A week without a manager and it doesn't get any better...

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Wednesday                       Swansea City

This won’t be a long one I don’t think, but I hope some of the players read it because my story is just one in numerous examples of what supporters do to support our team.

In the past week I have somehow managed to strain my wrist and my neck in separate incidents (and neither involved pleasuring myself either before you say it). I’m in a lot of pain all the time and sitting still, let alone driving, is hugely uncomfortable.

Last night I was at a party with friends that was going on well into the early hours and I left well before it was winding down because “I’ve got to get up and drive to Sheffield at 8:30 tomorrow”.

Of course I didn’t HAVE to. I chose to.

I chose to go to a party at Christmas and not drink too much.
I chose to leave my friends much earlier than I’d have liked to.
I chose to put £50 worth of petrol in the car when I’m not sure I can afford to buy all the presents I need to.
I chose to drive for 4 hours to Sheffield in massive discomfort.
I chose to sit in the freezing cold watching us play.
I chose to drive for 4 hours back in even more discomfort.

I’m not saying this for sympathy. I know there will be many others who do far worse every week to watch Wednesday. But I hope to God that the players who get paid to do what we’d all pay to do realise what we go through sometimes. Because if their ‘performance’ today is anything to go by they really haven’t a clue.

Anyway, once I arrived in Sheffield I swung by my Grandma’s to see some family and then headed down to Hillsborough, more in hope than expectation but still with a little bit of the old optimism that I used to have.

Surely we couldn’t get worse than we had been recently.
Surely the players would react to the fresh start.
Surely the fans would do the same.
Surely whatever happened with the result we’d at least SCORE A CHUFFIN GOAL!

Well unbelievable though it may sound, in some ways we sank to new lows.

It has often been the case in recent weeks that it has been obvious we would lose by half time, the half hour mark, even 10 minutes in. Today it was obvious before a ball was kicked.

After the players had shaken hands with their opposite numbers I really expected them to come out charging towards the Kop, pumped up and ready to give it a real go. What I saw was 11 players trotting out and going through the motions. Nothing to inspire the fans and to be fair there was little coming from the stands to inspire them either. And that’s pretty much the story of the game.

It’s got to be said that having rattled the team so successfully in his first caretaker spell I think we were all expecting Sean Macauley to make something to happen today, at the very least make some changes in the line up. The only difference from Leicester was that the same 11 players lined up as 4-4-2, with McAllister on the right wing, which made it an even less effective formation than at the Walkers Stadium. As if that were possible.

This was the basis of the problem. Nothing changed. The fans didn’t feel inspired and neither did the team and when a nothing ball was lobbed over the top of the centre of our defence and Pratley appeared in acres of space it was nothing we haven’t seen before. He rolled it home and the customary head dropping commenced.

The way the team have given up when conceding the first goal in recent matches is perhaps the most worrying aspect of our current slump. So I was intrigued to watch their reaction here. The only one that spoke was James O’Connor who did his best to rally the team by clapping his hands in that way he does and shouting encouragement. Meanwhile our captain said nothing, pointed a couple of times and trudged into position for the kick off. Nevermind the fact that it was his space that Pratley had appeared in to score, I expect more than this from our most experienced defender and the man with the armband. Not good enough at all.

The Swansea midfield were showing what we have been missing from ours. When they pass it, they move. Not just move, but move forwards. There is always someone looking to run beyond the man with the ball and it almost seemed as though they didn’t have striker, just loads of attacking midfielders who were confusing our defence by running at us with the ball and without it. It wasn’t really a surprise when they got a second, taking advantage of our disorganised defence that seemed to have cleared the danger to simply pass their way into a 2 goal lead. Game over.

We did have a brief spell at 1-0 that could have brought a goal, Purse going closest with a header that was cleared off the line, and I do genuinely believe that once we score one, somehow, the confidence will return.

That is the key right now, no-one looks comfortable on the ball and everyone is panicking. At one point in the first half Spurr and McAllister were working themselves some room for a cross quite nicely down the left hand side but the crowd were getting on their backs for not getting it in early. If we were on a good run that would have been applauded as patient football but because of the situation the crowd are nervous and this translates onto the pitch. When Spurr passed it back to Beevers when he couldn’t find room for a cross at another point in the first half he got barracked for it. He had kept possession but got criticised and it is things like this that are making Spurr look like a rabbit in headlights every time he gets the ball.

Half time saw Jeffers replace McAllister who could count himself a little unlucky but something had to be tried. Jeffers showed the usual unappreciated good touches, although too lightweight in the challenge, and got into a couple of shooting positions which is more than Clarke or Tudgay managed in 90 minutes. Simek replaced Buxton and showed some good touches and pace but in truth we never looked like scoring and even in injury time when Beevers blasted over when it looked easier to hit the target, no-one truly believed it possible for us to score.

It is time for the players to look in the mirror and take some responsibility. Laws has gone now, they can’t hide behind him anymore. They are good enough to do well in this league, they have proved that. It is baffling that the players that have given us such pleasure at times can turn out this sort of dross but ultimately it is in their own hands. The Hillsborough crowd doesn’t help but THEY need to inspire US. We put ourselves through plenty just to get to games, the least we expect is for them to stand up and be counted.

The next couple of fixtures don’t look too friendly but right now we could play Woodseats under 14s and look nervous so something has to change before it is literally too late.

So if there is a Wednesday player out there reading this, what are you going to do about it? Because a lot of us have renewed season tickets for next season already this week and it would be nice if we could see some commitment from you lot to match it.

Cheers

Baldy
Owls Alive


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