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Don’t Panic
I think it’s fairly safe to say that there are a lot of unimpressed Blues fans out there. Two games in, both against promoted opposition and only one point picked up have led to calls from some for changes within the team, new signings – the whole kit and caboodle. Are things really that bad?
It’s easy to see why people might think that things need changing. The highlights alone of the Sheffield Wednesday game showed how bad the goals that Blues conceded were; Jack Butland dropped another huge clanger and gifted them their first and it looked like the defence struggled to do their jobs. In the first game, Blues looked sluggish and misfired badly and it was only the intervention of Zigic that got us anything out of it.
However, I’m not of the belief that all is lost already. Against Charlton, six players made their league debuts for Blues – three of them were teenagers and two of them had never played at that level before. Butland may have had a baptism of fire but he has hardly been helped by what’s been in front of him – for example Curtis Davies looked very poor against Barnet and Charlton and I do wonder if his head has been turned by transfer talk.
A clean sheet however will do Butland’s confidence wonders and if the defence in front of him can sort their acts out – well, it’s more achievable. Once Jack has done it once, he’ll do it again, and he’ll improve and settle in. Right now, he’s under an immense amount of pressure and I don’t think it’s helping him.
Likewise, the midfield has struggled. I think Clark himself admitted he got it wrong against Sheffield Wednesday and I suspect that he will change things once again against Watford to try to get it right. I’ve seen people suggest that Blues need to make another signing but I’m firmly convinced that is not the answer – we need the new players we have to bed in, let alone throwing more into the mix. Blues have got talent in the middle in Ravel Morrison and Darren Ambrose and with Keith Fahey coming back next month should be formidable in that part of the park – but they need to settle and get used to how Clark wants them to play and more importantly how each other players.
Chris Burke, who was such an inspiration last season hasn’t shone either – another factor which hasn’t helped Blues cause. I’m not sure if it’s just that teams have wised to the Scot or if he’s not on his game but he didn’t look the player who got umpteen goals and assists last year when he played against Charlton. Marlon King has struggled too – and Blues need him firing as he was our chief goal-getter last season.
It’s strange, but the only player for me who has shone has been Zigic. Despite all the talk of him being shifted on to Spain, Zigic has come on and changed things. Again, I’m only going on what others have told me but Ziggy was the answer again in the game at Hillsborough; roughing up defenders, making a nuisance of himself and giving the opposing manager a defensive headache.
I really don’t want us to lose Zigic because a) I love the bloke in our team but more importantly b) used right he could well be our ticket out of this division. It’s all well and good thinking moving on his wages would free up slots for two or three players but that wouldn’t happen. Think about it logically – if Blues are trying to cut our wage bill by shifting his 50k plus weekly wage they’re not going to spend all that money again on other players. It’ll be a one in, one out situation – and if reports of James Vaughan are to be believed, well, I’m out.
We’re two games into a 46 game season. The fact we have lost one and drawn one is nothing to panic about yet; as an example Reading took one point from their opening six games last season and look where they finished. I believe Blues have got enough quality to get us up the table, they just need a bit of time to come together and start showing it. As Corporal Jones used to shout on Dad’s Army, “Don’t Panic”.
Tags: Chris Burke, Curtis Davies, Darren Ambrose, Jack Butland, Keith Fahey, Marlon King, Nikola Zigic, Ravel Morrison
91 Responses to “Don’t Panic”
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thanks almajir, keep the faith. I have a friend who is a Wednesday season ticket holder and Mandaric has them really well organised behind the scenes. They will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season as will Blues. This mate says that big Ziggy was very physical against Wednesday, has not been so much when I have seen him play at St Andrews. Forza Blues:-)
I think the problem with Burke is that he has no proper support on the right hand side. Without Carr the threat of Burke is much reduced. Similarly on the left if only Murphy plays there isn’t enough pace. King needs to learn the offside rule all over again – if it wasn’t for that Wembley may have beckoned last season. Still it’s early days and not a particularly easy start in any case.
in a gate of over 25,000 at hillsborough there was only around 1,000 from brum.should have been more than 3-2 in my view.sheff wed very good.did not think much of brum.
I am not satisfied. We have 3 first choice forwards over 30. That means less than 90 mins of full power and short term investment in higher paid players. If…..we manage to get promoted there is going to be a clear out of young and old for rebuilding before yet another.season start. I hope Ziggy can make scoring a goal a game his habit as a complete turnaround from the last two seasons. If he leaves we have to find a lethal scorer that finishes on 25 goals this season.preferably under 30 years old so he can make it through 90 mins and lead the attack for a few more seasons. O would like to see our young Rooney being given more opportunity other than no 4 and last seasons lone ranger or 90th minute sub.
Make me eat my words.
