I cant see past 3 losses on the bounce to be honest and that would really put the cat among the pigeons. We must get our act together and do something we have not done for nearly all season and that is score more than one goal....We are still one of the bookies favourites for the drop....These next 3 games will answer a lot of questions whether we have enough in our locker or not...
Absolutely no idea how this one will go Edit.......having said that I have had a bet 2-1 Swans @ 10/1,but that is only because my mate and I always have a dabble on that score.
Looking forward to this litmus test. We'll know come 17:00 Saturday whether we're fighting, ducking or running. Win and we're in the fight, draw, will be very dissapointing but we're still standing but a loss hits us back on our arse. Annoyingly, imo, we should be on a par with Southampton, not 9 places below and 10pts worse off. Our problem has been that this year for what ever reason, we seemed to begin to believe the torrential hype that was poured over us after 4 wins at the beginning of the season. Due to this arrogance, imo, we stoped fighting, thinking results would come easy. We've got to fight now but the worrying thing is, although it seems that we are and have improved in most areas, our defense has simply evaporated. We are so soft at the back that I have little confidence in getting a result no matter how well we play. Fernandez, imo, needs to be singled out as the weakest link and needs a rocket up his lazy arse now or be dropped as he's costing us dearly. I've not seen a comanding performance from him since Man Utd game. He's a liabilty which must be dealt with if we want to stay in the league. He is too ponderous as he plods around in defence, mostly a step or two off the play. One thing I'd do is teach him how to fekkin jump, Leon does a better job in the air than him. Anyway, back to the game, heres some stats Swans (last 5 home) - DWLWD = 8pts Southamton (last 5 away) - LLLWD = 4pts Probabilities Win - 30.3%, Draw - 30.7%, Loss 39.0% The bookies still have us in the sh*t but I'm not laying anyting out until I have Lawros prediction 2-1 Win for the scrapping Swans
This game will tell us all imo . Defensively , I'd like to see Fer , Fernandez , Williams , Naughton . We need more attack minded and Taylor shows nothing in attack , while Rangel brings defensive baggage with his attack . With Britton performing the way he has been , he'll pick up any slack . Guido and Paloschi have a bit of time now and Southampton are , imo , equal to us generally . This is the game I start measuring who we are and what we have .
You're watching a different game to me Stumpy as Fernandez has been excellent in a lot of the games. Yes he makes the odd bad pass but name one player who doesn't. Unfortunately his wrestling with Dann did cost us a goal and put him in the window for those who can't see his value.
To me Nos, Fernadez is the one the one being easily beaten in the box leading to very soft, very avoidable and very frustrating goals. Williams does his job; and then some, Taylor and Rangel too but in Ki, Cork and Britton we have no height so Fernandez knowing this should be on his metal at all times but he's not and hasn't been since the beginning of the season. His concentration appears to drift at the worst of times and we are getting heavily punished for it his lack of focus. He has ability but I think he needs something to spark him back to his best because he certainly isn't right now and its cost us 4 points in the last two games. Question is who'll replace him for a game or two. Amat? nope, imo he's an old school, defensive midfielder and not a centre back, Bartley? I think he is potentially an excellent player but not right now, he still has to prove himself. So it would seem we are stuck with Fernandez. I have heard though that Guidolin likes to play with 3 centre backs with a six man midfield ahead. Maybe a change in formation will concentrate attention and stiffen up our flaccid defence, but we need to do something because until we do we will be scrapping for draws instead of playing for wins.
And the man in the middle is ??????????????????/ Jon Moss Red carded Bony in corresponding fixture against Southampton last season (we lost that game) and was in charge when Chelsea smashed us 0-5 Oh dear please log in to view this image
Spot on Dai. If we don`t get anything on Saturday, then we`ll be nearer to, if not in, the bottom three. Both Spurs & Arsenal are going to be on top form as they try and catch the (hopefully) premier champs. Anything less than a win will leave us right in the doo doo, as we probably won`t get anything from the next two. More than one goal will be a bonus for us, if we can score three , it will be the first time this season.
Can we beat them ? Of course we can just like we can beat any team at the Liberty, All we need is someone who can actually cross the ball, be able to take corners and a forward line that can shoot on target...... If we had that we would be in the top half today....
The thing I find a bit hard to swallow is that Gylfi can take a great free kick - as showed on Saturday, yet so many of his corners are poxy ???
Regarding us conceding at corners, against Everton, Palace and WBA I don't think Gomis was on the pitch for any of them. He guards the six yard box from the incoming cross and plays a similar vitally important role that Bony used to carry out. I'm not sure if there's any correlation with how the goals have come about, but Gareth Barrys was certainly a flick from that area.
I am at a loss to understand why we use our potenital goalscorers to take corners, before Gylfi, Jonjo took them. surely someone like Naughton, when he is playing and can cross the ball should be doing this.
Stumpy I also think Bartley could show us more than he has at the moment. My problem with him is his judgement is bad and he seems a bit headstrong, If he could remove this from his game he could be a really good player as he has other good attribuites.
Agree. That's where I admired Beckham. Whether it was a corner, free kick or a 60 yard pass, he would always drop it in the correct place.
I wouldn't give Bartley a sniff in the past , in the present or in the future .I would play any player on the team as a CB before I would give Bartley a minute .
I agree we miss Bony in defence as well attack. How many times did he use to clear corners and crosses. Our crossing is poor but we don't have a target, even with Bony, he used to look for the cut back. In attack he would come short, hold the ball and play one - twos with Gylfi. I think we need wingers to stretch defences wide and create space but going to the by line stopping and then think about crossing just allows defences to re-organise. The new striker seems to have good movement and looks for the through pass but this is not the strong point of Cork or Leon. Unfortunately Shelvey can and is doing this for Newcastle and De Guzman could also pick a pass. I think Leon and cork did try last Saturday but they didn't come off. Our strikers have a relative lack of height (except Gomis) and central defenders who rarely score with headers we need to be more imaginative at corners. I would let someone else take them and get gylfi to stand on the edge of box, give their defence something else to think about. I have a feeling we may have more luck away from home when teams need to come at us, or perhaps just wishful thinking.
I would get Fer into the mix on this one, he has height for defending and has a mean ol' shot on him.
