Lush Vlad

I understand Rafa’s negative/pragmatic approach most of the time with this squad. But at home against Brighton FFS? Nah. That is embarrassing. Still love him, mind.

Not saying it makes a huuuuge difference. As I’m sure he’d still not be good enough. But there is no excuse for a pro footballer to be out of shape like Elliot I don’t actually mind him, TBH. He clearly loves the area and the fans. Most this squad are quite likeable, despite their flaws.

I mean. You would like to think he is taking the piss. But their creepy obsession with ‘Boarly’ knows no bounds. So the weird cunt probably means it.

Wallsendmag on the special brew again, I see. We have two keepers who are championship level at best. Yet every time Elliot makes a save, he has his fanboys wanking overhow good he is and coming on with ‘I told you so’ posts. Then on the other side of it, you have some fans who seem to be overly critical of everything he does. I really can’t wait for both to be replaced. Because they are shite and this thread has been pure cringe for the most part! Such an odd subject for people to get so passionate and aggressive about.

why :lol: Oh and Saivet was great defensively after his howler. Neither he nor Diame got on the ball much. But Saivet was really sound defensively. Was often in the right place to make a tackle or clearance.

Still don’t think he is particularly fast. But he has a decent touch, he’s direct and he commits players to try and tackle him. Apart from Murphy and Yedlin from time to time. He is the only player that does that in the squad. He was class yesterday. MOTM after Lascelles.

Thought he did alright, that Masuako (sp?) is a bag of tricks. Should've had an assist when Gayle missed too. Aye fair comment, I forgot about that. Too many crosses came in from both Masuaku and Cresswell for my liking though. He’ll always be a bit suspect defensively, I reckon. But the West Ham 26 was class and their best player by miles. He combined well with Cresswell and worked openings for crosses quite regularly. Ritchie and Yedlin both worked their arses off, but still failed to stop crosses on numerous occasions. Love Yedlin going forward, mind. He is our fastest player in my living memory. He go back on the cover a couple of times when he had 5-10 yards to make up and as you pointed out, his pressure led to the third.

His movement is usually decent. West Ham pushed up a lot higher once be went off and they didn’t respect Perez at all. Obviously we naturally sat a bit deeper, as well. But I don’t think it is a coincidence that we look a lot more threatening with him in the side. We still need to get a new striker. But for ‘winnable’ games this season. He is probably our best option, currently.

He was an absolute colossus at the back. I think I saw him lose his first header on about 70 minutes! Atsu probably got MOTM. But I think Lascelles was. They did play to his strengths, I guess. But he barely put a foot wrong all game.

Another fuck up from a keeper

Such an exciting league. But for two top teams, the amount of basic mistakes is mind blowing. Neither team can defend or hang onto the ball and the keepers haven’t covered themselves in glory for a couple of the goals. Makes for good viewing, mind.

FWIW there are a lot of Arsenal fans in my family and a fair few in general in my neck of the woods. To a man, most of them think he ranges from inconcistent to shite. I don’t think he is good enough for Arsenal and he was a waste of money. But he would still probably be our best player if we signed him. Although thay says more about how shit our squad is, as opposed to how good Xhaka is.

We don't have any athletes in midfield. We don't really have many in the squad, full stop. The mobility of someone like Gueye for them, compared to Diame, Merino and Shelvey all struggling to cover ground and dominate physically, is pretty evident. They brought that Blasic on out wide and he was a right handful. Manquillo had been good up until that point, but suddenly lost the plot. There isn't a lot of pace, power or tenacity in our team.

What goalkeeper situation? That he wanted a new one, because the ones we have are utter shite? But wasn’t backed so ended up playing a fat mess who can’t get down to shots. Then replaced him due to shit form, with a keeper who appears to play with grease on his gloves. Who has somehow been even worse. Sack him for that alone, TBH.

Luke Edwards' profile pic is perfect for him. I just imagine he is in a perpetual state of looking like that and has no other expression. Miserable cunt.

Complete and utter mongrel.