I’m sorry but Lee Clark looks like a fish out of water!! Early days indeed but not the greatest way to introduce yourself by basically saying ‘sorry guys I ain’t got a clue’!
I thought Saturday he again got it completely wrong with his player placement, Ravel the best player in this division played basically as a defensive midfielder? Ambrose, u play him off the front man, where did he play, on the wing!
I could go on!!
Interesting that Huddersfield fans used to say he threw a lot of mud at the walls hoping for it to stick, I can now see why!!
The clock is already ticking!
I tend to agree here. When he was sacked at Huddersfield, there were not too many fans out gunning for the heads of the huddersfield board members.
Butland looks to be a spectacular shot stopper but as of yet. A goalkeeper he is NOT
A good goalkeeper needs to be able to do the basics correct like be calm under pressure. make the catching of crosses look like second nature and command your defence.
He can do none of that yet but it will come. Despite this , i think we need to persist with him now, even if it costs even more goals. Otherwise that big transfer fee will diminish. he needs his manager and coaches to go back to basics and start coaching him more where he has weaknesses, rather than relying on him to go out on the pitch and live off the back of the Sun newspaper headline hype he got whilst persorming for team GB. You sort of see why CH never entrusted him with the No 1 jersey last year, despite many salls for him to do so.
This year will be a struggle to survive as will next. We have to have a 3 year plan now because we do not have a man manager now who can motivate the average players we have. What we need to do now is wait for the depelopment of the talented youth to progress and hope we can hold on to those players long term
Butland does not…I repeat does not need to work on his basics.
It’s called confidence you’ve got to remember he is 19 and playing for a team who are expected to finish top half of the division. Think back to Hart his 1st 2/3months he was not at the standard he needed to be.
Myhill last year was not at the races early on and lets not forget the mistakes Doyle made towards the end of the year.
Lets back the young lad and if he gets a few clean sheets he will come on in leaps and bounds and become the player he is touted to be.
You must be a friend of his. Every 19 year old goalkeeper needs to work on his basics. He is no different and his form seems to confirm this
Also, if he lacks confidence after a succesful stint with team GB and an England debut then there must be something more alarmingly wrong. Those things should usually see a goalkeeper oozing confidence, epecially if he got such a vote of confidence at such a high level at such a young age
I think the fixture list was very unkind to us as you do not want to play promoted teams very early in the season when they are absolutely buzzing. Nevertheless I do have concerns. One thing that the Wednesday game did show was that we are lacking in pace and ahtletisism in the team. We have a mix of a lot of old players and young inexperienced players and not much in their mid twenties when they are at their peak. I think that some players may be suffering slightly from a play off hangover and are also slightly unsettled from transfer speculation ov the summer which should dissipate once we are in September. I also have concerns that Butland might not be as good as everyone thinks he is going to be, particularly in the short term as he as got to go through are learning curve at this level. Hughton seemed to have little faith in him last year. I can live with him making some blunders like the 1st goal against Sheff Wed but I would expect him to be a better shot stopper than his poor attempt at saving the 2nd. In saying all that I do believe we have got a lot of quality for this level and once Clark has bedded in I believe we will improve and contend the play offs. Dont forget that Terry Mac & Fazackerley are also a very experienced and credible support for LC. I’m torn about the Zigic situation as the club clearly need him off the wage bill, but, to me Ziggy is a Blues legend as he won us the Carling Cup and wants to stay. I agree with Almajir, what sort of replacement would we get?
The only time I will agree that Ziggy needs to be off our wage bill is if he doesn’t perform this season. If he does perform to his potential, then he is worth every single penny of the money we are paying. I agree with all of the comments so far regarding not panicking. I think this team need some time to bed in properly and we will see the benefit of that and all of the pre-season effort coming good in the next few months.
One concern I have, is what appears to be a lack of enthusiasm from McDermot and Fazakerly. If they were at the game against Charlton,they never once appeared at Clark’s side,during the game. Last season we regularly saw Trollope and Calderwood shouting from the touchline and showing a genuine interest in procedings. I know that shouting instructions,may not always alter the course of a game,but it does show that they care ! KRO
I’m not sure about people sayin Lee Clark being a fish out of water, for me I think Butland is the fish out of water, i’ve no doubt that this guy has a big future ahead, but I think this has all been too much too soon, a good goalie will organise his defence & shout at them a lot & this hasn’t happened, if it was up to me ( & obviously it isn’t) i’d send him back out on loan for another year of experience & think about bringing Boaz back for a season who after a shakey start did well & was sorely missed when he got injured. I watched JB for team GB & for England & I wasn’t overly impressed & I really think he needs more at a lower level first as we don’t want him costing us promotion.
Totally agree, Butland did nothing amazing for Team GB or England. He looked out of his depth on Saturday. Boaz done us proud last season in the cup games. I think a bit more experience between the sticks would sort our shakey defence.
