54 Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley17 Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Don't think we've been pulling up trees but we did well enough to pick up points while Tiote and Ba (+ Cisse) were at ACoN and Cabaye suspended for 3 games, since those three (+ Cisse) are back we're now getting a 'settled' starting X/XI for the final run-in. We were woeful for the final 60 minutes against Wolves, but I honestly felt the players took their eye off the ball/foot off the gas as they (and the crowd) felt the game was on course for a x-0 rout....then we had the derby match, where you can never judge a team on it's footballing prowess when the only thing that matters is the result. Saying that, I'll happily take the final 45 minutes as the 'standard' for the rest of our home games this season Fair enough, I just don't feel like we've played well for a while but as you say, we did well enough to scrap for points in key players' absence. The Spurs & Fulham defeats have scarred me I think, we can be very easy to get at, and we've only taken 2 points from very two winnable home games. Big ask to get anything on Monday but as you say, few winnablegames coming up. If Everton win today and on Tuesday they're within 4 points of us, closer to us than we will be to 5th.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Yeah, read something similar and it read like 'I don't dive, I just jump out of the way as I don't want to get touched.' wow... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 "Anything other than a savaging to our goal difference will be a bonus"? We've been neck and neck with them all season and we're supposed to be significantly stronger now than we were prior to January, what an absolutely ridiculous attitude. We beat a stronger Arsenal side with a weaker Newcastle one last season, we should be going there to win, a point's a decent result, a defeat is not good enough because we've shelled too many points at home in games we should be winning. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 England curse has hit Redknapp already. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 "Anything other than a savaging to our goal difference will be a bonus"? We've been neck and neck with them all season and we're supposed to be stronger now than we were prior to January, what an absolutely ridiculous attitude. We beat a stronger Arsenal side with a weaker Newcastle one last season, we should be going there to win, a point's a decent result, a defeat is not good enough because we've shelled too many points at home in games we should be winning. If only football was as simple as this. We're talking about a team that's just scored 8 goals against Spurs & Milan recently. What we did in our last 3 games against these has no bearing on Monday night. They'll be strong favourites on Monday, and we'll have to play at 100%, with them at around 70% to even stand a chance of a result. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 A draw would be a fantastic result. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beren Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 A draw would be a fantastic result. I'd be over the moon with a draw given our respective form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 anything less than a win and dreams of 4th are over imo. even 3 points and it is still a big ask. can't understand going there with the attitude that only losing by a couple of goals is a bonus. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 "Anything other than a savaging to our goal difference will be a bonus"? We've been neck and neck with them all season and we're supposed to be stronger now than we were prior to January, what an absolutely ridiculous attitude. We beat a stronger Arsenal side with a weaker Newcastle one last season, we should be going there to win, a point's a decent result, a defeat is not good enough because we've shelled too many points at home in games we should be winning. If only football was as simple as this. We're talking about a team that's just scored 8 goals against Spurs & Milan recently. What we did in our last 3 games against these has no bearing on Monday night. They'll be strong favourites on Monday, and we'll have to play at 100%, with them at around 70% to even stand a chance of a result. It has a bearing in that we need to try and recoup the points we've lost unnecessarily in two home games against poor sides. Spurs put 5 past us then couldn't beat Stevenage so I'm not interested in what Arsenal did last week or the week before. Of course they'll be strong favourites. We were strong favourites at 2-0 up against Wolves but we flushed that game down the toilet (and just how embarrassing does that look now?) and we need at least a point on Monday. Our form is dreadful and we need to arrest it, that'll have to be against Arsenal because we were unable to do it against Wolves or the mackems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 "Anything other than a savaging to our goal difference will be a bonus"? We've been neck and neck with them all season and we're supposed to be stronger now than we were prior to January, what an absolutely ridiculous attitude. We beat a stronger Arsenal side with a weaker Newcastle one last season, we should be going there to win, a point's a decent result, a defeat is not good enough because we've shelled too many points at home in games we should be winning. Disagree, I think you're massively underestimating an Arsenal side that have spent the first four months of the season overcoming the loss of their most influential player for 5 years (at least when Henry left, they had Cesc to take over the mantle) along with their second most creative player - both players the club didn't want to lose. Coupled with a shocking injury record and a Spurs-favouring media desperate for any anti-Arsenal story they can get their hands on and it's not hard to see why the confidence had been sucked out of them from July/August 2011 onwards. Thankfully they've still had RVP to keep the scoreboard ticking over while they patch up the rest of the side (when was the last time you saw Wenger buy more than one 'significant' player on deadline day?) and get everyone integrated. No surprise to see them start to kick on in the second half of the season. I'd love for us to go and do what we did to Arsenal last season and hold on for a win but we've got better footballers in the team now who fancy playing football, or at least trying to if the manager allows them. I can't see HBA lumping the ball forward to Ameobi to chase down his own flick-ons a la Carroll last year. Think there's been a massive overreaction to their post-Fabregas slump. They're better than Spurs over a season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 A draw would be a fantastic result. I'd be over the moon with a draw given our respective form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 BAIL BAIL BAIL - GOTTA SAVE MY CARER. