4-1 was harsh on us yesterday. The defence was up against an in-form Aguero who's one of the best strikers in the world and Hugo had to be on form to bail them out but Hart also had to bail City out in a match that could have quite easily ended 4-4 or bloody 6-6 had the keepers not been as impressive as they were. The ref put in one of the worst refereeing displays I'd seen in years, it was appalling and what annoys me is that if we complain, we get fined while the ref gets off Scott free. Fazio's mistake was not a sending off, a pen yes but not a red. Lampard fell at the slightest bit of contact, for me no pen. On replay I think our penalty was actually a freekick as I think the challenge was made outside of the box. Every time a City player fell over the ref was quick to award them a freekick. Hugo, Mason and Eriksen were superb. Lamela was woeful, Capoue had his worst game of the season and as I said already the defence didn't themselves much justice but any backline would've struggled against Aguero yesterday. 4-1 suggests City dominated us but they really didn't (in my opinion), we put in an impressive attacking display and had Soldado not f**ed up his penalty and Hart not had a good game, we may well have left with a point (at least!) yesterday. A world class striker and a c**t of a ref was the real difference.
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Third choice right back. Naughton started the game before and I'm sure he'd have started today. Still, that's why we've got a big squad so it's no excuse.
At the end of the day City away is the toughest fixture for every team on the calendar. As crazy as it will sound Pochettino tactically got the better of Wenger and Pellegrini for me but you can't legislate for individual errors, soft penalties conceded and missed penalties.
Not starting dzeko yaya zabaleta mangala fernandinho and kolorov to rest them for the CL played a part in my opinion,we looked very disjointed at times. Not a fan of either Sagna or Clichy,both are very limited offensivly and get caught out positionally when we play a high line which Spurs exploited very well
The depth City have is unrivalled. People have said Chelsea have the best squad now but that's way off the Mark IMO. I think our first XI is definitely comparable to yours but beyond that there's not the same kind of depth. If you lost Silva there's Nasri, if you lost Aguero there's Dzeko, same with nearly every position. I still maintain City could beat any team in this league at home bar Chelsea with ease & without 3/4 key players + in 2nd gear.
Certainly with Wenger but against City we got it wrong in terms of giving ourselves the best chance of getting something out of the game. I'm not entirely sure why Vertonghen didn't start but if it wasn't because of a knock then Pochettino got that wrong, City don't put in enough crosses for Kaboul and Fazio to dominate. All in all we set up to attack and that plays into City's jands because of how many top attackers they have. I don't hold that against Pochettino as I'll never be disappointed about a loss if we go out there and try to score goals against top sides but I think we'd have been better off sitting back in numbers and defending narrowly. As you say though, it's one of the most difficult games you'll play in a season and I'm pleased with how well we got forward and caused them problems. Really? I think they're both good and Clichy is much better than Kolorov imo. I thought your problem was that in general you didn't pick up our runners very well. Every time Mason made a run your midfielders seemed to try and pass him off but the defence wasn't set up for it.
"The opening goal was offside, the first penalty was wrong, the second penalty was correct, our penalty was just outside the box and their third was a penalty but not a red." Fat Frank dived. Soldado was not in the box. The two penalty misses righted the wrongs, but poor officiating all the same. The Fazio one was soft but he is supposed to be an old hand so should have known better not to offer any contact whatsoever to the opposing player in that position.
Or 4th. No team is far off any position after 8 games. We've seen certain red and white North London teams handed the title in February, only to finish 10 points adrift in May. Very early days indeed, BS9
Are you suggesting West Ham may be relegated and QPR could be CL bound?Now wouldn't that be something?Harry would get a knighthood for that one!
