Most liked posts in thread: Feelings of apathy?

It's actually an improvement on recent seasons but I'm distinctly underwhelmed on several fronts.

The football is awful to watch - there's no dynamism about us and a lack of goalmouth action. We have no real drive or resilience. The squad is a big one and would appear to have been well backed - but of anything we're overstocked with players who are too alike and we're still lacking in quality. That said, I think there's more ability in the side than results suggest.

I'm underwhelmed by our recruitment this month.

And I'm very underwhelmed in Hughes tbh. No real evidence that he effects games from the bench or that he's got to grips with the league. For a manager of his pedigree I expected much, much better.

The only big positive to come from this season for me is Harry Lewis. An excellent prospect who'll likely move on in a year or two. Crichlow has been broadly decent buy isn't ours, Wright was excellent but not ours and Cook has scored well but doesn't seem to fit our wider style. Whatever style that is.

The report card wouldn't get more than a C from me.

 

To caveat my response I missed the 2 home wins after xmas.

Accordingly haven't seem a win at home since the 17th Sept. Don't consider myself an ultra, have a ST and go to a couple of away games locally. Was at Mansfield, which is last decent performance I've seen.

The OP resonated. I'm seriously doubting going Saturday despite nothing else to do.

Why? Battle scars maybe. The season seems to be following a familiar to pattern to our L2 tenure under especially Bowyer and Adams. Flirting at the top end, opportunities missed, poor cup exits, performances dropping off.

A different style of football to the other 2 managers, easier on the eye but often flattering to deceive. I can't recall many periods of edge of the seat stuff, phase after phase of attacking play, chances created.

So speaking personally, the apathy is there. The games are generally unexciting, and the crushing disappointment (harrogate cup, orient, northampton, carlisle, rochdale) is taking its toll. My expectations are firmly set that history is repeating. A good squad but the team less than the sum of its parts. 6 points off 3rd, but only 5 above 15th. Plenty of teams around us in the mix, who could surge in second half of season like Bristol and Bolton have previously.

An indifferent window so far. We need a transformational signing ( think of the impact of cullen) and we need Hughes to find the right balance between style and efficacy.

 

Totally agree with regards to last season’s performances, they were a joy to watch at the end and I and we all I imagine had hoped that we’d build on that.

One thing I will say is I think Watt was underrated by our fanbase and I think this system needs someone like him to link attack and defence, which is crucial when playing through the thirds.

I’m still convinced we’re only one really good midfielder away from transforming the team, I don’t think we’ll get one unfortunately. I remember in 2015/16 one or two on C & B were actually talking about relegation in January, come February we brought in some youth loan from West Ham and suddenly we pumped Peterborough away 4-0 and didn’t look back as we sailed into the playoffs. We were awful before that young man came in, one player can really make a difference.

 

At the end of last season, the performances were better than we've seen to date, with supposedly lesser quality players. The preseason hype and expectation is slowly ebbing away, despite our decent league position. What I imagined we'd be watching was a side confident in possession, productive patterns of play, inventive set plays and a team willing to die for each other. Unfortunately, it's been quite the opposite. I used to look forward to the games, but there isn't one player in that squad, who you know will do the business. I was looking forward to seeing Pereira, Chapman, Walker, Oliver and Smallwood, but they've been a big letdown so far. I used to look forward to the team attacking the kop, but we rarely pepper the keeper or attack at pace.
It might take Hughes 3 windows to get to grips with league 2, but the fear of being here again next season is growing with each passing game.

 

Agree with everything written so far. For me add frustration to the mix.

Frustrated that despite compiling a more than half decent squad MH cannot get a regular tune out of them.

Maybe that is because Pereira and Walker, Chapman, Oliver and Smallwood are just not stepping up to the plate? They all have clear talent yet for 90 mins a week they choose not to use it.

In general the back 5 can hold their heads up and say we are doing our bit but the rest of the team are misfiring virtually every game. We seem to limp to victory and crash to defeat. After Salford at home I thought let's go put down the marker, let's stick out chests out and let Div 2 know we are here. Then we whimper to defeat to the might Rochdale, hardly laying a glove on them. Pathetic really.

Walker should be fined two months wages and made to clean up all the litter on Manningham Lane and so should MH for not seeing what was inevitable and taking Walker off to protect him.

Right now I cannot see how we can arrest this slow decline.

 

As a long standing supporter, going back sixty years and having enthusiastically watched City through even the thinnest of times, I was excited by the prospect of Mark Hughes managing us, after Derek Adams had almost ended my association with the club.

We ended last season with a flourish and I had high expectations for this campaign. The foregoing comments resonate with mine. I don't look forward to going to VP. I'm bored with the fare on the pitch, the atmosphere is flat and it doesn't take much to dissuade me from going. I've become disconnected with Hughes. The guy's stubborn, a footballing dinosaur, tactically naive and appears to display a bias towards certain players. Yesterday, his decision to throw raw recruit Costelloe straight in from the start defied logic. Then, when everyone could see what was coming from Walker, he persisted in keeping him on, with the inevitable conclusion. Not the kind of decisions you'd expect from an experienced manager.

A City defeat used to ruin my weekend. Now, it's got to the stage I couldn't care less. In my case, Adams started the rot and Hughes is making a good job of finishing it.