Errr! Doyle played in all the cup games!
Doh! Yep sorry morning brain not engaged oop’s!
I’m not sure we can go the whole season with butland in goal. he seems too raw and prone to errors. He made them for GB and in pre season, now he is making them in the league. His positioning is a bit off aat times hence he is not stopping all the shots. he has obviously got talent,but i think we have got to put Doyle or Lucas in goal. Doyles kicking is not fantastic ,but all round he is pretty solid, and would have stopped Sheffield scoring. There is also the factor that Doyle can save penalties which we are going to have to face. Jack Butland needs to go out on loan again to a division 1 or championship club! I don’t think the new goalie coach is going to be able to iron out his errors soon enough. He has got an obvious weaekness with crosses and positioning for shot stopping, and set pieces!
Shame you’re usually so level headed. To say people like Burke “hasn’t shone” and Davies must have had his head turned by transfer talk because they haven’t been absolutely outstanding in two games is just ridiculous to be honest.
It’s this sort of stuff that will fuel and validate the opinions of the idiots that think a team with a lot of changes will bed in straight away, and that we have a divine right to win everything.
I suppose Man Utd fans will be looking down the table after they lost their first game won’t they? Out of our first four games under Hughton, we won ONE. We were so so close to getting to the play off final.
Stop all this nonsense for now.
Also, I’m not too sure if there’s reasons we don’t know about (fitness, etc.) but I’m of the opinion Zigic should start. I said this before the start of the season, I do think he’s probably our most effective striker (not necessarily highest scoring). Who to play alongside him though? Torn between Lovenkrands and King.
Why?
Burke was very poor against Charlton – he gave away the ball time and time again and didn’t look the threat that he can be. That doesn’t mean he’s become a poor player overnight, just that he’s had a bad game.
Similarly, Davies hasn’t played well for a while. He was shocking against Barnet first half and seemed leggy against Charlton. We can only speculate as to why but he too needs to snap out of it.
I heard Curtis Davis slagging off the Blues in the Al Qsar swimming pool in Dubai on the 2nd July,
i can assure you he does not want to be here.
Now isnt the time to panic but poor results in the upcoming games against Watford and then Coventry in the League Cup would set alarm bells ringing for me. The mistake Butland made the other night proves he is better staying at Blues than moving onto a Prem club at this moment in time and we must take a hard look at whats in front of the young kid because Davies has looked poor so far. Its so early though and whilst we must not get too excited when things go well we shouldnt get too disappointed when we lose the odd game. Im confident Blues will soon start firing.
Zigic must stay, however if he scores at this rate he may not. I have never been a fan of King, lets hope I am wrong, he scored goals last season but let’s be honest not enough, and, not the ones that mattered.
Butland? no don’t sell him…..I will be honest he looks to have confidence, and knows what he is doing, but I was not impressed on the telly, and do not see him as a shot stopper, so definitely needs a settled back line in front of him, and above all one he has confidence in.
I did not expect much from the first two games, but, it may be as each future game comes along, with this being a particularly solid division, I feel I may have similar lack of expectation.
saw the replay of blues sheffield and butland was at fault for at least two of the goals. he dropped the first and should have stopped the second.
Last season people were calling for the club to off load Ziggy, in the summer Lee Clark was a “great appointment”. Only two games into the season Ziggy is the best player we have and some are calling for LC to go!! How fickle some people are! Listen panickers, we are TWO games into the seaon, stop bleating and start supporting. We also scored two goals away to Sheff Wed which would have normally won a game, just a bit of work on the defensive side and we’ll be OK.
Good grief,we’ve only played 2 GAMES !!!!!!!
Moan !! Moan !! Moan !!
How about this for a set of results….
Derby 2 ~ 1 BLUES.
BLUES 1 ~ 0 Cov.
M`Boro 3 ~ 1 BLUES.
Watford 2 ~ 2 BLUES.
BLUES 3 ~ 0 Millwall.
Saints 4 ~ 1 BLUES.
BLUES 1 ~ 1 Barnsley.
8 points from a possible 21.
Chris`H start at BLUES last season.
If we beat Watford on Saturday,doesn’t mean we are going to win the league,usually by xmas you should have a good idea how the season will turn out.
euston your quite right. i remember how awful myhill was at the start of last season,but i’m not sure we are going to see the same improvement in butland. i hope we do,but if we don’t then we’ll have to think about going with doyle or lucas cause we can’t keep shipping goals. the team needs time to bed in! Reading didn’t get much from their first 6 or 7 matches didthey??
