Dave Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I was there. We hung on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 It also says we played some of our most flowing and progressive football. Anyway, I'm sure most of the fans of other teams would say similar stuff about not always being comfortable. I would like us to control the ball on the deck more, but we don't have some sort of right to dominate games. It's a competitive league. Obviously punting the ball away doesn't help, and it becomes more apparent when we aren't getting wins. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Even so, taking Blackburn out as you have that's 6 from 28. Not quite the three or four neesy mentioned, but not quite the eight or nine you did. Fact is we've had to do a hell of a lot of scrapping to be 6th in the league. That's not to say we're not there on merit or that scrapping isn't a good thing, but it's what is leading people to wonder if it's a sustainable way of being up there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughesy Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Even so, taking Blackburn out as you have that's 6 from 28. Not quite the three or four neesy mentioned, but not quite the eight or nine you did. True - I reckon 6 on reassessing. Without being overly pedantic though - how many games do team really win comfortably? Think about the games we have lost. Have the opposition in all those games won comfortably? How many games have the teams around us won comfortably. I very very much doubt it's a lot more than us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Edited that post slightly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lush Vlad Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Posted a while back about it, but if we fail to play attacking football and keep it on the deck against Norwich, then I think I will have lost all faith in him to ever play good football. There have been some promising signs this season, and I understand he's opting for safety first due to our league position. But it's actually counter-productive, as we don't have the players required for hoof ball and it just isn't working. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 What if Pards has more of a longer-term plan for the team? End of last season: try and find out what he's inherited, start to make the team difficult to beat First full season: work on getting the team working in the right way off the ball and install the defensive ethos that he wants the team to adapt (built around Krul and Colo). Make sure that the team is difficult to beat and are capable of providing a solid platform for season two/three. League position is a bonus if it's above mid-table. Bring the 'flair' players to the fore towards the end of the season. Second season: start to build upon the defensive platform, expand upon the passing, possession-retaining game and make the flair players a key part of the game plan. Third season: by this stage, the core players (Krul - Colo - Cabaye) understand the philosophy and instructions and this is constantly repeated in the dressing room and on the pitch. This is where we win the league I have concerns that are gradually morphing into 'worry' due to our recent form, but i am still clinging onto this general idea. I still think, on the whole, we're a difficult side to beat. The reason why my faith in Pardew has been threatened is that he is setting us up in a way that goes against his spoken philosophy. He talks up the passing game but we're hesitant to use it. But, as i've said before, the side is still at a very early age of development. The glimpses of fluid football that we've seen since the turn of the year bring promise. The potential is obvious. Norwich is a huge game in the context of this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Even if you take Everton as a comfortable win, which i'm not sure I would, we still created remarkably little, and scored through a ridiculous own goal which Howard was poised to claim and a real wonder goal. We had wonder goals to thank against Wolves and Villa recently too having created very little at home. This is a real worry to me, our lack of genuine chances. Despite Man United, I still have Stoke down as our performance of the season, really thought we might have cracked it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Even if you take Everton as a comfortable win, which i'm not sure I would, we still created remarkably little, and scored through a ridiculous own goal which Howard was poised to claim and a real wonder goal. We had wonder goals to thank against Wolves and Villa recently too having created very little at home. This is a real worry to me, our lack of genuine chances. Despite Man United, I still have Stoke down as our performance of the season, really thought we might have cracked it. I dont think we were that good against Stoke. We werent playing brilliant stuff to be honest. I loved our performance against Spurs (at home obv.). We were better, although not creating much we were genuinely comfortable passing the ball around. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Village Idiot Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I thought you were brilliant against Spurs in the second half. One of those games that despite being down you are sure you're getting something. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Stoke was a great demonstration of the tougher and more spirited approach, and winning a game would might previously had struggled in. It made me much more confident about our season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPERTOON Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 The few occasions we have played football- Villa away, Blackburn home, Spurs home, we have been great to watch, and had some great results. Makes you wonder why Pardew is so against us playing that way when we are better doing it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 That's the entire point, it doesn't have to be brilliant stuff, that's what the people saying "you just want us to play like Barcelona" don't seem to grasp. We dominated that game from start to finish. I want us to dominate games, have most of the ball and most of the chances, whether that's direct or not i'm not bothered, I just think that particular style doesn't suit our players and won't have us dominate games. Ironically, Stoke do that nearly every week at home, completely boss it without "looking like Barcelona". