Well at least we didn't lose. At least we kept a clean sheet.
However, with six points between us and second placed Bristol City (who won at Scunthorpe tonight by the way) the chances of us making the automatic promotion positions looks further away again.
I remember last season as we had a good result after a run of poor ones New York Addick pointed out that "It's the hope that kills you." After the Stoke game we were merely a goal or two behind them, now it is five points and four goals. After Palace (admittedly before the Saturday games) we looked again like the top two was within reach. Now suddenly it all looks desperate again.
With Watford at home on Saturday, even a win would leave us a massive five points behind them. It would seem that there eleven point lead earlier in the season has allowed them to have a most terrible run and still have a very good chance of making the top two.
Clearly we have (well Pardew has) completely rebuilt the team. I, for that reason, have accepted that the early results, and therefore, the position has been acceptable as we were expecting a late(ish) run once the players settled. This clearly hasn't happened yet, and despite the fact that a point away from home is always welcome, an increasing gap between us and he top group is not. We have been waiting for West Brom to have a bad run, and clearly they have now obliged, but I think it is too much to expect both Bristol City and Stoke to have one too, so basically we are getting to the point where nothing but win after win will be enough.
As I mentioned earlier it's the hope that kills you, and I suspect that if we win on Saturday and if Bristol City lose and both Stoke and West Brom fail to win we could find ourselves a mere three points away from that cherished second place. Suddenly I'd be believing, again, that we could yet secure that automatic promotion and steal a lead on the play off team in buying new players for next season in the Premier League.
What I wanted tonight was a win. not just because it would have meant three points, but it would have sent out a message to other teams, and more especially to me, that we don't have a problem with the teams at the bottom of the league. Now I am back where I was when we lost to Scunthorpe. I now have almost no belief at all in Pardew's ability to win games against struggling teams. I'm still desperate to be proved wrong, but am now looking at the gap to the second place, and the seventh place and believe that we are more likely to miss out on the play offs than we are to make automatic promotion.
What a depressing place to be.
Still, loads (well 14) games to go, and if you win the play offs it is about as exciting as it gets for a club like ours. Or am I just clutching as straws?
2 comments:
Its the clutching at straws that kills you ;-)
Dear Addick fans. 6 points over 14 games is really nothing to get too worked up about. Alex Ferguson is 5points behind with 12 games to go and he still thinks it will go down to the wire. What's different? Not a lot, apart from the fact you have 2 extra games to make up the difference. Come on - visualise yourself in 1st/2nd, it could just happen (remember where you heard it first).
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