Not sure if anyone caught the Chelsea v Villa game but I have to say it was a real bruising encounter! some iffy ref decisions from kevin friend as well which ive come to expect from him,chelsea won 2-1 but Villa really deserved a point and gave Chelsea a tough game. Villa will be a tough side to play against this season,they are all big and strong and will give our lot major problems,i don't expect to see villa fighting relegation this year and Lambert,as much as he gets on my tits has put together a hard,strong,fighting energetic side which could well hammer the likes of Swansea if there is a weak ref in control of the game. We have beefed up this season but we will still look weak against that lot. Chelsea didn't look all that great when put under pressure and the likes of Lampard and cole are starting to look their age. It makes for an intresting premier league that's for sure. Of all the teams ive seen this weekend there don't look like many duffers at all, Laudrup was spot on when he stated that we needed investment just to stand still,thankfully we got it otherwise it would be mighty hard to compete against the other teams this season. I think pundits pre season talk of us being a top 6/8 team is wide of the mark and I think we as fans will perhaps need to temper our expectations a little bit, I think every game will be just as tough even though we have brought in some top players, very early days and a lot can change but looking at the opposition id say this years premier league will be the toughest yet. Hold onto your hats folks its gonna be another rollacoaster ! Thoughts ?
Also have to mention that Villa played a lot of long balls into Benteke and he kept the whole Chelsea back line involved in a battle for 90 mins, if Ash and Chico thought it was tough against Van Persie then I hope they didn't see this guy playing tonight! he is bit of a monster and looks to have got bigger and stronger since last season
Last Saturday at Arsenal, Villa kicked everything that moved with a red shirt on. They are a brutal team - the new Stoke, but with thuggery thrown in. They deserve to be relegated. Against Villa, Canas is either going to commit murder or be murdered trying. It's going to be ugly. We should bring back Tommy Smith for these two games - put him alongside Canas and let them both have at it.
I was trying to be clever and copy across a post that Ivor did, as it's very relevant to this thread. So it's the old fashion copy and paste. Ivor's post!!! Just watched Chelsea v Villa in what was a full blooded game. For me, Villa gave as good as they got and in open play probably created the clearer cut chances. They were also denied a nailed on penalty while they were pressing at the end of the game when Terry handled the ball.. The tackles were flying in from both sides and Lambert seems to have turned the corner with his team. They are fast, strong, physical and well organised, reminiscent of his Norwich side but with better players and more skill. Benteke is a right handful and he had a real battle with Ivanovic all night, the latter slightly lucky not to see red as he was forced to resort to, literally, strong-arm tactics to deal with the striker. Both players scored, Benteke with a superb opportunistic shot and Ivanovic with a powerful header from Lampard's pinpoint free kick. We know that we won't be competing with Chelsea in the table, so I'll concentrate on Villa. There were those, including me, who were looking for 3 plus points from them this season. We might still do it but it will be one hell of a battle if we do. They have frightening pace, a tremendous goalscorer who also creates, they are organised, physical and don't stop running and tackling. If they can consistently turn in these sort of performances, they will be in the mix at the upper end of the table and, in my opinion, were well worth a draw against Chelsea. That they didn't could well be down to yet another example of a top team being favoured by benevolent officials. As it is, they scored the only open play goal of the game conceding a set piece and an unlucky own goal. I just hope that we don't have to play Villa after a midweek Europa game. If we do, my fear is that they will just power us off the park with their fresher legs. Looks like we'll have our work cut out, though, whenever we play them.
If they are that dirty them I'm sure Canas and Jonjo are more than capable of matching fire with fire.
That sounds like Ivor came to the same conclusion then Yeah, they will be a handful that's for sure. The manager comes across as a right aggressive twat as well so its obviously ingrained in his team, hopefully Arsenal bid £35m for benteke and he forces the move through! They put the willies up Chelsea on their own turf and they wont have a problem dealing with us that's for sure. When you consider there are teams like stoke,cardiff,norwich and villa that have that big strong approach to football it narrows down the possibiblity of away wins. I think its important for us to realise that anything below 100% against these kinds of teams will result in a loss, I hope the Man utd game had the desired effect and focussed the minds of the players. I also hope that the more educated fans realise that they will need to be that 12th man, the last thing we need is us fans thinking we have a devine right to prem football because we pass it around better than most! I feel we must get our underdog status back a little bit,im never comfortable with us being expected to do well!
Let's face it we have a team in which a lot of players are 'fancy dans'. I know that sounds like an over the top criticism but I don't mean it to be. Canas, Chico and possibly Williams (at times) are the exceptions. Bony possibly but too early to say. That's just the way it is. We generally have very technical players who aren't physical. Even bigger players like Ki don't like the contact side of the game and it's a part of our team that's a weakness for sure. Players also look bigger than they really are when you see them on the field of play. I've met De Guzman and was shocked at how small he was. Met Jonjo in Tesco's last week and he's very tall but not beefy. Lastly, spoke to Pablo at the gym (his English is rubbish) on Monday and I've seen 14 year olds that are bigger.... and we've got a couple of players smaller than him. As you say it's going to be very tough against the likes of Villa this season.
Well if we don't know how to play the Norwich, and Scunies of this world, then we never will, both Chico and Willams are well capable of putting hard tackles in, and I'm sure Cannes is as well from what I've seen, and I'm pretty sure Shelvey has a hard game in him, so lets see how it goes, not going to be an easy season I know, but we do have a lot more goals in us this season, with Bony up front, our secret to playing these type of teams will be down to how hard we can hit them early, there's nothing like a few early goals, to take the wind out of their sails, as we found out last Saturday, we will be fine in my view!......
