In Feb we play Utd, Spurs, Everton and Arsenal. That could define our season. Once those fixtures are out of the way then we have a very favourable list of games untill the end of the season. That is our window for a good run of results which we are yet to have.
that is ture... but think of it like this. put a cup final in our pocket and an fa cup 5th round berth and add to that 3 points off bolton ANd the knowledge utd could end up trophiless and suddnely there will be less pressure on us against spurs... add in suarez return to boost the crowd and TAH DAHHH!!!! conversely put the negative on everythign and the spurs game could be massive pressure. i'd prefer to hope for the best i nthe next week and a bit that we can go do all three and enter feburary proper with confidence. I'm sure the thought of battleing for a place in the side with a cup final and europe to play for plus the security of knowing that we don't care wehre we finish can spur the guys onto scoring more goals i nthe league and having a go at 4th....
i think the biggest risk is this. All season we have been playing good football, but not getting the rewards. Hopefully this has not affected team morale and confidence as if we stop playing the good football weve been playing we truly are up the creek. Personally i think the lack of pace we have makes us predictable and we are getting easier to defend against.....We need some pace in there aside from bellamy
Firstly, its not about the short ball or the long ball, its about the right ball. More often than not Carroll hasn't been in the right area to take advantage of his strength and power in the air. He's gone out wide to make himself a more inviting target for a pass on the deck - all very well, but it doesn't play to his strength. When he does get balls angled in from wide positions, he invariably wins them and often (but not always) gets it on target. He's been denied by three or four very good snap saves from his head, as well as bar and upright. He's not far off in most cases. But often, he only has a couple of chances like those each game. Its not enough to give him a couple of chances in each game, he needs 3, 4 5 chances - he needs pitch time for the team to generate those chances, and he needs to meet a keeper having a bad day (for once this season, please!!!) in order to get him the boost that scoring will give him and the team. Once they start going in, the players will 'trust' him to score, and the chances and goals should then come. Otherwise you see him in the wide position (as against Citeh, ironically one of his better games overall) receiving the ball and turning to run at the full back. This is not a job he's designed for - he can't (generally) turn the defender unless they get too close, as he hasn't got the pace or close control. He's wasted there, that's a job for Suarez or Bellamy. He should concentrate on bullying the CB's and forcing them to concentrate on him. He'll win a lot in the air, and if its quality in, he's going to put them on target... Downing needs to deliver those balls, not just Gerrard. MITO - I realise you're being positive, but I'm used to your cup being half empty and mine being half full Its a nice change tho'
Lets concentrate on 6 points from 6 in our next two games - away to Wolves and Bolton. Think they could be tailor made for Carroll to get his head in the right place and claim a couple of goals. Bolton are all over the place at home - just one win, and Wolves have only three wins from 10 at home, so they aren't exactly roaring with confidence, having been put out of the FA Cup by the Brummies - they failed to score against the Championship side in either encounter...
Fair point - don't look too far ahead... Bolton. By the time we kick off, we'll know the outcome of that tricky away tie Chelsea will have had at Carrow Road. And we can put some pressure on Arsenal hosting United.
Ideal scenario for results this weekend. Norwich beat Chelsea, we twat Bolton, L'Arse and the mancs draw, Citeh twat the spuds. Can we all agree on this, at least?
Nice to see some well thought out sensible ideas. Not enough by a long shot on not606 due to muppets. Adam, what a passer, when this guy is on song his long range passing is absolutely fantastic. His first season so we can forgive inconsistency I agree with poor auld Andy, not had the service and has been unlucky not to have a few more goals. Downing, he's created quite a few chances that we have not taken, that has been missed by pundits and everyone else, if our finishing had been better he would have plenty of assists Stevie G will offer his usual fare but with added hunger from being out for so long, can only be good for us. As for Lucas, I think most teams would miss him the way he had been playing when he got injured. I will say this, no team that depends on one individual for solidity in the middle succeed. We need to be able to snuff out opposing mids without lucas, another signing methings in that respect. I am willing to wait the couple of years that was the original plan, as long as things constantly move forward I am happy.
Would rather see Arsenal come away with 0 points as Utd are too far ahead for us to catch and wont win the PL anyway.
I hope we thrash/lash/trash Bolton but MNS on that favorable run you talked about, we did pretty well against all those top teams in the first half of the season, I am actaully not worried about those games. It is actaully the favorable run where I am already cringing! So is the type of erratic play we have seen countless times over the years. Good thread St. I know I try to see it the way you do but a part of me still can't quite get over the sums spent and what we could have got. I know I will be cheering for us heavily against Bolton, might bring out my macca jersey for a bit of luck.
