You can blame me for the shambles today lads. Mate of a mate of mine who's a doctor and was in a group that clubbed together for tickets got collared for emergency call at work today so I got the ticket
Oh come on mate, there's a whole host of CB's that are better than that wedge footed yard dog. To even suggest he's the best in the league should be enough to be sectioned
Start naming then....? As I say, I don't think he's the best but he has real potential and he's been very good defender most of the season. Now and then he'll make a mistake but his heading is top notch, strong in the tackle, good on the ball and composed, plenty of occasions where a defender will just whack it clear but he'll do a little Cruyff turn and lose the defender and give himself space to start an attack. Like I say, he's been very good in a season where there has been no standout CB.
Bum-****ery. Been on nights and watched the game in bed (under the covers for the first half hour, I'll tell you). No complaints, overall, about the result, and given how lucky we were against Soton and Swansea, we can hardly claim it wasn't coming. Did think it was more likely to come against Arsenal at The Emirates, but maybe it still will. Anyway, my ratings; Migs: 7 Faultless for both goals (despite what the commentators said about the first) and saved a pen. At least he didn't react like Gerrard when Rooney left one in on him. Can: 5 Beginning to get found out in that false position (for him), but looked even shakier when an out-and-out rb. Looked more comfortable in all senses when he occasionally broke forward. Put him alongside hendo in midfield for the rest of the season, and use Lovren in there. Skrtel: 5 Missed several interceptions in the second half, and was bullied by Rooney just like he had been by Giroud earlier in the season. Sakho; 7 By a country mile he was our best defender, and if you actually watched the game you'd see that he give the ball away less than anyone else in defence or midfield. Again let down by a missing wing-back. Sterling; 5 Is he too 'big' now to play wing-back? Last season he bullied the **** out of Fellatio at OT: today he did everything he could to avoid him. Moreno: 3 At fault for both goals, give the ball away every time he touched it in the first half and is neither a lb nor wing-back; nor even the left-winger he seems to think he is. Allen: 4 Hard to jump on him after his performances in the last two games that hid overall weaknesses in the rest of the team, but he was dire. needless early booking then totally out-passed and out-tackled. hendo: 6 Almost as bad as Allen in the first half hour, and lacked composure in that first half when he had a few chances to set the ever-running Sturridge free. Somehow got twice as good when we went down to ten. Coutinho: 5 Tried his hardest in the first half, and was one of the few who actually kept hold of the ball when things were at their worst. Flitted in and out in the second half, but he can sometimes be a luxury player in situations like the second half. Lallana: 4 Never really does it in big games, for me, and playing him and Coutinho takes away a lot of our pressing up the field. Missed the best chance of the first half that would have seen us go in undeservedly level. Tit. Sturridge; 7 was everywhere making space, but rarely received the ball. Took his half chance well. deserved better service. Subs: gerrard; 0 Had he not reacted like a petulant child it would have been Herrera in spotlight for a studs-up, reckless challenge. No excuse with his experience. Be lucky to play anything other but last-ten-minute cameos now for the rest of his career. Mario: 5 Did shake thing up and gave United something to think about, but he too got himself ridiculously booked with almost his first touch. Brod; 5 don't blame him for sending gerrard on, and he was let down there. fact is though, in that first half hour united were putting together 30 and 40 touch moves without us getting a kick. He was lucky united seemed to react to the booking worse than we did, or it could have been biblical. team: 5 Not a lot to take from this except that we played better with 10 than 11, playing for 5th now unless we, by some miracle, we beat Arsenal. Not likely at all, is it?
Apart from Lallana, agree with all of that. Thought Lallana worked hard and kept the ball well but lacked options, he kept getting crowded out as a result.
Lallana was utter muck Oh and the only reason henderson looked good after sending off is he decided to run about like a headless chicken poty he forgot that while he was running about madly there was nobody bar Skertl left on the ball to pass it to the runs he was making
Too many went missing for us today, that's the bottom line, weak of mind or weak of body. Pressure tells and quite a few of ours got found out.
This is the funny thing - I keep saying Sakho is arguably the best in the league and I get pelters but no one can actually name any defenders who are better? You could argue the Soton lads are but they have the luxury of playing behind 2 boss midfielders. Terry is not the Terry of a few years ago and even then, he wasn't a patch on Carvalho, and Kompany is awful.
Whenever you praise Lallana, you always mention that he works hard. When someone mentions that a player works hard, that's admission that said player did sod all else. He got crowded because he kept slowing the play down and delaying the pass. It's what he does all the time. Keeping the ball is all well and good but you have to do something with it.
Just don't think he's a big game player. Was alright at a little club but here he's getting found out.
Yet again, you couldn't be more wrong C.Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez, Tevez, etc all work hard too, are they poor players...? Lallana got his foot on the ball and tried his best to keep possession but not having option to pass to makes that quite difficult to achieve. You reckon he does it all the time yet Lallana is a one touch football player. No way I'd have taken Lallana off, only other player doing that was Coutinho and exactly the same was happening to him too.
Lalla was piss He set up in the centre circle and left the right wing totally exposed Since both lallana and sterling have been picked on right we've fallen apart and our so called intensity is gone One must go, end of.