Seems that a number of teams are beefing up for this season. Villa is an obvious example; Di Canio has been putting his Sunderland players through the hoop; Stoke, already physical, will continue to be more so under Hughes; Norwich have always been fit and up for a physical battle, whilst Southampton have got plenty of muscle to supplement their skill. We also know what to expect from Sam's West Ham and Fulham have bought in some spice. Add the three promoted clubs who will probably rely more on strength than skill and we are looking at some bruising games ahead. As everyone knows I have always said that we need more physicality in the team. Canas and, to a lesser extent, Shelvey, have helped but we need more. I was disappointed with Shelvey against Man Utd, promising in patches but little sign of his driving play. Perhaps he had been weakened by his virus. The rest of our midfield would probably struggle physically against the German women's team - an exaggeration but I'm sure you get my drift. Trouble is, Laudrup played for footballing teams that had players of world class ability who could outplay the bruisers whatever they tried. Our footballing players are not at that level and cannot do that. I'm not concerned about relegation but we would have an easier ride if we had a couple more players who can dish it out when required.
I have a feeling that this season is going to be much tougher than last season and we won't finish as high as we all think,
So if you can't match them for talent and technique then pound them into submission by being faster, stronger and having stamina to do it for 90. The only way to combat this is to literally be faster mentally and in tempo and keep the ball moving. Over-time chasing shadows will take its toll. It also means to not lose possession with sloppy passes in the final third - i.e. we retain possession as a priority, move the ball and make them chase it for minutes on end. We don't have to make the "killer" pass on every move into the final third, but we must be focused and disciplined. And it means that at the back, when the other team does get possession that we don't lose our shape and make bone-head moves like we did on the first two goals with United. I agree on Shelvey. He was not up to what I had expected to see. I don't know if that was because he was up against a totally different calibre of player with United versus the preseason / Malmo opposition or he was just off his game. Time will tell - but I think Ki looked more the part when he came on. Anyway early in the season, more maturing and polishing as a group to come, October will be the time to reflect.
Agree. its a little bit like we could possibly fall between two stools if we beef up too much and lose the technical edge. our players are great at keeping the ball but there is no doubt under Laudrup getting it forward quicker and faster has taken over from keep ball,nothing wrong with that and I think we needed to speed things up and try or more goals but by playing this way we also chase a lot more ball and get done on the break a lot more. I looked at the previous game and where our full backs were mostly spending time and its generally in the oppositions half,this pulls our centre halfs around a bit more and teams exploit rangels lack of pace and quickly fill those empty spaces. Villa play on the counter and its a tactic that will work well for them, our strength is in making the opposition tire by making them chase the ball for longer periods , we need to be careful we don't over expose our defenders too much as we all know they can blow hot and cold and arnt great at defending one on one. We played some great football against Man utd and I believe after our difficult first few fixtures we can start getting some points on the board but I truly believe this is going to be one of the hardest premier leagues ever ! If we as fans can lower our expectations of the team a little bit and turn every home game into a major battle then we will do ok, but there is a level of expectancy creeping in with some supporters and that will lead to negative energy on the terraces when playing fellow mid/lower league teams. I almost think some fans expect us to beat the Aston Villa type teams easily, after seeing them the other day id say they are top 8, Southampton are another cracking looking side and I also can see them doing well. Its a long season and things can change fast ,our focus needs to be 100% or we will find it a long hard slog this year.
Trouble is, Yankee, when the possession is in front of the oppo. Teams started to work us out and they DIDN'T chase the ball and wear themselves out. They just sat back, shuffled around filling in spaces and marking our players until we eventually tried the killer pass to get a scoring opportunity. Organised teams can do that all day without getting tired. I think the first thing every manager of any team that plays us says to his players is: "Don't chase the ball like headless chickens. Mark your man, fill the spaces, keep your shape until the move breaks down, then hit them fast on the counter". We need players who can beat their man and take him out of the game to create gaps behind the oppo defence. We have them in Routledge, Dyer and Pablo but they don't do it consistently enough. Perhaps Pozuelo will do it when he gets to grips with the game over here.
Agree with you, Dai. I still think our squad is too thin to compete in four competitions and I can see us in about 14th/15th spot. Without the Europa taking its toll on our legs, anywhere from 8th to 11th. There again, the lads might surprise us all and exceed all our expectations.
I can see us throwing the cup competitions this season and concentrating on the EL and PL. Also we have strength in depth beyond anything I have seen as a Swansea fan so I am very confident of another top 10 finish and a good run in Europe, especially if we can get another striker and centre half or two
That's my point Valley. You say: ESPECIALLY IF WE CAN GET ANOTHER STRIKER AND A CENTRE HALF OR TWO. We do need more players and I'm sure that Michael is working on it - particularly the striker option. I'd swap one of the centre backs you mention in exchange for a hard-running athletic midfielder who can compete with the "bully boys" that many other teams seem to be recruiting.
I think that Canas and Jonjo are more than capable of doing this. However, there is talk that Ki could be on his way to Sunderland on loan, so maybe ML is looking to shift one or two in this area before bringing in this type of midfielder. Was also hoping that we would have had that second striker in by now, unless he has decided to go with Donnelly.
We need a couple of tall defenders if we are going to compete in the premiership plus another striker. I wish he would play Tremmel instead of vorm also against the bigger teams..
