Frustating complacency, lack of intensity and poor approach - My thoughts on the Wolves game.

On a number of occasions he gave up chasing the ball or an opponent which was totally unacceptable. It's strange because they said he had an excellent game against QPR. Doesn't do enough to warrant a start place at the moment IMHO.

 

Perez is vastly overrated for me. He gifted them a second goal and didn't even bother to help the useless Dummett on the left.

 

Too much tinkering going on, Ciaran Clark was absolutely fine against QPR and should've kept his place, Mbemba came in and was all over the shop. Ditto Gouffran, been great for the last few games, absolutely no need to drop him. Diame looked cack and should be a sub at best for the next game.

It almost seems like Rafa is constantly rotating the squad to keep everyone happy. Some of the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy needs to be applied.

 

He's rotating the squad because we are playing two games a week and players will fatigue and pick up injuries. Anyway, he only made three changes; it's not like the whole team is getting changed every game. This excuse is a red herring for me. We lost on Saturday mainly because the other team worked harder than us.

 

Yes and no, I mean Clark and Gouffran hadn't played that much this season and both could have been used, then the changes made for the League Cup game and some players rested then.

 

This. The problem was attitude; they thought that they just had to turn up and they would turn Wolves over. They need to buck up their ideas and realise that the Championship is a tough league.

 

I think part of the problem is that we have a good championship squad. There is a reason that most of the players we have are playing at the top end of the championship and weren't signed by Premier League teams. Most of them are far better than the average player in this division, but not consistent enough to be in a higher league. It's a competitive division, and as soon as 3 or 4 players start having sub par performances you will suffer. On Saturday we had more than 3 or 4 playing below par from the sounds of it. For all the attention that Pardew, Carver and MacClaren got, it is easy to forget that many of our faults lay with the players we had - many of whom are still here. I'm not suggesting we write those players off, but I do think it is going to take more than one wave of Rafa's wand to fix issues that have been part of the culture of this club for years. We are doing ok, but this will be far from the last setback we suffer along the way. Promotion is not a foregone conclusion and hopefully the players all now know they have a fight on their hands.

This season will be a long journey and won't be easy. Hopefully at the end of it we will be promoted and Rafa will have worked his magic on enough of our players to make the core of a decent squad that could survive in the PL and that can be built on. They won't all be good enough for that at the end of the year though.

 

Personally would have gone with the same 11 that played vs QPR (bar injury) as how can you argue with a team that won 6-0 and then ring the changes for the cup. Would much rather have picked up three points and had a harder game Tuesday than vice versa.

 

Perez needs resting.

 

The worrying thing is some of them may be starting to think they are 'Rolls Royce' players who can coast through games, and frankly I don't think a single one of them has that status. Every one of them needs to work their bollocks off if they want promotion.