There were racist chants and inflatable bananas waved at players tonight, according to media reports. Can't say that I noticed, but I can't say that I'm surprised if it did happen. Time for UEFA to actually do something about the Italian sides and this constant, consistent racism.
Newcastle are chug-a-lugging along very quietly aren't they? There's no emphasis on them at all,dark horses maybe.
Very kind on Naughton who I thought caused a lot of our problems and Ade was at least half decent WHEN Defoe was on. Lennon coming in generally helped matters but even he looked out of sorts and leggy. Getting the tactics wrong at the start is almost excusable, but not seeing what needed to be changed sooner (if at all) is almost unforgivable.
Just switched channels and heard someone taking about 'stretching Angie' - thought I had found a channel showing porn EastEnders!!!
Right chaps. Just got in from my football course. Have only seen the first 10 mins of the game. Would anyone please be kind enough to summarise what the hell happened and why we lost 4-1. That way I haven't got to go through 12 odd pages since I was last on this thread. Many thanks in advance.
We played two holding midfielders and two strikers who have never been on the same wavelength and our defence was repeatedly beaten by runs in behind from their midfield, who weren't pressured. For large chunks of the game we actually had decent possession, but it went nowhere and we were extremely vulnerable whenever they broke. Walker had a mare, Gallas' old legs were made to look their age and we had no penetration or width.
Is it really worth playing strikers that bring so little to the party. Both lack any technic or touch for a flowing game. Play 5 in midfield with only 1 defensive midfielder and give Bale total freedom . I only say this because our strikers are so piss poor. Livermore, Gallas, Naughton, are not good enough if we want to actually win something.
Yeah I saw Livermore and Parker lined up again alongside one another. - Everyone knows my thoughts on that. I hope AVB realises it after tonight, having played them both at the start of the season, and in recent games. IT DOESN'T ****ING WORK! Defoe and Adebayor didn't work? jesus.... same old story!! Bad game from Gallas? no surprise, he's has some good ones recently, so we're due several atrocious ones now. Walker ****e? there's a surprise! what has Naughton got to do to get a chance in his natural position? Any injuries? please don't tell me we've lost anyone....
Amazing. Arsenal win. Losers! Spurs lose. Winners! I'll drink to that!! What was our manager drinking when he picked that team?Give me some.He obviously felt no pain!!!!
Dembele took an elbow to the back of the head about 10 seconds after we'd made our last substitution, but he came back and finished the game. Don't think it was too bad, but there was some sort of cut. Should be ok on the weekend, I think.
Oops.Sorry! Did I mention Arsenal? Peskie and his mates must be hanging from their nearest lamp posts after the last couple of nights.....
They won their last one,we lost so we must be careful. That's two defeats on the trot. My head's in such a whirl that Sunday's match might as well be my first ever Spurs game because I haven't a clue what we are going to do. Some of you were supremely confident ahead of the Inter match tonight whereas I was very cautious,I feel the same for Sunday but a win will galvanize us.
Given I just borrowed a mate's copy of Dead Space 3, I'm in the mood for some brutal dissection. So here goes... Tactics and formation Completely and utterly wrong at the outset (as I said looking at the line-ups) for a multitude of reasons, most notable of which: * We should have been looking to contain Inter and look to score on the break, which would have been fine with the tried and tested 4-2-3-1 but was not going to happen playing 4-4-2 because we left the midfield wide open * Livermore should not have started - the engine room should have been Parker and Dembele (see above) * Playing Dembele on the right means he can't dictate through the centre, which is his most important quality for us * Defoe and Adebayor have shown no chemistry up front before, why gamble for this game? * We should have reverted to 4-2-3-1 at half time, not after going 2-0 down * We ripped Inter apart down the wings in the first leg, yet in the second leg we kept cutting inside or trying to play through the middle Performances Whilst everyone had a poor day at the office one way or the other, some players were worse that others, namely... * Walker did everything wrong - his positioning, tackling and passing were abysmal for the entire match * Gallas did nothing for the 90 minutes other than score an own goal (although that did seem to wake him up) * Adebayor was nowhere to be seen (apart from for the goal) * Defoe spent an hour running head-first into defenders and losing the ball * Livermore was anonymous * Holtby was poor when he came on Mentality With the exceptions of Sigurdsson and Lennon looking to take on defenders, the players' main tactic was to receive the ball, and either run two yards into a bank of Inter players or to play a poor pass that surrendered possession, and this happened throughout the ninety minutes The referee Whilst there is no way to blame him for our performance, he should have booked Guarin and Gargano for their constant clogging.
I can't comment too much on your post HBIC, as I haven't seen the game. However, it's not the first time that the bullet points in "Tactics and Formation" have cropped up. AVB gets so many things right, which we don't credit him enough for, IMO. But **** me does he make some clangers. What I don't get, is how us mere fans can spot this prior to a game and show our concerns, or even after a game and know we mustn't do it again, yet AVB still goes with tactics that have been horrendous on previous occasions??!
