Yorkie Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 It was obvious from Martins' play (and reaction to the substitution) that he was regaining a bit of confidence. I've never seen a player as reliant on it. Absolutely clueless management!!!!! Martins should seriously start considering his options next season. The guy is struggling to get a game when he's clearly the best option up front. When he begins to get some confidence the managers usually do their best to destroy it. Get lost. It got us an important point. The last time we had a team pegged back for a significant period of time, we crumbled and conceded on the break. Lost the game in the flash. No need risking it again. Maybe he should have taken Viduka off rather than Oba, but Viduka could hold it up. It was a frustrating sub but in our circumstances it wasn't worth risking getting caught out on the break (again). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Can I just say as well, as much as I despise Butt's ability, I have so much admiration for him for his performance today. The guy cares 100%, and as much as he gave the ball away today, he also won it back for us a hell of a lot. Was definitely the man of the match. Butt is shit made to look better by having a shitter Barton next to him, Butt gave away so much posession in the first half with stupid long balls which just ended coming back at us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Skeletor, this was a very important point. As people have said, it's not the right circumstances to be throwing it all at them, like you'd expect much earlier in the season. Not in my opinion, anyway. Frustrating, aye, but the key aim was four points and we're well on the road to that. He could have taken Viduka off, brought N'Zogbia on and moved Martins up front. More shape to the team but still with Martins threat there to win it. It's a decision that made no sense especially when many of our other players were knackered. Agreed... but with the emphasis on not losing I can see why he'd keep Viduka on as a player who can (in theory) hold the ball up. I'm glad you said 'in theory', because for the last 20 minutes he certainly wasn't doing it in practice. This game has really convinced me that Keegan doesn't know what he's doing. It showed that we've got the individual quality to beat a team like Birmingham easily, but we struggled. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmk Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Keegan just said he thought geremi was outstanding. I agree with him. Yep. his general play was very, very good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross magoo Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 A draw will do. It was more important not to get beat. this is where my math sucks...if this was a relegation 6 pointer, how does a draw figure in? what if we draw vs fulham? The Fulham game is at home though which will always change your approach. I'm obviously not saying that I didn't want us to win the game. I just think that a defeat would have been a disaster. A draw's better for us than it is for Birmingham. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 After watching the whole match, i thought you lot did more than enough to get the 3 points tbh. Butt and Martins played well, and it also helped that you didnt play that impostor of a footballer, Jenas. For once KD we agree. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tachikoma Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Barton was definitely the most outstanding player we had out today. Outstanding the way a pile of dog poop would look when served on a table of gourmet food. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 It was obvious from Martins' play (and reaction to the substitution) that he was regaining a bit of confidence. I've never seen a player as reliant on it. Absolutely clueless management!!!!! Martins should seriously start considering his options next season. The guy is struggling to get a game when he's clearly the best option up front. When he begins to get some confidence the managers usually do their best to destroy it. Get lost. It got us an important point. The last time we had a team pegged back for a significant period of time, we crumbled and conceded on the break. Lost the game in the flash. No need risking it again. Maybe he should have taken Viduka off rather than Oba, but Viduka could hold it up. It was a frustrating sub but in our circumstances it wasn't worth risking getting caught out on the break (again). No offense, but you didn't even see the game. No matter how you try and twist and turn things, it was clueless by Keegan. Also, Vidukas "hold up" resulted in him losing the ball three times in a row after the sub. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Keegan has just said Geremi and Barton were outstanding with no mentionof Butt or Martins. God help us ... Geremi had a good game, he should never be allowed to take another corner though. Barton is so shite that I can't think of a word bad enough to sum his performance up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baggio Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I'm surprised Barton's getting all of the stick when Faye was easily the worst player on the pitch by a mile. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShearMagic Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 N'Zogbia should've came on for Barton after about 65 minutes. However, I can understand the move to take Martins off. If we lost, we'd be in real strife. By taking Martins off and putting N'Zogbia on it gave us better structure, which made us a lot less likely to win, but also a lot less likely to concede. