In the end it was a win, and that's what was needed - and more importantly unexpected points were dropped by teams who were ahead of us allowing us to reclaim a place in the top 4 - City next and someone has to end their run so why not us, would be a huge boost if we do win and even a draw might just set up us for a good Christmas and New Year. COYS
As you say a win is a win doesn't matter how you get it.we have played a lot better and lost so 3 points on the board and now move on to citeh .we can't play well all the time and I would certainly take a point now against citeh or even 3.let's hope dembele is fit to play 90 minutes and the rest of the lads up their game. COYS.
Belief is everything. If we believe that we can beat Citeh we will. High line and attack, attack, attack and we could destroy them like we did the mousers. COYS!!!
True, except that's not how we beat Pool. We defended deep and hit them on the counter for the first 2 goals. I'd set us up similarly against City but I just don't know if we are strong enough at the back to cope.
I don't really want to defend Danny Rose, but I think that I have to, unfortunately. He still looks well off the pace and miles from match-fit, of course. He was utterly isolated though, especially in the second half. Knockaert was constantly looking to get in behind him. First half wasn't too bad, but it was all far too slow and pedestrian. Thought we should've had a penalty early on, but it was quite far away, so I could be wrong. Not going to happen, is it? Got a lucky break for the goal, but the foul that caused it seemed to make it justified, somehow. Brighton came out with more attacking intent in the second half and their subs reflected that. They still didn't cause many problems and barely got on the ball, but our wonky side never really looked comfortable, either. Son swapped sides, so we had him, Sissoko and Aurier all down one wing and Rose on his own down the other. Winks had a mare, but I think a lot of it was down to a lack of options for passes and players overloading certain areas of the pitch. Lamela, Eriksen, Son and Kane all seemed to be fighting for the same spaces at times. Having N'Koudou on the bench would've given us an option to stretch the play down our left, which we badly needed. Brighton's goalkicks even seemed to focus on it, for some reason. Everyone packed down one flank and fighting for a flick-on. Quite odd.
I've just realised what @littleDinosaurLuke was talking about: please log in to view this image Match thread's going up at 3am now!
Who will be the Christmas "Paul Stewart" No. 1 ?? As long as it ain't some X Factor tard, who cares ??
Not the best of games it has to be said but getting the win papers over that. As flukey as the goal was, that would've done Aurier the world of good for his confidence, I feel as though he's slowly adjusting to the pace of the Prem, still a way off from the level we know/ believe he can be at but nonetheless he's going in the right direction. Great seeing Lamela start. Eriksen was very anonymous throughout, I also thought Kane had a very poor game. My mate Sonny was typically full of energy but goal aside he didn't do much. Rose was poor again. Miles off of Davies' current level. Winks... Ah man you hate saying it because he's still very young in the game but he was dreadful. Yet again his lack of ambition is so annoying at times, the kid has an excellent range of passing yet opts more often than not to play it sidewards or backwards. The crowd groaned a bit too much my for liking at times though, I can understand the odd sigh when a player doesn't show the right intent but there were a few overreactions which wasn't necessary. That said, if he wants to be seriously considered as a/ the long term heir in Dembele's role, he's going to seriously need to start looking forward a lot more because the sidewards/ backwards passing won't cut it for much longer. Stick him in a room for two weeks and have him watch 100s of hours of footage of what Modric done when here, that might do the trick. Anyway, 3 points against an incredibly stubborn Brighton. I'll take that. We also managed to avoid any suspensions/ injuries for City and a few players got a rest (some longer than others of course). Tripps, Davies, Dembele and Alli should all be pretty fresh for the weekend.
Yes.3 points and a win,definately needed. Is it me?Do these teams turn up at Wembley expecting to lose heavily and decide to stand in their trenches whatever happens? These teams seem to think Man C and U and others at the top are easier meat and try to beat 'em.....and don't!!!!
There's no doubt that he had a poor game, but I feel that his options were limited and he kept trying to force the issue. The lack of movement and repeated passes back from players that had just received the ball was extremely annoying. I really didn't like the reaction from some of the fans, either. He's still inexperienced and learning. Bound to have the odd off game. Whatever happened to One Of Our Own, FFS? I also wonder if he's struggling with playing quite often, as he's pretty new to it. The same appears to have happened recently with Carter-Vickers and Onomah out on loan. It's quite a serious step up from the sporadic schedule that the youth players face, I think.
