Sat higher up today in the 1892 club. .Could see our set up really well we held the lines brilliantly .. They would never of scored if not for the pen Yes it's negative and boring but effective .. . Ps hoss took his goal really well
Yes I would rather we complete double his passes and lose 4-0. We stayed in with a shout until an unfair penalty. Has everybody forgot the state of our team when we went 1 down under Pardew as well? We score straight after, with apparently more negative tactics, against Spurs and Chelski under Benitez. For comparison, we didn't manage to overturn such a deficit in over two years under Pardiola, against anyone.
Spot on. We are not in the position to be anything but negative, and hopefully effective, against such a team. People are quick to forget that we have always approached this way with chelsea and have been helped by the finishing of Cisse, speed of Sissoko and the fact everyone was on their jollies last season respectively.
I’m not sure the point was that things were better under Pardew! The thing that niggles is when we had a season under Rafa with the best team in the division we laboured to the title. Effective but often laborious. Though under funded, we still labour to results. Means to an end and all that. I understand fully some of the restrictions and you can’t go toe to toe vs Chelsea, Man City, etc., but then it’s a case of what is the point of anything? To survive year on year? 19% possession and 130 passes. Less than 2 every minute. At home. Chelsea weren’t even that good. We are the epitome of “don’t lose at all costs” football. I don’t even know why Rafa bothers trying to eke our scarcely deserved points.
Yes. Rafa has stated that this is the goal of the club and he isn't happy about it. And he will probably leave because of it. Where it falls apart is when a cheaper manager comes in and can't do the job that Rafa does with the same limited players and limited budget.
There’s no solution it would seem. I read that Chelsea have exceeded our transfer record 34 times... Three entire teams worth of players. The gap is astonishing. Just 15 years ago, we were arguably bigger than Chelsea.
The fact that our transfer record was set in 2005 speaks volumes for the ambition of this owner. 2 years before he bought the club ffs. And we have been relegated twice in 11 years under him - we had only been relegated 4 times in 115 years previously. It won't improve until he's gone.
Sadly it is to survive and, again, this is no fault of Rafa's. How can you compete when your owner spends less than the rest of the league. You have to survive. Honestly at this point Rafa should, according to you, go down swashbuckling like Blackpool into nothingness.. Except we never had that kind of team and never will. Rafa is trying to get us survival on a laughable budget and these performances arewhat comes with it. If you think any manager could do better I'd prefer you to name him. I used Pardew as a sad point of reference but also a reminder of the fact he is the most stable manager we've had under Ashley. Be careful what you wish for like.
@Geordieginola - the only way you can get out of this one is by declaring: 1) You will no longer have anything to do with football but will continue to post on this forum on non-football related topics as you enjoy the company or 2) Our performances to date have little to do with football - as long as they don't improve I will continue to watch Otherwise as a Mod I will have to assign this as a genuine flounce-off of Mackem-like proportions and confirm that I will only be available to meet in McD's at the end of September.
football is a drug that I hate and love at the same time. I’ve had good memories of it but now it’s just all ****ed up. I need rehab.
If we are so breath-takingly **** that the only way we can play football is by not playing football, then what is the point in the fans turning up? Are you really supporting the team? No, you are basically giving confirmation to everyone involved that it's acceptable. If this is the only tactic we can play, then surely we would be better getting relegated and playing teams more at our level? We clearly will never win a cup playing like this. It comes down to the annual debate. Premier League Football, or good football?
Commentators and pundits are really pissing me off about all this possession **** like. We simply don’t have the squad nor the players to take teams on like that, I’d love it if we did but that’s not rafas way. They had 81% of the possession yesterday and did **** all with it to be honest, they obviously don’t mention stuff like that, despite their average player value being £35m compared to ours which was about £4m or £5m. They also managed 62% of the possession give or take in their first two games against Huddersfield and arsenal so I don’t think we did too bad all things considered. Was never a pen in my opinion but yedlins elbow was fortunate to go unpunished..probably the ref evening things up you could say. Massive improvement from the Cardiff ****show!
It absolutely does to be fair because the money we spend means, in the words of MA, we will never be able to compete. Its another careful what you wish for as well though. Would Mike bankroll a manager in the champ to that effect again or would he go all Hughton on him? We could just as easily be languishing in the champ saying the football's naff in the end. I don't justify it because I am angry at chronic underinvestment by above. Fans are protesting outside sportsdirect, spamming them on social media and setting up website to take custom from MA, but they then go and support their team because what else is there to do? A midfield of Ki and Diame can't play posession football against Chelsea, nor can they realistically play attacking. To be fair when you look at cup winners, aside from a few lucky ones, they have spent comparitively well within that season. We haven't.
Are you a fish ? We won't play this way all season just like last when i believe we finished 10th We were well understrength against one of the richest clubs in the world ! We should have got the point bar a poor decision
