It seems pretty obvious to me that despite playing the game to semi pro level and taking my F.A. coaching badges, that I know f all about football. I thought when the scum went down to 10 men, that we would push an extra man up top....I thought that when the scum replaced a striker with a defender, that we would push an extra man up top......I thought that at the break we would change the side and push an extra man up top.....How stupid am I???? Perhaps someone can tell me why I fail to understand football and how I could be so wrong...thanks!
I obviously know nothing about football Says Top Tear Twat and yes Monk we should have gone for the throat
As soon as Saha came on we lookoed so much better going forward. I must know nothing either - I coach at U8's and am moving to take my level 2 FA badge soon and I would've done the same - but I am not managing the club.
Did seem strange that you didn't try and mix it up. It made it a very comfortable half hour either side of half time. Is Saha fit though, he looked a bit fat? Maybe it was just a poorly fitting shirt. Surely there was reason to have three or four up for the last half hour? Everybody knows a team down to 10 will always tire. Just O'Neills way obviously but look at SAF, he gets richly rewarded for his gung ho approach when its needed.
Pure tank of muscle is Stevie. Well apart from his incredibly fat arse. Could do with dropping some of the muscle as he gets too bulky. Probably cause the ****er is injured all the time so just does weights non stop. In all seriousness what's the deal with Saha, is he overweight? I know its not uncommon when they don't have a club for a while but I can't get my head around fat footballers. Kevin Nolan fluctuated more than a woman!
Unfortunately we don't have the players to kill teams off our CM is about as poor as I can remember, couple that with AJ and McClean not firing and we have no midfield to speak of. All it took was us to put on another CF and crap as this may sound play hoof ball. Not sure if Saha is fit or just fat but, he was a vast improvement on Sess who has been on borrowed time for a few weeks now.
I think Sess, Johnson etc get stifled by your lack of a playmaker though. The quality they get to work with, the positions which they are given the ball, its all adds up to a bit of struggle. Wingers and flair players rarely have the ability to take a game by the scruff of the neck. They rely heavily on a Cabaye type. I think most of your centre midfielders are tidy enough. But none dictate play, and move the opposition midfield around to create space by little one twos. A playmaker could not only get you to tick but provide Fletcher with more ammunition. The clipped ball Cabaye knocked over the top for Demba is the type of pass sadly lacking from his supply line. I think you are not far away now and O'Neill is no fool. The fans have to remember it is not typical of his teams to not have a playmaker. Stilian Petrov was exactly this for him, and really good ones can be tricky to pick up.
sessngon , rubbish all season, mclean, not good enough and adam johnson is at sunderland to pick up easy money and is not taking things seriously at all; visit the pub in castle eden on most nights of the week and you will find in him there/ this will do pouch's reputation no good at all but I AGREE WITH THE op
I agree but look at it another way, if we had gone for it and conceeded a goal on the break we would all be saying why did we not settle things down a little and then bring an extra striker on. I coach under 10's and until very recently played semi pro too but its not the same as the EPL and coaching at the highest level. This is why when we got MON in the first place I was not as over the moon as others. I have seen him play the same tactics at Villa and Leicester. Like I say I agree with the OP but we can all say what if??
This is exactly it mate, and we all know it. Unquestionably we looked better when Gardner was pushed on, way too late. I personally thought, once Shola went off, we should have went 3-5-2 pushing Rose on, that we we would have had a grip over midfield and still 3 defenders covering Ba. In the event, Pardew's substitution of Colo gave us a point, we were not getting past him, and the goal came from a scenario he'd been cleaning up with a cigar in all day.