It was thoroughly depressing yesterday.
I couldn't believe it when a considerable amount of people actually booed a misplaced pass in the first half. Shame on them - it doesn't help. I'll boo with the best - or worst - of them. My shouts of derision from the end of the Wigan game are probably still echoing around the stadium. But during a game, when we aren't even losing? The players aren't being deliberately crap - although at times I wonder how some of them are stealing a living as professional footballers. And then you moan when a player tells you to shut up! Snowflakes. And singing not one song for our own players, and virtually none for our team but two or three for Maguire? Very odd indeed...
Talking of support - it looks like the 'Ultras' have found something else to do on a Saturday afternoon. That's fine (it's a free country, just) - I hope they don't come back trumpeting their loyalty and 'ultraness' when things improve. When things are crap both on and off the pitch, that is when you are needed most. Even if the crap stewards are unhelpful, the owner unsupportive, the team crap, the manager seemingly a bit of a numpty and the stadium a concrete carbuncle - you should be there suffering along with the rest of us!
On the pitch ....
I thought Tiendalli was quite possibly our best player (despite that idiotic back pass) - I'm not sure if that is a compliment to him or a brickbat aimed at the rest of them. The new lad showed encouraging touches - let's hope he is allowed to play in his proper position and to show what he can do. Martin was OK at times. Ledson ran around enthusiastically. I am struggling to think of anything good to say about anyone else.
Mehmeti stood out for me as a total waste of time - he can be added to the fairly length list of players who can go back whence they came at the end of the season.
Connor Ripley is a chubby fool. He'll be playing non-league football within 18 months.
In the dugout ....
Can someone please explain to me what Clotet is trying to achieve? Nothing much changes week to week (the silly sideways passing along the back, the lack of movement off the ball, the playing tight little triangles at the side of the pitch before losing the ball, giving up goals from set pieces, the non-existent marking and lack of closing down, the poor substitutions etc etc) and I am struggling to see any progression at all. Or even any change. There seems to be precious little leadership - either on the pitch or from the sidelines. Since I cannot believe for an instant that Clotet is happy with what he is seeing and that the players are doing what he wants, why isn't he out there barking at them?
I don't bother to listen to Clotet's post match interviews any more. Completely uninformative and bad for my blood pressure - he seems to hurt not one jot after a loss. That cannot be true, but is how it seems from these little homilies he delivers.
I'm not one to want a manager out at the drop of a hat - but am struggling to think of any reason for him to stay. Giving him the summer to sign players like he did for this season seems like a very bad idea at the moment (reading between the lines, it seems that Eales has put his foot down and the reversion to the previous recruitment policy is down to him) - I suspect he doesn't understand what is needed in L1 at all.