Frustrating! I wanted to see players put up their hands for a start against Man Utd; I wanted to see some hunger, some passion but, apart from a few individuals, it just wasn't there. We handled the tie comfortably enough and got what we wanted, so well done the lads for that. But did the likes of JdG push to further their claims? Not for me. JdG hardly broke sweat; his shooting was pants and dead ball delivery far below what it was last season. Unlucky not to get a nailed on penalty though. However, for me, it's Shelvey every time and I think we bought the right player out of the two. We were quite tidy in possession up to the final third where it all went astray. Poz is going to be a huge player for us but he must learn to manage space a lot better than he does. Too often he was crowding Michu, perhaps buoyed by his excellent goal last week from a Michu-like situation. I think this confused poor Bony who played in fits and starts but, nevertheless, was very unlucky to get a clinical finish wrongly ruled out. What would that have done for his confidence, and reputation, with 3 goals in 2 European starts against decent opposition? All in all, no reason to gripe. It's still early in the season and the players are still learning each others' game. I just feel though, that we lost an opportunity to make a statement tonight and a couple of the players didn't get near to hitting their straps. They will need to because Laudrup is a ruthless manager, and if he doesn't get what he's looking for from a player, he won't hesitate to drop him and play some one else. And that's how it should be if we want to progress as a club.
Agree. I found myself shouting at the screen a few times for him to track back and help the team defensively. Hopefully he won't feature much in the important games this season. That's why I'm happy it's a loan deal for him and not the 7-8 million that was being touted about
De Guzmans dead balls were terrible. Their is no way he will oust Shelvey from the starting 11. I'm not happy with you Valley!!!!!!! I wanted to do the reporting bit and issue the ban!! GIT!!!!
Next round is on Thursday 22nd and Thursday 29th August. Our game away to West Brom will be changed from sat 31st Aug to sun 1st sept. On a family holiday for the 2nd leg but free for the 1st leg. Azerbaijan here I come
He's (de Guzman) starting the season as he finished the last one ,but at least now the manager can make changes
Right I'm off to the dark side and tell that **** to fcukoff etc etc etc. That should get me banned!!
It was a job well done without breaking into a sweat, there was not a chance in hell after the first ten minutes that they were ever going to win so the lads played accordingly.....7 changes and a couple of subs was nothing more than a training exercise... easy game played the right way...
Yep, good game for everyone to get some minutes under their belt and build up the fitness levels. Roll on Man U!!
thats what it was all about, we had to play the game so why work your socks off when we have man utd next game. the radio said it was a stroll in the park and swansea rightly used it as a training session...
It's a job done scenario, the players knew it was game over after the first leg. Despite a depleted team with 7 changes we still kept a clean sheet and Tremmel didn't really have anything to do, I am happy with that. A win would have been nice but it wasn't meant to be considering Bony had a valid goal disallowed and we also had a penalty not given. If two bad decisions hadnt been made then the score line would have been 2-0 on the night, 6-0 on aggregate... Not bad for a second leg when our team didn't get out of 2nd gear.
Job done and should have been 2 - 0 (what with the wrongly disallowed goal and the penalty decision...he took pity on them didn't he, but then we should have picked up a couple of extra bookings...which is more important to us when you're 4 - 0 up). Thoughts; Tremmel - Solid Jazz - Crossing was poor and gave possession away too cheaply, didn't beat his man when he got into those Rangel positions Chico - Solid Ash - Solid Taylor - Needed 90 minutes, was clearly not up to full speed. Canas - exceptional, like he's always been there. I trust him to bring the ball under control and select the right pass completely. After his debut! De Guzman - did some good things, worked (lots of closing down)...shooting and set pieces were no good whatsoever Michu - was Michu, temper/desire shown. Pozuelo - not a natural wide man, will have to work on that position if he's going to fill in there....has all the right tools to play anywhere in the front though. A gem. Routledge - Starting to frustrate me. He takes a touch and then (I think, often) the pass or shot should be played....wants lots of touches and gets dispossessed, always creates something though so worth a regular starting slot. Just an area we can improve. Bony - Still trying to find rhythm with his team mates. Clinical finish for the disallowed goal. I feel if we make chances for him he will score a bagful. Subs Ki - trying too hard to stand out, feeling the pressure I think. Dyer - Looked lively, interested. Rangel - Solid, if Dyer had stepped over a pass instead of shooting Rangel would have been clean through on goal late in the game. He has a nose for it.
took the opportunity to score some brownie points with the missus before the new season instead of watching what i felt was a dead rubber and from the stats it looks like an efficient performance. The trouble with winning 4-0 is that all you have to do is turn up and see out the 2nd leg and that seems to be what we've done. I know some will be disappointed not to see a similar performance to last week, but it wasnt a night when any drama or excitement was needed and frankly when the BBC are reporting 0 shots on target for the others, that sounds like a job excellently done, don't give them a sniff and get through without draining the energy tanks too much (which is important with the extra games we've got this year). If we have to endure a couple of dull games in this competition cus we've done the job in the first leg, so be it.
