I'd have us playing crap every week if it meant three points in the bag. Far too many times last season we played well and had no points from the games, so I for one am more than happy to see the team off par and still pick up the three points
What like Man Utd ? What was the score again ? Do you think we are going to control every game and win every game ? We did what we had to yesterday and came away from the game with 3 points. How many games did we have 60% possession last season and came away with sod all ? Laudrup is not stupid he can see where we are falling short and will have it mind come the transfer window.
Hopefully we will see a defensive midfielder with some bite come in in January to allow the attacking midfielders the freedom to express themselves more
I think it is pretty obvious that I don't expect us to control every game and win every game. Did I say that? Did I even imply that? Did I not state that "I have no problems with a team being better than us because plenty are"? I was not discussing possession. I was concerned with the way we played, or rather the way we didn't play. If you are happy with that second half performance that's fine by me. I wasn't. And I listed the reasons why. Our defence was great because they had to be. Our midfield had relinquished control and could do nothing to prevent wave upon wave of attacks. Michael Laudrup won't be saying much because he rarely criticises but I would be very surprised if he was happy with what he saw.
yes i know what you are saying ivor. we have not really played to our potential for some weeks now and that is a tad worrying but if we can grind out results like yesterday then we as fans will be happy but i think sir mike would have a few concerns with the team...
But lets face it every team has problems , we have ours of course but others have their own. Villa shipping 15 goals in 3 games, Newcastle on relegation form and ba going for not much. Man city leaking goals. Fulham only winning 2 games in 11 and the list goes on. You see the frailties in our team but ignore the fact that other teams have the same problems. The only stat that counts ultimately is points, we got 3 yesterday and no matter what could have happened it didn't as we came away with all of the points. I would rather our team now than the mess at QPR, I'm not saying its the choice between that and us all I'm saying is that we have 28 points and only need a few more wins to secure our place for next season.
We also had a lot of changes to the starting x1 yesterday coming back from injury and resting some key members which shows that this year we have a far stronger squad from gk to strikers. which.means that we have fresh.players coming.back.on.Tuesday question do we bring Michu back in if available on Tuesday or what I would prefer is to rest him if we can for the following weeks games which include fa cup & capitol one cup maybe on the bench if needed give dg amother runout with the same 3 behind
All told this has been a much better season than last. I agree that we have been winning ugly but who cares! Survive this season and build again for next. We have better players than last year, better football, a way better manager (who has a plan B thank christ), talk of stadium expansion and a jackpot new premier money deal about to kick in. Also unlike just about every other club in the top few divisions we don't have any debt. If we carry on like this with FFP rules being introduced we could be on a seriously good road. Up the Swans, **** the rest!
Until we hit 40pts I would treat the league as number one priority, so Michu plays if fit. If not 100% then I would rest him. Given we are so close in the LC I would go for that too. even at the expense of the FA cup.
Don't you think tho that with bringing.chico and Leon.back in alongside kemy that we would be too strong for the villa given their lack of confidence, which.would give us a window where we can give Michu a well earned rest to have him.kick on for the remainder of the season ??
Jager, I understand what you say and agree to a large extent. I have said elsewhere that overall I am totally chuffed with what we have achieved so far this season. The problems that other teams have, though, don't concern me. I just want our team not to have them and when I saw that second half pasting that we took, I felt obliged to comment on it. The three points were joyously welcome but the performance wasn't. I'm getting old far quicker than I want but between 4 o'clock and a quarter to five yesterday that process was accelerated to a level that was downright dangerous! I'm hoping that we can put Villa away without any fuss so I can get back to ageing gracefully.
I understand your concerns Ivor , but the team out yesterday had 7 changes from the game before so that is going to impact on things. I'm not saying you are wrong or I am it's just we came away with 3 points despite everything. For me away wins are a bonus we've had 4 this season already, last season we had 4 in total.
Do we play Michu ? Well lets look at the opposition first and my thoughts would be no because i think we have enough talent in Danny or Moore to win the villa game anyway or should have. I would rather make sure with a few more days rest that michu will be 100% fit and he will be ready to play against the better teams,.If he is pronounced fit then include him on the bench in case everything is not going to plan and use him then...
Defence wise we're a lot stronger so I'd rather win the game first than chase the game if we're losing .Get in a comfortable lead then alter it if need be .All this is based assuming that Villa will be as bad as recently results show, don't forget they beat liverpool away and so I wouldn't underestimate them and more importantly the management and players don't
Wise to be cautious given our track record against teams in this situation. Just as we're all looking forward to a great start to the New Year with three more points to put us in touching distance of safety, it's like us to blow our expectations out of the water with a non performance. Let's not forget that Lambert knows exactly how to play against us. Yes, we are a different team now with many new players but we still have that same old fragility against teams that get in our faces. And you can bet your last dollar that Lambert will have psyched up his players to do just that. They will compete, battle and run all day so we will have to match them. If we don't, we will lose. An early goal would be great because that would dent their fragile confidence and I can see us going on to a handy win. But we will have to battle for the right to play before playing the pretty stuff. Potential banana skin but we should have enough to win this one.
The thing about "playing to potential" is that it doesn't happen that often even for league winners and as such it would be a waste of healthy nerves and good spirit to mourn about it every game it doesn't happen. When that said, the game against Fulham did indeed look mediocre and poor at times, but in light of seven changes to the start XI maybe it was actually a quite good performance. You can't expect a peak performance when you don't field the strongest line up. What I saw was a hard fought, focused away win against a team of good players on a day where ML yet again showed that he is serious when talking about implementing several Plan B's. Should be very happy that the team can win like this with 40% possession, that is improvement and it will give a lot of points in the end.
I would guess it`s because the final is tomorrow, that`s today to you Musty. Therefore the winner won`t be "crowned" until 2013. Back on topic, this is a game we will find hard to breakdown and win. Knowing our luck and past games like this, we`re sure to lose. We need a quick goal to unsettle the Villa, better still a few quick goals then cruise to victory.