Ed. I applaud your optimism but do not share it. I think it is going to take a fair few games for the young guns to become effective. I also worry with regard to our midfield and a lack of strength in depth. A long season looms and we will pick up injuries in the middle of the park. We also have in the league quite a few teams that play at pace. On Wednesday once again we looked “pedestrian”. I believe we do need a additional couple of players. One at the back and one in midfield would be great. That said I don’t think it will happen short term. Let us not get ahead of ourselves with talk of promotion. Much as my heart wants to see us in the Premier next season I would be more than happy with a top ten finish with things as they are. Finally Butland; the lad is a great talent but still very young and raw in the scheme of things. I would like to have seen him loaned out for another season; but did we have the option??
Finally, I don’t know that much of Clarke but I cannot believe his decision making against Sheffield. I was totally baffled. Let us hope it is a blip.
Agree, Clark said he played 5 in the middle because he was “worried” about the HIllsborough crowd spurring wednesday on – surely we should be playing to our strengths rather than worrying about the opposition?
A word to Agent McLeish. . listen to yourself with comments such as “stop bleating – start supporting”.
I doubt anybody that contributes to these pages has or is about to stop supporting. These people are the heart and soul of the club. I can live with being patronised by other team’s fans. As a fellow Bluenose you should know better.
Goody, Agent never mentioned that people had stopped supporting, his comments were regarding the gloom and doom merchants after only two games. I think these are fair comments and would agree.
Its the defensive thats the worry .
Seem absolutely static when confronted with any sort of pace.
LC has gone with Butland so now has got to continue to back him.
Right back needs sorting if Carr is not going to return anytime soon.
Spector & Packwood are makeshift & at this level thats not good enough.
I also believe we need additional cover at Centre Back.
We have enough quailty offensive players to hurt the opposition & certainly have goals in us.
Just need to get the right balance . Redmond or Ambrose playing off King with four in midfield for me.
Packwood is a centre-back!
Actually, a defensive midfielder who can play centre back.
I rest my case Nicky , so playing him as a make shift Right Back at this level is not acceptable..
But it looks like that is now being addressed…
http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/sport/swindontown/news/9890378.Caddis_set_for_Birmingham_switch_/
At the moment the spine of the team is poor. Until this is sorted we will continue to under perform.
We can sort the Goalkeeper,central midfield and centre forward internally. I do think we need a strong centre back and someone along side with pace.
Joe Hart was shaky in his first few games and people were calling for him to be dropped. Boaz was shaky to start with last season but came good. Butland has every chance of doing the same; after all the whole point is to give him experience to learn from – invest now, reap the rewards later.
After seeing both matches in the flesh, I’d agree davis has been poor but by no means the only one, the most concerning has been centre midfield, first match Morrison & Mullins in centre Ambose out left just didn’t work. Morrison ended up dropping too deep to pick ball up in front of back 4. Only when subbed and Redmond added some badly needed width did we look like a team. At Wednesday who with that defence come end of season will be in bottom 6 the passing was atrocious, all goals from mistakes, 1st Butland/Remond pass give corner away 2nd Spector again gave ball away 3rd Davis missed ball. In centre midfield Ambrose looked a lot better made some great passes and good touches but again Mullins was woeful.
At Watford I’d drop Mullins and either morrison or spector in centre with Ambrose. Zigic has to start with King or loverkrands don’t care who. If I was Clark I’d be banging on Pannu’s door telling him if Zigic goes kiss goodbye to promotion
I would say that if butland hasn’t improved after seven or eight games then is the time to drop him. blues had a bad start last year and so did reading who went on to be champions.we need a bedding in period and to wait for the window to close so that the players areproperly focused!
I’m starting to think we should of sold but land go for 6million he looks rubbish in the championship and unless blues get promoted this year he won be playing for england again, Zigic OUT he don’t look happy and he still cant jump or run or move
lol. At last someone who can see Zigic’s true footballing ability instead of this Legend hysteria that seems to follow him
tom its goals that count not whether he can jump or whatever. we signed zigic to score goals and he’s doing that. you obviously have a bee in the bonnet about him for some reason?
Yes, it has been a poor start to the season but it’s only two games. There has been too much overreaction and the fixture list hasn’t been kind to us. As you said, Reading had a poor start last season but look how they finished it. However, I do disagree with you comment that “I’ve seen people suggest that Blues need to make another signing but I’m firmly convinced that is not the answer”. This team, even when the new players have settled, will still be crying out for a natural left winger. We tried so many option there in the early part of last season and none of them really worked, not even Redmond.
As soon as Townsend arrived we had a lot more balance and he really made a difference. Trying to ‘shoehorn’ players out there this season at the expense of trying to get a proper winger in on loan (Townsend again?) would be silly.
i agree. last season we played with two wingers. when we only had one we didn’t function properly. signing townsend again would be a good move!
