I fully expect another defeat on Friday. We've got absolutely nothing upfront and wolves are a very good defensive side.. The Norwich and Burnley games are the only games I think they can get results in. I find my self must hoping Everton win now... Burnley have a canny run in and so do Watford in comparison to us.
Oh great......As if I hadn't been dragged through the "**** things to do in the North East" enough this weekend, I'm missing the ****ing game coz its the Mrs 40th so rather than taking my seat in the Leazes with a belly full of beer from an all day session, I will be watching The Bastard Masked Singer on Tour.
Wanna bet. Only way I will enjoy that more would be if that arsehole Michael Owen had the balls to show up at The Arena to perform his act.
No, Wolves, Leicester and Palace coming up, I'm expecting 4 points at least and anything more than that the season is over, simple really.
Howe had things moving quite well, til we got buttfucked by VAR and Dan Burn (who after looking invincible looks below average since that Man City mistake - his Everton mistake was even worse). I don’t think we will be as bad against Wolves, who are ok but nowt special and are missing big players. This is a very big test for Eddie Howe. Beat Wolves and it’s all but done. Let’s not forget that a Burnley win puts Everton in considerably more **** than we’re in.
Switched off at 3-1 and went to bed. Thought we were well in it in the first half despite them having most of the possession. That block on Willock's shot after beating two players inside the box saved a certain goal. We seem to have a habit of conceding quickly after we score. If we could have held out to half time that would have been a very different game. The start of the 2nd half though was awful. That ball from Schar the led to the 2nd goal was awful. I have no idea what he was attempting but it put us on the back foot and gave Spurs the momentum to run riot. We seemed to be trying to push up more at the back and Spurs are set up to take advantage of that. Just crap tactics and we got everything we deserved. We need to forget about this one quickly as the next 4 games are the ones we need to pick up points from to ensure we don't get dragged into the relegation fight proper again.
This is very simplistic (but then you are a teacher!). Our defence has been the cause of our upturn in form before this latest blip and Burn and Targett were outstanding in that. We were playing a back 4 in all those games and Schar worked well in it. However they came up against a front line today that are very mobile, with two strikers where one is not afraid to come short while the other runs off. With Kulusevski playing just behind them it leads to a very potent attack and we just couldn't cope with it once they got going. Against a team playing like that, and playing a back 4, that you really need a holding midfielder who can pick up the strikers when they drop deep, so that the defenders aren't pulled out of position, as we have very little pace at centre back. We didn't really have that. Unfortunately it wasn't obvious until half time as Spurs never really got going properly until then. Our midfield is still our weakest area. I don't rate Fraser at all - he is meant to be an attacking midfielder but doesn't seem to have the pace or skill to take players on and always turns back to the fullback. Shelvey really isn't up to a game like that. In hindsight I would have played Guimaraes as the holding midfielder, with the responsibility to pick up the strikers dropping off and leaving the central defenders to hold their positions. I thought Manquillo had a poor game as well yesterday. He lost his man for the 2nd goal and couldn't cope with Doherty coming forward so much. Wood was non-existent up front. If he isn't winning balls in the air and holding balls up then it makes it very difficult for our midfield to feed off him. Starting to think that he was much better suited to Burnley's way of playing than how Howe is trying to get us to play, but don't think we have other options at the moment. Gayle for me is not an option. A really bad day at the office but hopefully we can get back on track in the next 4 games.
Not a simplistic view at all. It’s a conclusion. I’ve mentioned numerous times, for example, about Schar not being good enough to play in a back 4 and our fans lap him up because he acts like Philippe Albert when there is no Darren Peacock to clear up when the mistakes happen. Burn - has played brilliantly at times but again it’s clear over the last 3/4 games that he is a mid table player only. Would we have him if we had signed Carlos or Botman or the German lad whose name I can’t spell Schlotte… or the French lad whose name I can spell Baloi….. no. We’ve known for ages that centre midfield is the main problem. Part of it has been resolved by signing Bruno but we won’t see that impact until next season.
He’s a very limited defender and our fans suck him off as he goes on a wander and strikes the ball. Like I’ve said in the past that this is good when in a back 5 or if you have serious quality around you
He's still our best cb imo...feddy is probably but he's injured. On another note shelvey was captain yesterday and didn't makeva single tackle again
