Have we improved the playing positions...?

Quoted from chaos33

We’ve just taken 4 points from the last two league games.

Dropped 14 points from winning positions!..

Sometimes the points don't truly relate to performance, we've played well and lost, played dull and won, but the last few games we've been pretty dire bar the odd 20 minutes in each game, and its almost like the Barrow win is actually an outlier rather indicative of our form.

Personally I think we have improved 50-60% of the positions, left back is possibly one where we need to and didn't, but midfield, up top and defence should performing better than it currently is.

They’re not running through walls for PH . Those Bradford lads were 20% sharper and more committed than most of our players last night . Either they’re bored or don’t understand the tactics

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Dropped 14 points from winning positions!..

Sometimes the points don't truly relate to performance, we've played well and lost, played dull and won, but the last few games we've been pretty dire bar the odd 20 minutes in each game, and its almost like the Barrow win is actually an outlier rather indicative of our form.

Personally I think we have improved 50-60% of the positions, left back is possibly one where we need to and didn't, but midfield, up top and defence should performing better than it currently is.

Yeah I get that mate and it’s fair enough. I was really reacting to the poster who said ‘maybe if we can grind out a couple of results in the next couple of games, then maybe things will change’. We’ve just actually done that.

Quoted from It Bites

They’re not running through walls for PH . Those Bradford lads were 20% sharper and more committed than most of our players last night . Either they’re bored or don’t understand the tactics

You’re right. There seems to be something missing, we were told how beneficial the Spain trip was for squad bonding but that seems a very long time ago. We looked more ‘together’ in the early weeks of the season than we do now.

I do think it’s a fair point that the team doesn’t seem to have shown the cohesion, spirit and never say die mentality that we’ve seen from the squad in the last two seasons. The player/supporter rapport/bond isn’t really there yet either. Goal celebrations look muted. I dunno…..I do think there is something missing/not visibly there…..

Quoted from chaos33

I do think it’s a fair point that the team doesn’t seem to have shown the cohesion, spirit and never say die mentality that we’ve seen from the squad in the last two seasons. The player/supporter rapport/bond isn’t really there yet either. Goal celebrations look muted. I dunno…..I do think there is something missing/not visibly there…..

I first noticed the goal celebration thing at the weekend. Very half hearted.

We need to give it a few more weeks before we can really decide. Some of the highest-value cards have been played and won't come up in future hands. Games like Wrexham and Notts County away are royal cards, still hands you can win but it's much harder. We haven't had enough low and middle-ranking opponents to judge our worth. We're certainly not a Queen, King or Ace ourselves though. Last year we were probably about an 8. Maybe we can be a 10 or even a Jack, who knows? A shuffle in January could nudge us up a peg.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

I first noticed the goal celebration thing at the weekend. Very half hearted.

It has been apparent for weeks and I think it is another small signal that all isn't well.

Some players are just nonchalantly jogging towards the scorer when in previous seasons the whole team would pile in screaming with delight.

It is all very odd but I guess we will never know what's up.

Quoted from GrimRob

We need to give it a few more weeks before we can really decide. Some of the highest-value cards have been played and won't come up in future hands. Games like Wrexham and Notts County away are royal cards, still hands you can win but it's much harder. We haven't had enough low and middle-ranking opponents to judge our worth. We're certainly not a Queen, King or Ace ourselves though. Last year we were probably about an 8. Maybe we can be a 10 or even a Jack, who knows? A shuffle in January could nudge us up a peg.

More like a lottery than a game of cards. We don't seem to have many Aces in the pack but a lot of Twos and Threes.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

It has been apparent for weeks and I think it is another small signal that all isn't well.

Some players are just nonchalantly jogging towards the scorer when in previous seasons the whole team would pile in screaming with delight.

It is all very odd but I guess we will never know what's up.

Yup. I’ve noticed it in every game and I can’t say it doesn’t make me wonder. I agree with Rob though about reviewing again after we’ve played more middling teams,  and the other contributor who said that we need to see how the return of Wilson, Maher and Amos affects things.
I’m certainly not going to advocate for changing manager.
I know it sounds a bit questionable but I’d rather be a middling L2 team taking a few years to safely establish itself and be slowly evolving towards genuine promotion chasers over 3-5 years than chasing the play offs in the conference at Borehamwood and Maidenhead.

I think it would be niaive to pretend that there aren’t  some real concerns, outlined in various threads, but Hurst is smart and he won’t accept mediocrity and underperformance or a fragile team spirit for long.
For me, alongside the points outlined above, the other worry is how we seem to concede easy goals by being exposed or overloaded down and behind both full backs. Becoming very hard to beat wouldn’t be a bad start to an improvement journey. I’m not averse to some 0-0/1-1 away draws and scrappy 1-0 home wins in the short term. Starting Saturday.