Wullie Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Results generally aren't all that matter but then I never expected to be looking at a relegation fight. I find that very surprising from you anyway Ian given the way you dismissed awful performances last season with a simple retort that we were 5th and that was all that mattered. This has been coming but many people preferred to put their head in the sand. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Results generally aren't all that matter but then I never expected to be looking at a relegation fight. I find that very surprising from you anyway Ian given the way you dismissed awful performances last season with a simple retort that we were 5th and that was all that mattered. This has been coming but many people preferred to put their head in the sand. Fair enough, I genuinely don't remember excusing bad performances last season. You say this has been coming, but I don't think anyone predicted it at the start of the season. We didn't expect to be 5th, but we didn't expect to be 15th either. All I'm trying to say is that we've been better in the last few league games, and we were unlucky not to get anything last night. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaylorJ_01 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Dave pls what's my prize? http://i.imgur.com/X4vw5.gif Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Geordie Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Our performance was 'patchy' to say the least, last night. Another slow start that got punished and whilst the tempo did pick up - more often than not, the passing and first touch were not good enough. Much work ahead, and save QPR the weekend after next, it's hard to see where the next point could come from before January. Will say it again - paying the price for Ashley's gamble not to invest in the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 You might not have expected to be 5th Ian, personally I considered it the absolute bare minimum requirement. Investment would have helped but then plenty people were of the opinion that it was better to wait until January and try and get a bargain! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 That's it. They were wide open down that side during nearly every attack. An actual football player would have seen that and looked to get in behind them. It was just the same ball in, over and over. They were quite happy to give him all the time in the world, presumably to give Hangeland a bit of practice after coming back from injury. To be fair to Simpson, even the good ones he put in led to nothing due to our abysmal movement. It's a bit more than that imo. We never hit a cross at full sprint. We never cross the ball, either in the air or along the deck (between the goalie and the penalty spot) with our players moving forward at pace. If we did we'd have the oppo defenders facing their goal, trying to track our runs and we'd be creating some indecsion in their backline. That's exactly the situation in which players like Cisse will thrive. Instead we stop or slow down, our forwards have to check and their defenders get to turn and face us and then just pick our crosses off. Spot on. Ironically it was Cisse who put in our most dangerous cross when he played it early to Ba after Schwarzer had fluffed his clearance. That's the difference between a real footballer and Danny Simpson. Schwarzer made the catch at the time, but it was crossed early, at pace, and into a dangerous area. 5 or 6 of these a game, and our strikers should fill their boots. Both posts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 You might not have expected to be 5th Ian, personally I considered it the absolute bare minimum requirement. Investment would have helped but then plenty people were of the opinion that it was better to wait until January and try and get a bargain! I think 5th being the minimum requirement again this season is absolutely crazy. But I guess we've already done this debate to death. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Arsenal and Spurs are significantly weaker and that's let in the likes of Everton and West Brom, Liverpool are awful too. 5th was absolutely the minimum we should have been aiming for. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 With the current squad or as a club again? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ujpest doza Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Couldn't understand the substitution of HBA for Shola. I understand that Pardew had told HBA he would only play for an hour to protect his injury but why replace him with Shola and not Marveaux? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Pardew said the plan before the game was to give Ben Arfa 65mins, obviously they stuck to it irrespective of the context. As you say, the replacement was the bigger issue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsunami Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Seems we all can agree that both our tempo and movement are a million miles from where they should be. The coaching staff can no doubt also see this. I'd love to know what's going on in training. We have a few players who aren't good enough and we have others who have stopped doing what they did best. Tiote should never have the ball at his feet for longer than 2 or 3 seconds, he's getting closed down very quickly now. Players need to make themselves available as soon as he gains possession. This immediately stops any speed in our play, the opposition get organised and we don't have the midfield to then create gaps or run in behind to disrupt the opposition shape (yes we have HBA - but we can't expect him to do it all) Jonas isn't contributing at all. We have others who simply aren't good enough and I'll not criticise them for that. I actually think if we got Tiote to do what he should be doing that it would solve a lot of the other issues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I thought this was quite an even game. Don't think either team were particularly lucky/unlucky - both hit the woodwork, both had efforts cleared off the line, both had a goal take a deflection. Ultimately it was - at least it looked like - some shite marking for the winner which gave them the points. I thought Anita looked a really tidy player. I think what you missed was someone centrally from midfield linking the play with the front men. Ben Arfa was all over the place trying to do something but it felt very forced (as in there was no-one else doing it). Dare I say if a fully-fit and firing Cabaye was playing instead of Jonas there would have been a different outcome? Don't think it looked like "relegation stuff" at all but maybe that's just my own opinion. Still absolutely convinced you'll finish comfortable top half. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themanupstairs Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I thought this was quite an even game. Don't think either team were particularly lucky/unlucky - both hit the woodwork, both had efforts cleared off the line, both had a goal take a deflection. Ultimately it was - at least it looked like - some s**** marking for the winner which gave them the points. I thought Anita looked a really tidy player. I think what you missed was someone centrally from midfield linking the play with the front men. Ben Arfa was all over the place trying to do something but it felt very forced (as in there was no-one else doing it). Dare I say if a fully-fit and firing Cabaye was playing instead of Jonas there would have been a different outcome? Don't think it looked like "relegation stuff" at all but maybe that's just my own opinion. Still absolutely convinced you'll finish comfortable top half. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Yes? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themanupstairs Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Swear I've seen a hundred replays of HBA's goal, and none of the angles show a deflection. I thought it was when it first went in, but having seen the replays changed my mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshithispantz Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I like Neils calmness with the "Yes?". Just casually waiting to strike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Swear I've seen a hundred replays of HBA's goal, and none of the angles show a deflection. I thought it was when it first went in, but having seen the replays changed my mind. I don't think there is a deflection, I didn't think so at the time either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanSkÃrare Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Swear I've seen a hundred replays of HBA's goal, and none of the angles show a deflection. I thought it was when it first went in, but having seen the replays changed my mind. It might have taken a slight deflection off God. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themanupstairs Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Right. So Neil just trying to fuck with my mind then? Bastard. And to think I was cheering for the smackems to beat the spuds Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpolic Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Even if it took a deflection it must have been very slight, most likely would have flew in anyway. Whereas their goal was lucky as fuck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Erm, pretty sure it did. If it doesn't, it's out-of-this-world shit goalkeeping. The same thing which made Adam Johnson's goal at the weekend apparently not very good. I was laughing at the goal, it was like Ben Arfa thought "I am working with idiots, have this." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 It's pretty clear on TV the deflection put's the spin on the ball that makes it dip into the goal, would have just went over otherwise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
afar Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I didn't actually think we played too badly last night, bar the first 20 mins or so I think we were the team asking most of the questions. Having 20 or so shots is not a bad performance. I think we deserved something out of it, but again shot ourselves in the foot by conceding sloppy goals with stupid fouls, poor tackling and poor marking. Swap the front pairings Ba/Cisse and Berbatov/Roudlega last night and we would have won at a canter I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEMTEX Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 It deflected off Riise's(?) leg. Saw about twelve replays of the moment it contacted the leg. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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