 

You must be a mind reader RT. I was just musing about City and wondering if there'd be anything of interest on BT. i was thinking about how bored I was with all things City and then the first thing I see is this thread. I'm not apathetic because I really want us to succeed but I'm becoming resigned to the likely prospect of yet another failure to get out of this league. And yet another season of unexciting, boring, unadventurous football. I think it's a step too far for many people to think that MH might not be the man to take us forward after all but that's a conclusion I'm steadily getting to. Very odd, you could say bizarre, recruitment, a very dull and ineffective playing style, a refusal or inability to see and address shortcomings and problems in the side that the vast majority of supporters can see. It all adds up to a very unattractive product and like others I don't look forward to match days with any great enthusiasm. For what it's worth, if MH fails here then I'd like to see us put our faith in a younger, hungrier manager, like those at Barrow and Bolton for example.
Sorry for the downbeat tone but the last two games have been a real downer for me.

 

Massive feelings of apathy here, that have gone on for at least four years. My top three would be Orient, Stevenage & Stockport. I think we will end up somewhere between 8th & 12th unless Hughes ups his game quickly.

The only way to get out of this league is to attack teams and you cant do that with zero width.

 

Exactly this^
Whilst outsiders will see the league table and think we must be doing ok, the key word here is ‘underwhelmed’
It’s boring to watch and that’s evident from the lack of atmosphere in the ground and some fans even not bothering to attend.
Let’s not forget this is an entertainment business and sadly I’m not being entertained despite what looks like a decent league position.

 

As another 60+ years following the club I commend your honesty. In truth you've said what I've been thinking for some time without having the bravery to put it in such stark terms. Is it telling that a number of us old stagers feel this way or is just that we're getting less tolerant as the years go by and we're still where we were when we started watching? For me it's the lack of excitement and entertainment that's the crucial factor. How is it that in recent times we've invariably replaced one manager's boring brand of football with another's. Do we ever look into the history of these people we take on? The only thing that's so far prevented greater criticism of Hughes is his reputation and history as a player, but if we'd just taken a moment to look into his past it might have given us pause for thought. He's never won a single thing as a manager and has garnered an awful lot of criticism from fans and players alike for his style of play. Nobody has ever expressed regret when he's left a club as far as I'm aware and it's not hard to see why. Around this time last year I'd resolved not to renew my season ticket if Adams was still in charge and this year I'm currently of the same mind about Hughes. If I'm honest I think our recruitment and team organisation have been chaotic and continue to be so. There's no discernible pattern to our play and I've no idea what we're trying to achieve on the pitch or how the numerous wingers we keep signing fit into anything. We can throw in ludicrous 3 year deals and an obvious lack of a functioning midfield too, but these are just the outward manifestations of disfunctional management. I can sense that many on this forum are clinging on to the hope that the great Mark Hughes will surely get us promoted but I wonder how many truly believe it anymore. If by some miracle it all comes good and we get promoted then posts like this will be rightly pilloried for a lack of faith and a kneejerk response to a poor performance. But I just can't conceive how that might happen.

 

Done 36 years the majority as a season ticket holder but I seriously cannot see myself doing another season of it ......... having a few drinks beforehand all well and good then you go down there for yet more disappointment I mean seriously how come a club this size cannot get out of this league ?????
I know that the size of the club doesn’t matter but I put money that if a club of similar size dropped down they wouldn’t be wasting years down here ........... look at Bolton in a financialy worse state then this and yet they only spent one season down here .............

 

There is still an awful lot to play for and plenty of points up for grabs, and 6 points off third with a game in hand on paper at least, is not a bad position to be in at this stage of the season. I think the reason a lot of us aren't jumping up and down with excitement about that is because we are yet to be convinced by this group of players and the way they are being asked to play that there is enough there to get us over the line come the end of the season. It is rare that I look ahead to any game with a sense of confidence that we will not only win but win convincingly, and more often than not, I feel a sense of foreboding rather than a sense of belief that we will come away with all 3 points.
All of that said, I am still hopeful of a top seven finish at least, with a part of me still dreaming of us getting that magic third spot. I guess I just thought it was going to be easier to achieve that this season than is turning out to be the case.

 

Some cracking comments in this thread which I totally agree with, I expected so much more with regards Hughes as our manager and the players we've brought in.

@Inspector encapsulates the situation for me, at the end of last season the team were a delight to watch given what we'd put up with for 30 games or so under Derek (you'll find it hard to get a better manager than me) Adams and expected even better with the signings we've made.

 

Me too, 60 odd years +, my first game was a 3rd div fixture and 64 years later here we are in Div 4, yeah we've had premiership football and figured in a major Wembley final this century but Lord, look at us now ....

 

I find it annoying that Salford and Barrow, say, get praise for good recruitment, talented players, and good management when they're on a par with us.

A lot of good points in this thread.

I think the long and short of it is, whether we want to admit it or not, being in League Two with no other big teams, with our (ever more distant) history, combined with the fact we already slogged our way out of this division before, is just a demoralising set of circumstances.

But I do wish our fans didn't collectively break down after every single shit result ...

 

its the general poor football, yes we are in a reasonable position, but i feel with the squad we have , we should be playing to a better standard and won more games

 

For me this sentence sums up our whole season perfectly.
Even yesterday,before our 25th game of a 46 game season(52% of matches played) when the team was announced there was a big discussion regarding the formation.
Is it this is it that?
I think at this stage of the season our preferred style of play should be set in stone.
Do you think Orient,Stevenage and Northampton etc.fans are looking at their team sheet at 2.55 and wondering what their formation is going to be.
I highly doubt it.
As much as I hate Evans,he has a way of playing and he sticks to it.
He signs players that can play his style.
We constantly seem to try and convert players in to a style of playing.

“Square pegs in round holes” seems to be a phrase that us fans have used far too often in recent years.

 

Yep Ive said previously on another thread that a Josh Cullen type loanee could make all the difference. I'm not apathetic but more friustrated as feel we are really not far away. Unfortunately where we are lacking is arguably the most important area of the pitch where games are generally won and lost!
A big couple of weeks ahead which will probably define our season.