Shelvy needs to learn how to put his laces through the ball when shooting mun. I said who ever scored first would win but we had plenty of chances to score. 3 points wasted by not putting good chances away .
I didn't expect to get anything from this game, and warned my boys we would lose before we kicked off! Southampton were not 7th for nothing, and I knew they would hit us hard and fast, and press us high up to test our shaky defense, and it worked. It's then so easy for teams to sit back behind the ball and watch us huff and puff to find the net, we really are becoming so dependable at the moment, and with no bite in front of goal, I hope that Bony starts to earn his keep, though saying that we must be one of the worst teams for service to him in the box!.................... Well done Southampton, you have shown how easy it is to tuck the Swans up!....................
such a frustrating and predictable game, we always struggle against sides like Southampton but we should have got something out of that game with all those chances. Michu is looking well off his best too many clever touches that arent coming off. why wasnt Vasquez brought on when we were chasing the game?
Unlucky lads but a good game and you had your chances. Our defence is just awesome atm. That's 5 clean sheets on the bounce. Good luck for the rest of the season but I'm pretty certain you'll be top half!
tbh lamby your defence was awful, our players were worse, we should have had 3 at least. good win for you guys and good luck for the season
Sorry but Southampton were Mr average . The only reason they had that win was because we cannot defend properly . They had a wonderful spell in the first 15 mins of the game but when we finally woke up we looked by far the better team, unfortunately for us they wernt giving away any free goals and we were. If the defence doest sort itself out we wll struggle this season, that's how concerned I am by the level of defending im seeing on a consistant basis, Amat will get better Chico needs to start playing like a centre half and not an X -box footballer , he is really starting to piss me off . The boys overall did very well and I have no problem with tactics,selction or general play but if we keep getting done by long balls and lazy man marking then we will be consigned to a relegation scrap. its one thing to play and control the football but you must learn to keep the ****ing thing out of the net. Vorm is in cruise control and needs either a move away or a kick up the arse! he has lost a yard since his injury and while not at fault for the goals I feel the vorm of a few seasons back would have saved at least one maybe both of those goals. We are seeing great keeper displays by all the teams except the Swans, if I was trammel id be thinking what the **** must I do to get a game here in the prem league ! Vorm and Chico need to knuckle down and earn their wages.
I should add, congrats to Southampton for tucking the chnces away, I felt they were gifted but you still have to score them. forget champions league though you look not much better than us and currently id rate us as being lucky to get a top half finish . Your defence was helped by some iffy finishing though good luck for the rest of the season
Think you do your team a MASSIVE disservice there , Boruc saved us several times , if you had got it back to 1-1 , who knows what would have happened today . Good luck for MOST of the rest of the season .
Criticising Vorm when he had no chance for either goal seems a little off. Our CBs were were both nothing short of atrocious today. Canas wasn't much better. 2 goals gift-wrapped against an average Saints team who, after scoring, stuck 10 men behind the ball and didn't create much at all. I couldn't watch that every week. Bony must be wondering what he's bought into with us. We haven't got a single player who can cross the ball well consistently. Build up play was excellent at times but the final ball non-existent. Must improve but I still think we'll be top half and Saints won't maintain their current lofty and rather false position.
That wasn't my point. For the home team Saints were impotent up front and had to be gifted two goals from a shocking defensive display. Other Prem teams won't do that. We bossed the game and played really well at times but poor crossing / finishing was the difference. Not particularly impressed by Southampton but you won. That's football.
Heh, I don't think that anyone thinks that we're getting near CL this year. Not even the manager nor the players...the media hasn't quite caught on that it's a long-term ambition. Good luck for the remainder of the year; once your lineup is settled, you'll be into the top half in short order.
I think Vorm is trading on past glories KJ I don't see any major effort coming from him like I saw a few seasons back, don't you remember how many lost cause saves he made and how many points he earned us because of that ? He has built his rep on reflex saves but I aint seen any of that for a long time sorry to say ever since he got injured in fact . I actually thought our crossing was better today ! though still a bit ****, if we feed Bony with ball in the right areas we will score goals, I do feel for him and thought his hold up game is getting better the more he plays. Its not panic stations just yet but I do think some of our players think they are the dogs bollocks and arnt putting in the massive effort sometimes. Playing when being 0-1 down leaves us a lot to do. Southampton considering the money they spent look mid table at best, I would agree that they will finish above us as their defence doesn't seem to gift goals to the opposition and ours does . Man utd 2 gifts,spurs gift,liverpool 2 gifts,arsenal 1 gift,southampton 2 gifts That **** cant go on in this league, if it does then we are fighting relegation not top half !