Really is nothing in it at the moment bar Chelsea at the top. A 6-point swing can take you from relegation to a Europa position and also another 6-point swing can take you from 12th to a Champions League spot. The top two speak for themselves, they're the strongest teams/ squads in the league and it's hard to look past either for a top two finish come the end of the season. Soton and West Ham have had great starts, they've both made what seems to be quality signings in Pelle & Tadic and Sakho & Valencia respectively but I think they're just one or two injuries away from a collapse as they're squad's seem fairly small, of course though if they do remain injury-free which is a possibility, both could be the surprise packages of the season. Liverpool are scraping wins and I can't believe we somehow managed to lose 3-0 to them as they've been woeful and pretty much lucky in every other game I've seen. Utd look great going forward but absolute dog-s**t at the back. Us and Arsenal haven't found consistency yet and with us, Poch is still trying to find his best XI while having to deal with two misfiring strikers. I think it's going to be an interesting season, teams you'd expect to see in the bottom half are capable of signing players good enough for European-chasing sides which in return are catapulting them up the table therefore creating a lot more competition for the more desired places and so the "bigger" sides aren't walking over the smaller ones like they would a couple of seasons back. Makes the league more exciting but also a lot more tougher to reach your season's targets.
That's about right. I try not to shift the terms of the debate too often, and therefore am still stuck on the question of whether we're playing better football (which was the major criticism of the team last year). So far the answer is yes IMO, much better. I've just watched two straight high wire acts where both teams played ambitious and exciting football. I don't recall that happening last year. The buildup was downright quick against Man City, as compared to ponderously slow under AVB. Of course, if you try to pass the ball forward ambitiously, you'll lose the ball more, and we are. That goes with the territory, though it should get a bit better over time. The bigger problem, as everyone has pointed out, is that we aren't scoring enough. 19 shots, 8 on target should equal more than one goal. I actually think the goals will come, as everyone gets more comfortable with their roles. But I've been wrong before.
......and another season goes by with our goal difference just awful.Seems every season is the same,these days.
Agree with all that - we ARE playing more exciting football. But, as you say, the problem is goals. As it has been for a couple of seasons. I've previously criticised this team for lacking players with that bit of magic about them (I said at the time that we have Eriksen and Adebayor and it's hard to justify the latter's inclusion in that list of two nowadays). But who, in our squad is a goalscorer? Eriksen and, er, um...Jesus - I still think that Chadli looks a way off being a really decent Prem player but I think I'd have money on him to score over almost anyone else in the team. If you look at our team then, aside from CB goals from corners and free-kicks, the only people we can expect to get into and utilise goal-scoring opportunities are whichever striker's playing and the "front 3" midfielders. One of those is Lamela. Bentaleb might get a couple a season and looks to have an eye for a shot, Capoue looks horrible in front of goal. Basically we are relying on Lamela (done sod all in the Prem and never looks like scoring), Chadli, Eriksen and one of our non-scoring strikers. Let's hope Danny Rose, as one of our best current players, starts finding his goal-scoring boots. Or Lloris.
It literally is just Eriksen and Chadli at the moment, Kane might be added to the list if he gets a few League starts, he's scored in all but one Cup game this season I think so I really don't see why Poch has continuously overlooked him for a start, especially after his strong finish to last season. Mason is a good striker of the ball, he was utilised as a striker at times in his earlier days so he'll have an eye for goal and was actually unlucky not to score on Saturday but Hart spread himself well. I think in January, the striking issue has to be addressed, for me, one striker needs to go and one needs to come in. I'd opt for Soldado to go and chase someone like Bony or even push the boat for someone like Higuain? It's a slim chance but he's a top class striker who's reportedly unhappy, he hasn't had a great start to the season but there's no doubting his credentials as one of the best finishers in Europe. Doumbia of CSKA could be another option, he's not playing in one of the best league's but his goal ratio at club level is fantastic, could be like another Pelle/ Bony.
The big name is less important than someone who actually fits the system. Soldado was a "big name" but his style is totally unsuited to us. I'd be happy if we picked up a sort of Berba/Pelle signing. Someone most of us haven't really heard of for say £10m but that actually suit us.
