Life with the Lions
Well-known member
On your first paragraph, it’s a bit of a vicious circle really, whereby if Rowett and AB can improve the team’s all round playing performance, then the supporters will be less likely to get on the players backs as often as they do! How many times do we see a promising forward move break down because someone hasn’t moved into a space to receive the next pass, and the player with the ball has to then either pass sideways to another midfielder, or back to a defender or the goalkeeper?He can try but the person tha can get a player to put a shift in every game is the player himself, to get all eleven to do that is avery dificult ask no matter the club. On top of that, when the manager and team are being cunted before and during the game as they were today, it's atall order to expect what you rightly desire.
I see a few screenshots earlier from social media, negative and nasty stuff directed at the players, every day of the week that happens yet the same idiots expect a performance. It's sad and works against us when the players are seeing that. Would personally ban them from social media whilst at the club, but don't think it's possible or reasonable to ask or expect that.
They're young men with a lot of down time once trainingis over by midday, i pressume they spend a lot of time on social media and see everything aimed at them. As a fanbase sometimes we don't help ourselves, which is daft when we want the best from the players. Same in the ground, was in the west lower for the Barnsley game, throughout the game a few bods just stood and abused our subs that were warming up. Burey was visibly shocked when Evans was getting it, personal stuff too, wife stuff, etc. That must affect them or at minimum make them think why should i bother.
When that happens, it’s natural for supporters at the Den to get annoyed and frustrated (even if some don’t vocally and loudly cunt the players off for it), it’s just human nature because all supporters want to see is their team playing better football, regardless of whether we’re playing in the Prem or down in league 2!
Of course not every forward move is going to be successful, but we do seem to be seeing too much of this nervous, defensive football, because in some instances, the players are frightened to put a foot wrong, 1) for fear of making a mistake and 2) fear of what the players hear from the terraces (as you so rightly pointed out in your other two paragraphs!)
We have the players who could, with the right training, be a lot better than they currently are! Our supporters know this, because they’ve seen flashes of it when, in the odd game, we‘ve taken a team apart, winning 3-0 or 4-1, because on the day everything just clicked! Now, that can’t happen every game, but I’ve never bought into this belief that our players can only be as good as the price tag we’ve paid for them! Surely, nearly all players, given the right coaching, can be improved to a certain degree, no? If they can’t then it’s only natural that supporters will question why the management team can’t do this!
With regards to your 2nd and 3rd paragraphs, I agree with you 100%, and I have to confess it’s not something I’ve stopped to consider before. I’ve said previously that cunting your own players off at games is counterproductive and wrong, but if we want supporters to improve their thinking at games, don’t we also have a right as paying customers to see improved, joined up football?