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Some positives


Guest Howaythetoon

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Guest Howaythetoon

First of all we turned a 1-0 loss into a 1-1 draw away from home in a tricky typically tough place to play where not many get anything at all. A point that keeps us in it and may well end up proving to be a turning point. That alone cannot be sniffed at.

 

The players showed tremendous fight, character and work ethic.

 

The back four/five were strong enough to withstand what was at times an onslaught and very much in your face attacking from the opposition.

 

Owen looked sharper and has another full 90 minutes under his belt. We all know with Owen that its more about sharpness and games just as much as it is about service so hopefully the goals will start coming with the more minutes on the pitch he gets. I predict we'll see an Owen goal sooner rather than later.

 

We actually put in crosses. Not all of them were very good, in fact most were rubbish but we got into crossing positions and looked to put the ball in, even Jonas sent in a few as did Duff.

 

Jonas actually had an end product when he came on, putting in crosses, getting into the box and to the byeline and tellingly playing the ball through into space.

 

For Duff read Jonas.

 

A makeshift defence were disicplined and strong physically and in the air, Edgar in particular standing out.

 

All subs had an impact, especially Carrol who scored a fantastic goal and earlier could have scored with another header. We are not going to score screamers or slice teams open, we're going to score scrappy goals inside the box or from crosses and we could have had a few against Stoke in such fashion. My point is we looked a goal threat and caused the opposition problems.

 

Sherarer isn't afraid to drop players and try out new things. I personally thought he got his selection wrong and at times didn't know what system we were trying to play and by the time Carroll came on it pretty much went out the window anyway, but long-term it is positive news regarding Shearer as a manager. He seems willing to give anyone a chance who serves him well in training and who performs in a match. Guthrie for example starting following his decent spell when he came on against Chelsea and Carroll I can see starting away to Spurs.

 

We finished the stronger side and for spells did to Stoke what they did to us - we pinned them back.

 

Our fitness levels improved, we were still full of running towards the end.

 

We got our first point and first goal under Shearer. There is more to come, hopefully it will be enough to keep us up. Fingers crossed.

 

Again in terms of the future, ice baths and players exercising on bikes on the touchline points to a modern approach from Shearer (this is Dowie's area).

 

I am a lot more optimistic now then I was before he took over and I will be honest in that I expected Stoke to beat us so a point in that respect is a bonus and especially so having went 1-0 down.

 

Its Spurs next, lets get something out of that game like we did against Stoke, an arguably tougher fixture.

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Most of that post is a crock of shit. Our defence was fucking powderpuff, Edgar did win quite a few headers but he also lost lots too, as did Beye, Bassong and many others. Headers that we needed to win.

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Most of that post is a crock of shit. Our defence was fucking powderpuff, Edgar did win quite a few headers but he also lost lots too, as did Beye, Bassong and many others. Headers that we needed to win.

 

Its ridiculous to think we should be winning every header against a side like Stoke. What we needed to do was make it difficult for them and contest the header. Which we did. Aside from some sloppy work in the first ten mins and the goal, we battled really well and they created very little from their long throws.

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I love how a fantastic header by a kid nine minutes from time overwrites an absolutely rubbish performance.

 

We had a spell of useful posession, between about 65 minutes and 80 minutes, apart from that we gave the ball away cheaply and invited a shit Stoke team onto us.

 

The only positives were the performances of Edgar, Carroll and Jonas. End of.

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Guest firetotheworks

I cant bare reading most of the posts in the football section anymore like.

 

All the pessimists: To quote Jack Nicholson 'I'm drowning here, and you're describing the water!'

 

We were shit, we got away with it. The positive is the result and nothing more, lets not dwell on it too much eh?

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I love how a fantastic header by a kid nine minutes from time overwrites an absolutely rubbish performance.

 

We had a spell of useful posession, between about 65 minutes and 80 minutes, apart from that we gave the ball away cheaply and invited a shit Stoke team onto us.

 

The only positives were the performances of Edgar, Carroll and Jonas. End of.

 

NOTW gave him a rating of 3 :lol:

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I love how a fantastic header by a kid nine minutes from time overwrites an absolutely rubbish performance.

 

Being overly critical and negative will do nothing to help the situation. That's my take on it.

 

We went into a horrible game and came away with something to show for it.

 

Aye the performance was pretty rancid, but honestly, what were people expecting? It took Keegan 9 games to start showing the effects of his management on this rabble, Shearer is working to a much tighter timescale and there have been positives to take from it so far - at least we look up for the fight now being the main one, for me.

 

He said himself it isn't going to be pretty, but needs must.

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Most of that post is a crock of shit. Our defence was fucking powderpuff, Edgar did win quite a few headers but he also lost lots too, as did Beye, Bassong and many others. Headers that we needed to win.

 

Its ridiculous to think we should be winning every header against a side like Stoke. What we needed to do was make it difficult for them and contest the header. Which we did. Aside from some sloppy work in the first ten mins and the goal, we battled really well and they created very little from their long throws.

