Gutted, but still optimistic that we will stay up. Nigel was half a crossbar width away from orchestrating his best win yet. Have to forget about it now, two really big games next week.
Fair play to Merson, just swallowed his words on Sky. Admitted that at the start of the season he thought Lambert wouldn't get many goals. He has said he now realises that whenever he touches the ball he has class.
Bollocks. On the plus side, unbeaten over the Christmas period. But draws are not going to keep us up. Wouldn't be so important if we could rely on picking up three points in home games against bottom half opposition - but we have so far not really managed that as much as we should. Certainly don't expect us to against Arsenal, but who knows? Hope the team don't take this too hard, and get back on it before Tuesday. Am working with the BBC's Victorian, steam-powered table update system here, but my main concern is that Reading put themselves within a win of us. Same with QPR is they beat Liverpool tomorrow. And yes, I know Reading have Spurs away, and QPR are at Chelsea, so unlikely to get much, but we're also unlikely to get much against Arsenal, so all getting a bit too close for comfort for me. Considering that QPR and Reading are considered down already by a lot of people on here, I'm a bit uncomfortable about what that says about us. We hit the halfway point today, with a win off our minimum point-a-game average required to hit the 40 point mark by season's end. Let's hope confidence isn't growing in the teams below us, and that Villa don't strengthen too much by the time they meet us.
I wasn't suggesting a left back for an attacker, particularly as he was playing more in the middle. Fox is a great crosser/passer.,.just slightly crap at defending, so swapping him with Guly seemed more logical. It was more the mindset of changing like for like, as if this was going to change things. It seems the mindset had to change, no midfield general to take control. we had a panic attack, lasting 30 minutes!! Our midfield went AWOL.
ightly rich with you talking about a winning mentality? Having just proclaimed 1 point after being 2 goals clear as a "good result"
Er, let's have a think about this. If we'd pulled back a 2 goal deficit, I reckon I might feel pretty good. But I don't feel pretty good now, strangely, in fact I feel like ****. More importantly, so will the team. Now Nigel has to pick them up off the floor instead of pulling them down from the ceiling, so it's not just the result that matters - it's also how it's arrived at. Still, at least we didn't come away with nothing.
Le Tissier's son on Twitter: "Assume all the people telling me Guly is amazing will be sending apologies saying he's just cost us 3 points. HE'S ****ING ****. SO ANGRY!!!" What a dick.
I feel I need to stop posting on matchdays. Would have been happy with a point before the game. Still, I cannot condone the throwing away of a potential win.
I presume you have read widely on my works, then, to come to that conclusion? Or are you just 'trolling'?
Chaps and chapettes saying that's a good result need to understand the game isn't played on paper. On Paper a draw with Stoke, great, draws against decent Swansea and Norwich sides great, 3-2 late loss to United, tough luck and we tried our best. In reality in these games we dropped points. 3-1 you expect to win, 3-2 up with a man advantage you expect to win. Adkins will do his best to lift the players and say it's a vital point, but I guarantee they will be ****ing miserable right now. Before the game we'd all have taken a draw, before the Norwich and Swansea games we'd have taken draws, and to lead United 2-1 and lose late is no shame for a promoted side. But in reality, in the actual games, we did not do well enough to secure points when we had fantastic opportunities to do so, and that is just flat out unacceptable for a side in our position or any position in the a league like the one we find ourselves in. We had the opportunity coming into the half to go for the throat and failed to impose ourselves on a side that we had utterly taken to pieces only 15 minutes earlier, with a goal lead and a man advantage we failed to get even a slight hold of the game. Part of this just comes as part and parcel of being a struggling newly-promoted nervously holding onto what would be a huge win, but that does excuse the level to which we fell apart. That being said, it is a bad result but not a disastrous one, we can take positives and Nigel will emphasise this and hopefully with the dust settled the players will take confidence from the first half and force the second far out of their minds. I'm not trying to come down as hard on Nigel and the players as I may seem but I just think we should not dismiss that as 'Oh well we were happy with a point before the game', what we wanted before the game is irrelevant, the game we just watched/listened to is what matters and overall it wasn't good enough. Anyway, that mini-rant aside, we set ourselves out very well and Nigel deserves credit for that. I feel for Guly as he was very bright and played great for the majority of the game, but unfortunately, and I'm not a Guly hater, he cost us the game. What we were doing was clinging on for dear life and holding to snatch a fourth, that chance fell for Guly and unfortunately he did not have the composure to take it. He was also at fault for the first goal as well, in the midst of our preparations for the long hurl into the box, a Stoke man came short which should mean Guly would come to cover, but Shaw was alone and tried to lunge at the ball to rectify the situation but was beaten by Shotton who then crossed for the goal. Tough for him coming into the side but that's football 101 and he should have been there, you could even see Gaston talking and gesturing to him about it after the second goal. Hopefully the fact that other than that he was fantastic will lift his spirits and he will be able to make an impact for us when he's called upon in coming games. Shaw battled well but had a tough time, it was clear they were targeting that side with a 17 year old and a player having his first start in 16 or whatever games our defence on that side, but overall he put in a good shift and will come out of it stronger and more experienced. Cork and Schneiderlin battled magnificently in the middle, the sight of Morgan in the 85th minute, having played almost 90 minutes in every game of the season and covered more ground than anyone else in the League, sprinting the full length of the pitch from a clearance out of our box to press their goalkeeper was nigh on awe-inspiring. Davis struggled big time with balls into the box but this was always the risk we ran with his selection, he should also have probably done better for their second. Overall pretty disappointed but to be honest (and I hate to sound like a smug twat) I knew that was coming from about 5 minutes into the second half. A point added to the tally is never a bad thing, but it should have been three and that should not be dismissed. Hopefully Nigel will be at his best and will have the team up and bouncing about the first half and from coming away from a place like that with a point. And the biggest positive, we came through a game with those big mean Stoke bullies without them hurting any of our delicate little flowers, although N'nonzi tried his best to break Cork's leg. I hope Gaston is ready to put on a one man show against Arsenal!
Agree about having no midfield general, and that is one of many positions I would like to us address next month. As for the midfield going AWOL though, well when Stoke are just pumping balls up to Jerome, Jones and Crouch over and over again - and, lets face it, the guys trying to defend those balls are not the best defenders in the world - then I guess it's very easy for the midfield to suddenly become pretty absent. I don't blame them for that. I just wish we had better quality defenders, who maybe wouldn't have been so quick to just return the ball straight back to Stoke.
Just seen Nigel's intervewon skygo. He seems quite happy so i spose i better be too. I said at the start of the season i think we will get something against Arsenal at home so i will remain hopeful unitl proven otherwise.
