Not really Boss, I stand by what I say 4 out of 5 flops for JD as a lone striker this season of course teams will pack defences away from home - he struggles to find a way through which is why i don't rate him up there on his own top performance v reading but 1 out of 5 isn't good enough if Ade was fit i'd drop him for the Rangers game
completely disagree about Lennon, Caulker Lloris and Vertonghen were all better than him for a start i thought his decision to pass rather than shoot was terrible - i don't rate him as a 'first XI' player
I don't think defoe put in a decent shift at all, i thought he was one of our poorest players - quite possibly the poorest, maybe along with walker
Very harsh to say he flopped today, he worked hard against a team that defended in numbers. We definitely could've done with a fully fit Ade against a side defending in numbers like that but we still could easily have won it. I'm not usually someone who sticks up for Defoe but he was more a victim of our midfield creating little in the first 3 games than anything he did particularly badly.
I don't think it's very harsh at all, i think it's accurate - he flopped as he has done 4 out of 5 times as a lone striker this season he's not big enough, he's not strong enough, he can't head the ball well enough, he can't hold the ball up well enough to play as a lone striker he proved me wrong against reading, he's proved me right the other 4 times this season i hope he doesn't start against qpr - play dempsey instead, at least he can head the ball
Yes, to this comment and the previous ones from HBIC, PNP and Ghoddle. If we keep up this level of effort and commitment we'll be fine.
Having looked closely at the replay of Dempeys goal, I'm finding difficult to see that the lino had ANY view of it at all. His vision looked blocked by Sandro and a Lazio defender, what happened to giving the striker the benefit of doubt I don't know, and there was serious doubt.
After the slagging off the goal line assistants got, the fact is they would've given us one of the goals, and quite possibly both.
The fact is hbic, the rules state if you can't see it, you can't give it, refs happily hide behind this excuse when it suits them eg. a pen against United at OT.
SL - I think all 5 officials are in communication via headset, it might look like they're not giving a decision but I think they must be, I'm not 100% on that though.
I think from the Refs angle, he was right (in his eyes) to strike off the caulker goal, as he couldn't see through caulker so from behind it looks like the italian defender was pushed down. I only saw the Defoe replay once, but Bale did look slightly offside. As for the Dempsey one, again, the view from the linesman meant they wasn't sure, BUT as notso points out, why not give the benefit of doubt to the attacker? they bottled it as its easier to say offside.
There was also a really blatant foul by Klose on Dempsey in the box from a corner, just prior to Caulker's disallowed goal. That sort of stuff is easy to miss, though less so when it's right in front of the 7th official or whatever they're calling them, but rather galling given that they chalked one off for us for far less.
The club are monitoring events in Athens at the moment, due to the riots over austerity measures. Would be a shame to lose another fixture to that sort of thing.
I think the game will go ahead, but it might be that fans are advised not to travel, which they will do anyway of course.
Klose is getting plaudits for admitting to a handball in the to what would have been the opening goal in a game with Napoli they lost 3-0. A pity he couldn't have tonked the ball into his own net in response to Dempsey and Caulker having legitimate goals disallowed, eh?
Onto Athens now we go Lloris; Walker Caulker Daws JV; Lennon Sandro Dembele Bale; Dempsey; Defoe I hope we play a very strong team, for me this is a mustn't lose match because of the Lazio 'robbery by the ref(s)' , lose this and we're probably out of the competition. So IF we are serious about the EL, (and I believe we are) we have to go for it. Naturally if any of our players are too knackered to play, then leave them at home, but I don't see why they should be have three clear recovery days between Saturday and Thursday I wouldn't mind Hudd playing as the slower Euro tempo might suit him, and if Gylfi or Townsend play, then fine, but please no Carroll Mason Falque, etc, a la Harry last year, no disrespect to those players but they'e not first team level yet.
