The game with Maribor was very one sided and it is most likely that the contest with Kazan will be the opposite. The Russian’s are a very capable side who have invested heavily over recent years. Just last season they defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League.
We’re lucky to be playing in Europe and this isn’t lost on our supporters who are turning in excellently to do their bit. But it won’t last forever.
Europe is on the back of the FA Cup win and we’re no longer in the Premier League. The football has been entertaining but we need to start picking up the results.
The stuttering league form is a point for concern. Whilst it is not so drastic as Wolves’ collapse last season that saw them relegated down two divisions in as many years, our form is nowhere near that to drive a promotion charge.
We have a big budget for a few years and some of our marquee signings need to pull their weight (quite literally in Mr Holt’s case) if we are to challenge at the top.
The jury is still out on a number of players and chiefly Holt, who although unlucky with his knee injury, has not looked up to the rigours of the division and appears to be carrying more than an extra pound or two in weight, and mostly likely his pay packet.
Holt is not alone, fellow new signings James McClean, Chris McCann, and Stephen Crainey have all failed to set the world on fire, whilst Scott Carson has not looked like an established number one with some erratic moments.
There are also players from last season who are not firing. Callum McManaman has been poor this term and Shaun Maloney’s injury has ruled our best player out of the majority of our football this season. Roger Espinoza hasn’t been given enough of a chance and Emmerson Boyce is confusingly being used as a bit part player.
To cut a long story short for a number of reasons we haven’t been good enough and our league position is deserved. We’re finding out, the same as a number of relegated clubs, that the Championship is harder than it looks.
On paper we have the squad to challenge and given the number of games played to date we should be starting to gel and see performances pulling through. Whatever doubts you may have about our manager, the players that have been taking the field have not been putting in the performances this season. Blackpool was a chief example of that.
For whatever reason we’re stuttering at the moment and it needs to change before we’re cut adrift from the those at the top of the table.