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tachikoma Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Keegan has just said Geremi and Barton were outstanding with no mentionof Butt or Martins. God help us ... Geremi had a good game, he should never be allowed to take another corner though. Barton is so shite that I can't think of a word bad enough to sum his performance up. AlanSmith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JamesD Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 It was obvious from Martins' play (and reaction to the substitution) that he was regaining a bit of confidence. I've never seen a player as reliant on it. Absolutely clueless management!!!!! Martins should seriously start considering his options next season. The guy is struggling to get a game when he's clearly the best option up front. When he begins to get some confidence the managers usually do their best to destroy it. Get lost. It got us an important point. The last time we had a team pegged back for a significant period of time, we crumbled and conceded on the break. Lost the game in the flash. No need risking it again. Maybe he should have taken Viduka off rather than Oba, but Viduka could hold it up. It was a frustrating sub but in our circumstances it wasn't worth risking getting caught out on the break (again). No offense, but you didn't even see the game. No matter how you try and twist and turn things, it was clueless by Keegan. Also, Vidukas "hold up" resulted in him losing the ball three times in a row after the sub. I can't believe the amount of times he decides to flick it up and play from there. Jesus, keep it on the ground and pass it quickly. Wasted several chances near their area when he twisted around instead of playing a quick pass in behind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimbo Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Enrique had a decent enough game, well worth keeping for next season IMO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I'm surprised Barton's getting all of the stick when Faye was easily the worst player on the pitch by a mile. Faye had a mare. Easily his worst game for us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmk Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I actually thought defensively Barton did really well, he had a few excellent tackles that broke up his play but as someone said in an attacking sense he was an abortion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaKa Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Martins would have definitely been man of the match if he was played upfront more. The guy gets his shots off swiftly, with power and on target everytime. He is our most dangerous goal threat. He was pissed off at how things went in the first half that he rebelled and refused to stay out wide and he promptly took over the game and allowed us the chance to score. However, I can't help this was the reason Keegan took him off, as he wasn't happy with him neglecting his responsibilities on the wing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Goalfather Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 It was obvious from Martins' play (and reaction to the substitution) that he was regaining a bit of confidence. I've never seen a player as reliant on it. Absolutely clueless management!!!!! Martins should seriously start considering his options next season. The guy is struggling to get a game when he's clearly the best option up front. When he begins to get some confidence the managers usually do their best to destroy it. Get lost. It got us an important point. The last time we had a team pegged back for a significant period of time, we crumbled and conceded on the break. Lost the game in the flash. No need risking it again. Maybe he should have taken Viduka off rather than Oba, but Viduka could hold it up. It was a frustrating sub but in our circumstances it wasn't worth risking getting caught out on the break (again). It probably cost us 2 points...WTF are we doing playing for a draw against Birmingham? Football is a pretty simple game. Martins should have been the last person subtituted in my opinion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Keegan has just said Geremi and Barton were outstanding with no mentionof Butt or Martins. God help us ... Geremi had a good game, he should never be allowed to take another corner though. Barton is so shite that I can't think of a word bad enough to sum his performance up. Shep... No, neither can I. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShearMagic Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I'm surprised Barton's getting all of the stick when Faye was easily the worst player on the pitch by a mile. Harsh. He wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination, but he wasn't that bad. Barton was just useless. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozy Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Harper 7 - Actually had fuck all to do Beye 6 - Reasonably solid defensively, Pity he was so shit going forward. Taylor 5 - shaky 1st half, better 2nd. Faye 3 - Shitter of a performance, hopefully his only one this season. Enrique 6 - Outdone at times in first half, played much better when he stopped lumping it. Always knew he could pelt one! Geremi 7 - (Set Pieces 0) Kept the ball well but offered little as a winger. Butt 7- Battled well and Passing much better. Barton 6 - Thought he battled hard and won the ball well at times. Martins 8 - So much more effective in the middle and i couldn't believe he was subbed. Viduka 5 - Stop fucking trying to Spin! Owen 7 - Worked hard, linked up well and scored the crucial goal. Keegan 6 - Half time team talk must have done wonders but he fucked up any chance of winning by talking off Martins. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tachikoma Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I'm surprised Barton's getting all of the stick when Faye was easily the worst player on the pitch by a mile. He was doing the work of both centerbacks, to be fair. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Clearly Faye's fault for the goal but I didn't think he did too much else wrong. The back four played well apart from that imo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I'm surprised Barton's getting all of the stick when Faye was easily the worst player on the pitch by a mile. Faye looked better in the second half, Barton was shite all game, I've never shouted at the tele as much in my life, he's pure 100 carot shite. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I'm surprised Barton's getting all of the stick when Faye was easily the worst player on the pitch by a mile. Harsh. He wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination, but he wasn't that bad. Barton was just useless. No, I think I might actually agree with Baggio here. If Butt can get praise for putting in a decent defensive shift, so should Barton. Faye was worse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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