Only 2 games in – not up to match speed/form yet, not got the right balance, new players and new manager bedding in, injuries and players playing out of position, 2 very difficult games to start off against promoted teams. What’s the panic?
On paper we have a stronger squad and more quality players than CH’s team last year? We will be strong at home. We will be in the mixer for the playoffs you would think come the end of the season with the quality we have?
Couple of points however – not sure about persisting with Butland in goal. Goalie organises defence and we have looked shaky not just his blunders. Think the kid is over hyped personally being only 19. Lucas would be a more experienced head?
Zigic is not worth 50K per week in the championship but will probably end up staying as no one will pay his wages. He will never be prolific.
Why is Loverkrands sitting on the bench? Him and King looked a good combo.
Re-signing Carr in hindsight was a risk due to age if he is going to spend his time being injured. Couldnt you play this Gordon fella from Chelsea at right back(I know he is a left back).
reason lovenkrands is sitting on the bench is because zigic has scored 2 goals in 2 games and lovenkrands hasn’t! At the moment Zigic is earning his money cause hes scoring the goals for the team. You may be right about butland, but he still obvious talent. Doyle is probably the better goalie bigger and he is the no 2. Doyle got blues promoted from the championship before!
Zigic is an overpaid donkey. No way is he worth keeping on 50K a week in the championship.
Loverkrands has class and will score plenty in the championship over a season. If Zigic was so good then how comes he is going on a free and no one will pay his wages? Get real man 50K!!! Value for money because he scores a couple of goals from the subs bench?
evesham hes a donkey that has is the top scorer so far this season,and the only on that looks a real threat.you obviously have a bee in your bonnet about him because of his height or somthing,but at the end of the day its goals that count! Also blues play better when hes on the pitch.
I dont rate him simple. We got him as we couldnt get Pavlechenko and then we signed him for too much money and wages and mortgaged the club. I blame Mcleish. Bad deal. Look at his scoring record it’s about 1 goal in every 4 games and he is injured alot. I would expect a 50K a week striker to be scoring 30 goals a season in the championship!
I know we wont agree – I just wish you would stop wearing your rose coloured spectacles because he is awkward and not a top class striker and/or natural footballer. You cant pay 50K per week for the finsihed article and not an impact player despite how sentimental you are are!
Evesham, you’re clueless mate. Lucas made more blunders in the Barnet game than Buttlands made all season (including his summer escapades).
You were probably one of the fans calling for Hart to be dropped after he had a couple of shockers in his first few games. Give the lad a chance!
Look at all our big wins in the last 3 years, they’ve all happened when Zigic has been on the pitch.
Two games into the league, get a grip!
Blues are not passing the ball as fluidly as they did last season. their build up is slow and laboured. they end up passing the ball square and back,and long. They need to pass the ball fast then move to a new position to keep the opposition on their toes. at the moment At the moment they only do it rarely so it is easy for the opposition to defend and of course we have the problem with the goalie making errors. the opposition seem to say if we put pressure on their goalie then we’ll get something! Doyle was 19 when he made his debut for blues,but i think he may have played on loan beforehand, and he made his mistakes in the premiership giiving away a pen,but of course he only played three top 10 teams! All those people that went on at doyle for dropping the ball against blackpool in the rainy play-off semi should shut up now!
As a team we have been poor in every game from tactics to effort, nobody has performed to a decent level.The defence has looked abysmal at times and we need a right back not a utility player that just isn’t good enough.The midfield performance at sheffield was one of the worst collectively i’ve seen for a long time and i think the rise to prominance of Butland so quickly has broght about 1st team football when he clearly doesn’t look ready for it despite having lots of ability and potential.I know it’s very early days and i usually look for some positives to build on but right now i don’t see any which is alarming.
tony if you are referring to packwood you are wrong. packwood has actually done quite we’ll covering for davies at times. of course he is going to get caught out he is not match fit and it is not his natural position,but i would say he is one of the few players to have stood out as doing well!
I think he is referring to Spector which is a bit harsh as the guy is not fit yet?
yes i did mean spector,i think hes classed as a utility player because he isn’t good enough in any one position and was awful at sheffield.Packwood has struggled at times but hopefully like butland will learn from it and improve.
Having been to all the games so far!!! Blues are not far away. Ok must people are looking at results, and panicing, lets get real its only 2 GAMES. All the team need to do is 1 Cut out silly mistakes (which cost us v’s Sheff wed) 2. Get the passing sorted 3 Find out our best starting 11. Then we will move up the table.
If Burke had scored on 56 mins v’s Sheff Wed i think we would have gone on and won the game!!!!
The 1st two teams we have played are promoted teams and they have both got stuck in and played like cup finals.
Why dont we play the same team that destroyed Plymouth and Bury? Seems Clarke is tinkering too much with different players and formations instead of leaving it alone
TWO games in… some key players (Butland, Burke and Davies) are yet to hit form. They are players who will have far more good games than bad and, when they do, we’ll pick up points.
