being out here in Spain and having to rely on TV highlights and the text commentaries on match days. I hate us losing period but it hurts even more when we are obviously capable of better and I feel sorry for you regular supporters and contributors that we are back to all the criticsms of last season that whatever TP has achieved he can not pick the right side or the right tactics Despite his references to being more expansive within his ? year plan are we destined under him to be mid table at best or scrapping each year for survival or with all respect to PC's generosity is that the fate of the majority between 6th and 18th without massive investment It may be me getting old but it is a shadow of the game of 30 years or so ago where by and large it was ( excuse the pun ) a level playing field where ability rather than massive finacial backing was the driver Has SKY led to the ruination of the game that I played and loved Apologies for the rant but I hate us losing as I did many years ago SiS PS At least I do now not need to stay up until 1am Spanish time to watch it I could not bear it
I'm not sure how much further we can go, if Pulis refuses to acknowledge that we have a problem away from home. How the hell can you play someone of Huth's class out of position? He's our best player for ****'s sake!! Also, what the hell convinces Pulis that a Deano and Rory combo would work? Neither can pass and keeping the ball away from home is even more essential than at home. Pick Palacios and Whelan please Pulis, just never Rory and Deano together, it makes no sense whatsoever!!! ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rant over. For now.
Got to say spot on sarge. We all know that Rory's throw is no longer effective so why retain it? I only heard bits on the local radio (bad reception) but it sounded like we were just lumping it up to Crouch? This is not evolution in my book. Bring on Tuesday and fingers crossed that we have learnt a lesson from this, Huth in the centre please TP!!!
A bit late with this comment guys, Mostly due to the fact i've spent the night in Newcastle, the one up North, on the razzle so... Sgt, my tin hat is at the ready but... did you say, Huth is our best player? Today, he was nowhere near his best. Partly because it looked like we were trying to play 3 centre halfs. Wilson is a TOTAL waste at fullback and got caught out numerous times. TONY, Please have a word with Huth, he was again guilty of climbing all over Bendtner and imho, it should have been a stone wall penalty! Not given. Both HE and WE got lucky because i think he also stamped on their keeper? Delap was as ineffective as usual and i've spoken to a couple of mates who are back home in Stoke they listened to the commentary. They said, some were having a go a Crouch??? For Christ's sake, the guy had ONE chance and missed. BLAME our useless excuse of a midfield for NOT suppying ANYTHING OF NOTE, not Crouch. And, IF Pennant wasn't fit WHY was he on the bench? Why does Rory get games when, Palacios did MORE when he came on than Delap and Whitehead combined. Agree that 2nd half was better, but not much better. IF T.P. persists in playing the wrong player's in midfield it's same old, same old. We give the ball away far too easily and hence, our defence will not keep defending as we did last week. Simple to understand TONY. Our LUCK ran out today, nothing has changed in that area of the pitch. I sincerely HOPE/pray and cross everything that next weekend, Utd have an off day, and we only concede a max of three goals. Right now on today's performance I'm bloody SURE will get well and truly beaten.. And YES Oatcakes, it DOES hurt like hell or was it Stokie in Spain who said that? Either way, I am well and truly GUTTED tonight. NOT because we lost, It's HOW we lost. Rant over.
Potts - Huth IS our best player when he's played in his correct position. He's useless at right back but is one of the best in the league at centre half, pity our manager is unable to see this right now!!!
It was interesting on the highlights that on one occasion when Palacios had the ball, he had no options and his body language/actions were telling his team mates this. Eventually Wilson moved for him, but it shows how poor we are as an attacking outfit when our central midfielder has no one to pass to.
I think what I find the most frustrating is how I was belittled by some when I was critical of the initial Woody & Upson signings! It was obvious that they were no leaving big clubs with numerous international caps to come and sit on our bench and that could only mean that TcP was abouit to revert back to his square pegs and round holes! I was vocal, that whilst I acknowledged their talent we need only 1 of them as a rotation cover as Higgy can also play CB when fit! That left us with the desperat need for 2 full backs (as it appearas he has no faith in Wilko/Shotton to play tghem their week in week out and Higgy is a very static left back! It makes me sick that again TP has spent money and increased the wage bill without effectively improving this area which in turn prevents us from being able to move the ball through the pitch withour hoofing it + you havent got your best defenders in their natural and most effective position! Given that we did need an improved holding player who was both combative and talented Palcious was a good buy, but what is the point if you have no central midfielder that is capable of playing higher than sunday morining standard? Delap, Whitehead, Whelan, Diao are defensive, slow and never going to be able release pressure by passing out of trouble! I note that we have also stopped playing with 2 wingers to add insult to injury and whats more concerning is that they are both out of form! So, as I stated on several other threads, I thought we made several good buys but never even looked at constructively negating our glaring weaknesses - but that is TcP all over - proving that he is right and everybody else doesnt have a clue, especially the fans!!!!! What we now have is a fantastic little sports car, with great brakes and solid chassis that could do with welding in a few places! The gearbox is missing a couple of ratios and the engine is running on 3 cylinders. TP will respray the car, refit the interior, add new tyres and bigger brakes topped with a fanstastic security system???????????????????????????? However, 1 result isnt refelctive of a season and we need to be supportive and positive - the issue is - we all know taht we could quite easily of shipped 3 goals against Liverpool, 3 at Kiev and how we won the West Brom game I still cant fathom!!!!!!! United next, hope we play tight and only conceed a couple!!!
I don't think we've stopped playing with two wingers, it's just that yesterday it was felt prudent not to start with Pennant as he had a niggle. What TP needs to do is decide which is his priority - the Premier League or the Europa League. It's a no-brainer really, so he needs to keep his best starting 11 fit for the PL and play the others in Europe. Hopefully when Higgy comes back in a few weeks, he'll be able to slot in at left back which will release Wilson for the midfield. I know it's still a square peg in a round hole as far as Higgy is concerned, but he plays well in that position and did so when we were in a run of good form towards the end of last season.
Yest was ****in painful but whats done is done, thankfully it didnt happen at the brit is all i can say. Listenin to p and g after the match the general concensus is that this is just a blip. Pulis did got the squad wrong but I thought his post match words were spot on and im not going to let the ****e result effect my belief in him. It was a weekend of goals, even liverpool got trounced. Time to bounce back. Heres to keeping the faith and not reading any articles on the match for the next few days.
Forgive my intrusion but I have to say it cheered me up when I heard your team yesterday, Huth and Shawcross would scare me more than Woodgate. And I am biased because I love Kenny but he looked a lot more of a threat to me. We got three lucky goals and one cracker but I thought we played well and we know all about managers and team selection. We have been calling for Vaughan to be given a chance.
Sgt Huth and Ryan is our best WHEN played at C half fair enough, yesterday he wasn't... Syd, when I saw the team sheet, no width? No natural full backs? We got what we desereved, a hammering. It is ONLY one result but we were so lucky v Liverpool they didn't do what Sunderland did. Hit the target and have a slice of luck. IF we persist in hoofing it out of defence, no wonder the pressure eventually told. I think, if we could have held out for half an hour, your fans may have got nervey. As it was, it was all over after half an hour.
