It seems obvious to me and it should come as no surprise to any supporters but, although the poor form has created a lack of confidence, so too does the continual slaughtering of the players/management on the Forum.
Neither players nor Managers go out intending to do poorly. Quite the opposite. It is entirely understandable why some supporters, many of them both longstanding and loyal, should be disappointed with the Team's performances which, the players will freely admit, has just not been good enough. As a Team.
Yes, there have been some poor individual performances, but even some of our consistent players have had off days. The nature of plying their trade at this level means that many of the players have commitments other than the Football Club. I understand that this has not only affected availability for some matches, but also manifested itself with poor turnouts for training.
Lack of fitness is a by-product of this, but what appears to be missing on the pitch sometimes is heart and desire. That said, it is nigh on impossible to improve some of the areas of poor performance (e.g. Lack of command in and around the 6 yard box, defensive positioning for corners and free kicks, taking of golden goal-scoring opportunities etc) when there is limited time to work on all these, compounded by the success of the cup run which has lead to a fixture congestion. I suspect that there is little opportunity for training when 3 or 4 games are being played in 8 days.
The next week or so is crucial. The support given to the players, although there is only one of the remaining games at home, is also crucial. That was excellent at the recent Carshalton game and it was fantastic to see an absence of player-bating in the aftermath, despite a bitterly disappointing result.
It was good to see both Bradley Goldberg and his father at the game. Their support and commitment has been unfairly questioned on this Forum. I would guess that it is very difficult to play in this side when less than fit, particularly given the likely scathing criticism that would follow a poor performance which resulted from that lack of fitness.
With continued support from the fans and a greater focus by the players, combined with a dogged determination to prove any critics wrong, we should get the 5 or 6 points required from the remaining 4 games which could secure survival.
Whilst we all want to be realists, a lack of belief in survival from the fans with 12 points still available can only be transmitted negatively to the players.
No doubt there will still be some fans whose opinion is that it is already too late, nd they are entitled to their opinions (and also to voice these), but the determination of the players to retain our Ryman Legue Premiership status is the key to success or failure.
I agree with much of what Lucky has had to say. That does not mean that criticism and analysis of our obvious problems should be stifled permanently - rather that it should be deferred, or at least subordinated to the obviously important task of doing all that can be done to support the team, until after the final whistle a week on Saturday. Then, whether we have survived or not, there needs to be a full, open and constructive debate about how the club might progress. (That might well become painful.) That doesn't mean that we shouldn't in the meantime express general hopes and fears about how the remaining matches might go; but I really do think that anything that is going to impact negatively on individuals in the team or management should be left unsaid for now.
I think that we can all offer opinions on what went wrong and when, but hopefully this debate can take place after the celebration of retaining our status in this Division.
