IMO Cooper has played well up until the Rotherham game where he made one bad mistake which fortunately didn't cost us a goal. Last night my nerves were at me because his over all game last night wasn't the best. He gave frees away in dangerous positions, knowing that Pulis would either get the throw in lad to lob one into the box where his freaky lanky twats would be waiting or from their free kicks. Now I believe in Bielsa, but when we do lose a League match I want to see how we/he deals with it.
Last night Coops did well to restrain himself. They obviously had clear instructions to GET as many free kicks as possible. They were throwing themselves to the ground at every opportunity, and had a most receptive referee. Arseholebongobongo was the worst of the lot, & dirty with it. The ref fell for far too much of their cheating. On one particular occasion Arseholebongobongo was all over Cooper, kicking & grabbing him, right in front of the linesman, making no effort to get the ball, instead just keeping Coops away from it. Somehow the blatant fouls (note the plural) never got noticed, but when Cooper threw him to the side, as part of the same 'struggle', as he was being held back from going for the ball, the whistle went immediately. That was their plan all along. Defend in depth, & play for fouls or long throws. None of this scoring a breakaway goal malarkey. If not for Cooper & Berra being right on top of it & walking on eggshells, they may well have had a lot more fouls. There was off-ball stuff going on too, all designed to rile them up, given their 'red' past. Pontus would have fared little better. Perhaps worse, as he has a temper too (remember the end of the Germany match?). But the difference is that we played 2 complete Bielsa players, in that they can defend AND carry/distribute to start attacks. With Pontus, you only get the defender, so even if he defends 100%, Coops & Berra only have to produce 51% in either discipline to keep him out of the team (well, you know what I mean). Yes, he's a better defender, but more is required in this system, and he just hasn't got it. I can't believe that people don't see this. Note that we won't play a taller team than Boro, so last night we put one major worry to bed. (Btw, this rant is in no way aimed at you, Shaks, just used your post to reply to).
Izzy has been in touch with Leeds and Orta for a few weeks, so no doubt knew he was coming so whats to stop him doing his homework. He has alsobeen back in full training for 3 weeks and will be fully fit in 2 weeks. Bielsa says he expects him to be available before the end of the month, which gives him longer than Bamford to get Bielsaball. Seems the club and Chelsea have had this move on the cards for a while and working together to ensure the knee is ok and no reaction to training. Seems like it was Plan A
Thank **** for that. I wasn't having a go at Cooper, I was just saying that IMO it wasn't his best game. The ref was weak. He didn't book one of their players who took out Harrison, but a few minutes later booked Saiz for the most innocuous of fouls. Also where has the booking for pulling shirts/shorts gone.
Dont we all and yes that includes me.had a look at boros bench before kick off last night and some talent was on it.pulis never used it though seems he is very one minded.
To think I would have been happy with him as our manager! Bielsa has taken me back to my roots. He's made me realise that I enjoy watching football more than I enjoy getting results. Hope fully we'll get both, of course. But with Pullis, the best we could have hoped for is results (and a good 90 minute kip each week! ).
I would have taken him too.also i was one wanting to sign flint last season.now i would not have him on a free.we have moved on and i want to see more.
Come on guys lets all be smug and laugh at the other teams who have knocked us all these years.go on laugh it feels good does it not.feck em all we are still top no matter what happens today.
Afternoon gentlemen, from Hangover Town - I agree with Jock about Cooper's capability to play out from the back being better than Jansson's at present, hence his being preferred to start. Last night though, when he got within 10 yards of half way he was launching the long diagonals toward Harrison time after time instead of playing the ball short to feet. Maybe it was a plan to keep them guessing and he overdid it, but it didn't work much of the time and we conceded possession. Where I don't necessarily agree with Jock is that Jansson can't learn and improve. Everyone else has. His public humility this week may just be making the right noises, but it's not what we'd have expected from him last year. Time will tell of course, but if his ball carrying and link-up play gets better I believe he'll become first choice CB. One other thing - we lost a lot of diagonals from right back through Saiz' area of the pitch, Clayton was reading them and picking them off. I though at the time someone had been doing their homework, and we couldn't afford to be predictable or complacent when playing out.
Brentford 1.1........must be some hangover Davy. Just opened my first ale of the day. Fresh as a daisy..
I think the diagonals were deliberate. Standard practice playing against a back 3 with the WB advanced. Means your man can run on to the ball into space before the WB recovers. Now just to be clear, I didn't say that Pontus can't learn & improve. He's mostly doing the theory at the moment & failing the practical in the limited game time he's getting. He will improve, but will he improve faster than the present incumbents? I have no idea. I hope he does enough, personally, as there's absolutely no doubt that he's an asset to us. And the club must think so too if they turned down a £10m bid! No surprise that the threaded passes through midfield weren't working too well. Boro played an odd 3-6-1, effectively. Ok, 3-4-2-1 to be precise. Either way, they swamped midfield. And yet we were not without success, which is impressive given the tactics, the team we were playing, and the aggression the ref allowed them to unleash on us.
