tmonkey

I have to disagree i am not saying officals are bent, but the decisions that have gone against us in the last two games have cost us the macth end of story. They have played a part, not cost us the matches. We did that ourselves. an offside goal in the 80 something minute, didn't cost us a point? two blatant red cards and another offside decision going against us wouldn't have completely turned the game in our favour? The Onouha challenge was an offside. A wrong offside decision. But that seems to happen every game, sometimes even two or three times. Every team in the country, in any country, suffers from bad offside decisions. Its alarmingly common. And Elano's wild kick could have been a red, but should? Im not sure. There wasnt much contact at all. Its one of those where you wouldnt be suprised if the ref had given a red card because its happened many a time before, but thats not the same as "should blatantly have got one". And im pretty sure Joey Barton did a similar thing from behind a few weeks ago, but only picked up a yellow because although the intent was pretty bad, there wasnt much contact. The one where he went to stick his studs into another player's calves, but ultimately hardly touched him. Could easily have been a red, but like Elano, imo it shouldnt have been. Im not saying we've not suffered our share of bad luck, but to make out that we're this mega victim of bad decisions is an overstep or two. Its easy to only highlight our poor luck and ignore our good luck.

I have to disagree i am not saying officals are bent, but the decisions that have gone against us in the last two games have cost us the macth end of story. All teams suffer from bad luck and wonder goals at various points in the season. Its because we're playing both dogshit and negatively that bad luck is highlighting our poor situation. A very kind fixture list in the first half of the season has in fact papered over much of our woeful form and performances.

We'll beat Stoke. You'll eat my hat if we dont.

Sad to see Man City playing good, intricate football, whilst we do fuck all.

Ignoring the wild kick (that to be fair didnt make any contact), Elano is an absolutely immense footballer. Some of those through balls have been phenomenal, and his all round passing and linkup play is just class. Wonder how long he'll stay with City. Easily two classes above anyone else on the pitch for either team.

A knee in the cock is painful.

3-1 win, with a decision going our way at 1-1 and City missing a chance or two to take the lead. Given Beye Cacapa Taylor N'Zogbia Faye Butt Martins Milner Viduka Owen

Time to move him on, unless hes happy to sit on the bench and get 20-30 mins every other game - but how long would that last till hes disillusioned knowing he'll be on the bench irrespective of what he does? Good footballer, his first touch and technical ability is probably the best in our squad at present, but his biggest drawback for me, apart from being a crock, is that he never makes a decent run off the ball. If the ball is whizzing over his head and the midfield is being bypassed, something which happens practically every away game, then he could and should make a few runs into positions where hes more likely to recieve the ball, rather than comfortably standing around watching the ball zoom around in the sky. He doesnt, and its frustrating to watch. That might be down to fitness, but its probably down to him not having good positional sense and movement off the ball, i.e. its just not a part of his game and he'll continue to do the same even if hes twice as fit as he currently is. He'll play better at international level because the Turkish team will pass the ball through him, similar to Veron for Argentina back when he was considered a top player. Irrespective of the reasons, we arent going to be doing that, and hence hes not a good option for the first team. Hes better coming off the bench purely because when he does come on, the team seem to use him as this sort of playmaker more often, and because hes eager to create something or change the game, he tends to position himself further up the pitch than when he starts, hence why he looks more effective. It is, however, a shame that his partnership with Butt hasnt really seen the light of day, because when it has been played in a standard 4-4-2 system its easily been our best central midfield combination for a few years now, with both players slotting in naturally alongside each other and compensating for each other's weaknesses. Unfortunately, like the Kluivert Bellamy partnership in a way, its doomed from the start because the manager will prefer other players and/or other formations. Shame, but we're not talking about a Keane-Scholes calibre partnership anyway, theyre decent to good players forming what looks like a decent to good central midfield, so its not that big a deal in terms of the bigger picture.

Owen clearly isnt the player he once was, and considering his unreliability when it comes to staying fit, would it actually be wise to include him in any plans for the 2010 World Cup? He could easily be finished by then if his recent career is anything to go by (e.g. Robbie Fowler, who has been s*** for years now and at 32 is playing for Cardiff City in the Championship - an example of how the gifted can fall pretty quickly). It'd be much better to give others a chance, that way when the qualifiers start and hopefully if things go well the finals themselves, England wont find themselves in the same situation as the last few tournaments in terms of having absolutely noone good with any solid amount of international experience on the bench. If Owen proves both his fitness and his playing ability from now till the qualifiers start, then include him, but until then do the sensible thing and develop a few players at that level, even if they wont be guaranteed starters when the important games crop up.

Naldo. Carrick?? Worth a try. Lucho Gonzalez would also be class. Huntelaar.

Reminds me of Michael Owen when he first broke through at Liverpool. 25 year old Zola imo.

Can't think who that might be. Oh noes! It must be...US!!

Allardyce should take note from a manager who has not only been here and done it (and recently too), but was far superior to anything Big Sam is ever going to be. Unless he learns from his mistakes, that is. Unfortunately, Allardyce is probably too stubborn to ever take advice from anyone on his methods and mistakes.

Spot on. Stats should be used to help improve a player, not judge him.

We should sign Jermaine Jennant. Jenas in central midfield, Pennant on the right wing - the perfect midfielder.

RIP.

Although NZogbia went walkies defensively, SWP is a class act.

Just to continue the Milner bashing, he had a good game today defensively and in terms of work ethic, but boy did he waste alot of good crossing positions.

When Chelsea started to win corners in the last 20 minutes, and we cleared them, there was noone within a mile of the lone Chelsea defender waiting on the half way line. That sort of tactic, ie having no outlet at all, is just asking for it.

A few times is a massive understatement. SWP was basically unmarked today and had acres of room in which to manouvre. Tore us to shreds, luckily for us the rest of Chelsea's first teamers were out, resulting in players like Ballack and Kalou cocking up chance after chance created by SWP. This is hopefully the end of Zog at left back. On another day, he could have cost us 3-4 goals easily, and although hes a pretty useful left back going forward, he cant be faulted for defensive errors since hes not a natural defender, and quite clearly hes capable of making a shedload of them.

Faye was our best player I thought. The kind of midfielder we've needed for ages. It's just a shame that we really need him in defence too AND that he's going to the ACN. Yeah, a clone of Faye would be class. Which is why I was hoping we'd sign Edmilson. Tall, lanky, suprisingly quick to the ball, defensively strong player who is comfortable in midfield - having two of them is alot better than one.

Subbed for the first time after doing a decent job today at a point when he was starting to fade after the clash with Faye, so im happy with Big Sam on this issue. More of it I hope, Smith is clearly a decent player but is far from someone who should be starting and finishing every game, especially with the options Big Sam currently has. Eg, thought Faye had a cracking game in the anchor role, as good an option if not better than Smith in central midfield.

The linesman must not have seen who the ball rebounded off, as there were so many bodies in the box. Good performance, but surely this is just a repitition of the Souness and Roeder era's? Shit against shit opposition, good against top opposition because the players motivate themselves. That can be the only explanation as to why the side weve just seen today has been so dumbfoundedly useless against mid table and relegation standard opposition.

Chelsea arent good enough to give us a hammering, certainly this second team he'll be fielding. We are however poor enough to get a hammering. Draw for me.

Tight game. Very tight game. Tight. A tight win for one team and a tight loss for the other.