 

Have to agree with this, as well. Moaning about not winning the majority of headers with a makeshift defence against Stoke City takes the biscuit. What did Stoke do apart from get us worried by corners and throw-ins? They've turned over some decent teams at home this season with their roughneck tactics and for once we were able to stand up to it and withstand their threat.

 

I wasn't even expecting a point here, personally, and had Shearer not have been in-situ this is the sort of game where we'd have lost by 2 or 3.

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Guest Phil K

Most of that post is a crock of s***. Our defence was f***ing powderpuff, Edgar did win quite a few headers but he also lost lots too, as did Beye, Bassong and many others. Headers that we needed to win.

Hate to agree with someone who constantly takes snidey pot shots, yet ends up saying the same as what he snides at, but yes, I DO agree.

The only thing to come out of yesterday was that we are now desperate to snatch at anything and call it a positive.

I certainly will not have a dig at HTT who, like me, is desperate to see ANYTHING as good, clutching at straws, and beggars can't be choosers and all that

Andy Carroll - good, and some battling performances with little skill, the rest a rabble and no positives to be seen.

I'd like to personally give Kinnear a "F**** Off and don't come back" card and to those pillocks under him after that mess yesterday

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I love how a fantastic header by a kid nine minutes from time overwrites an absolutely rubbish performance.

 

We got a point didn't we. Fucking hell, give it a rest man - it's boring already.

 

We were shit but we did things in order to get a good point, whether we deserved it or not. There's a few things been embellished in that OP, definitely, but personally i think it would have been a bit harsh to come away from the game with nowt. A lot of good teams haven't managed that. I'm happy that we've got someone in charge who 1, recognises that we needed to change from the 4-4-2, and 2, realises when he's gone wrong and needs to change things. That's one of the first times this season the guy on the touchline has recognised the problem; eradicated, and taken something from the game.

 

Could have been a hell of a lot worse yesterday.

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Guest Phil K

Could have been a hell of a lot worse yesterday.

Yes, it could have been

It SHOULD have been a lot better though.

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Guest fading star

Could have been a hell of a lot worse yesterday.

Yes, it could have been

It SHOULD have been a lot better though.

Based on what? 

 

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Guest neesy111

i love how he say's owen is another match from getting sharper, how many game's does he need, and how can we afford a player to take 1 1/2 months to get even close to fitness with 6 games left

 

unbelievable

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Guest Howaythetoon

What gets me all the time is that these players and this team is constantly under fierce criticism for being shit and rightly so yet when they play shit, people seem surprised and angry about it. Err, what do you expect? Stellar performances away to Stoke? Winning every single ball, winning every single tackle, making every single pass count, scoring with every opportunity? We are a shit side with shit players.

 

The only remarkable thing about yesterday is that we didn't lose, the defence didn't collapse and we actually fought back and were coming on strong towards the end. That for me is a positive because prior to Shearer coming in I couldn't see where the next goal was coming from never mind point. This is how its going to be until the end of the season, god awful performances from a god awful side having a god awful season. We can only hope the small positives can be built on and taken into each game.

 

I'm sick of reading angry posts in the Ameobi, Butt and others' threads after every single game, as if they are expected to perform better and turn into some kind of stars.

 

You can't condemn someone as being utter shit and then expect them to do better and when they don't because remember they are shit, blast them for it.

 

I saw many small but hopefully significant positives from yesterday's game and given our dire situation and those wretched wankers that wear our shirt, I'll settle for anything positive regardless of how minor or tenuous.

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Guest Howaythetoon

i love how he say's owen is another match from getting sharper, how many game's does he need, and how can we afford a player to take 1 1/2 months to get even close to fitness with 6 games left

 

unbelievable

 

Lets drop him then for the injured Viduka, Martins or play Ameobi up top, or how about the injured Lovenkands? If Owen is fit he plays and the more games he gets the sharper he gets and the more chance of him scoring and fingers crossed going on a scoring streak. Even though he's half the player he was and I can't wait to see the back of him I trust no-one more in our side to put the ball in the back of then net other than the man in the dugout who has long been retired.

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Another positive, we didn't capitulate like we usually do, we stuck at it and kept going.

 

Bullshit. We gifted them loads of opportunities after the goal due to our shit midfield ball retention, and it was a combiation of good goalkeeping, shit Stoke finishing and sheer good luck that we didn't concede another goal (or more).

 

Had we not been lucky/indebted to Harper and Stoke's shite forwards for about 40 minutes, we wouldn't have rallied when Jonas and Carroll came on. There was still fuck all response straight after going a goal down.

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Guest Heneage

I love how a fantastic header by a kid nine minutes from time overwrites an absolutely rubbish performance.

Being fair, I didn't expect to see any flowing passing from minute one, Stoke don't allow you to do it, they put 9 men behind the ball in a small block and work on the counter.

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