Last Chance Saloon

I have avoided commenting on Saturday's disastrous performance against Blackpool before now because my temper was such that I would have said things I may have regretted. What is clear on Monday afternoon is that Thomas Sandgaard hasn't yet pulled the trigger. The Owner and the Manager are reputed to have spoken (as you would expect after one match and ahead of another) and Bowyer remains in charge.

I thought Saturday's display was our worst performance of the season and a new low. You can debate the penalties and the sending-offs but for me they were secondary to the football and, I believe, typical of the malaise in the squad. Our football outside those match losing facts was diabolical. Outside the back four, there was absolutely no shape, no plan, little energy or any real concern. The back four weren't great either but at least they had to shoulder 70% of the play as they played it back and forth amongst themselves with uncertainty and fear. 

It looked like a rush-midfield, where all four were given licence to go where they wanted. As a result they moved about haphazardly, rarely any space or aware of where their team-mates were. Balls played to them in midfield were lost almost immediately either by dint of a poor first touch or a pass to a marked team-mate who lost out in the challenge. Without the ball, the limit of their ambition appeared to slow Blackpool down by fouling. And what a lot of fouling there was. Not the over-committed heavy or unfortunately late tackling but the cynical, niggly type so typical of sides who realise they aren't competing. This has become a feature of Bowyer's team, especially this season. 

Pratley's sending off was the result of a second yellow for a niggly, unsportsman-like  foul. It wasn't really late or heavy but he committed to bringing the player down in a way he does so often by falling on them, often with his arms out to ensure they don't escape. He was chasing a player by the goal-line, not in a particularly dangerous position but attempting to prevent him entering the box or crossing. Halting his man wasn't enough. He had to fall on top of him and them place his hand on his opponent's neck as he moved to get up and then draw his leg and boot across the man's face in the hope of causing further discomfort. We would hate to see this sort of behaviour against us and I am fed-up seeing it perpetrated on opposition players, especially when the goon gets himself red-carded again. Pratley's got form for it and we love it when he has been brought on to break play in the closing ten minutes with the side winning. Sadly this season he has been playing much larger parts of games and it has hampered our game and infected some of the others, notably Ben Watson when it's his turn for a game.

Unfortunately, we saw little of Millar or Shinnie. Millar was double-marked and Shinnie lacked sufficient control on the ball to make much progress. He was all headless chicken too when we saw him and in hiding when we didn't. It really was a mess. Jaiyesimi didn't bring any serenity to the midfield either. His first touch was poor and he lost possession too often.

The other sad fact was that once again a visiting keeper at the Valley had to concentrate on keeping warm. I switched off well before the end but Maxwell (former Charlton player) didn't have an effort to save. Our attacking plan seemed to be 'lump it to Stockley' whenever we crossed the halfway line and there wasn't another pass on.

So, it was a bad day for us in a string of bad days. The players seem to have stopped Tweeting "we go again" and the manager's claim that the mistakes "have to stop now" after the midweek fiasco was plainly just words.

Sadly, Bowyer has also said that he's saying all the right things but the players aren't doing them. That's a woeful excuse, especially given this has been happening for three months now. 

I can tolerate poor results and being second-best. Sometimes we have been in that position in the past under different regimes and managers. It happened regularly in the Premierships and less often in the Championship. However, it's hard to take in League One where we have typically had competitive squads in spite of any lack of investment. 

At some point though it becomes intolerable. That is usually when you expect to lose your next match with yet another poor showing that lacks the basis of effort, teamwork or an ability to change it - we brought four subs on at half-time although you would have been hard-pressed to tell. 

The next stage from that, if you haven't sacked the manager, is when the football club is being humiliated with every game and that's what I have seen in the last week. Two dire home defeats with no redeeming feature. Both sadly predictable and, I am sorry to say, another looming tomorrow at Wigan. The Owner cannot allow this to go on until the end of the season. It will seriously damage the club's reputation and the commercial foundations for next season. We are slowly becoming a solidly League One Club and it has to be stopped. I wouldn't trust Bowyer with any more money or the rebuilding task if he can't get the players to play as he wants and is unable to affect any change, which appears to be the case now. Tomorrow might well be goodnight for Lee Bowyer. I really can't see his players raising their game if they haven't been bothered to do it so far.