tmonkey

Or he doesn't want anyone else getting a run in the team...

Think Simpson and Taylor have different strengths/weaknesses when it comes to defending. Namely: Simpson is the better defender when the ball is played behind him and his opponent doesn't have it yet. He has enough pace to recover the situation, is usually in a decent position to be able to do so, and also has the ability to slide in to get to the ball first. Taylor by comparison is at his worst in these situations, as he's too slow to catch up to anyone with a bit of pace and is often caught ridiculously out of position in the first place. Taylor is the slightly better defender when his man has the ball in front of him. He has more confidence to go in for the tackle/block, and generally closes down more aggressively like a normal fullback at this level does. Simpson by contrast backs off to downright criminal extents, and frequently ends up doing absolutely nothing to stop crosses coming in from his flank (or the man running at him cutting in and going for goal/passing it into a dangerous area). Therefore, who the better or worse defender is depends on the opposition. If we're up against a team with pace on the flanks, Raylor will need to be out there on the pitch with half a tub of Vaseline squeezed up his rectum. If we're up against a team with players who are likely to run at Simpson or have a fullback double up on him, Danny will end up looking more cowardly than the lion from Wizard of Oz. Personally, I'd prefer us to try Raylor down the right (with Santon at left back), mainly because I'm guessing Raylor would be less exposed (and far more comfortable) down the right flank. From an attacking viewpoint it'd also be a pretty good opportunity for us to try Jonas + Raylor on the right flank, with Raylor overlapping and providing some decent crosses from the right flank for once, and Santon + Ben Arfa down the left.

Shows what a continuous run of games can do for a player's confidence, and just as importantly, the confidence of those around him to use him and play to his strengths. TBH it looks like he made an excellent decision joining a club that was going to be patient and give him the game time needed to adapt to Premiership football. One wonders whether he'd be wasting away on the bench for us with the sort of start he had at Fulham, or whether he'd get the same treatment as Obertan...

Oh. My. God.

Richards.

Oh look, he's fine. Miracles do happen post-Christmas.

Mancini is a few minutes away from doing a Roy Hodgson face rub. And he'd be completely justified in doing it too.

£200k per week and they can't be bothered to put a ball in the back of the net.

What the fuck was that Aguero?

Santon left back, Ben Arfa left wing and allowed to drift into the middle, Jonas right wing, Vuckic behind Ba, Obertan on the bench to come on as the impact player. http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRb16R_6nd15yd4bwT7B8GXfMcASBT2MSSNPjv4difr04KPhvi0

Not only has he been shit, but he also has this constant smug look on his face where you can tell the cunt thinks himself to be amazing.

Lot's of "it's still one man's word against another" comments regarding this on RAWK.

FFS that should've been a goal.

This is a good point although I think some players are just... s***. Had Barton in front of him last season and he was just as shit.

Krul's kicking will improve with time. Given's kicking for example was pretty damn awful when he first started out with us. Also the free kick was a shot hit with moderate power, not a cross floated in to his area. Keepers don't have time to call "leave it" when it's a shot on goal, their focus will be on making a save, and that's what Krul would have done had Simpson not tried a cowardly, closed-eyes, head-down "because the ball might hurt" clearance.

IIRC though, you said something similar after his performance against your lot last year - a game where (in the eyes of many of us on here) on top of scoring a wonder goal he ran rings around your players with the kind of ball control/dribbling/awareness we've not seen in donkey years. Could just be that he's a type of playmaker/flair player you don't particularly rate? Either that or you're judging him on end product/influence, which imo would be a bit harsh given (as you've mentioned) the injuries and also the team that he's in (long ball merchants, zero movement when he gets the ball, he's expected to do everything on his own, etc etc).

That period between 50-60 minutes, when we were keeping the ball on the deck, that was when the team needed Ben Arfa the most. Vuckic frequently received the ball in "the hole", and had he been the type of player who could exploit the time and space he was afforded during this part of the game (with Liverpool being relatively open too), who knows what might have happened. Liverpool scored, and then stepped up a gear, straight after Ben Arfa came on, whilst we then reverted to "scared of the ball" football. He never stood a chance.

IMO that cross for Ba's goal is a prime example of bad wingplay. He was away down the right and had the perfect oppotunity to whip it in across the 6 yard box with either his first or second touch (so two opportunities), we had two players running into the box (Ben Arfa near post, Ba goalside of his marker at the back post) at this point so he should have put that ball in with the two of them open. Furthermore Ben Arfa then drops back, providing a perfect opportunity for a cut-back as he's unmarked (similar to the first goal) - so that's the third opportunity. Yet Obertan, on his own planet, slows down and waits for defenders to get into position whilst he does his stepovers. The fact that we scored is entirely down to a combination of Ba's prowess, Cahill being very slow to react to a ball he should have comfortably dealt with (possibly a slip or off balance), and probably a big slice of luck, as it looked deflected/took a strange bounce into the top corner.

Shola had too much skill for his brain to handle.

Eagles trying to emulate Michael Jordan and the ref ignores it.

Knee just needs a bit of oil and WD40.

Fuck off Cahill.

Remember the Dember!

Yes. Worse in the Swansea and Norwich games, whilst we made West Brom look like a counter-attacking equivalent of Barcelona.

Because he's a disruptive, unpopular (with his teammates) little shit who has point blank refused to play on the wings to Pardew's face, hence why Pardew has benched him. I know this because a cabbie told me the other day.