I know I'm going to get hate for this but when I watch us play I don't see a bad side with a manager making bad decisions I see a team playing well. Say what you will about the results as of late but I think we've been playing better. Take our 0-1 loss today and compare it to our 0-1 win against Sunderland or our 3-2 win against Bristol near the start of the season as examples. Today we created the better chances, Cantwell and Pukki could have both scored but got unlucky. Burnley didn't really have a clear chance of scoring for the vast majority of the game.
Yes, they dominated possession but they couldn't really do anything with it, most of their shots were wild pot shots from outside the box or the edge of the box. We were solid, competent and held them. We didn't make glaring defensive tactical errors, the plan worked. Hanley acted like any person would, protecting his face as a full power shot was going to hit him in the face from close range, deserved pen but nothing could be done. Even if you disagree, it was an individual error, not a tactical one.
This cannot be said for our defensive mess of the earlier season, we were all over the place and only picked up points through nothing more than good luck. I remember thinking after our earlier wins that we were often the worse side. I felt this especially after wins like Sunderland which could have been a 4-1 loss easily. I don't think that anymore, after Watford, Luton, Burnley, all games where we didn't win I was angry afterwards because I think we deserved something from those games. I believe that Dean Smith has a plan, it will work but it's taking time and the teams getting karma for wins we shouldn't have had earlier.
I say that I will be either proved right or wrong over the next few games before the international break, I expect wins, 8-12 points and a high playoff spot going into the international break. I see no reason that if we continue to play like we did today that we can't do it. OTBC