Dont start doubting Clark just yet. He has taken the blame for Sheff Wed to deflect criticism from a team that is still in its formative days. It may be 10 games in before Clark knows his best XI. Relax and give it some time.
Personally… Redmond and Burke on the wing. Spector RB. Whoever is on form gets the nod upfront… at the moment that’s Big Zig.
I can not see why Butland is being lorded as the next great goalkeeper, so far he has been very ordinary in every game he has played, I think he needs a lot of coaching before he is ready at this level.
It is very obvious that we need a strong ball winning mid field player (N’Daw?) who can pass the ball to one of his team mates instead of the opposition. There is a dire need for some quality in mid field.
I disagree with posters who believe that this team is good enough for promotion, the standard of the teams in the league this year is higher than last and the standard of our team is not. We will be lucky to finish mid table in my opinion and I think the fans should get used to us loosing more than we win.
We desperately need a change of ownership and an injection of funds.
At least you’ve got your positivity to keep you going…
Lee Clark played 3 in centre midfield at Hillsborough; not a bad idea imo away from home. The problem was they gave King no support whatsoever, but he worked his socks off all night. In the 2nd half Burke was almost back to his best; he terrorised the left-back, was unlucky not to score & won the penalty. Without doing anything in particular (except score!) Zigic gave them something to think about & therefore changed the game. I have to say it again but if we had a half-decent ‘keeper we would now have 4 points and everyone would be buzzing. A team can give a young outfield player time to progress; with a goalkeeper one can’t afford to do so for long.
Apologies AR
By the way almajir, do I recall you saying before the season started that you hadn’t ever seen Butland play well, and that we should be cautious in our optimism of his immediate ability. I think, if you did say it that you have been proved right, unfortunately too right for our good.
I did.
It is a bit hopeful and unrealistic to think a set of new players and existing players who are playing for a new manager and backroom team will just click immediately. We are in transition once again and it will take time to resolve it. Unlike last year we do not have the benefit of Europe to bed in a whole squad of players either and the games will therefore just fly by before Blues possibly can turn the corner.
Butland who has been on England or GB duty all summer was thrown into the Blues team without having had any chance to get to know his defence so it is hardly rocket science to understand why he is lacking confidence. The right back position is a real problem at present and for me explains why Burke is not on his game. He needs a regular partner behind him who he can rely on to help him out. A rookie centre half and a guy who is unfit can’t provide that.
Caldwell and Davies who were immense last year have not been at the races so far maybe because of what is going on around them but they are key to Blues not leaking soft goals. If Burke gets full back support then this will help the others in midfield but I am not sure yet that Ambrose is playing in his correct position whatever that may be.
If Zigic and Davies go before the deadline then this will undoubtedly send Blues backwards at first.
Blues in my opinion are going to struggle for a while yet but I sincerely hope I am wrong.
yes of course butland neeeds a lot of individual coaching sessions with the new goalie coach jon vaughn ot iron out his mistakes. myhill was awful for the first 7 games,but after having some sessions with dave watson he suddenly improved and so did blues ressults. i would say we have to give butland 7 or 8 games before we think about putting doyle or lucas in goal!
Looks like Clarkes first poor decision was not to acept £6m for Butland.
That said, on paper we have the best midfield in the division once Fahey is back and at 25-1 to win the Championship, I am off to put my £40 on it!
I would disagree on Butland, we have an England goalie playing for us who is 19 years old; £6m don’t buy you that. Value wise this will only increase as JB will improve if given games but I’m more interested in JB helping us to get out of this div. Can anyone remember how Joe Hart initially performed for us when he first came on loan? He then went on to be a star for us. Give JB a few games to bed in and he’ll be a real gem for us.
i hope your right. we obviously have to give him a few games to bed and see if he improves before we think of giving anyone else a go!
if Wolves can get £12m for Fletcher and the likes of Liverpool were paying up to £20m for teenagers last year then Butland would be a steal at £6m. My worry is that now Watson is no longer GK coach at Blues that he may not progress as much.
It’s still early days and no time for panic yet. If we could do two things to improve our lot then I think we have to tighten the defence and improve the tempo when attacking.
The defence have started out like they did last year; I think Davies is nowhere near last year’s standards and looks like he’s carrying a bit of timber. Caldwell was poor against Charlton – can’t remember him winning a header – and we were very lucky not to be three goals down by half-time as we were very susceptible to crosses. That said, a defence needs time to gel and with a new Goalie and RB we cannot expect too much too soon.
i’ve heard Clark talk about tempo and i don’t think we have got that right yet. We are too slow going forward (I’m advocating quicker passing and movement not a hoof) and I think that the lack of movement is the biggest single issue.
