Absolutely right, Metal. But wouldn't it be boring to be a Chelsea or United fan and almost always win?
It's terribly frustrating, but we've improved so much over the last few seasons though. That fear before games against ANY team at all has been imprinted in our brains after years and years and years of disappointment.
Keep this in mind though, and yes I'm about to whip out the injuries excuse... We are suffering injury problems with ALL of our first choice central defenders and our best striker has been out pretty much all season. I have to wonder why Redknapp allowed Defoe to play in that last England game when he was clearly carrying an injury. There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to leave that England game and be out injured for months. Perhaps that's because Redknapp is hoping to be the next England manager?
Last season we started with injury problems in defense as well, but the difference was that Dawson was a rock and Bassong was able to play well with him. We had Dawson and King, Dawson and Bassong or Bassong and King. We even had to use Huddlestone and Dawson, but we still had at least one reliable central defender. No disrespect to Kaboul, but we haven't had that all season. Even if we finish 12th this season in the PL, if we get injuries sorted out and hold on to our key players, like VDV and Bale, we'll be unstoppable next season.
It's really frustrating right now, but we're hurting in defense and in attack. Once we get Dawson and Defoe back I have a feeling we'll all be smiling again. We need to figure out if Woodgate will be playing again soon though. King isn't just out because of his knees anymore. He's picking up all these little injuries and we can't rely on him anymore.
I don't so much care about bringing in a new striker anymore after today. I don't think I can take it if I have to watch Crouch play as a lone striker again, but Defoe will be back soon and we need to bring in a QUALITY central defender. I think that's worth spending loads of money on first before worrying about strikers.
Sorry, for the really long response. I was in a very foul mood today after the game and put quite a bit of thought into this.