Things are looking sweeeet!

[Vardinhio]

9th in the premier league. Things are going well for us guys so let's not go over the top about one dissapointing performance. Any win in the premier league is not going to come easily so let's take some solace that despite playing poorly we still got a point.

 

Nothing that has happened today has changed my outlook for the season. Players will have off days and today was one of them.

[Deucalion]

9th in the premier league. Things are going well for us guys so let's not go over the top about one dissapointing performance. Any win in the premier league is not going to come easily so let's take some solace that despite playing poorly we still got a point.

 

Nothing that has happened today has changed my outlook for the season. Players will have off days and today was one of them.

 

I can see your point.  I was looking at the Championship table earlier and from top to bottom they seem to have so many points.  It might not seem like it when you are in the Championship, but points are much easier to come by.

 

I'm disappointed by the results in the last two games, but we are still 9th.  Our point today actually resulted in us going back into the top ten.  So points are harder to come by but mean more.  

 

So while I am disappointed by today's display, and we definitely need to do better, especially at home, part of the problem is I am still partly in a Championship mindset when it comes to points.

[bovril]

The disappointing thing today was not the result, nor the manner of the result, nor the opposition. It was the overall performance, especially in the 2nd half which was lower half Championship at best. Talking about top half after 7 games is a little bit naive.

I still think we'll stay up but Christ do we have to improve and fast.

[Vardinhio]

The disappointing thing today was not the result, nor the manner of the result, nor the opposition. It was the overall performance, especially in the 2nd half which was lower half Championship at best. Talking about top half after 7 games is a little bit naive.

I still think we'll stay up but Christ do we have to improve and fast.

 

Yes we can't get complacent but I think we all need to keep our feet on the ground. Being hard to beat will work wonders this season and after 7 games W2 D3 L2 is pretty good!

[ScouseFox]

whilst I agree I think the frustrating thing is not how well we've done but how well we could've done. once you take 8 points from Everton, arsenal, united and stoke you are obviously going to be bitterly disappointed with 1 point from palace and Burnley.

[Vardinhio]

whilst I agree I think the frustrating thing is not how well we've done but how well we could've done. once you take 8 points from Everton, arsenal, united and stoke you are obviously going to be bitterly disappointed with 1 point from palace and Burnley.

Completely agree but that just shows how tough the premier league is.

[Mark_from_USA]

There are two ways we go from here. Either we pick it up like we did after the poor run last December, or we start to struggle a bit like we did in the spring of 2013. If we pick it up we will be comfortably safe, but if we hit a low confidence patch it will be nervy, much like the last 30 minutes today. On the plus side we are healthy and deep, with quality on the bench to make adjustments. We just can't let sides draw us into playing their game, we need to play ours.

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Should realise that we aren't actually that good and bring us down to earth. If we don't buck our ideas up we wont get anything from next two games when we can get four points at minimum if we play to max

[Matt]

Whilst I agree its concerning and needs addressing rather than papering over the cracks that we've had two very disappointing and poor performances in a row against teams that will be in and around the positions we are likley to be.

[Callabinho]

On paper we've actually gone up a place and it's been a terrific weekend. But in reality we threw away a 2-1 that should have really been 3 or 4, that's the horrible thing.

[Freesolo]

i think the run of results v's the like's of Everton, Arsenal, and United have Made the players think that staying up is a lock, In reality they need to start battling in every game like its a cup final, and the chairman best be ready too get his Cheque book out in Jaunuary because we play like a Championship club sometimes

[Bettsj2]

We drew at home to Burnley last year in a massively disappointing game. Take that game in isolation and you can argue we didn't deserve the title.

That is of course bollocks just as people trying to make out that this one game makes us potential relegation fodder.

Such a shame that as fans it takes over a year for the team to build up our confidence and support but only one game for some fans to turn their backs.

To me its as disappointing as the result was yesterday if not more.

[ithuriel]

We looked shockingly fragile yesterday and constantly squandered possession, the balance of the team was not quite right and they all looked little more than average yesterday.

It seemed that after the good start to the season we have had we have let the performance levels drop, either that or teams are raising their game against us now.

[Crinklyfox]

I think that if you asked NP if things were looking sweet he might not be so positive. We had a good start to the season but have underachieved for the last two matches. Not the first time that this has happened but in the Championship it was easier to turn round given the lower quality of the opposition.

I'm still positive that we can survive in the Premiership, but this will take focus and determination from the whole squad. We don't have any laurels to rest on yet.

[Raw Dykes]

i think the run of results v's like like's of Everton, Arsenal, and United have Made the players that staying up is a lock, In reality they need to start battling in every game like its a cup final, and the chairman best be ready too get his Cheque book out in Jaunuary because we play like a Championship club sometimes

 

This is pretty much how I see things. We put in some very impressive performances early on against strong opposition, and I think that might well have negatively affected the players' mentality. After battering Man Utd, I think there may have been a bit of complacency creeping into the team as they looked forward to two, on paper at least, easier games.

