Following last week's embarrassingly clueless capitulation in the game we want to win more than any other in this division, we head to second-place Burnley on Saturday for a match where very few of us are expecting anything other than a sound beating.
In a season where our division is littered with bigger squads with more money and ambition than us, the Clarets are currently showing what can be achieved with a modicom of organisation, discipline and focus. I work with a die-hard Burnley fan and his expectations of this season were significantly lower than mine when I handed him my entrance money to the football competition he runs every season back in mid-August. The loss of Charlie Austin was expected to see the goals dry up and Sean Dyche has been working with one hand tied behind his back.
Burnley have been the surprise package thus far with Danny Ings and Sam Vokes picking up the challenge of filling Austin's boots and scoring the goals that have fired their club into second-place. I can't see Dyche's troops lasting the distance but will wager they will retain their second-placing this weekend.
Chris Powell will go looking for a response to the latest derby white-flag waving and these are the sorts of games where our team pulls a rabbit out of the hat. However, something seems broken within the club at the moment and looks increasingly like it's affecting the playing squad. Supporter disgust with last weeks submission is as universally negative as I can remember and there will be far less interest than normal in news from Turf Moor. Not sure I will even bother listening to the commentary. Instead I will steel myself for the visit of Forest on Tuesday evening where I am expecting us to slump to our third home defeat in four (mentally it's four in five what with the Doncaster game). That would just about rubber stamp this season as a bona fide relegation battle as we enter October.
In a season where our division is littered with bigger squads with more money and ambition than us, the Clarets are currently showing what can be achieved with a modicom of organisation, discipline and focus. I work with a die-hard Burnley fan and his expectations of this season were significantly lower than mine when I handed him my entrance money to the football competition he runs every season back in mid-August. The loss of Charlie Austin was expected to see the goals dry up and Sean Dyche has been working with one hand tied behind his back.
Burnley have been the surprise package thus far with Danny Ings and Sam Vokes picking up the challenge of filling Austin's boots and scoring the goals that have fired their club into second-place. I can't see Dyche's troops lasting the distance but will wager they will retain their second-placing this weekend.
Chris Powell will go looking for a response to the latest derby white-flag waving and these are the sorts of games where our team pulls a rabbit out of the hat. However, something seems broken within the club at the moment and looks increasingly like it's affecting the playing squad. Supporter disgust with last weeks submission is as universally negative as I can remember and there will be far less interest than normal in news from Turf Moor. Not sure I will even bother listening to the commentary. Instead I will steel myself for the visit of Forest on Tuesday evening where I am expecting us to slump to our third home defeat in four (mentally it's four in five what with the Doncaster game). That would just about rubber stamp this season as a bona fide relegation battle as we enter October.
Spot on, Dave. I'm predicting 1 point from the next 3 games and that, I think, will come a week Saturday (if we're very lucky).
ReplyDeleteBy then we'll be firmly rooted in the bottom 3, where we all know it will be difficult to pull away from. I'm already resigned to the fact we're in the relegation mix. No question.
I hope to God I'm proved wrong.
Hungry Ted