If we get a penalty, they could save time by just awarding a goal and prevent possible damage to the keeper should he be foolish enough to try and get in the way. If we get a penalty.... (sigh).
It's an accurate summary. Though I have to add something. We're not very blessed with attacking options in the team at the moment. In fact, Gallagher is the only forward we have on the bench. So when we're struggling to score or create chances, one wants to see if he can make a change, rather than stick with that which hasn't worked by that point in the match.
He's bulked up a lot over the last year. Morgan said he didn't recognise him when he came back (in the untranslated second half of the interview posted the other day). However, we can't expect every single player who comes out of the academy to be as sorted as Lunk and Calum on day one. I hope he makes it. Vin
It also belies the "no plan B" comment when your manager is prepared to take off a midfielder and bring on an attacker when drawing away from home. Vin
There seems to be a bit of a pattern to our games. We generally dominate in the first half. Sometimes we dominate to our detriment because the defense gets pinned back and then we lose the long pass to Rodriguez option. And we haven't been able to consistently score in other ways. Sometimes it's lack of finishing, sometimes it's poor crossing, sometimes we just pass and pass and pass and never challenge. So something needs to be improved there for sure. But the other thing is, we are not as good in the second half. At the end of the game, people bemoan how we dominated possession and took more shots, etc. but a lot of times we really only dominate the first half, and the second half is fairly even. So we didn't control the game quite as thoroughly as the ending stats might indicate. And then everyone says well we need to finish our chances and bury them early. Which is true, but it's not the only option. We also need to play a full 90 minutes. When the defense is packed in, of course you won't score quite as efficiently. You need a bunch of chances. Today Lambert fluffed one, Lallana had a bad bounce/bad touch and just a tiny bit of lack of pace, and Guzan stole one. All in the first half. If we'd had three more chances like that, one of them would have gone in. But in the second half, we faded a bit and it was much more back and forth. I think it might be due to players getting tired. Or opposing teams seeing how they were dominated in the first half and making a couple switches to shore up the defense and maybe play for the draw. Either way, some depth from the bench would help. But I also think there's something else missing. Don't know what, but MP needs to sort it out. The effort is still there, but the performance drops. Maybe it's just a matter of confidence or experience. Or some subtle tactical switch we can make. I can't figure it out but if we could play in the second half-- even if it's just until 75 minutes or so-- like we do in the first, we would have a lot more points.
I am sorry to sound blunt but the bit about playing for 90 minutes is so naive. In a sport like football, the other team will always have some time or moments of dominance, so forgive me, but unless I've missed your point somewhere, "not playing for 90 minutes" doesn't makes sense.
Having been at work today I have only seen the score. I attended last week against Cardiff and would like to know the following: - Was there any more enthusiasm/drive/determination this week? - Did we manage to pass the ball forward rather than side to side? - Did we have any shots from outside the six yard box?
I will add this is all in good taste, ie sarcasm. I'm quite content with this season, but we've dropped so many points as opposed to games last season. Compared to last season we've dropped: - 5pts v Villa - 3 v Chelsea - 3 v Liverpool Etc
In line with RickieLambertsGoldenShower (oops, Boot) postings, I've realised that if we had won all the games we didn't this year, we'd be champions.
