GAME THREAD: Steelers v Panthers: Thurs 26th Dec. SOLD OUT

[Brian]

We saw a lot of new supporters and season ticket holders due to our grand slam , but worryingly for Tony Smith and the rest of us , the reverse will be true. Once this team loses touch with the leaders ( and it looks like we will have to beat Cardiff /Nottingham and Belfast in the C Cup ) there will be a lot of shirts on e bay and a lot of gaps in the arena.
I wish I had a solution but I have no clue what's gone wrong or how to put it right.

[bladerunner]

I have followed the Steelers since season 2. My family and now my kids too. I have rarely seen such and amateur performance from Sheffield. The team even came out slow onto the ice in the pre match skate on.
I wont be wasting my money on Saturday to watch the stream. If I were Fox I would send a few home draft as many as possible from the Dogs and bring in what he can.
I said I didn't mind seeing them loose if they put the effort in but there was little to see from many of them.
I hope we see an improvement soon, I want to be cheering them on at the playoffs and have already bough my tickets.
Come on boys !!!!!! you are letting your fans down......

[KeithR11]

It's a big problem, the coach has only one player slot left, so no big changes this season. Last years stars are not playing well and this years new recruits have not really replaced,, the quality of players we lost from last years team. I think we lack size and perhaps the coach should luck at our tactic's/game plan, in my opinion we only play one way and it's not working.

[mark]

There's been the usual overreaction from the usual suspects on social media but I think Fox has earned the right to be given the chance to fix things, even if that is next season. If we managed to win 1 or 2 of the remaining trophies they'd be saying how brilliant he is.

[bladerunner]

Perhaps to change our luck we should ditch the Grand Slam start to the game and perhaps look for something else. I agree Fox should be allowed to find a way but I feel the players need a rude awakening. We will be celebrating in a box for the Guildford game. I hope the celebration can continue with the on ice performance.
Overall we seem to lack speed to the puck which last year we had in spades. In the CHL games we seemed to battle every puck both in attack and defence.
Perhaps the rest of the teams have learned how to play us since last year. It was certainly obvious that the drop pass when advancing from behind the net on the last two games the opposition is waiting to jump in and attack.

[smbmetal]

Fox certainly has plenty of credit in the bank and certainly deserves this season to turn things around, but if he has a weakness I’d say Fox struggles with the old sports saying of a ‘Plan B’. We saw plenty of this in previous season’s efforts. That’s why he coaches in the EIHL on not in a higher league.

Some have already said that teams have now worked out how to play against us. Nottingham proving that for this game intercepting the two drop passes in the 3rd period. Although the two completely fluky goals from Nottingham didn’t help.

The never say die attitude of last season (almost the same group of players) appears to be missing since the CHL campaign has finished. Fox must be at a loss to why this is.

I suppose the only good news for this game is that both Belfast and Cardiff also lost so our outside chance of staying in the title race remains. We’ll need to be almost perfect though from here if we still want to win it.

[DiscoRay]

There's been the usual overreaction from the usual suspects on social media but I think Fox has earned the right to be given the chance to fix things, even if that is next season. If we managed to win 1 or 2 of the remaining trophies they'd be saying how brilliant he is.

From the outside looking in, a decent chunk of the stuff I've seen online is very much the hockey equivalent of first world problems. With how the table currently is, there's every possibility the Steelers could finish bottom-half this season. If it does happen, you know what I think that's great! No, not as a dig to the Steelers specifically or anything like that, because it shows we have a league of at least some decent health that adapts and keeps competitive. The same team winning all the trophies every year wouldn't really be a league at all, I've seen it first hand from the Glasgow football monopoly before I made the transition to following hockey instead. Even supporting the team that was winning all the time for a spell got boring, because there was no real challenge, it was simply expected and merely "par", then angering/stressful if we didn't meet that "low" bar.

Earned victories are far more cherished and memorable. If you want true hockey pain, try following the Clan! One PO Finals appearance in fourteen years, to then see the Flame waltz into the EIHL to qualify twice in their first three seasons. Even that brief spell we were competitive at the top, we blew the league title by a point losing to the Capitals. Which even if we did win, had many going out their way telling us it wouldn't have been a "real" league win anyway. Then our year with Pete Russell aside, not even making the top half of the table anymore, and it all culminating in our very deserved wooden spoon from last season.

I know Steelers fans aren't enjoying things right now, but just always remember someone has it worse! Even with us and our own woes in recent years, Flyers have it even worse than the Clan.

"Never get too high or low." The most sound wisdom I've heard from a fair few veterans involved in the game. I think you can more than afford to give Fox time to see if he adapts, that's the true test of mettle.

[mark]

The difference between the Flames and the Clan is that the Flames ownership were prepared to spend some money. Meanwhile we are sat here holding all the grandslam trophies, where did it all go wrong ?

[Nathan]

Perhaps to change our luck we should ditch the Grand Slam start.

Been saying this fir a while now. Its getting tedious.

As usual it'll be milked for all its worth.

[greeny]

Fox certainly has plenty of credit in the bank and certainly deserves this season to turn things around, but if he has a weakness I’d say Fox struggles with the old sports saying of a ‘Plan B’. We saw plenty of this in previous season’s efforts. That’s why he coaches in the EIHL on not in a higher league.

Some have already said that teams have now worked out how to play against us. Nottingham proving that for this game intercepting the two drop passes in the 3rd period. Although the two completely fluky goals from Nottingham didn’t help.

The never say die attitude of last season (almost the same group of players) appears to be missing since the CHL campaign has finished. Fox must be at a loss to why this is.

I suppose the only good news for this game is that both Belfast and Cardiff also lost so our outside chance of staying in the title race remains. We’ll need to be almost perfect though from here if we still want to win it.

cant knock foxy after last season, excellent recruiter,,,,,BUT agree his weakness is he does not seem to ever adopt a plan B approach if his plan A is not working. Certain other teams know how to play us, so its the coaches job to adopt different systems for different opposition,,