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 "Anything other than a savaging to our goal difference will be a bonus"? We've been neck and neck with them all season and we're supposed to be stronger now than we were prior to January, what an absolutely ridiculous attitude. We beat a stronger Arsenal side with a weaker Newcastle one last season, we should be going there to win, a point's a decent result, a defeat is not good enough because we've shelled too many points at home in games we should be winning. If only football was as simple as this. We're talking about a team that's just scored 8 goals against Spurs & Milan recently. What we did in our last 3 games against these has no bearing on Monday night. They'll be strong favourites on Monday, and we'll have to play at 100%, with them at around 70% to even stand a chance of a result. It has a bearing in that we need to try and recoup the points we've lost unnecessarily in two home games against poor sides. Spurs put 5 past us then couldn't beat Stevenage so I'm not interested in what Arsenal did last week or the week before. Of course they'll be strong favourites. We were strong favourites at 2-0 up against Wolves but we flushed that game down the toilet (and just how embarrassing does that look now?) and we need at least a point on Monday. Our form is dreadful and we need to arrest it, that'll have to be against Arsenal because we were unable to do it against Wolves or the mackems. But we have 10-11 games or whatever after Arsenal to get the necessary points. Ridiculous putting us under unnecessary pressure if we lose on Monday man. I'd take 10 points from the next 6 games and be very happy indeed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 anything less than a win and dreams of 4th are over imo. even 3 points and it is still a big ask. can't understand going there with the attitude that only losing by a couple of goals is a bonus. You can keep dreaming until it's mathematically impossible so long as you never seriously gave it a fleeting fancy for this year..! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest palnese Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 StraqrfjosgnsjfkpFsi looks a bit like Tevez. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beren Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Good posts Stu, and I understand your deletion - but without sounding unduly big-headed - I think we can give anyone a game when we're on form. We just struggle to find that form for 45 minutes+ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Good posts Stu, and I understand your deletion - but without sounding unduly big-headed - I think we can give anyone a game when we're on form. We just struggle to find that form for 45 minutes+ Of course we can give any one a good game. But to say "we must get something" just because we've dropped points lately is stupid given we still have 5 points on 7th. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Good posts Stu, and I understand your deletion - but without sounding unduly big-headed - I think we can give anyone a game when we're on form. We just struggle to find that form for 45 minutes+ This and 'on our day we can beat anyone' is such a strange cliché. Its a truism, but I don't know. Never liked it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54 Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Everton deserved that overall. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gggg Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Spurs put Bale back on the left, Modric in the middle...dominate the game from then on Redknapp for England. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Good posts Stu, and I understand your deletion - but without sounding unduly big-headed - I think we can give anyone a game when we're on form. We just struggle to find that form for 45 minutes+ Of course we can give any one a good game. But to say "we must get something" just because we've dropped points lately is stupid given we still have 5 points on 7th. I'd love for us to turn up with our 'A' game on Monday night and have HBA, Cabaya, Tiote, Ba and Cisse on top of their game - those 5 along on song with an OT-esque defensive performance (not that they'd be under so much pressure with the attack on fire) is more than enough to beat anyone in the league - I just can't see it happening for the first time, away from home on a Monday night at the Emirates against a reasonably confident Arsenal side after we've just had two 'disappointing' home draws. Reluctantly, I think Pards will send them out trying to shut out RVP and "keep it tight" for the first 60minutes before looking to nick it. We have the playing potential in our first team to be much better than that, but perhaps they've not had the time to work together and develop the split-second understanding needed to do it without thinking when it counts. This is probably why Pards is concentrating on "percentages" at the moment - to the detriment of our entertainment. EDIT: which is why I'd be pleased to get out of The Emirates with a narrow defeat - especially if put in a good display and give Arsenal a toe-to-toe in the footballing stakes. It would set us up really well for the final run in against teams who are nowhere near as good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JH Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Must be just how my head works, but the more people talk about Arsenal's good form and our disappointing recent run, the more I think we can get something Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Good posts Stu, and I understand your deletion - but without sounding unduly big-headed - I think we can give anyone a game when we're on form. We just struggle to find that form for 45 minutes+ Of course we can give any one a good game. But to say "we must get something" just because we've dropped points lately is stupid given we still have 5 points on 7th. I'd love for us to turn up with our 'A' game on Monday night and have HBA, Cabaya, Tiote, Ba and Cisse on top of their game - those 5 along on song with an OT-esque defensive performance (not that they'd be under so much pressure with the attack on fire) is more than enough to beat anyone in the league - I just can't see it happening for the first time, away from home on a Monday night at the Emirates against a reasonably confident Arsenal side after we've just had two 'disappointing' home draws. Reluctantly, I think Pards will send them out trying to shut out RVP and "keep it tight" for the first 60minutes before looking to nick it. We have the playing potential in our first team to be much better than that, but perhaps they've not had the time to work together and develop the split-second understanding needed to do it without thinking when it counts. This is probably why Pards is concentrating on "percentages" at the moment - to the detriment of our entertainment. The way we've been playing isn't just to the detriment of our "entertainment". Pardew's gameplan when he tries to "keep it tight" seems to involve letting the opposition have the ball as much as possible. Logic seems to be that losing the ball when we're in attacking possession is bad because players might be out of position but losing it when the shape is ok is a good thing because... well, at least the shape is ok. Hence trying to take someone on is a black mark but Danny Simpson whacking it straight to their centre half is positively encouraged. It didn't work against Spurs or Liverpool, it didn't even work against Wolves (home or away) so I pray he doesn't try the same thing against Arsenal. If we just let them have the ball, it'll be another potential massacre. You can't just let other teams have the ball in the Premier League, it's insane, that's why we've been leaking so many goals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 It's mad how Everton always hit form at the business end of the season. Got to be Moyes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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