Possibly true, although we all said Sturridge had been out of form last few weeks so don't think anyone can argue that he should have started. Credit where it's due, he didn't wait 15-20 minutes to make the change, made it at HT and made an instant impact.
I notice Downing has slipped back to his usual standards, honestly though.. What does he bring to the team? Henderson had a bad game too but I'm not going to knee jerk, still think he's a good player and will only get better. Coutinho unusually poor today, all in all a day that not many players turned up, but again, we came away with something which is surprising. Despite the circumstances, good to see us score a late goal too.
I really do hope Downing is sold in the summer. Also, what has happened to Shelvey? A year ago he had so much potential but now he is just crap through and through.
I think because it was Sturridges ex club I would have been tempted to start but who knows what has been going on at training. Plus I am not the manager so.... But yeah it promising he rang effective changes at break
Quite harsh. Shelvey looked impressive because he was at first on loan in the championship and then he was scoring a couple of goals in the Europa league group stages. What's encouraging about Shelvey for me is regardless of the fact that everything is not going for him at the moment he's still trying to change the game in our favour and he's still trying to get into advanced positions and shooting. You can always work on finishing, you can't really work on the desire to get into the box and desire to make things happen when on the ball, that's just something you've either got or you haven't (see Henderson as a comparison). If Shelvey keeps getting into good positions, like he did for the late chance, then he'll score plenty of goals for us.
Chelsea launch an investigation into their own fans' abuse of Benayoun. He was good for us and doesn't deserve this nonsense. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22265012
Well said. Put him in the u21 team and he's head and shoulders above everyone. First team football is a long way from him though but he has a lot of potential to succeed. And as you say, he misses chances but at least he's in the right place to miss them. Downing should be sold - we cannot keep relying on him as a viable option to a)start matches and b)come off the bench. Completely mediocre.
I think actually he needs a loan to a higher standard. the reality is could he cut the mustard at wigan, villa or whomever... norwich say. U21's is way to low a standard to judge on. its very hit and miss but i do see that once it went elite our youths were more challenged in it. being i nthe right place etc is something that ok is good but the guy needs the cut and thrust of 30-40 games in a seasons to show what he can do!
We still deserved to win, particularly on the second half performance. You only have to look at the stats
