I'll keep this brief - after all the hope and hype, the nasty memories of last year are desperately trying to force their way back into my psyche. I refuse to let them, though. It's a blip, I tells you.
Plummiting from 4th to 11th in the space of 7 days is crazy. It's such a 'Coventry' thing to happen, so at least this isn't new to us. We can handle it, I guess. There was a point on Saturday when I thought we might just get lucky and cling onto top 8 though. In the end, pretty much every result when against us, leaving us 11th.
Not that this really matters in November, as we're still only 3 points away from 4th. Actually, it could and should have been a lot worse. It's all about perception really. We're just lucky we're in the Championship where bottom vs top doesn't mean a bloody thing. It's so tight, falling 7 places in a week is a bit false.
I think you can put this little run of poor form down to our inability to adapt. Whether you agree or not with how the team were playing, they'd found a pretty useful formula. Trouble is, we became so reliant on that formula that we've struggled to change our approach in the untimely absence of Clive and Ben.
I think that, more than anything else, is going to be our downfall this season. If we can't learn to alter our approach when the game calls for it, we're not going to go anywhere.
Saturday was a much-changed line-up, and it showed. We were toothless throughout, quite frankly. We lacked any sort of spark or belief. Harsh decisions obviously made our job difficult, and the chances were there to come away with something, but you never really got the impression the team believed they would.
You won't find me changing my expectations for this year in the face of this run of games. I don't think they're unrealistic with the players we have in our squad. We should be challenging for top 6. I'm not blinkered or employing any sort of bias (I probably am). I suppose that's why I've warmed to Aidy so much; I find myself sharing a lot of his views.
I read someone on Saturday night state that all 'proper' city fans knew it would take years sort things out. There's not a single part of that sentence that doesn't wind me up. 3 defeats and suddenly they've wished another 3 seasons away. That's not supporting a team. That's showing absolutely no confidence in their ability at all. It's the football equivalent of a mother refusing to take the stabilisers off her 16 year old son's bike. They've got to grow sometime - stop giving them ready-made excuses, and they might finally start to flourish.
Just need to get out of this rut we're in, first. A little bit of ruthlessness ought to do the trick.
Yes, I'm looking at you Marlene.
