RS has a point though , yes I am over the moon where we are , yes it is great , but we NEED to score more given the chances we are getting , I am fairly certain it will happen , bur sooner rather than later please !
Agree. Osvaldo still looks a bit off the pace and Rodriguez is struggling as well. I thought we looked stronger once Lambert was on but he didn't have any chances.
Did we really create more chances? We had more shots but that doesn't necessarily equate to more chances. Osvaldo had a good chance and Clyne's was decent but beyond that I'm struggling to think of many. As I said before I was getting distracted when I watched but I'm pretty sure we didn't fluff a bunch of easy chances.
Exactly, good comment. The stats might have looked good in our favor but they had the clearer chances.
77% pass completion, which doesn't sound great but compares fairly well with Schneiderlin's 81%. Defensive stats are impeccable: 4/4 tackles won, 3/3 aerial duels won. It's interesting to note that all our attacking midfielders (Lallana, Rodriguez and Davis) have higher pass completion rates than the two midfielders. James Ward-Prowse's 93% pass completion rate (the highest of anyone in the team) is particularly impressive.
100% pass rate going sideways and backwards for both Schneiderlin and Wanyama so it shows the passes they aren't completing are perhaps the more ambitious ones forwards.
These stats are interesting but they don't always tell the whole story. Wanyama's passes seem to go astray when he is trying to be creative and get the ball forwards. Sideways and backwards he is fine! It does make JWP and the rest of the attacking mids' stats look good though when you must assume that many of those passes would have some attacking intent.
Yes indeed, it's interesting to note that Wanyama and Schneiderlin both made many more forward passes than any of the more attacking players. A lot of that could of course be down to their deeper position on the pitch, but it seems they may have been specifically tasked with playing the more difficult balls.
Anyone that still wants cork in the side over Wanyama clearly wasn't at the game yesterday. Wanyama is an absolute tank and he helped us dominate the midfield. Fellaini and Carrick are two very good midfielders, and Wanyama was easily their equal. I'm sick of people saying "his passing is rubbish" because it's simply not true. He tries more through balls than Morgan, which obviously have more chance of getting cut out. But when he tries these passes it's when the team is set up correctly so it doesn't matter too much if he loses it. I'm sick of people slating him, he is absolutely immense. Osvaldo was poor, but he is still finding his feet in the premier league though. When lambert came on, he added the attacking edge that we missed, his link up play is incredible.
I had nothing against going for pace against Manu but that's why Lambert is key his link up play he doesn't have to score but if he does its a bonus!
Schneiderlin chasing down Welbeck for me. Welbeck was fresh, had a head start, and most would consider him the quicker of the two. Didn't matter, because Schneiderlin cared more.
Osvaldo had a couple of decent chances, and Morgan made himself a chance too which is part of the reason I object to this rather odd assumption we have a negligible attacking threat (particularly when we sit at 5th). If there's anything moronic being said, it's that we have no attacking flair, or players capable of unlocking a defence. This is the same group of attackers that were so free scoring previously, with the addition of an Italian international striker (who is finding his feet). Defences have wised up to some of our play, and as you can see across the league, things have tightened up all round. Credit to us for creating 4 or 5 chances against the league champions away from home. Here's a stat for you - Van Persie has oy scored 5 times from open play in the last 20 games. Going by some on here, that makes him poor and his team incapable of providing an attacking threat. Yet in the same sentence they're being lauded for having what we don't. Excuse me for questioning that. Here's another stat. We've scored more goals than Tottenham. Do they not have any players capable of unlocking a defence either? I repeat, we're in a solid 5th place in the division.
When Lambo came on the first thing that I noticed was that his first touch control was so much better than JRods, where the ball seemed to bounce away each time he received it, whereas with Rickie it "stuck". Just a thought.
4 or 5? You have a very generous definition of 'chance'! For me the only clear chance we had in the game was Osvaldo's weak shot. The others were all half-chances at best, and even that is generous for the Schneiderlin example.
Their attack is so good on paper but I think they're going to struggle for goals. AVB had trouble unlocking defences last season.