To me the real concern is our defence at the moment.
We have enough quality in mid field and we also have goal scorers.
Davis looks half the player he was last season and he should be dropped until the transfer deadline ends.
As for Butland -he needs to be nursed just like Redman and any other young payer with great potential.
Finally-CH is a class act and I very much doubt that LC will be as good -so supporters need to manage their expectations.
If you look at blues resluts from last year blues first eight games were awful!
Normally I prefer to have a read, but I figure the obvious should be pointed out to those prone to jump on band wagons of doom, despair and “I told you so” statements.
1) if you remove goalkeeping errors we’ve won both games without really clicking
2) Butland is the biggest asset at the club, we have to play him to keep him and going through this kind of sticky patch will make him a better player and will benefit both Blues and England in the long run. Someone who suggests that 6M was a good price for him has probably been to the Steve Bruce school of transfer negotiations and would consider losing the club 17M for a two year loan of Clinton Morrison to be good business.
3) King, Lovenkarands, Ziggy (if we keep him) will all get goals in this division, I’d estimate 40-50 between them and our midfield will chip in as well: play-offs will be the minimum achievement this season (yeah I know, setting up a “told you so” statement for myself but even the best of us can be smug)
4) Clark has had 3 games in charge. That is it. The negative judgments about our prospects this season are being made off the back of two Championship games and do not take into consideration the talent and resources at the club. To do that is fickle stupid. So stop it, or go and support Villa or Wolves. You’ll fit right in.
I have a friend in swindon who phoned me to say we are after caddis as a right back.He says before falling out with decanio he was their captain and best defender and would be a great signing for us.Not heard any truth to this but we do need a right back so who knows…
Thanks Almajir, another well considered. I agree that now is not the time to start panicking or calling for heads to roll. If I remember rightly (and I probably don’t – it’s an age thing) i don’t think with had the best of starts last season but still managed to be there or there about in most competitions.
As for Butland, I will leave the matter of whether or not he should be dropped to Lee Clark but, I do feel that these much mentioned blunders of his may prove to be a blessing in disguise. It is just possible that all this talk of him be too good for Blues and challenging Joe Hart for the England job may now subside a little. If it does, it may just give him the breathing space to continue learning his trade. Perhaps he may even benefit from a little rest if Doyle is given a few games, it may be the respite he needs and give him time to catch his breath a little.
As for the rest of the team, it has already been mentioned above how many new players we are trying to bed in. This will take a little time but, the potential is there. Let’s all try to hold the faith for a short while longer. I am confident we will come good in the end.
Think Positive.
of course taz we had an awful start to last season but came good. we need to give butland so many games to see if he can improve. if he can’t then is the time to think about putting someone else in. on paper this team is good enough to challenge for automaticor 3rd place but we need to gel!
Almajir mate;, Ihave seen all the talk about Caddis [ Swindon ] becoming a target as R/back, but according to a Swindon Blog,!!. He was referred to as a LEFT Back, ?.
Would you know which was true, OR can he play both positions equally, ?. If so, !!. A good buy surely, !!.
He’s a right back.
There seems to be a fair number of rash judgments and views on this particular blog from alot of the posters. Almajir is right; DON’T PANIC – for goodness sake it’s 2 games into the new season. We are no-more a bad side after a couple of fairly indifferent results, then we would have been classed as a great side if the scores had both gone our way.
Sure there has been some not so good performances and some players are not firing on all cylinders. Given space and a small amount of time, I’m sure LC and his team, and of course the players themselves, will iron out the wrinkles fairly soon. Blaming and trying to point fingers at this stage is not very helpful and does nothing but create a negative environment.
Let us show our resolve and passion by trying to get behind the team and have the next couple of games go our way. It is way too early to look for silly little scenarios which only hinder us in the long-term. If we need strengthening then leave it to LC to decide who and in what position – that is what he is paid for – we should trust his and the team’s willingness to put things right and let them get on with things. Maybe CH wasn’t expected to get us where he did last season, and the low expectation at the start of the season was a blessing in disguise for him and the team.
I for one will be there backing the team for the next match to get things moving and not screaming and shouting any nonsense against them, which will surely get us nowhere fast. October / November is when the table starts taking shape – not now when a single point moves you ten places.
Lay off the players and let us give them some time and space folks. When it all falls into place – and it will – we will be glad that those whose performances pick-up will thank us for being positive even when things were noting going as well as hoped for.
