We were nowhere near this bad last season. When we had Bent, Young and Downing together we actually weren't bad. "Eck"'s negative tactics are strangling the life out of the club.I'd say we are as bad as we were last year.
Well, technically, Mantis is just about right.
This season we are 15th with a record of W7 D16 L11 F35 A44 GD-9 Pts 35
At the same point last season, the extra forces of Downing and Young had helped us to 14th place with a record of W9 D10 L13 F40 A53 GD-13 Pts 37.
So one place better and two points more.
And if you look at the team we were able to field for game 32 last season, it was
B Friedel, R Dunne, L Young, K Walker (C Cuellar, 78 ), J Collins, S Downing, J Makoun (N Reo-Coker, 67), A Young, S Petrov, D Bent, G Agbonlahor (R Pires, 86)
Subs not used: E Heskey, A Marshall, C Clark, M Albrighton
Yesterday, of course, our team was
S Given, S Warnock (G Gardner, 59), A Hutton, E Lichaj, N Baker, J Collins, S Ireland, C Herd (E Heskey, 88 ), B Bannan (C N'Zogbia, 74), G Agbonlahor, A Weimann
Subs not used: C Cuellar, B Guzan, D Johnson, S Carruthers
Also worth noting that two matches later on last season, we drew 1-1 at home to Stoke with a side of
B Friedel, R Dunne, L Young, K Walker, J Collins, S Downing (M Albrighton, 67), N Reo-Coker, A Young, S Petrov, D Bent, E Heskey (G Agbonlahor, 79)
Subs not used: A Marshall, R Pires, C Cuellar, C Clark, J Makoun
So you could argue McLeish is doing marginally worse with a much inferior squad.