As We Journey On #6: What The Hell Is Going On At Our Club?
It’s been one of the worst weeks in a while for us bluenoses and I am going to admit, I almost didn’t want to write about us this week, I was that ashamed of being a Blues supporter. After sleeping on the thoughts after that embarrassing display on Tuesday at Brentford, I thought “No, I’m not giving up that easily”. I was beyond annoyed after that pathetic performance, I punched a slight hole in my desk when I watched the fourth go in, so I’m billing the lads for that one. Jokes aside, I just feel fed up, just completely fed up with how much bad luck we have had since that cup win and just the sheer amount of crap we have had to put up with.
This week’s piece will be much different from previous ones as I just feel I need to get this out there and hope the lads read it. I’m going to try and keep the match reviews as brief as possible, mainly for my desks wellbeing and because I don’t think we need to spend that much time on the fact that we were dreadful.
Millwall Misery…
Saturday had Blues playing Millwall at St. Andrews. It was the first game since the derby disappointment against Villa and Blues fans felt it was a chance for the players to prove they still mean business and the derby defeat didn’t affect them. Obviously, the players weren’t on the same page.
It was dreadful game for Blues, no one seemed to play with passion or looked like they were particularly bothered about the game. This was the chance to prove to us that the Villa defeat didn’t matter and they didn’t, they did the complete opposite.
We had fifteen shots in total at home, one on target and that was in injury time at the end of the game. We went a whole ninety minutes without having a single shot on target, that’s just embarrassing, especially against a team like Millwall, no offence to Millwall but we should be beating them.
They scored a fairly late winner, but it’s hard to argue against them deserving it, we definitely didn’t deserve a single point, nevermind all three points. I don’t think it helps to have a clown in Steve Cotterill in charge, I would honestly prefer Ronald McDonald as our manager than him. He has no idea what he is saying. In his post-match interview, he turned around and said “I felt we did enough to win that game today” and then followed that sentence up with this “We didn’t play that well today and I feel we didn’t do enough to win the game today”. I’m sorry, What? Can he actually hear himself or does he just say things just to get everything over and done with?
That’s where I’m leaving the Millwall game as I already feel myself getting angry and the worst is yet to come.
Brentford Battering…
This was breaking point for me. Tuesday had us, bluenoses, traveling to Brentford and some fans were going into the game with some optimism, some weren’t. I was hoping that we would finally put the Villa defeat behind us and go to a decent Brentford and give them a good run for their money. I was not expecting what actually took place.
The opening thirty minutes of the game were poor for Blues, however, Brentford didn’t create anything dangerous. Then they went 1-0 up on thirty-one minutes when a dreadful attempt of a save from Stockdale allowed Watkins to score from twenty-five yards. As soon as that goal went in Blues heads went down, and never came back up. It was a spineless and amateur performance from Blues for the remainder of the first half as they scored once again on forty-one minutes as Jason Lowe was dispossessed, they countered and Jozefzoon took it round Stockdale and scored. 2-0 and that was game over for us.
The first half finally ended and Blues were just awful. They were open at the back, the midfield was non-existent, we offered nothing on the attack. Cotterill made two changes at halftime and they just didn’t make sense. He took Boga and Maghoma off, out two wingers and brought on Adams, a striker who he plays on the wing and Jota a central attacking midfielder who he loves to play on the wing. This didn’t help Blues whatsoever. Gallagher had a decent chance to score but he put it over the bar.
Brentford went straight to the other end of the pitch and scored their third thanks to an easy run down the wing, a simple ball into the box and a simple tap-in for Maupay. They were 4-0 up three minutes later and what a shit-show it was. Stockdale slipped over as he attempted to pick the ball up. It was passed to Maupay who had an open net and was going to put it wide until his shot smacked off Roberts’ head and went in off the bar. 4-0 and this could be turning into a cricket score.
After a flurry of really good chances, including two missed sitters and some brilliant saves from Stockdale, Brentford got their fifth as a simple run down the wing resulted in a free header for Watkins and it was 5-0. Thankfully they couldn’t score anymore and it finally ended.