The problem with this current team, is I don't see it as a rank run of form as such. Just that the team is that bad, we are playing up to our ability. It isn't like there are quality players to come back from injury, or we have been playing well earlier in the season. For all that we were fairly solid, we have only really scraped a few wins and lost a load of close games. This run has just been terrible and is gradually getting worse. There isn't really a lot of bad luck to blame. Just mistakes, individually and collectively and a squad that isn't fit for purpose. Just to keep repeating what everyone is saying. Without significant investment, where are the points going to come from?!

Yeah, true enough. I just look at how many games we have lost by the odd goal and think we need attacking options as a priority. We have actually been solid for a fair few of our games (not recently, of course) just struggled to create much.

First game I have managed to get to this season, the only thing worth the 500 mile round trip was seeing some mates and a decent bit of food. We got well and truly Allardyce'd. A goal for them from 1 or 2 decent chances they had all game. It was only a chance because of a goalkeeping howler and poor defending. Then just play a flat back 4 and a midfield 5 right up on the halfway line. Knowing full well we have nobody good enough to break us down. Merino and Shelvey played in defence for most of the second half, with them pushing so high and we never looked like scoring. Everton will win and grind out points with these horrendous spoiler tactics. So good news for them in the short term. But fuck watching that every week. It's even worse than watching us, I reckon. As for us, we are absolutely rancid. Couldn't even tell you who I think our best player is right now. Our only fast and direct players have no end product. We don't dare commit numbers to getting into the box and into advanced positions, due to us being so poor defensively. We have a few players that struggle with the basics, like passing it 10 yards or actually controlling a football. We are in a real mess here and without some quality in Jan, we're down, IMO. Once again, we started well and then lost our way. Seems to be a worrying trend and teams are able to nullify what little attacking threat we carry with ease. Darlow - 3 - one job and he managed to fuck it up. Decent save from their only other chance. Yedlin - 6 - like him. But he still gets lost and ball watches when defending. Decision making in the final third needs work. Lascelles - 6 - solid enough Lejeune - 4 - looks scared and plays like a 50 year old Manquillo - 6 - best player first half. Struggled when Blasic came on and got bullied. Atsu - 6 - really lively, but not much end product, as per usual. Shelvey - 5 - didn't do much. Second yellow was a bit daft. Merino - 7 - best player on the night, faded late on. Was right in line with that hit, still not sure how it stayed out. Ritchie - 5 - Unlucky with his chance, good first half. Absolutely toothless as per usual in the second. Too slow. Diame - 2 - abject performance. Just utter shite. Gayle - 4 - no service, pretty crap when he did get the ball. Subs - meh. Did they do anything of note?

I thought he had no service, but when the ball was played into him, he regularly lost it or ran into trouble. Had one good moment on the left in the second half, but anonymous bar that.

I liked the look of him early on. But he is so slow and nowhere near agile enough. He makes Lascelles seem as mobile as someone like Varane. He is even worse in the flesh and has worryingly, started to look a bit panicked. He needs to be dropped for Clark (who hasn't been much better this season) as he just seems like a bit of a liability right now.

Didn't look great from him or Yedlin for the goal and he lost it a couple of times in dodgy areas. But we look a slightly more competent team with him playing and he is arguably our most important player right now.

I've heard a fair few comments about the second yellow ranging from 'good tackle, he got the ball' to 'he is a brain dead cunt, sell him now!' The first was clearly a yellow and it was a take one for the team type tackle, as Lennon was off on a counter and nobody in our team seems to have any pace, bar Yedlin. So I don't have that much of a problem with it. The second is a bit needless and it is clearly a bit of frustration on his part. But if he just makes no challenge and they stroll through to just kill the game. He would have got pelters from some fans as well. In conclusion. I'm not ready for him to be tarred and feathered just yet.

He did one good thing all game. The flick to Gayle, which was a really nice move. He can’t even pass the ball accurately or at the right pace. Doesn’t win headers, constantly on his heels, has a heavy touch and can’t hold it up. I don’t agree with the sarcastic cheers and applause. But he is our worst player by a distance, IMO. Which is quite a feat considering how shit we are

Personally, I think a winger with a bit of pace or a compotent number 10 is almost as important as a goal scorer. Say what you like about our strikers and they are a bag of shite. But our creative and wide options are just quite simply, nowhere near good enough. Although I suppose you can say that for basically the whole squad.