I think you're giving MM a big benefit of the doubt. And that's fine, you can do that - and you're posting plenty of reasoning in your posts, civil debate and all that
We haven't put in more than 45 minutes all season. Now, sure, we can say that the only reason our 2nd half was ordinary was because of those individual errors - but I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that the 2nd half wouldn't have been ordinary without those. All the evidence this season suggests it probably would have been - heck, WP were starting to get on top of us late in the 1st half and dominating possession.
We could say that our 2nd half dropped off because we were down to 10 men for a lot of the game...maybe that's true, maybe it's not. Plenty of teams don't lose when they lose players because everybody else lifts. I suppose I'm taking the 'glass half empty' view and not seeing any evidence that we would have been any different.
Sure, our first half was good. We've had good halves and lost it later in the game before this season. The first half looked like our structure might be starting to work - but for me, MM just doesn't have the credibility for me to say 'oh all right, I can imagine that you got this one right' when losing the 2nd half is what we've done every game that started well, red card or not.
Still, despite all that, I feel like Wednesday is when our pain will be eased - though I really, really, really hope that Cisse is on a club suspension.
If nothing else, hopefully on the bench and only to come on because we need a defensive switch.
I don't know what MM needs to do about Melling - a DM needs to be able to slot into the back line a lot better than he is. Clisby gave away a few penalties early in the season, but he seems to have corrected those concentration lapses now.
Murray's in a good spot, working well with Simon.
MM needs to have a plan for when Tom H isn't on the field. I don't think parking the bus is the right option for us - our defence and goalkeeper are too inconsistent and we give away too many free kicks in and around the box.
It's a test for Mulvey and Simon. I really believe we can beat City. One isn't enough because confidence will still be shaky - beat City, then we can beat Roar. 2 in a row and the players will start to have confidence again.
In fact, assuming Roar lose against MV, 2 in a row puts us just 1 point behind them. 1 win away from 8th is WSW lose against AUFC (they shouldn't....and I know, at this point I'm starting to look at mathematical possibilities....)
If we hit form late in the season and MC opens his wallet further, then we increase our marketability significantly. If we can then pick up one or two top-tier players without losing much of our current core, then we suddenly have a lot more depth in our squad.
It's great the difference Tom H makes, but also worrying. Last season, we didn't look like winning whenever Tom wasn't on the field.
