A game of football is like the weather over the British Isles. You have low-pressure systems crossing the Atlantic fighting for dominance with the high-pressure systems from the continental land mass. If high-pressure (Swansea City) dominates we get nice calm beautiful weather where we all feel good with ourselves, but when low-pressure dominates (Hull and opposition generally), we get wet, windy and stormy weather and we don't like it. Occasionally, when conditions are right (Arsenal come to town) we get a big dump of snow and although its cold we still have a bit of fun too.
I know there are planks on every board it just wound me up tbh. I agree with the under cosh in the second half but tbf McGregor only had 1 save to make all the match as far as I can recall. If it was a foul on Chico, was it done by a tickling stick? That incident was truly cringe-worthy, is that something he does a lot? I actually said to my mates, this is'nt Swansea cause you are normally quite slick. Anyway, we move on. On a change of topic. Next summer I will on holiday around the South Wales area. Can you recommend any good places to visit?
Kinell aswan - you're not Cantona are you? We'll be having zee seagulls following zee trawler bit in a minute..........
A few weeks ago, Elmohamady had a penalty given against him for the ball spinning off his leg onto his arm when he was attempting to block the ball on the edge of the area. So, taking that as the norm, your player most certainly should have conceded a penalty. He virtually caught the ball. As for the hand-ball goal, it was whipped in so quick I don't think anybody saw his arm hit it. At the end of the day, I think u got the rub of the green and i believe everyman and his dog watching on Sky saw the same. So, we both got a point and we move on.
Why take that as the norm? Against West Ham we had a much more obvious hand ball denied - there is no norm. The ref last night gave hand ball only when the player made an obvious attempt to move his arm /hand towards the ball. He applied that across the field. What hand ball goal? Off Chico's thigh .. since when has a thigh been a hand? I thought only our cousins down the road and Norwich fans were affected by such levels of in-breeding! Get over it - Hull scored (well taken) but gifted goal and had one other attempt. Very average and could well be looking at the relegation part of the table come May.
A "very average" team that we couldn't beat. Haven't seen the footage again but it looked like a clear hand ball for Chico's goal. Possible ball to hand though. May well have been off is thigh don't know. Ref wouldn't have seen it either way. Tiendalli's was cut and dried . The ball wouldn't have got through him - it would have hit his chest. But it was a clear hand (two hands) to ball movement and intentional. I'd have been pissed off if we hadn't been given that if it was in reverse. We got out of jail and shouldn't be afraid to say so. As for visiting the area you can't go wrong with the Gower Peninsula. Rhossilli is one of my favourite places in the whole world. Do a Wiki and or Google Images search and you'll see what I mean.
I thought we played poorly. No zip to our passing, wanting too much time on the ball...on several occasions a player received the ball in a promising position, some space opened up with runners, and our guys would wait and wait and wait...then either give it away or have to pass backwards. Indecision, sub-standard. I thought Hull should be congratulated on a well executed plan and, on the few occasions they had the ball, retained possession reasonably well.... but let's not get too carried away with the praise. At the end of the day they came to stifle and suffocate, anti-football in hope of a point. Apart from the goal, which we handed on a plate to them (!), they only managed 1 shot on target...that excellent long distance half volley from Sagbo. The penalty could easily have been given but then so could a free-kick against Alex Bruce for "climbing all over" (the commentators words, not mine....perhaps the studio pundits didn't want to question Steve Bruce's son) Ben Davies...watch it on catch up, he has 2 hands on Davies' shoulders as he rises and meets the header. Maybe we got lucky but we'll need another handful of them to even up the decisions that have gone against us. At the end of the day we're the only Prem team who have dominated the ball in all of their fixtures. This usually leads to more control and more chances so we'll be alright. What would help us to break down these teams who come for the point is a genuine left footer on the left wing and Bony up front with Michu in behind. Anyone else think that in the right kind of game we should experiment with Ben Davies on the wing with Taylor behind him? Would also like to see Hernandez play behind the striker when the circumstances suit....he was great there against the Baggies last season.....when he's on the left everybody knows he's looking to come inside and cross with his right, Routledge at least does go on the outside on occasion but always crosses with the outside of his right-foot. If we could get a left footed winger in January I think we'd look a lot more fluid in these type of games. Anyone want to make a bet with me? I reckon we'll beat Hull away when they're forced to have a go at us and now that Laudrup has had a good look at our attack v 3 centre-backs and 2 wing-backs.
It's at times like this, I'm glad I haven't got a season ticket, oh and guess who were the static traffic cones!...............
Well I'm sure Jenkins is disappointed that you haven't got a ST. Look, if we had played against better opposition (say Everton) like that away from home, stifling them and smothering their game whilst almost nicking all three points we'd have been delighted. It's not anti-football, it's playing to your strengths. They did that and deserved at least a draw. But I agree we were crap....or even double crap.
Thanks knackered, I agree to your views on the incidents of the game. Many thanks for the advice on your area.
I am well over 18. I don't apologise for the swearing. It was unacceptable what he did and this sort of thing is ruining the game. If I want to see acting I go to the cinema or theatre. Can you imagine if he had done that against Tommy Smith (Liverpool) or Ron Harris (Chelsea). They would have killed him in the next collision.
Terror, I disagree about Ben Davies on the wing. Yes, he's good going forward but he can't cross a ball for love nor money. In fact, given my own experience in the game, I would describe his ability in this regard as drastic. Quite how a professional footballer can be this bad at what is a BASIC skill, is beyond me. Look, I appreciate that crossing a ball on the run CAN be difficult (not if you've got talent though) and getting in a cross whilst holding off a challenge is really demanding. But I'm talking about situations where he has the time and the space to pick his cross. What usually happens? The ball is either cut out by the first defender or Ben balloons it out of play. Picking out one individual admittedly is difficult but putting the ball in a dangerous area where it can be attacked by the strikers is not. It really isn't. Even I could do it and I was a striker, not a winger. The other problem is that even when a cross eventually comes in (talking about others as well as Ben here), the quality is abysmal. The ball is too often chipped in with height giving the keeper and defenders all the time in the world to deal with it. Terrible. I would suggest that in this particular context, we must be about League 2 standard. Not just picking on Ben over this because not one of our players can consistently put a good ball into the box.
Correct. But Davies happens to be one of the better ones imo, though Taylor is better at it. Bearing in mind he's a full back I'd have thought that addressing the fact we have wingers who can't cross accurately much more of an issue.
Not as bad as most. Last night Davies was barracked for turning back and not crossing - Looking across to the penalty area it was obvious why - there was no one there. Why bother crossing when a) there is no one there b) if there is anyone there they can't head a ball decently (I think Dyer (5' 5" was the last player to score with a header) c) Other teams have defenders who are taller, jump higher and head better than our forwards
True, but I was specifically addressing Terror's point about Davies on the wing backed by Taylor. Good idea if Davies could cross - but he can't. I did go on to say that he's not on his own, that others are equally bad. Given that we do have specialist wingers who can't consistently cross the ball, that is of course a major issue - one that needs sorting NOW.
I wasn't talking about when he chooses NOT to cross (his game decision), I was saying that when he does, he's crap at it. And I mean crap. Others are equally bad as I've said.
Makes you wonder what they practice at training. Surly Laudrup has had them learning how to cross the bloody ball or at least stay behind after training to work on it.
I have seen nothing to suggest they ever practice crossing, we are for sure the worst team in terms of quality in that department. Every other team looks dangerous with their crosses, but our team is truly abysmal at it. There is no aim and no speed behind them, you can tell before the ball has even entered the box that it is off target or is going to be easily cut out.