If that is what it takes to get us riled then imagine the poopy that is going to fly when poor old CY’s trial comes around in November…
I’ve commented on a few pre seasson blogs here, and I stand to my word that our defence is s**t. Actually, it’s almost on par with what we had last season …on a bad day. It was CH biggest headache, and we all knew it. Lately, I’m starting to wonder if Curtis Davies is purposely having a few bad matches??? Because wherever we hear about transfer news, we hear about CH in his Norwich office eyeing up his choices at blues. If he goes, we’ve had it. We do not have a strong enough back four to help Jack Butland. Our midfield is verging on pants, but thats because I can tell LC is trying too hard tactically.
I’ve said it before, we need to find our formula all over again. We had this last year, and we’ll have it again this year. We’ve lost Mutch (still believe that was done on the sly) and Townsend is now where he wants to be at Spurs. Two quality players, but it goes to show we relied on short term fixes. We need money to spend but we need to realise the players we have are not crap, they just need a position they are happy and confident in …and probably ‘good’ in as well, i think!!!!!
Is it me, or has the ‘royal’ gone out of the blue in our new shirt? …and the black shirt is crap and the pink shirt is …well, almajir would only delete what I wrote anyway …so let’s just say it’s worse. All this, and a new club website that is also a bunch of arse …I don’t know what’s going on at the club, but it’s not a good start for us fans, so let’s hope the lads and LC gel together and find us some wins where it counts.
Here’s to a memorable season??????
This defence is shipping Goals like not seen in previous years; Our Strikers can’t score readily; the team cannot take the initiative but always seem to be responding to their oppositions actions i.e. Goals. It’s only two games but if things have not improved vastly by game number five then Clarke should go and get someone in with tactical awareness. Butland has all but threatened to go lest he’s included and lets face it, he hasn’t impressed up to now!! Some humility is required from him. Why should Clarke go so soon? Well time is against us and a Command decision should be made, but then, who would come to Blues at this time?
Now that is what i call panicking. sacking the manager after 5 games?
And who had you in mind to succeed LC or will anyone fit the bill?.
Read some of your posts mate and I think you talk alot of sense. All it takes is one good result and playing well and then we are on our way again. There are alot of teams on the same level so first things first cut out the mistakes Blues. Winning breeds confidence. Perhaps things wont really settle down until that blinkin transfer window is closed again.
Some valid points Al and I agree its early doors and don’t panic. All the anti Zigic fans need to take note this is the first time in 2 years Zig has had a full pre season. He looks leaner, meaner and fitter. We have not seen the real Zig apart from in a few games after which unfortunately he has got injured again. Fully fit he is a real handful and will score loads of goals.
Playing Spector at RB against Sheffield’s pacy attack was what cost us. He hasn’t had a pre season and needs a few reserve games to get up to speed. We would’ve been better off playing burkeBurk
at right back and Redmond on the right wing. I’d play Lovenkrands, Gordon or Hancox on the left wing. Play either Ambrose or Ravel as the attacking CM with packwood as the defensive midfielder. If we play a lone striker I’d play Ravel in the hole.
So
Butland
Burke Caldwell Davies Murphy
Redmond Packwood Ambrose Lovenkrands
Zigic King
Before travelling up to Sheffield on Tuesday. I spoke to a pal who follows the blades. He told me that Wednesday’s wingers were going to cause us problems , but there defence wasn’t very good. And to be fair he was spot on. We had had 2 half chances before butland dropped a clanger. The 2nd goal was given away on the half way line. And I personally think butlands positioning may have been better. We were the better team second half when lc reverted to a 4-4-2. They had a few shots but I can’t remember butland having to make a save or catch any other crosses. In the 2 games of watched this season I have thought the officials have been real poor. And I’m sure all the players will gel. And it’s going to be a good season kro
We’ve gone backwards since LC joined. Less organised in defence, poorer passing in midfield, poorer performances from last seasons stalwarts apart from Zigic.
The two league performances are on a par with the preseason games at comparable opposition. In fact we we struggled in the first half against Shrewsbury and LC trotted out an excuse for the lethargic way we played against Cheltenham. The three fives showed that we have the strikers who will put away chances they are given but these performances overall only tell us we would walk League 2, notwithstanding we even struggled against Barnet in the first half.
Peter Pannu has brought in a manager with old style ideas and a tired coaching team. He want proven at Huddersfield and whilst he might be keen and eager I’d be surprised his assistants will be given how long in the tooth they are. I suspect the change of regime from CH to LC has not been smooth at Wast Hills
I think we’re missing Dave Watson to develop Butland. It can’t help that there’s a gaping hole in front of him where a defence ought to be. Until that ragged gap is sorted we will leak goals like a sieve. The rest, Ziggy, midfield, and whether Butland can cut the mustard (I reckon he can) stems from this. A bad defence strips confidence, especially when you aren’t scoring shed loads…
Julian give the bloke a chance. We’ve changed a lot of players and it’ll take time for them to bed in.
How many more games than nine then? Davies, Caldwell and Murphy played together last season so what bedding is there to do there?