BrettNUFC

It's just finding the balance in the side. Poch is doing a class job of it. If Dummett was comfortable bombing forward, our left side wouldn't look anywhere near the shambles it is.

Janmaat could go into that Spurs side and do Walker's job no bother.

Spurs don't play with a RW similar to how we don't on the left but difference being Walker basically covers the full flank whereas Dummett gets a nose bleed if he passes half way line. They have capable attacking fullbacks either side, makes a huge difference.

Kone starting again for Everton, man Martinez loves that guy. Aren't his only goals in that mackem game?

 

Deulofeu and Mirallas on the bench Man I hate Martinez

 

Tbh Kone is a bit of hit and miss, but Deulofeu and Mirallas haven't been great either. And Deulofeu does so little defensively no wonder he is benched in this one

 

7 assists and 2 goals in the prem is pretty damn good i reckon

He's had a quality season imo. They've got the cup midweek so maybe has an eye on that in his rotation.

Lennon has scored so he's justified the start in fairness though.

Lush goal by Ali, cracking player. Gutted we didn't snatch him up sooner.

Lamela much improved this season. Still not near his price tag but that's not his fault.

If he was sacked, I'd have him here in a heartbeat.

Mikel has looked very good today. His a good player.

Man of the match for me, no doubt Costa will probably get given it though.

Can't afford to have players like Bolasie and Cabaye out when you're shite.

Difference. Zaha a mess at one end, William - boom.

Ref got away with it when Zaha missed. Terrible decision not to blow for a foul on Costa.

That's a canny strike!!

Mikel has been class. Never understood how he's still playing there but he's looked spot on here.

Well you're not going to be the finished article at 21. Even more so with his type of game which generally gets better with experience. He's certainly divided the fans opinion on him. From potential world class to he's never going to make it at this level

w*** palace, like. 4 points off CL with a frontline of Wickham/Campbell/Chamakh and yet we moan we don't have a goalscoring striker

Chelsea seem to pass the ball around a lot quicker under Hiddink, more urgency.

So our missing game plan is to miraculously put inch perfect crosses onto our strikers' head every game? Fair enough, any striker in the world would thrive on that like. Giovinco would thrive on that.

 

We do get balls into the box and they're hardly all s***, Mbemba and Gini yesterday got on the end of a couple, the latter also looks as though he has for more guile in the box than Mitrovic does.

Aye we get plenty crosses in like, more than most teams I would imagine

 

Nope, according to the stats we rank 14th in crosses per game. We also attack only 23% down our left side. It's not hard to see why mitro is struggling.

I'm not really a fan of getting the stats out but that basically just shows how inept we are down the left. Not that it wasn't glaringly obvious already. Every opposition manager in the league would know we operate everything down the right.

Given we actually have a proper number 9 up top, the lack of crosses is a joke as well. I'm not having its down to lack of movement the reason why we don't whip a ball in.

No but it's not miraculous to put wingers on each side of the pitch to get more crosses in the box. Did we put a single cross in from the left yesterday? We are so predictable and it's always going to be harder to get space for a good delivery when the opposition knows which side you're always attacking.

The goals will come. He gets himself into good positions every match and gets chances.

 

how long are you prepared to wait?

How many are you expecting from him?

If Andy gets a run on a player he's won the header. Mitro is rarely on the move when attacking a header.

Rarely on the move? He's always looking to get runs or pointing to where he wants it. Just the cross rarely comes in or when it does it's a poor. Tbf it did against Villa but his header was awful, the movement however was very good.

For Carroll's goal the only player he had to beat in the air was his own player. Then he did rise about the centre back from 6 yards out but it was a poor header. Had another couple on top of that. It's good quality crossing, then you notice up the other end Benteke isn't on the highlights because he's not getting the crosses Carroll is receiving. Benteke is getting a lot of stick at Liverpool but if you don't play to his strengths, you're not going to get the best of him and it's not really him who can be blamed imo.

Mitro's goal against Arsenal completed their comeback in that game. Where was our crossing putting pressure on their centre backs who were clearly struggling to handle Mitro all game in the air? Only one I can think of is where De Jong showed a touch of class to even get a shot on target from what was a poor delivery.

Look at his goal in the CL for Anderlecht against Arsenal. Amazing what could happen if we whipped more crosses in.

I didn't watch Liverpool/West Ham but seen the highlights and Carroll had 3/4 good chances with his head from crosses. Mitro is starved of decent service. Lucky to get on the end of one or two crosses a game.

Thought he had an excellent game. His hold up play and bringing others into the game was lovely at times.

Cocked up when given the chance to run at the defence but was a bit unfortunate Perez's knock down was just behind him. He's getting better with each game he plays.

Monreal!!! He's been a moaning whinging cunt from the start!

Don't think the usual extra effort against the big sides will save us today. Can see us getting murdered looking at that Arsenal side. Be surprised if they don't score at least 3.