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Even if you take Everton as a comfortable win, which i'm not sure I would, we still created remarkably little, and scored through a ridiculous own goal which Howard was poised to claim and a real wonder goal. We had wonder goals to thank against Wolves and Villa recently too having created very little at home. This is a real worry to me, our lack of genuine chances. Despite Man United, I still have Stoke down as our performance of the season, really thought we might have cracked it. heres something else to throw into that mix. against everton, wolves (home and away), arguably fulham at home, we have went into two goal leads (against everton when we scored i'd seen it as only a matter of time before we scored, we were dominating) and then backed right off. strange given pardews recent words about 2-0 being a dangerous score and how vital the next goal is. it's a bit silly to go on about comfortable wins, we don't have many points we didn't deserve (qpr away and wolves home maybe, balanced out with villa away, swansea home).if the league was decided on comfortable wins the top 4 places would be vacant given man utds early form and citeh's recent. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eliassenfredrik Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 The problem is, in general we aren't creating chances with our game plans. We aren't creating chances because our approach to games are mostly defensive minded, and we seem to have forgotten how to pass our way to goal scoring opportunities. The movement and speed in "build ups" are hardly frightening, and bar a few individual performances during each game, I fail to see where the goals are coming from, because we don't look a threat. We might be hard to beat, although I think that statement is gradually losing it's power, but the players don't seem to click going forward. I think it's a combination of instructions, self confidence and player's skills (we're obviously handicapped with Obertan out there etc). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Even on Monday night we could have easily picked up a point. We should be looking at performances of course, but results and the league table also count for a lot. I don't think we should be dismissing our points total like it's a fluke. We've played 2/3 of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbandit Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I was there. We hung on. We had that own goal and a rare wonder goal from Raylor. They created more throughout the game with Drenthe literally tearing into us at times. We were not comfortable winners Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Deadmau5 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Spending 4 out of 5 weekdays drilling defense and utilising 4 fullbacks as well as 2 DMS, I`m not sure how much merit being hard to beat carry. Any team playing like that will be tough breaking down, and we still concede as many goals as last season with better players. I still have faith in Pardew and I think he has done a great job getting us to sixth, but sooner or later we are going to have to work on forward movement. I hope it will happen in the next 10 matches. It might just be me, but I often find Pardews interviews very strange. He speaks incorrect english and looks like someone in the street being interviewed on television. He sounds strangely deranged for someone who has been a manager for 15 years, and frankly out of his depth. Like a lass trying to discuss cars, or a fat girl trying to join in on a diet and exercise conversation. Very little substance and alot of cliches and intangibles.. Just me then? Anyway, as long as we can salvage 7th, I think that would allow us to let our shoulders down a bit and try improving the attacking bit over the summer. Howay the lads Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Venkman Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 The problem is, in general we aren't creating chances with our game plans. We aren't creating chances because our approach to games are mostly defensive minded, and we seem to have forgotten how to pass our way to goal scoring opportunities. The movement and speed in "build ups" are hardly frightening, and bar a few individual performances during each game, I fail to see where the goals are coming from, because we don't look a threat. We might be hard to beat, although I think that statement is gradually losing it's power, but the players don't seem to click going forward. I think it's a combination of instructions, self confidence and player's skills (we're obviously handicapped with Obertan out there etc). This is it for me like, as i've said elsewhere. The players he actually puts on the pitch has a lot to do with it as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 What if Pards has more of a longer-term plan for the team? End of last season: try and find out what he's inherited, start to make the team difficult to beat First full season: work on getting the team working in the right way off the ball and install the defensive ethos that he wants the team to adapt (built around Krul and Colo). Make sure that the team is difficult to beat and are capable of providing a solid platform for season two/three. League position is a bonus if it's above mid-table. Bring the 'flair' players to the fore towards the end of the season. Second season: start to build upon the defensive platform, expand upon the passing, possession-retaining game and make the flair players a key part of the game plan. Third season: by this stage, the core players (Krul - Colo - Cabaye) understand the philosophy and instructions and this is constantly repeated in the dressing room and on the pitch. This is where we win the league I remember Sam Allardyce using this argument and insisting the players would have to learn to do it his way and we had the ridiculous situation where we were playing long ball football with Obafemi and Owen up front. Not that I'm against having a long term plan or a football philosophy but part of that for me should be to make the best use of the players you've got. Keegan and Allardyce had the same players available to them but who do you think made the best use of their resources? I have difficulty believing that launching the ball long from the back is going to get the best out of Cabaye, HBA, Cisse or Ba. People have argued that we don't play hoofball, but when Krul has the ball in his hands that's exactly what he does. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 You play to the strengths of your squad, not to the strengths of the manager. This direct/hoof football is nowhere near the strengths of our team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Neesy man, work backwards through the fixtures and say when we've played like that. You'll find its not nearly as much as you think. Off to work now, I'll see your reply midnightish. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Venkman Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Getting boring now like, we don't have to play it every week for it to be a problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Duper Branko Strupar Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I'm not sure that's the argument being made Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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