The season so far

[beardsleymagic]

Man Utd           3-0    To be fair, we were well beaten. No complaints.

 

Aston Villa        6-0    Deserved victory.

 

Wolves             1-1    Unlucky not to get the win.

 

Blackpool          0-2    Not at our best. But made enough chances and but for a goalkeeper who'll never play as well, we should have won.

 

Everton             0-1    Deserved victory. Should've had a blatant pen.

 

Stoke                1-2    Dominated the first half against one of the worst footballing teams we are likely to see at SJP, without creating to many chances. Absolutely clueless in the second half.

 

Man City            2-1   Deserved at least a point, and maybe even more. Definite pen, should've been playing against 10 men, never a pen against us. Oh, and playing against the referee as well. New signing out for 6 months and our centreback out injured.

 

If the old cliche that luck levels itself out over the season is true, then we are due a shitload at some point in the season.

 

So to be honest, the Stoke game aside, i don't think we've done to badly so far. Luck definitely hasn't been on our side as of yet and hopefully, the Man City game with galvanise the team together.

[Guest Roger Kint]

If you're talking about luck how about Wolves blatent pen not given & Carew's game changing pen?

[beardsleymagic]

Fair enough. The Villa game though we would still have won in my opinion.

 

Forgot about the pen in the Wolves game to be honest.

[Colos Curls]

Can't complain with how we've played so far besides my usual qualms with Nolan being on the pitch. We have been unlucky in some games but it's becoming more and more obvious we need a forward who will put chances away, carrol is definitely a prospect but all hope can't rest on a 21 year olds shoulder, shola is shola, lovenkrands has fell off the face of the earth and ranger is still green, if we had of captured a robbie keane or the like I think we would have faired a tiny bit better upfront.

 

Looking forward to see how we reply to that rank game of football(I think you could call it that) after what seems the death of Ben arfa in a toon shirt and a complete incompetent showing from "the best league in the world"'s officials

 

Back to our frustrating best I guess :/

[Stifler]

If you're talking about luck how about Wolves blatent pen not given & Carew's game changing pen?

Should have had a pen against Everton, Should have had one against Man City, should not have had one given against us at Man City, Should have layed against 9 men at Everton, should have played against 10 men an Man City. Own goal against us at Stoke, only play maker out for 6 months if not the season, dfender out, aswell as Harper out, not only that but Taylor is out, I'm not going to count Gosling though because we bought him in that state. Oh and how Henry for Wolves didn't get a red card I will never know.

 

That looks to me like we have had more against us then for us. we say it every year that over the season our luck will equal out, it never does.

 

Playing wise I would agree that apart from the Stoke game we haven't done too bad.

 

7 games played, 7 points on the board, that means if we keep it up then we will finish with 38 points, I think we are better then that though.

[NG32]

Disappointing approach to our home games against Blackpool and Stoke.

 

Two draws would have been canny but cucking those 6 points away was madness.

[The Prophet]

I don't by into the theory luck evens itself out over the season. The bigger sides generally get the bulk of the luck usually in the form of refereeing decisions, we have to live with that. We're not going to live and die by the amount of luck we get, it's something completely out of our hands. Don't worry about it.

 

In terms of our start to the season its a strange one. When you look at our opening fixtures seven points isn't a bad return it's more the way it's occured. I think like most I'd rather of taken the six points off Blackpool and Stoke as a pose to Villa and Everton, combine that with the blow of losing Ben Arfa and you've got your main negatives right there. We've probably played better to warrent more than a return of seven points but that's way it goes. We'll no doubt play worse than we did at City and grind out a 1-0 win at some stage.

 

I've seen enough to maintain the confidence we can stay up. My biggest fear is the lack of creativity in the side especially now wor Hatem is crocked.

[Guest Roger Kint]

If you're talking about luck how about Wolves blatent pen not given & Carew's game changing pen?

Should have had a pen against Everton, Should have had one against Man City, should not have had one given against us at Man City, Should have layed against 9 men at Everton, should have played against 10 men an Man City.

 

Actually we should have had 10 yesterday as even though the ref got their pen wrong the rules are he had to go. Although i think Tevez should have gone, he jumped into the stand without getting a yellow!

 

Either way am not saying we havent had bad luck but we have had some good luck too.

[Doug]

The common thread through all the games so far is we are going out and playing with only 10 fit men.

Inexcusable when we have good and able fit players in reserve.

We have done well to get any results at all with such a self imposed handicap.

[ohmelads]

My main worry is where the goals will come from because whilst I rate Carroll, he needs a partner and Ben Arfa is out for ages.

 

Midfield and defence I don't think we're that bad but as ever with us, injuries will play a part. We just have to hope we get no more injuries to key players.

 

Overall, the performances are better than I expected. The results have been a bit topsy turvy, but that's partly down to bad luck and partly down to the aforementioned striker problem.