Don't discount the f..kers. The further behind they are, the more comfortable I am. I think L'Arse are on the slide. Injury to RVP and they're fooked
I wholeheartedly agree that it is high time that all of the above get twatted just like hammerhead says. I do hope city give spurs about 6 but would be so happy with a 1-0. I hope cheslea get thier comeuppances again this weekend and then arsenal and utd have a riot on the pitch, get ten players banned and docked 50 points each.... but seriously... i hope newcastle get beat too.
yes, i think that the best thing would be for rvp to socre off a corenr kick roone with his leg as he hits the ball with said toe... breaks rooneys leg and his own too boot. All in all two strecthers, a feeling of guilt and shamefaced delight in chez mito.
There is quite a hangup on the sums being spend up front (and not just on Carroll up front), but... We shifted some expensively paid deadwood in the summer and brought in players with a future who won't be on megabucks just yet. If you add £20k per week to a salary, you're looking at spending an extra £5 million over a five year contract. So yes, we could perhaps have bid the same as Citeh to pick up players like Aguero and Silva, but we'd have had to compensate them hugely for missing out on CL action. And we'd probably be looking at an extra £30-40 million for each player over 5 years, with no guarantee they won't hold out for a Bosman at the end of it. Think about that for a moment - the best part of £100mil extra on two players - Silva and Aguero or Downing and Carroll. Would it be worth sacrificing the club forever to bankruptcy in 5 years time for a last hurrah in the CL, or spread the money on more players who are likely to recoup their transfer values over the length of their contracts. And who's to say 4th is out of our reach? Its only 5 points away. Norwich and our own performance can bring it to 2 points by MOTD time on Saturday night...
For every Silva and Aguero we talked about though, Falcao for Porto went to Athletico madrid, no CL, for 35 mil, same as Carroll. Santi Cazorla went to malaga, again no CL, for 15 mil and malaga is no guarentee for CL either same with Athletico. I bet they are both pretty close to what carroll and downing would make in wages ( maybe Cazorla a bit higher). But if you want to move up do you not have to take some of those risks? Did City crack the CL when they bought Milner,Adebayor,Lescott and Barry for XXX amount of dollars? They flopped with Robinho but getting that name in helped pave the way for others.It took them that next step to go and get the Silva, balotelli, Dzeko to give them that extra push and now they can offer CL to anyone. If we are going this route then fair do's but I really am not looking in the next few windows on spending 15 mil plus on the likes of Defoe,Bent, Lennon, Walcott, etc ( just players we have been linked with). Marko marin was out there on a cheap as well, Podolski has been without CL for years and was attainable, again just options we could have gone for without paying crazy wages I feel. BUT with all that being said, I see your point, and I know these players will be huge when the homegrown rule and FFP rules all kick in but 55 million, imagine what Rafa could have done with that for example. Missed out on Dani Alves, Jovetic, Malouda due to not having the funds back then.
I'll give you Falcao at Atletico, however, Malaga are Spain's Citeh with stupid Petrodollars to spend, so I'd be willing to bet Santi significantly better paid that Downing. However, both Downing and Carroll count towards the Homegrown quota - neither of Falcao nor Calzora would. Falcao is also 25 (26 in Feb) whereas Carroll is only 23. I'll put good money on it that we're paying a lower wage than Atletico (who paid about £34million for his services). You can argue that the difference in wage would be made up by the CL position, but there is no promise that he'd transfer his talents from the Primeria Liga to the Premiership. At least we'd seen what Carroll could do here...
I was just pointing out that CL or not we could still pull that kind of talent. Another is Moussa Sow who apperntly lille want to get rid of for 10 million euros, cole is doing well for them can we not offer cole and say 5 mil for him? Something like this where a player wants to come and has expressed it, Sow can offer many things other than scoring and he is barely mentioned ( I know I know keep business indoors). Arda Turan is another who kept harping on about us and we never went for him, he is also now at Athletico Madrid. With all this being said, we should have held on to Aqua and meirles, a trio of these two and Gerrard or take out one of the two and have lucas, gerrard, and meirles/aqua would have had loads of energy, creativity and players who like to get in the box ( something we have been missing depseratly this season). Same with J. Cole. Although he didn't do well for us, surely he would be doing a bit better than the ones we have bought? Could have given Hendo more time to develop instead of throwing him knee deep from day 1 ( hendo is progressing nicely I feel as well, but could have done with a little more in front of him to learn from). I guess the decision making on some of this has made me scratch my head but we still have plenty of footy to play and things can turn around quickly. I hopeit starts with a win at Bolton, a win against city and thus a trip to Wembley and knocking out United. If these things happen we could be set for a good run. ( Suarez returning also).
I can't see Bolton giving us the same problems that Stoke did,Stoke can take points away from any team home or away,and their league position confirms this.Yes,we didnt create enough goal scoring chances but credit Stoke for their defensive display. This weekend's fixtures give us a chance to make ground on teams above us and i'm confident we will get the three points at Bolton. Writing off our chances of a top four spot is crazy right now,there's a long,long way to go. Also,the fixture lists of several teams above us are difficult to say the least.Let's be patient and hopefully we will be in a far better position in 6 weeks or so!