Disappointing, not with the general play because overall we deserved a draw but I do accuse our team of a lack of professionalism. I say this with regard to a number of factors. Firstly, our crossing is atrocious. No player who earns his living as a footballer should be as collectively bad as we are at what is a BASIC skill. I'm not just talking about the wide players, I mean ANYBODY on the pitch should be able to cross a decent ball into a dangerous area when they have the time and space to do it. It's a disgrace that we are so bad at it and I reckon you could dip into the LOW and find a dozen players who could do it better than our lot. Player's responsibility to improve. Secondly, our shooting is rank. Are our players afraid to hit the ball? Some of our shots today resembled a pass to their keeper. Either that, or hopelessly off target. We know that Bony can hit them but we lack the ability to play him into a shooting position. The poor guy must be as frustrated as hell. He battles away up front and all our midfielders do is serve him up with half-chances. Player's responsibility to improve. Thirdly is our ridiculous insistence on playing tight passes in dangerous areas in our third of the pitch. Many of the shots given away on target are self inflicted because we lose the ball when a bloody great hoof is called for. Oh, sorry, I apologise to some because I used the dreaded "H" word. But any player, manager or coach will tell you that there are times you play football and times you DO NOT!! I don't give a toss about team ethic, or building a passing reputation, this is about being professional enough to play the percentages. They must also learn that the non-contact tight passing routines used in training, do not fully equip them to deal with hard tackling opponents hell bent on winning the ball in a match situation. Laudrup's responsibility, perhaps, but the players must learn when to play and when not to. Fourthly, physical strength. Our fitness levels should be OK but a number of our players need to beef up - hit the weights if they have to. I'm sick and tired of seeing them eased or bumped off the ball with little or no effort. Even Bony, who's a big, muscular unit, goes to ground a lot but I think it's more a question of balance with him, the places on the pitch he receives the ball and the fact that he is usually battling the opponent's bigger lumps. But, as a team, we look a little too delicate for my liking, a touch too fragile. Player's responsibility to improve but perhaps Laudrup should have more influence here. As a player, he relied on skill, balance and quickness of thought and foot. He also played in a league that was nothing like as physical as this one. But he should be mindful that he was unique. None of our players can ever hope to emulate what he did and some of them are not as good as they like to imagine they are. Skill and talent comes from the womb and can only be improved by so much: but strength comes from the gym and ANYONE can vastly improve by using it a lot more often. For me, it's down to the players. I think they should be putting in extra work, quite apart from the usual training, in crossing, shooting and strength work. If they are not self-disciplined enough to do it themselves then I think that Laudrup should make them do it. It is their job after all. They get paid a pretty penny to do it and it is their responsibility to be as well prepared as possible in ALL aspects of the game.
NJ: Wasn't having a go. Just think that singling out Vorm when after that performance you have much more material to work with elsewhere (ie: worse performance ever from Chico whilst Amat and Canas weren't much better) is curious. Vorm had little to do today and had no chance for either goals imo. Ivor: agree with most of that, particularly the lack of crossing ability in our players. Frustrating as hell.
Yes KJ I understand what you r saying Vorm is just one of many that have been slowly lowering standards IMO . Chico is another and lately Rangel and Dyer too, though Dyer has got through this and has been back to his best these last few games. Ben davies is costing us goals too and its his basic defending skills that are being found wanting not his effort . Canas did ok for me, but was nullified by that yellow card that wasn't a yellow card, I thought he did well and tried to push us on when he could . Shelvey is a total enigma , if I was given the choice between him and huddlestone id have taken the later I think, sometimes he seems to be on another planet ! he will come good but is very frustrating sometimes. I feel we are pretty much in the same boat as previous seasons, not quite strong enough,not quite fast enough not quit clinical enough ! things need to improve and im guessing a bad run against the likes of Sunderland and it will be crisis time ! We cant carry on being so wishy washy ,something needs to give
This was always going to be a tough fixture and I think the St Gallen fixture three days before definitely took it's toll. Having said that we have to be more clinical in front of goal. Sh*t happens, we have got a break with a chance to regroup, and move on from there
I don't see the St Gallen game have any bearing on this really. We had enough of the game,after the **** start we made we had enough to come away with a win or draw,not a 0-2 reverse. If anything we were looking very good , it was poor defensive errors that cost us the game not tiredness ! The performances arnt shocking and we are playing some goo stuff but as I said before we cant keep giving the opposition easy fooking goals! its happening far too often for it to be a coincidence , last team I saw play goos stuff and made error after error at the back was Blackpool under hollaway and they got relelgated because of it ! We are falling inbetween two stools a little bit, we are neither strong going forward or strong at the back, we need to get some points but we need to make sure we don't keep playing like total fannies at the back. Id drop Chico if Ash is fit next game, as others have mentioned lets get Amat alongside ash and see how he does, chico is starting to piss me off big time now, he has gone from being my favourite player to somebody that is everything bad with a modern footballer, all bullshit and no substance! He needs to get back to fighting for everything and defending for his life not show boating ,rolling around on the floor ,trying to get other players booked and swaning off up field trying to score bicycle kicks on every corner! **** me if he tried to header the ball from a set piece now and again he may get the glory he coverts so much !!