Now I am going to go on a rant about Cotterill, the players and how the fans deserve better.
My Honest Thoughts…
This section may be a little one-sided as I have some strong opinions but I am going to try and keep it as balanced as I can. Steve Cotterill you don’t deserve to be at our club. The job was too big for you at the start and you knew it, yet you still took it. I have no doubt in my mind that yu are a fantastic coach and a good number two. I have no doubt, that on that training pitch you know what you are doing, but you never have and never will be a manager. You aren’t inspiring enough, you don’t have that understanding of the media and you don’t know how to make a connection with the fans. You worked well with Redknapp because you did all the behind-the-scenes work and Harry was a natural with the media and the fans. He knew what to say to the media to please the fans, he wouldn’t hype his statements up too much but it was enough to instill some confidence in us as fans. The bloke sang ‘Keep Right On’ for God sake in his first interview after getting the job. If I was you Cotterill and we don’t win against Barnsley on Saturday, I would do the sensible and honourable thing and walk, just resign and you may get a little bit of respect from the fans.
Now onto the players. It is with no doubt in my mind that I can say this, all of those summer signings came for one reason and one reason only, Harry Redknapp. You cannot tell me that if we had Cotterill in charge then Stockdale would have left a Premier League team and came to us. Jota wouldn’t have done a U-turn on his move to Fulham, we probably wouldn’t have got Boga in on loan without Harry’s contacts and influence in the game. The problem I have is that there is only two players I can say that look bothered 90% of the time and they are Harlee Dean and David Stockdale. Stockdale apologised on Twitter after the Brentford game and takes a lot of backbone to do. If it wasn’t for him in a ton of our games this season we would probably be in a much worse situation. Harlee Dean, I feel sorry for. He has been brilliant since joining and since he became captain I actually have some faith, but he is constantly let down by his partner Roberts and we never seem to have a solid back four. We have had some injuries but I think it’s time we bring Morrison back into the team. All the other players don’t deserve the shirt, they really don’t.
Now onto our fantastic fanbase. Us fans and especially those who go down each and every week, home and away, deserve so much more and the players, manager, and owners don’t deserve us at all. The morning after the 5-0 defeat to Brentford, it was announced we had sold our allocation out for Forest away, that’s just simply amazing. I’m actually writing this bit the morning after the two-match reviews and after watching Davo’s and BrummieJoe’s diary. If you don’t know, Davo is on Youtube as DavoBirmingham2 and he vlogs the away and home games and BrummieJoe does the same, two brilliant guys who deserve many more subscribers. The fans were just unbelievable, we were singing Keep Right On after their second, third and fourth goals. We were taking the piss every minute with chants like “Southend United, we’re coming for you”, “Shit on the Saddlers (Walsall, if you didn’t know) and my favourite “We’ve got the ball, we’ve got the ball, we’ve lost the ball, we’ve lost the ball, we’ve got the ball”. We were much louder over the whole game than Brentford fans and they were 5-0 up. Yet Cotterill had the nerve to walk along the pitch, where the fans were and not even look or clap them. They traveled all that way and was given a performance like that, and I use the word performance lightly.
I just don’t know what to think right now and I am going to end it there before I say something I regret or bore you with my differing views on the club. I’ll quickly preview the Barnsley game now.
Barnsley Battle…
Saturday brings one of the biggest games of our season as we face relegation rivals Barnsley at St. Andrews. If we lose this game it might be that game we look back at and think, we could have saved ourselves. Barnsley are in the bottom three and two points behind us. If they win and other results go against us we could end up 23rd, which could destroy, what’s already a weak, team confidence. All us Blues fans want is the team to show the passion that us fans show in the stands. I have a feeling that if we lose, the home fans will turn on Cotterill and you can’t come back from that. I honestly hope we win and we could do with hammering Barnsley, but it isn’t going to happen and I have a bad feeling that we will lose.
That’s where I am ending it as I can already feel that my day has been ruining and the last thing I want is to ruin yours if I haven’t already. Just keep praying bluenoses, that’s all we can do. Keep Right On!