Main cause of loss of life ( points ) was an excess of Walters in the team. Contributary factor : a lack of antibodies in the form of Adam , Whelan and Etherington in dealing with even a weak antigen ( Chelsea ) But seriously , very unfortunate that Jon could not place his headers to safety. Their penalty , for me , was not a penalty. So if Jonesy had put away his very good early chance , we could have been one up before that belter of a shot from the blue meanies. If you had only watched a tv recording of say 90 of the 95 minutes , with the goals not shown , what would have been your guess at the result ? I would certainly go for a draw. Although they were a bit smoother than us in moving the ball around. Anyhow , I believe in life after death , and the lads had better prove it against Palace. Up the Potters !
I listened to the game on Radio 5 and it seemed from the commentary that we were on top for most of the first half so it was gutting that we conceded a goal right on half-time and even worse that it should be an own goal. Pat Nevin made the comment however that Jones lacked support and that Stoke needed to play 2 up front to capitalise on their pressure. Then came the second half the second OG and the 'soft' penalty and it was game over. It seemed a rather harsh scoreline to lose 4-0 so what has happened in the last few games? Also Crouch on the bench but no Owen, Palacios or Pennant - what does that mean I wonder?
P Potter Not sure where to start.. we we're the better team first half IMO. Jones should have at least hit the target but? Why the hell we have to have TEN men defending free kicks/corners etc? Walters should not be that deep to start with? Adam personally I think we're better when he's not playing might get slated here though I thought he was poor today. Two own goals what looked like a dodgey pen and we're 3 down the lads heads went and WHY Pulis did'nt change things after Chelsea's, sorry Walters 2nd goal and go for it I don't know. We P****d around with the ball at the back too often, Adam should have cleared that ball which led to Walters first goal, and we did'nt close down 2nd half quickly enough. End result against what is a very good Chelsea side we we're fooked with bells on. Complaints from me? yeah, TP NEVER went for it, did'nt use two out and out wingers but nothing new there then. So, we move on and let's hope Walters can score twice at the right end.. Wishful thinking? maybe. He then decides to bring on Jerome = (pace) when the horse had bolted. Forget it, move on and FFS we've only played with 2 wingers at home once I believe? And it worked. Why not today only TP knows.
I'm sure if you search the darker archives of this not 606 chat forum you will find repeated posts from myself saying over and over again "Jon Walters should be no where near our penalty box" The amount of times he has given away soft free kicks and peno's is unreal, just like Whitehead who is the other usual villian for this. Bad day at the office for him today so onwards and upwards and I'm sure with his determination he will want to make amends for it. Wish Wilko had been given the spot kick instead though as it was a nothing penalty!
I think we played a high tempo pressure game which was effective in the 1st 35 minutes, but because we lacked width, pace and support for Jones it was unlikely that we Would see any benefit from our initial strength - that for me was a tactical weakness- and one we often see from TP. If the early Jones chance had gone in we may have faired better, but to be honest we wouldn't have hung on for 70 minutes anyway. Walters performance was comical today (and I don't mean that in a belittling way), volleying the ball into his own face, 2 home goals and a missed penalty - you know it's not your day. As usual I didn't think he offered much else either. The 2 own goals whilst fortunate for Chelsea were ones that they would likely have scored from if Walters hadn't tried to defend, so its difficult to argue that the score didn't reflect the game (IMO), plus Begovic made at least 3 world class saves and arguably Wilko could have gone on 2 yellows - in all honesty we were fortunate. Thats not to say we didn't give it a go, but after 2 pretty mediocre performances you would expect a spirited performance at home. Accommodating Walters (74) consecutive starts and Adam in the line up just won't work, we lack pace, width and support up front and I think we have rode our luck and have now been found out. The flips side, this game and the Man City game are not ones that we should get ourselves upset about, except to say that TP won't see the errors of his ways until we are grinding out draws just to stay that famous few points above relegation!
Thanks for those comments Smithers, they seem spot-on with regard to yesterdays game. Man City and Chelsea out of the way and just Man U to come to the Brit (another defeat likely). The crunch is how does TP react now with team selection and tactics and how to instill the defensive confidence that was evident during our unbeaten run but which has taken a battering against Saints, Man C and now Chelski?
Pulis out. He really has taken us as far as he can. Thanks for everything, enough is enough, goodbye. And before anyone says so, this is not a knee jerk reaction to yesterday's result
No disagreement from me mate, his team selections, refusal to get proper fullbacks and general mismanagement of players is holding back the development of the club and costing us points.
Yup JM, that's exactly my point, plus his refusal or inability to learn. Meanwhile back at the sig.pic
NB, That would mean admitting he was wrong in the first place, no chance. Just wish Walters would take his chances at the correct end of the pitch with the same zeal.
He's not a striker and he's not a winger, although he played RM for Ipswich and was relatively successful - but that was the championship. Like I said, trying to play Adam and Walters just won't work and it inhibits the whole team. For me the tem should be, Begovic, Cameron, Huth, Shawx, Wilson (when fit), Nzonzi, Adam, Pennant, Kightly, Jerome and Crouch. It can be a 4-4-2 or a 4-1-3-2, or at worst our traditional 4-5-1. Adam would be able to distribute the ball from deep, and could still get forward with Nzonzi covering. We would have width and pace with a combination of pace and height upfront.
Smithers I don't think you will get many disagreeing with that selection, so why can't Pulis see it because it's obvious to all of us!!!
Purely because his pholisophy is to not concede and make % gains up the pitch for position to grind down set plays. He feels that the players he selects will play within that set up and implement exactly wha he wants. Then you hav to look a thei temperaments - some will dock their cap and some won't! The team picks itself really on that basis.
So under Pu lis we are really Cap doffers united, which is defo something we shouldn't be doing against the lesser teams in the division. Love the pholi sophy bit nice play on words.