 

I've seen enough from the performances to be positive, but we can't afford more injuries. January time Ashley needs to go for a striker. Move on Xisco and Best and use the wages to bring a forward in. Take the hit on the transfer fee, a decent striker alongside Carroll will make a big difference in those home games where we should be playing with 2 up front (a lesson Hughton has hopefully learnt by now).

[Optimistic Nut]

If the old cliche that luck levels itself out over the season is true, then we are due a shitload at some point in the season

 

For our shitness during the relegation season, this didn't happen that year, so I won't hold my breath.

[9]

Going better than expected, the 0 points in the home games v Bpool and Stoke make it very frustrating, as silly as it sounds i think id be feeling a lot less positive about the season had we took 4 points from those games and 0 points from wolves/everton, i think the away form is good and we were unlucky not to add a point to it yesterday, it will be a lot easier to improve the home form than it would be the away.

 

However the result v wigan will go a long way to show if we are a unpredictable playing well one week poor the next mid table team or in a another relegation fight.

[Stu]

The common thread through all the games so far is we are going out and playing with only 10 fit men.

Inexcusable when we have good and able fit players in reserve.

We have done well to get any results at all with such a self imposed handicap.

 

utterly pathetic

[Stottie]

So-so so far. Next three games will tell us a lot.

 

Gutted about HBA, but Tiote a big plus. Harper was unlucky too, but first signs of Krul look okay. Stoke aside, our defence is playing to stay-up standard, with Sol looking great yesterday and Steven Taylor in the wings. The easiest way to get relegated is to ship goals and we don't look like doing that at all.

 

If you want to talk luck/decisions, the pen Smith conceded to Blackpool was also borderline and in a big game for us, but it maybe made it easier to replace him with Tiote.

 

[Guest Roger Kint]

Smith was a fully deserved pen man ffs

[Ronaldo]

Of course it was.

 

Had we not beaten Everton we'd be bottom of the league with 4 points right now, it's worrying.

[merlin]

I said I would make my mind up about the club's prospects by November and I stick to that.

 

However, it is patently obvious that goals are going to be difficult to come by and that has been exacerbated by HBA's injury. Cannot see much money being spent in Jan unless Ashley has lost patience with Hughton by then, so the lack of goals is a problem. Unlike the blind optimists on here, I do NOT believe we are creating clear chances ; the opposition defence has far too much time to get organised during our attacks because the build up is too slow - we lack a player who can deliver a penetrating final pass, and a forward with enough speed off the mark to use it.

 

Unless the style of play is adjusted to get the opposition retreating QUICKLY, we will struggle to score.

Goals win you matches, and you have to score more than the opposition - simple as...

 

All the pretty football and possession is useless unless you turn it into goals...sound simple, but some people seem to have difficulty getting their heads round that fact..! These people will still be saying we didn't deserve relegation if we go down because we haven't converted possession into goals, and they are WRONG - if we fail to do that we WILL deserve to go down.

[Optimistic Nut]

Of course it was.

 

Had we not beaten Everton we'd be bottom of the league with 4 points right now, it's worrying.

 

And had a couple of refereeing decisions been called correctly, we'd have been 7th with 10 points.

[Dave]

I think we'll sign a striker in January. Probably would have done so without Ben Arfa's injury as well.

 

It'll be our only signing though, and I'm not sure the choice will be any better than it was in the summer (when Hughton said there was nobody good enough for our budget).

[Guest Roger Kint]

Of course it was.

 

Had we not beaten Everton we'd be bottom of the league with 4 points right now, it's worrying.

 

And had a couple of refereeing decisions been called correctly, we'd have been 7th with 10 points.

 

Am sure other clubs would want their games altered as well then

[Optimistic Nut]

Of course it was.

 

Had we not beaten Everton we'd be bottom of the league with 4 points right now, it's worrying.

 

And had a couple of refereeing decisions been called correctly, we'd have been 7th with 10 points.

 

Am sure other clubs would want their games altered as well then

 

Well if we're going to alter a result to put us 20th, might as well alter one to put us 7th.

[Guest palnese]

Of course it was.

 

Had we not beaten Everton we'd be bottom of the league with 4 points right now, it's worrying.

 

And had a couple of refereeing decisions been called correctly, we'd have been 7th with 10 points.

 

Doubt it. Wolves should have had a penalty.

[Guest spike]

we aren't good enough to beat many teams at home but my get a few more unlikely away points

[Guest palnese]

we aren't good enough to beat many teams at home but my get a few more unlikely away points

 

 

We're good enough, we just need someone to support Carroll up front.

[beardsleymagic]

We could do with someone quick with a bit of skill to link the midfield and attack.

 

A role i thought Ben Arfa would perfectly fill..... until yesterday (fucking De Jong  ).