SHA Small Heath Alliance

Overall, since Davis took over we’ve been very resilient with a core of belief that would take us through 100 minutes of football no sweat.
Today was very unlike us - going one goal down was all it took to knock the stuffing out of us.

Yep unfortunately ability and mentality/ know how seem to go hand and hand in fhis league. Nobody is telling me hull or millwall have better ‘quality players’ than us. But they have that will to win and dig in when needed, the nouse and tactics to stay in most games for 70/80 minutes when playing poor, it takes us 10 minutes to lose a game under davies when playong poor.

Phillystine

I think having to be dragged out of the dressing room tonight by the referee was downright unprofessional. Though in fairness we did start the second half we'll afterwards.

Yeah. I wonder what that was all about.

Against Hull at the start of the season, even though we lost the players, the crowd, everyone fully expected we'd equalise. There was that inner belief that of course we won't lose. We had late goals against Sheffield Wednesday, Swansea, and a load last season too.

We've never quite had that away from home, but we've had that at home the entire time under Davies.

But today as the 3rd goal went in it looked like everyone gave up. I'm sure a bunch of credit needs to be given to Middlesbrough, but we stopped playing with that bravery that got us back into the game second half. We stopped turning forwards and driving between the lines. We stopped playing with the tempo and urgency, and taking the risks you need to create chances in this league

That surely comes from the coaching staff unfortunately. They clearly can inspire the way they want to play, as we came out roaring second half. We did it against Coventry and Leeds too. But I don't know what happened tonight.

Bluemusic

Overall, since Davis took over we’ve been very resilient with a core of belief that would take us through 100 minutes of football no sweat.
Today was very unlike us - going one goal down was all it took to knock the stuffing out of us.

It was very like us against Millwall last Wednesday. TBH, as Amy says, it's been very much like us many times this season.

Cattellroadcorner

Phillystine

I think having to be dragged out of the dressing room tonight by the referee was downright unprofessional. Though in fairness we did start the second half we'll afterwards.

Yeah. I wonder what that was all about.

Gamesmanship.

I'm starting to feel that an unhappy Davies doesn't know how to lift players. When we are losing they know the yelling will start in the changing room. It's a viscous circle.

We look bereft of ideas the second it doesnt work and we slowly sink deeper.

It seems the coaching is very regimented with expected outcomes.

Occasionally players need a bit of old fashioned motivation and encouragement, instead of more analysis, more tactical theory and stubbornly sticking to the gameplan.

Its why its infuriating to watch because when youre losing 2-0 and barely had the ball in their box, but still suicide passing around the 18 yd box between Beadle, BOS and Panzo it screams of them being literally unable to deviate from the manual.

.....which is where - for me - Davies comes under fire.

You cannot ... CANNOT... leave Beadle on that pitch zapped of confidence and one eye and still be stroking it around the back. Stupid. Sorry.

I would also say where is the leadership on the pitch, who is cajoling the team, taking the game by the scruff of the neck?

We should have three or four captains on the pitch, but as good a player as Klarer is and I love him, he doesn’t seem to be that kind of captain.

Plan a doesn’t work, concede and everybody’s heads go down and don’t look like coming up.

The only time they look up for it is the handbags skirmishes they seem to thrive on, but even they’ve dwindled away

Davies’ interview infuriated me. We’ve seen pretty much all season how tepid, scared even we look away from home, and how we basically call it in as soon as we go behind, with a number of games turning into sizeable defeats.
Tonight he said something about how we lost it mentally after going behind and said ”we’ve not been used to going behind at home” or something like that.
He might as well have said “as soon as we go behind in a game - any game - luckily it hasn’t happened much really at home - we pretty much throw the towel in”
You are the manager presiding over a professional football team with that mentality……

It's not a mentality thing. It's just that we're not good enough.

Our squad easily has enough quality to be in the top 6.

Mentality and fragility is a huge problem, but equally so were the tactics. I struggle to believe we even had tactics for that game.

Any amateur football watcher can see teams are flooding the box against us because we go into a state of panic. There’s the mental and fragility element. The second was Boro constantly had 5 players v 2 in the box because nobody cared to support the defence.

It’s outright stupidity and novice tactics.

We need a real hard ugly bugger like Granit Xaka at Sunderland. Klarer isn't vocal enough as a skipper

Our squad really isn’t top 6. Which of ours gets into that Boro first 11?

Who is dependable? Possibly Paik and Klarer.?
We’ve no real Championship experience. Manager or players. Our spine is weak and our spirit is broken too easily when we go behind.

But only 5 sides have gone L1 to Prem in successive seasons over the last 25 years. It ain’t a thing. Let’s build and stick with em.

AmyT-FEA

I think it's absolutely mental fragility, and that comes from the coaching staff down.

For the entire season now, we've been prone to the same old pattern. Start well, concede against the run of play, total collapse, crumble to feeble defeat. This was happening before January and it's still happening now.

When the same failings are happening over essentially two different squads, the coaching staff have to be blamed. Davies and his team are apparently fundamentally incapable of coaching resilience and courage in the face of adversity into their squads.

I’ve got to say Amy, for someone who has countless times this season passed comment on the ‘meltdowns’ of others following defeats, this just about takes the biscuit.

I think you’ve just about covered everything in there that others have claimed, whether rightly or wrongly, at times throughout the season.

Yet here you are blasting the mentality and ability of the coaching staff and players for the entirety of the season.

What’s the rules here?? 🤷‍♂️

I share your frustrations, don’t get me wrong, and we’ve got some issues clearly, but that is some rant given what you’ve said on occasion!

evanio

Our squad really isn’t top 6. Which of ours gets into that Boro first 11?

That is nail on head .

Mental fragility , over coaching ,tic tacs ....

The truth is the club have spent a fortune in four successive windows ,and the squad are just not good enough for a top six finish .

I still can’t help but feel we’re missing leaders that know this league, you look at Boro and they’ve got players like Ayling, Targett, Mcrgree, Conway etc, plenty of players that know this league and are experienced enough to grind out a win. Party why I think Wrexham are doing so well