Bottled it

[Cjay]

Time and time and time again.

Wigan had 10 men and had 7 points in total away from home.

Bottled it vs Stoke.
Bottled it vs QPR
Bottled it vs Sheffield United.
Bottled it vs Norwich
Bottled it vs Birmingham.

So many chances to take advantage and we always conspire to f**k it up.

Do our players lack bottle?

Seriously because today was a disgrace.

[SG90]

I said that Henry Winter article would jinx us and no one believed me. Another year in this league then.

[Genghers]

They clearly don't lack bottle. Was a bad day at the office against a team who set up well. That's the blueprint that Birmingham set out early in the season and I'm surprised more teams haven't done it.

6 games of 43 to have stinkers is pretty good going in my opinion.

[Cjay]

I said that Henry Winter article would jinx us and no one believed me. Another year in this league then.

I hope not

[Cjay]

They clearly don't lack bottle. Was a bad day at the office against a team who set up well. That's the blueprint that Birmingham set out early in the season and I'm surprised more teams haven't done it.

6 games of 43 to have stinkers is pretty good going in my opinion.

They had 10 men for most of the game and had a grand total of 7 points away from home all season.

Our players looked panic stricken, cool heads needed but we had none.

No excuse for that performance.

Sick of it

[Sara]

Totally hacked off with the performance and result, but even more than that I can't stand the negativity. Two hours of Eddie 'Private Frazer' Gray's dour, miserable whining, and now this. Buckle up, everybody, and keep supporting and fighting 'til the last minute, it isn't over yet!

[Cjay]

Totally hacked off with the performance and result, but even more than that I can't stand the negativity. Two hours of Eddie 'Private Frazer' Gray's dour, miserable whining, and now this. Buckle up, everybody, and keep supporting and fighting 'til the last minute, it isn't over yet!

Tbf Eddie sounds depressed even if we are winning

Its not over true

But today hurts and today was another golden opportunity we didnt take advantage of.

Humph.

[mothbanquet]

It was gutting, horrible to watch, and worst of all utterly predictable. The second I saw us giving the ball away so cheaply after Bamford's goal I said there would be trouble and so it transpired. Still plenty of points to play for but none should have been easier to acquire than playing a bottom of the table team a man down, at home and a goal up with all the advantages. It wasn't as if Massey is flipping Messi, it was just lazy, lax passing, complacent defending and simply unwatchable delivery and finishing. Roberts and Harrison getting robbed at will like kids and their players dancing around ours at will, it's happened too many times this season.

It's clear Bielsa is the manager we've been waiting for but he will have to start asking some serious questions of this squad and get ruthless with selection. If we fail to go up, ruthless with transfers. Bottled it? That's still to be seen. But I will gladly pack the Blades' bags for them now if we carry on playing like that because it will not be earned, nor justified. I wonder if Cooper's leadership would've made the difference here today but that's neither here nor there.

Sorry to rant but although I rarely get angry with football, that was just too poor at too crucial a point in the season. I'll leave this here and move on to the next game.

[Ratscoot]

They thought they’d won before kick off, a couple of early warnings then the worst thing to happen Wigan get a player sent off we miss the pen then score, the team then went into exhibition game mode, seemed every player was desperate to score so loads of poor efforts with no reward. Then once we went behind we couldn’t change and get back into our normal mode lots of efforts not enough quality

[dezzy]

Today would rip the soul out of you, such a massive opportunity to take a big step towards the Premiership and we blew it, have given up the advantage to Sheffield Utd, but there’s three games to go, all winnable, all losable, same for them.
We looked like a team who talked about not letting the pressure get to them, relax and play our game, which we did, but we got to the final third with ease and every single time we did the same thing and played into Wigan’s hands. I haven’t been this dejected after a game in a long time, the rollercoaster carries on...

[paddy parrott]

My tuppence ' worth was defensively we were out muscled for goals of course and were on front foot all game that complacency cost the whole team. Midfield , and forward s aren't physically able, when Wigan & that kind come to do battle.We must improve the resolve to start battering at the next 3 games.

[Irish Ian]

It seemed that something came over the players after the first 30 mins when we were in control.

Then they got uneasy. The crowd picked up on it.

Missing our skipper today who could have maybe did some talking.
But we are so lightweight on the ball at times and we see the same thing time and again.
Break, no defensive positioning, goal. But we were warned, just before that Harrison had almost sold the ranch and Kiko needs to learn that he isn't a sweeper. He actually makes me uneasy at times.

Attacking.

Player receives the ball, one touch, takes a second, looks up and isn't sure what his options are. Then another touch, by this time the oppo is back in position. Looks around. Two lines of blue. Closed down. Then a meaningless ball into the box.
Rinse and repeat.

But Bamford should have been throwing himself at some of those crosses today.

Not over. We will need to show character. The players will be hurting tonight, that is for sure.

[YorkshireSquare]

Still pretty raw, feels like but we've blown it, but it's not over yet.

3 games left, we need to match the Blades in 2 and do better than them in one.

[SG90]

I really do think it's now or never. Fulham will be really strong, as will the wendies under Bruce. A new 3 year cycle of ffp, so the likes of Derby and Forest will be spending big again. Whoever doesn't go up of WBA, Boro and Villa too. Not sure what to make of Town, but their parachute payments will blow us out of the water financially.

[Cjay]

So frustrating.

Norwich pushed to the absolute limit by Sheffield Wednesday.

But for Westwood (who didnt play today) we would have beat Wednesday by 4 or 5.

Yet against Wigan, when the pressure is on, we cant show any consistency.

We wouldn't win the playoffs, to mentally fragile.

Today feels like a defining moment in our season.

Can anyone see us getting anything from Brentford or Villa?

It could be all over on Monday

[LovettLeeds]

Norwich result today showed that an easy promotion ride isn’t promised for anyone. Terrible result for us against a terrible team, but I think second place will still be ours.

My fear is that if we do have to face the play offs, that this team won’t be able to handle it mentally, especially when the play offs are won and lost based on chances taken and clinical finishing. Two things we just aren’t doing at the moment.

But still, keep the faith. We’re all well used to this by now.

[Velotrax]

Norwich result today showed that an easy promotion ride isn’t promised for anyone. Terrible result for us against a terrible team, but I think second place will still be ours.

My fear is that if we do have to face the play offs, that this team won’t be able to handle it mentally, especially when the play offs are won and lost based on chances taken and clinical finishing. Two things we just aren’t doing at the moment.

But still, keep the faith. We’re all well used to this by now.

Totally agree, we need to be clinical in front of goal, something that has pi55ed me off all season, posesion is great if you convert the chances...we are pretty crap at scoring we need twice as many chances as every other team

[Irish Ian]

Totally agree, we need to be clinical in front of goal, something that has pi55ed me off all season, posesion is great if you convert the chances...we are pretty crap at scoring we need 10 times as many chances as every other team

Fixed that for you.

[Sara]

Can anyone see us getting anything from Brentford or Villa?

We're perfectly capable of beating them both.

[The Subhuman]

We're perfectly capable of beating them both.

Absolutely...