what about morrison and holt? 13 goals between them now. agreed there is less quality on the bench. i hope vaughan comes back soon as we haven't really seen the best of him
Without the defence we could have conceded so many more goals. Yes there have been a few mistakes and conceded some goals, no different to any other defence, but apart from that they have been amazing. We could have conceded 5 against Arsenal for example and could have come away with it with a point had R Martin not made his mistakes. Take away the mistakes and it would look much better, with a goal difference of about 4. We are also in top 6 for goals scored which helps a lot.
I get the feeling that PL names a side and if it is doing OK or we win he keeps it until we lose. Hence all the changes after Man City. Not too worried about the goalscoring dept. We scored again so thats good. Flukey equaliser. Game summed for me: they brought on a guy from Real Madrid, we brought one on from Milton Keynes. Have to keep it in perspective. But against that, we can't afford to play too much hoof ball as we did today against better sides than a fairly sterile Everton.
I'm really not too bothered about it. I think the press are happy to jump on it as a reason why we are out of our depth at this level. Fact is that so far it is not really hurting us. Despite defensive frailties we are comfortably holding our own in this league. Another fact is that the injuries to Ayala, Whitbread, Ward and De Laet have been a substantial contributing factor to this frailty. None of those four have spent any time playing regularly at this level and as they are introduced are going to need time to get used to the pace. IMO, the CB's we have all have qualities (Not seen enough of Ayala yet, but the Liverpool fans I have heard from have been very complimentry). Be thankfull that we do have numbers in that position. We all saw what happened to newcastle last week!!!
Sorry max, wasnt against them, just didnt mention them cos it wasnt directed them, more the back up that they have... I know we have vaughan who know will be a qaulity player for us but it is a problem having to rely on a crocked striker for back up. I will be suprised if lambert doesnt sign another striker and get rid of one maybe 2.
you're probably right ichb about the striker. 20 points - the half way target to safety - after only 16 games. Let's drink to that
reading wolves fans on 12 yards and they are slightly concerned about tuesday and they have huge worries about there defence. holty and moro could have a field day by what theyre saying. Do you think today was proberbly the most defensive we have been this season??
I'm not going to big anything up here, but I shall call my first boy Russell and my second boy Martin. That's all.
I had a sneaky feeling Lambo might stick to the diamond today. You could argue that up until a deflected goal it was a worthy tactic. However, at this level you can see how teams exploit its weaknesses. Our midfield was pretty anonymous today - Everton's overran us, picked up the loose balls well and constantly fed the ball into their attacker's feet. Ours seemed to struggle to put together a string of passes, preferring to pump it long into the channels at every opportunity. Perhaps this is the only temptation and sometimes downside when both Holt and Morison play together. Both strikers were feeding off scraps and did well to fashion any meaningful sighters on goal. I am thoroughly pleased with a point but we made Everton look really good today. This was a team under pressure, a team who were in the middle of a bad run, a team who had lost four times at home already this season and one which hadn't scored or looked like scoring in recent matches. I feel a change around coming next match!
Yep agreed there Chris For wolves Pilkington who was one of our best players in the first quarter of the season hasn't played any part for the last two games which is odd. Hopefully lambert will add some steel to the midfield so we can retain some possession out of defence, as it sounds like we were overrun in that department today
To be fair the previous couple of games Pilks played to being dropped he wasn't at his best. Im sure Lambo dropped him to provoke a reaction, make a point that nobody has a right to start (including our captain) and to keep the other squad players chomping at the bit as they want to prove themselves as much as anybody else. Perhaps he will get his chance in the next few games and we will see him tormenting defences again like he was for a period earlier on in the season.
Whatever we think of systems employed, 9 times out of 10 Lambo and Culverhouse get it right. At this level tactics are pivotal to the outcomes of most games. In the Championship, one model seemed to fit all occassions and teams didn't know how to work us out. In the PL you need to be cuter and braver to get results. Lambo will look at what Stoke did to Wolves today and think how we can outperform them too. By all accounts of how Stoke battered them, it could be Holt and Morison up front again!
I've heard some people say that when we play one up front few chances happen as they are isolated. But I disagree, we have more players in midfield to provide chances. It's not like we are lacking goals and we have played one up front for most of the season anyway.
i thought Moyes did a Lambert on us in the first half...we were completely under the kosh and were it not for them not having a decent Centre Forward then we would have been tonked. Cahill was an embarrassment and falling over like a muppet. Rusty was incredible - how many times has he saved us this season? His positional sense going back is quite incredible (just don't let him dribble on the half way line please Lambo!). Ruddy showed the Toffies what they could of had, and but for that fluke goal of theirs, had a blinder. Holt's goal was just beautiful. The strength of Andre the giant with the delicate touch of bambi. The "elbow" was no more than a "get the feck off me face please" and the ref I thought was good enough not to flutter his cards on that. OTBC - I'll settle for that away, and 9th now with 20 points sure as hell is not a bad return. Bring on Tuesday.
I didn't mean it in that sense Wonky. I meant that we launch it long too often at times when they are paired together and expect them to work miracles controlling punt after punt upfield linking up with Wes or the rest of the midfield or somehow fashioning a chance for themselves!
So pleased you posted a B&W picture - emphasizes what we have been saying about your lot - ancient history, just follows on from the Romans
Nothing to do with Everton v NCFC but just seen the league goals from Daryl Russel, (decent), Anthony Macnamee (brilliant) and Michael Spillane (awesome free kick!) Well done to all three and good luck at their respective clubs
