good in the few imes he's been on. Don't waste him!