Yup, and I'm cautiously optimistic that we may have turned a corner

after the Cardiff defeat and the Manc draw. The players will have felt a sense of injustice with both of those games from earlier in the season, and they worked hard to put things right in both games.

We looked well balanced, organised and solid yesterday, and I hope that carries through for the rest of the season now. We haven't been great, things have been frustrating... and perhaps the often repeated silly mistakes that have occurred regularly through the season perhaps have contributed to a more cautious and negative style. The players will have been thinking, "don't make a mistake... don't make a mistake... don't make a mistake." What happens next?

I also think another problem has been over-thinking everything they do in training, on the pitch during a match. Perhaps the drills they do have become such a fundamental part of how they approach a game, that it removes some of the spontaneous things that should happen during a match. Much has been spoken of Hughton's insistence of maintaining shape at all times. You then have a situation in the Everton match when the ball appears half way between Ryan Bennett and Gareth Barry. You can almost see Ryan thinking, do I go and close down the ball and whack it away, or do I go back to the defensive line? Clear ball? Maintain defensive line? Ah yes, defensive line. That decision opened up an acre of space and allowed Barry all the time in the world to have a pop at goal... and he scored with a fierce shot!!

If we win at West Ham on Tuesday, I do think we could put a consistent run, enough to see us safe at the end of the season. We're long-overdue a better, more decent run... and there's no reason to think it hasn't started now. Afterall, we didn't see the 10 game unbeaten run last season coming!!

OTBC

Posted By: Jim Nasium, Feb 9, 13:06:41