I've not compared them at all. I was questioning the PL and why people think pace is needed, or strength or height. Ozil was an example on how he had those thrown at him for a long time and he's put that theory to bed. For example I seen someone say in the Mitro thread that he probably won't make it because he has no pace Ffs man! You could flick a number examples out in this thread about Anita's height or strength. Go in the De Jong thread and be questioning how athletic he is for this league. The Premier League is nothing special, if you're technically gifted, in the right system, in the right team, playing with confidence, you'll be fine regardless if you lack pace, strength or height etc. Swansea did alright with Joe Allen, Leon Britton and Mark Gower.

My problem with him is mainly his lack of being able to pass more than five yards not physicality

 

As per my previous answer, that's utter bullshit. I've seen him play multiple, pinpoint 40-yarders out of midfield game after game for Ajax.

 

Your point stretches credulity even at SJP, though I can see where you're coming from, but in Anita we've procured, and ruined, yet another player. How that reflects poorly on Anita himself I know not.

 

He was up against p*ss poor opponents when he played for Ajax. They walk through most of their games having enjoyed 70-75% possession of the ball. Doesn't make him good enough to play in the Premier league and he's been found wanting at a higher level.

 

Aye, Feyenoord and PSV would never get near the EPL with luminaries like ourselves, villa, bournemouth and the mackems barring the way.

 

Found wanting? No. Played out of position, played fleetingly, Pardewed - yes.

 

If he were playing in an EPL team that wasn't the epitome of embarrassment then people would be singing a different song.

 

Your average Eredivisie team (PSV and Ajax aside) would be League 1 standard. That's why they always go out of Europe early on. One of them even went out to a Scottish team last year (Aberdeen) and it's only ranked as Europes 9th strongest league these days. Believe me it's dross and being a good player there proves nothing, as we have found out.

 

Feyenoord, FC Twente and Alkmaar in League One?

 

Utter guff, as is all of your post, apart from correctly looking up the NL UEFA coefficient. How are PSV getting on in the Champions League, having lost three of their best players? They're not above the eliminated ManUre by any chance?!

 

Now you're really starting to show yourself up. Twente are 2nd from bottom in the league and could be relegated due to the financial crises they find themselves in and AZ are just a bottom half side nowadays. Be honest you'd struggle to name a single player from either team. Just go back the last few years and see how many clubs they've still had representing them in Europe after Xmas. You're totally clueless.

 

Clueless is an apt adjective to anyone who fails to understand that (more-or-less) outside the 'big three' in NL, the rest of the Eredivise and roughly half of the Eerste Divisie is pretty fluid.

 

However, I can't be that clueless having done live ESPN commentary for the top two Dutch leagues for a season when my other half was working in Hoofddorp. I'll take ESPN's recommendation and the twice-weekly cheque over your ill-informed opinions if that's OK. Have you ever seen a game of football in The Netherlands?! Do tell.

 

I had a season ticket at PSV Eindhoven from 2005-2012 if that helps.

No wonder you hate Anita and Ajax

Anita's just another player who arrived and I was excited to see but has been destroyed. We have a nasty habit of signing young talented prospects and not utilising them correctly or playing to their strengths. This ends up with our own fans hating them and wanting them out the door. Mitro and Thauvin are the next couple to be subject of the abuse. It's started slightly already with fans turning on them.

 

I was really excited when we signed him. I was living in Amsterdam at the time and working at the Arena for 90% of Ajax games and he caught the eye every game long before we picked him up and destroyed him as we have done to so many players before and since.

 

Anita was absolutely peerless in get-and-give, fast, strong in the tackle and his range of passing was phenomenal. Another roaring success for the NUFC 'coaching' and 'management' team.

Spot on. Still remember him coming on against Spurs and how excited I was that we had him. Such a shame how things turned out.

Our business that summer piled so much pressure on him with him being our only signing as well, worst thing about it was Pardew clearly didn't even want him.

Anita's just another player who arrived and I was excited to see but has been destroyed. We have a nasty habit of signing young talented prospects and not utilising them correctly or playing to their strengths. This ends up with our own fans hating them and wanting them out the door. Mitro and Thauvin are the next couple to be subject of the abuse. It's started slightly already with fans turning on them.

I've not compared them at all. I was questioning the PL and why people think pace is needed, or strength or height. Ozil was an example on how he had those thrown at him for a long time and he's put that theory to bed. For example I seen someone say in the Mitro thread that he probably won't make it because he has no pace Ffs man! You could flick a number examples out in this thread about Anita's height or strength. Go in the De Jong thread and be questioning how athletic he is for this league. The Premier League is nothing special, if you're technically gifted, in the right system, in the right team, playing with confidence, you'll be fine regardless if you lack pace, strength or height etc. Swansea did alright with Joe Allen, Leon Britton and Mark Gower.