I'm sorry, but I think the dreadful atmosphere at the Valley has got a LOT to do with some of our recent shocking performances. As Pards says, nobody seems to have any patience. One misplaced pass and the crowd are on that player's back straight away. I looked around me yesterday with disbelief. The venom in some of the comments being shouted, even when it was still 0-0, was something I have never seen anywhere else. A lot of it was just spiteful. Personally, I found it all quite shocking & it can't carry on like that. FFS as supporters we are supposed to SUPPORT the team.
i agree to a certain extent Pete. You want a bit of unity in situations like this and division generally only has one impact, the wrong one.
Performances like yesterday deserve the boos and cat calls that follow at the final whistle. Then is the time to vent your fury. But booing every misplaced pass or small mistake when 0-1 is never going to have the right reaction.
Millwall have always suffered because away teams know that the longer a game goes on, the more likely they are to turn on their own. Its blighted them for years.
It will be very sad if we fall into the same trap.
I think it is true that there is quite a problem with the fans and some of our reaction to anything our players do wrong. That does not excuse what we saw yesterday. Pardew does come across as arrogant and if that is how you present yourself then you have to back it up with performances. Even if you don't win. Otherwise people turn on you. But apart from all that, I feel really sad actually about our attitude at the moment. For me it is worse than what happens on the pitch. Some people seem to have completely lost sense of what supporting a team is all about. Everywhere there are people having a rant about someone. Where have all these people come from? It is not just when we play poorly, it is now every game, even if we are winning. You know, I know it sounds wrong, but I wonder whether we need another season at least in this league, so we get back to being a unit - a team that plays for the fans and the fans that get behind the team vocally win or lose. I heard someone say yesterday "We've played 4 minutes and Matt Holland is playing shit." There was a guy reading a newspaper for some of the first half, then he chucked his season ticket almost on to the pitch about 15 mins before the end and left. In some respects we mirror the team.
The problem with games like yesterday is we end up in a horrible feedback loop with the team, where our twitchyness feeds into the players, and that makes them more prone to resorting to the hoof so they don't get caught on the ball, we get the hump with that and the moaning and groaning starts, the errors get worse and more frequent, and then the booing starts and round we go again.
You can guarantee that every single manager that comes to the Valley now says "Keep them under pressure for the first 15-20 minutes, and their fans will get the hump and start getting on their own players backs." Boo all you like at half time and full time if you feel you have to, but it doesn't help during the course of the game.
[cite]Posted By: aliwibble[/cite]The problem with games like yesterday is we end up in a horrible feedback loop with the team, where our twitchyness feeds into the players, and that makes them more prone to resorting to the hoof so they don't get caught on the ball, we get the hump with that and the moaning and groaning starts, the errors get worse and more frequent, and then the booing starts and round we go again.
You can guarantee that every single manager that comes to the Valley now says "Keep them under pressure for the first 15-20 minutes, and their fans will get the hump and start getting on their own players backs." Boo all you like at half time and full time if you feel you have to, but it doesn't help during the course of the game.
Bang on, Ally.
The psychology of football works just like that.
Sure, everybody who's paid their money feels they've bought the right to boo and scream abuse at players.
But it's venomous, destructive and creates a hostile environment for our own team.
And every opposing manager and player loves it when we start attacking our own team.
It breaks down the confidence and spirit of our own players - and inspires our opponents.
Whenever our crowd behaves like that, we're effectively the 12th man for the opposition.
Comments
Im fast geting totaly pi55ed off with pardew and his excuses.
Over the years we have seen some rubbish no matter who the manager was or what league but Saturday was up there with theworst.
Performances like yesterday deserve the boos and cat calls that follow at the final whistle. Then is the time to vent your fury. But booing every misplaced pass or small mistake when 0-1 is never going to have the right reaction.
Millwall have always suffered because away teams know that the longer a game goes on, the more likely they are to turn on their own. Its blighted them for years.
It will be very sad if we fall into the same trap.
I just think at times it doesn't help.
That's the point I was making.
That does not excuse what we saw yesterday. Pardew does come across as arrogant and if that is how you present yourself then you have to back it up with performances. Even if you don't win.
Otherwise people turn on you.
But apart from all that, I feel really sad actually about our attitude at the moment. For me it is worse than what happens on the pitch. Some people seem to have completely lost sense of what supporting a team is all about. Everywhere there are people having a rant about someone.
Where have all these people come from?
It is not just when we play poorly, it is now every game, even if we are winning.
You know, I know it sounds wrong, but I wonder whether we need another season at least in this league, so we get back to being a unit - a team that plays for the fans and the fans that get behind the team vocally win or lose.
I heard someone say yesterday "We've played 4 minutes and Matt Holland is playing shit." There was a guy reading a newspaper for some of the first half, then he chucked his season ticket almost on to the pitch about 15 mins before the end and left.
In some respects we mirror the team.
You can guarantee that every single manager that comes to the Valley now says "Keep them under pressure for the first 15-20 minutes, and their fans will get the hump and start getting on their own players backs." Boo all you like at half time and full time if you feel you have to, but it doesn't help during the course of the game.
Bang on, Ally.
The psychology of football works just like that.
Sure, everybody who's paid their money feels they've bought the right to boo and scream abuse at players.
But it's venomous, destructive and creates a hostile environment for our own team.
And every opposing manager and player loves it when we start attacking our own team.
It breaks down the confidence and spirit of our own players - and inspires our opponents.
Whenever our crowd behaves like that, we're effectively the 12th man for the opposition.
whenever we boooo the opposition it inspires them;-(