 

It was very frustrating to throw away two points yesterday. That may well have been the easiest fixture that we get in the league all season. Burnley looked rubbish against West Brom in their last fixture, and they're having even worse luck with injuries than we were at the start of the season. I was hoping that the memory of the Palace defeat might have spurred the team on to a convincing win in this one, but perhaps the players still thought all they had to do was turn up to win.

 

However, looking at the big picture, I'm happy at how things are going. We've seen that this team is comfortably good enough to compete at this level, and since it's a young squad, it will be improving all the time as long as it just stays together. Sure, the last two performances have been sub-par, but I'm still fairly confident we'll survive this season.

[st albans fox]

Battered Man U? We had 5 shots on target and scored 5 goals. We were effiicient in our chances created/converted ratio first 5 fixtures. We are not creating enough clear chances against less capable opposition. Palace? Bad day at the office. Weakened burnley side? No excuses.

I don't want to be going into each weekend worrying about picking up points. I want to have enough in the locker to enjoy the premier league after Xmas. Yesterday was a waste and will put pressure on us within a few weeks with two away fixtures approaching. I think Nigel feels the same.

[Lineker's Left Foot]

Battered Man U? We had 5 shots on target and scored 5 goals. We were effiicient in our chances created/converted ratio first 5 fixtures. We are not creating enough clear chances against less capable opposition. Palace? Bad day at the office. Weakened burnley side? No excuses.

I don't want to be going into each weekend worrying about picking up points. I want to have enough in the locker to enjoy the premier league after Xmas. Yesterday was a waste and will put pressure on us within a few weeks with two away fixtures approaching. I think Nigel feels the same.

We will be fine. However would like to see Danny Simpson at right back for the two away games coming up. Also think Nick Powell and Marc Albrighton deserve some sort of run out now.

[theessexfox]

Putting things into perspective, we've got to take the highs with the lows and I'm fine with a disappointing draw to Burnley considering the unbelievable high we've had against United. Football is about these ups and downs, it's why I wouldn't want to support one of the glory sides.

 

I'm also extremely glad that we're discussing a Premier League draw rather than a Championship win/draw/loss. Happy days still. 

[shailen]

completely agree with this. gotta aim for the magic 40 points total. Once/if we get there we can push on and look further ahead. Definitely on course to achieve this if the next 31 games play out the same way

[Monsell1976]

We drew at home to Burnley last year in a massively disappointing game. Take that game in isolation and you can argue we didn't deserve the title.

That is of course bollocks just as people trying to make out that this one game makes us potential relegation fodder.

Such a shame that as fans it takes over a year for the team to build up our confidence and support but only one game for some fans to turn their backs.

To me its as disappointing as the result was yesterday if not more.

Think saying that some fans have turned their backs after one game is a bit harsh, pissed off maybe.

Fans being disappointed at the way we played in the defeat to palace, and the draw with burnley, is probaly fair.

The lacklustre performances is the most disappointing thing, if we had applied ourselfs as we did in the opening six games, we would have had more than a point in return.

Confidence is a big thing, and very fragile, so taking their foot off the pedal in recent weeks, could cause self inflicted pressure.

This is not a negative post by any means, as they have proven with the right team, tactics and application, we can hold our own in this league, but we just need to learn quickly by our mistakes, and drop in performances, and hopefully apply the right attitude, week in, week out, and the fans will be happy, win, lose or draw, well the majority will.

[ealingfox]

1 point from Palace and Burnley. They are the results that send you down I'm afraid. We have much to improve on.

[theessexfox]

West Ham lost away at Norwich and drew at home to Villa in two consecutive games last year, and didn't struggle. I could list infinite examples: it is not one or two isolated results that send you down, it is consistent bad results, and 9 points from 7 games suggests this isn't the case. 

[Callabinho]

United drew with Burnley....applying logic, are they set to be relegated too?

[RutlandFox91]

I personally thought we played some cracking stuff in the first half, scored two good goals but let Burnley get a foothold through a sloppy goal. In the second half we sat off and waited to hit Burnley on the counter. The game plan almost worked but by frequently giving away cheap free kicks in dangerous areas we gave them hope and this cost us dearly in the end. 

[Monsell1976]

I personally thought we played some cracking stuff in the first half, scored two good goals but let Burnley get a foothold through a sloppy goal. In the second half we sat off and waited to hit Burnley on the counter. The game plan almost worked but by frequently giving away cheap free kicks in dangerous areas we gave them hope and this cost us dearly in the end.

We are not good enough defensively to sit back and let any team attack us for 45+ minutes, I personally think we have just had a couple of off games, but the way you say it was a tactic to sit off, Pearson clearly got his tactics wrong.

I don't think at 2-1 Pearson would be prepared to risk sitting back, we just didn't play well, not a good thing, especially after the palace performance, but now it's how we respond, I expect a positive response v Newcastle, win, lose or draw, but there isn't need to panic, as I said earlier, we have proved we can hold our own in this league.