All over bar the shouting

[Kairdiff Exile]

Feels like the season has already petered out, doesn’t it? Good enough to beat Charlton but not good enough to beat Exeter a few days later. A bang-average mid-table season. Thank god for the Arsenal game or we’d literally have no meaningful games until August.

Or am I being unfair? Maybe a good transfer window can yet inject some drama. Discuss.

[Ancient Colin]

So you think we're safe from a relegation battle? Do you have any confidence in our strengthening in the January window or in Robinson improving our performances?

One advantage of being a pessimist is that you're rarely confronted with nasty shocks! Happy New Year all.

[Kairdiff Exile]

I think we’re safe from relegation but nowhere near close enough - even with a brilliant window - to be a realistic playoff shot. 15th-18th, that sort of season.

You?

[Shoobedoo]

I won't be happy (perhaps 'happy' isn't the right word) until we're past 50 points. Obsessing about the playoffs while languishing in the lower reaches of mid-table and not dealing with the potential issues in front of us is a recipe for disaster, as so many clubs have found out in the past.

I expect a very low-key window, players are going to look further up the league table for a place to go and if we get any I expect they'll be for the future.

This season's been a complete mess.

[Kernow Yellow]

It's funny, it feels like we're quite a good team - the first halves of both recent home games were very watchable, scintillating in places, and the performance at Hillsborough was pretty impressive. Even during the first half hour at Portman Road we matched one of the best teams in the league. But the reality is that we are 27 points away from the top of the table, and only 9 points off the bottom.

The obvious problem is putting the ball in the opposition's net, but the wider issue for me is that we are still experimenting with line-ups so deep into the season. And of course the fact that so many of the players we signed with injury histories are not fully fit (Baldock, Browne, Murphy), and some of those that are getting on a bit are not performing (Taylor, Henry). Having said that, we should still have enough quality to be higher up the table than we are, and I'm starting to think a different manager might be able to focus them on being a bit more incisive, not to mention making better use of the players at his disposal (Jones and Smyth, for example, who Robinson seems unwilling to countenance picking). Our core (defence and central midfield) is pretty good, which is why I'm more confident than I might be that we will not get drawn into a relegation battle. Keeping hold of Lewis Bate for the rest of the season is crucial though, as he really makes us tick.

And another thing - our first halves are generally much better than second halves, which doesn't say much about the manager's ability to adapt tactics or make meaningful substitutions. Matches where we play well for 90 minutes are very few and far between.

At least the current pre-occupations mean that neither fans nor players can be accused of focussing too much on the Arsenal match, which is next up. Can't say I'm particularly looking forward to being beaten by some Premier League kids in our soulless stadium. Maybe, just maybe, if all our players turn up at the same time, we can give them a fright.

Happy New Year fellow yellows.

[Dr Bob]

Wednesday: they had an experimental line-up and were all over the place. We had two decent chances that only came deep into the game. Wednesday are third for a reason, but they had an off-day and we should, but could not, take advantage.

Ipswich: an excellent team that we made look even better. Yes we matched them initially, but after a while they shook off the Christmas Pud and left us for dead.

Charlton: soon after they score McGinty makes a great save to keep it at 2-1. That goes in and I dread to think what happens next. GO'Ds goal puts a nice shine on the match, but it was closer than 3-1 suggests. CAFC supporters' comments about just how poor they were shines an interesting light on our mediocrity.

Exeter: Wildschut's cross and Goodrham's header reminds me of Charlton's goal, except for the obvious. Moore makes a brilliant block (albeit from a chance stemming from his mistake). McGinty makes one great save, but he and McGuane cannot be in four places at once. In the second half, Exeter upped the tempo and reduced the space we had. We could not cope - but nor was there a meaningful change made to shift the balance of the match back in our favour. And every time we had a corner or free kick - especially in the second half - the second ball pretty much always went to a City player.

Wherever we are in the table, at whatever point in a season, I always try to work out where our par position is. I reckon that we are more or less exactly in that position right now. For me, these four matches show this. During both the Charlton and Exeter matches, both teams had good chances but, like us, spurned (most of) them - but that is what such teams do. Wednesday were disorganised and also missed Bannon. Ipswich, once they got going, got ahead and ended up toying with us.

First there was talk of injuries. Now we have some of those players back, there is talk of a 'pre-season' for them. At 59 minutes I looked down from on high towards the dugouts and sure enough, we get some substitutions soon after. I find it hard to believe an experienced manager would be making predetermined substitutions at specified times, rather than looking at the players, the state of the match, and make decisions accordingly. But that seems to be KRs approach. In both of the last two games, the opposition make substitutions and the game turned for them (fortunately not by enough for Charlton at least). We made changes and, er, pfffffffff (or whatever sound a deflating balloon makes).

Has anybody else heard a rumour about KR and Findlay having a monumental bust-up? No idea if it is even true, the level of performance recently must be creating a lot of tension behind the scenes.

But what next? If we do sign another striker, what happens when Joseph comes back (soon?) And what about Baldock (albeit returning gods know when)? Will another striker, if we get one, mean Baldock being shown the door? What about the Blackburn RB who was third choice and so was coming to us on loan, is now playing because of injuries, and is apparently doing really well? And with all the players that most people believe we need to bring in, surely there will have to be departures, if only to create room on the wage bill? The OM has suggested we are looking to sign players in midfield - so might one or both of CamBran and McGuane be departing? Let alone decisions like giving Henry a two year contract (unless his personal issues are behind his poor performances of late).

We can bring in good players, but rarely in recent times have we seen a good team play good football, let alone do so for longer than part of one half. I keep travelling down when I can, but currently it is more habit than anything else - a physical expression of my ties to the city and the football club. I know I am feeling apathetic right now, as I cannot find a positive or powerful way of finishi

[Isaac]

I only saw the Charlton and the Exeter matches (via ifollow). They were very similar performances, very good first half, poor second. The difference being the 2 goals we scored in the first half of the Charlton game compared to the missed chances against Exeter. 3 points from those 2 games seems about right. I thought Murphy was excellent against Charlton, but then very bad when he came on as sub against Exeter. Wildshutt mirrored this too. They both look very good players at this level, but you wonder how/if they will achieve any level of consistency this season (or at all, given they are at this level for a reason).
I can't see any hope of getting in the play-offs as it stands. Relegation seems unlikely, but you can't rule it out as a couple more injuries could weaken us further.
Transfer window wise, it's relatively easy to identify what we need - a right back (we got significantly worse without Andersons attacking threat when he goes off, but he's suspect defensively). A left back - I like Brown, arguably our best player overall this season, but with him and Long as full backs we look slow and unthreatening, presumably Seddon is deemed not up to it. A striker - Taylor is half the player this season, whether form, or general decline I don't know. O'Donkor has done very well, but he is only 18 and so can't be expected to challenge to regularly start games yet. I assume that Baldock will get pensioned/insuranced off at some point as there doesn't seem to be any mention of him at all. I'd also like a more physical midfielder. Bate, McGuane and Brannagan are all very good. but very similar style wise and we lack height/presence there when under pressure. This was highlighted by Robinson after the Blackpool play-off games, but we've not ever done anything about it.
Prioritising this is a bit harder though, I think probably striker is most important but also the most difficult to find.

[slappy]

Those last two results are a very welcome six points that could easily have been just one.
We are now finally into the top half of the table, and can probably stop worrying about relegation unless we go into complete freefall, or the stadium situation goes completely against us and our owners give us up as a lost cause.