Maguire was excellent. He should have been marking Mertesacker at the corner, he probably wouldn't have been as pathetic in his attempt to defend against him as Davies. Maguire also put in some crunching tackles, which is good to see. I particularly liked the one on Alexis in the penalty area - perfectly timed and took a good chunk of Alexis with him.
Also, how did Coqualin or whatever his name stay on the pitch, his first was bad enough, but the second real leg breaker. Sanchez an all, looked at Davies raked his studs right down his shin on on his foot.
Shocking how much Davies and Huddlestone have declined this season, another encouraging performance today despite the result and Bruce is right to prioritise the league even if it hurts at times
Another interesting thing I noticed about Maguire was that when he was on the ball and his team mates told him to pass it back to Harper, he instead looked up and pushed on with a run or a solid pass. That's what we need.
Yes has soon has i so the team with Aluko and sagbo up front i knew it would be a struggle. Aluko always comes deep looling for the ball and Sagbo is simply not good enough. I don't think its a bad thing us going out of the cup with our league position and today highlighted the fact that when our first choice forward line are out then we have no back up. for me Quinn, Macshane and Maguire did really well
I felt like we didn't give a damn about the cup, we looked as if we had lost the game before it even started. No passion, we didn't attack them. I understand we needed to change the team as they where tired and injured, but we showed against Everton we can attack teams and press them higher up the pitch but it was like we forgot all our lessons.
Mcshane was positive too even if he is the wrong guy to be on the ball at times but then you are looking at him doing what Huddlestone should be doing, trying to have an impact on the game
Why? Because our reserves lost to Arsenal? We weren't great today but I'd expect a different team against WBA. Pessimistic twat.
I noticed that too. Davies was waving at him to pass back, but instead he surged forward and started an attack... Davies could learn something there.
Well, our reserves + Davies + Hudd lost to Arsenal reserves + Sanchez + Mertesacker. No shame in that but the frustrating thing is that we could have quite easily drawn or won that game with a bit more ambition.
City, especially Aluko, seem to play the game as if it's a hybrid of rugby and basketball. I.e. They stop as soon as they receive the ball, and only pass sideways and backwards. Brady pisses me off. He plays like that kid we all knew at school, who once had a trial with North Ferriby and so thinks he's the dog's ballbag. He can't cross and he scores about once a season. And he's a winger, in case you'd forgotten. Quinn and Maguire were excellent today, but otherwise it was the same old turd. We play some decent football at times, but it's mostly between the defenders and our so-defensive-they're-basically-extra-centre-halves midfielders. This gives the illusion that we've actually contributed to the game. "I thought we were well beaten today. We didn't come close to scoring" "What about that brilliant 30-pass move in the first-half? That was really something" "Yeah, but it was on the edge of our area and 15 of those passes were to Harper"
McShane looked like his rest did him the world of good. Maguire is a beast. Quinn was great. Huddz....not so much. Ince shows some potential. We looked better when Hernandez came on. I hope that's the last time I see Harper playing for us. And Sagbo. Funniest moment was a young lad, about 8 or 9 screaming "SHE fell over!!" Over and over like it was the worst insult ever. Ahhhh the simplicity of youth. I miss that.
Why Harper, happy? He pulled off some great saves. In fact he probably deserves to be in the MOM top 3.
He's too old and yeah,ok, but that was not a great Arsenal team. He just doesn't fill me with confidence and I'd rather have fond memories of him.
Brilliant!! I'd also add, you want to smack him because he frustrates the **** out of you with his Ronaldo step overs he tries and he gives the ball away so so easily. If your playing against him you'd go through him like the ****s whilst he's in mid stepover then for the rest of the game he'd just pass you the ball
Ambition or effort? To me there was only, at best, half the team that could be arsed today! Oh and I'd love to have Walcott in our reserves
Harper did really well. He's far more solid than Jakupovic, and he does some things better than McGregor.
