"At least we are not ripping one another to pieces, lads. The Goonies have gone ape-**** on their board!" Always likely. Their result at Man Utd + the Swansea fixtures were a perfect storm in waiting. On pitch it would have nice to have taken some points tonight to ramp up the pressure before the NLD, but the overall results + the Cech WTF (has he EVER been known for doing 90th min corner antics ?? ) may have the same effect.
The Goonies don't seem too confident that their reserve goalie is going to be up to much for the NLD, which gives me confidence (provided, of course, we can actually get some shots on goal). But what the hell is going to be the final score in their return match against Barca, if Cech is still out! That could be very, very embarrassing for them.
"I make wummery look so easy that everyone thinks they can have a go, RDBD." The problem is that too many people mistake your factual commentary + strict no WUMing policy as being real WUM material.
well, if someone like you can wum then any fool can. btw, with all your cross Atlantic jaunts, have you applied for a Green card so you can vote Trump?
That is true, RDBD, and it is, unfortunately, a burden that I carry with me every time I post. Why, even now, there will be some Gooner or peek-a-boo Mouser looking for the wummery in my words, even though there clearly is no shred of wummery.
Hm. You'd be advised to keep the personal "let's have a pop at HIAG" taunts off this board, Ern. Save them for the general board, mate.
"well, if someone like you can wum then any fool can." Don't be so harsh on yourself. You are so much more than just "any" fool. In fact, I would call you the ... "btw, with all your cross Atlantic jaunts, have you applied for a Green card so you can vote Trump" Donald Drumpf of fools.
I dunno why the gooners are surprised, they have a team of show ponies with jelly spines that would choke on warm ice cream.
Well I read the match thread and had a picture in my head of an asylum full of depressed self harming emo kids and piskie the annoying support worker who follows them around telling them they have value and are loved in a very feminine and whispery voice. And they all shout and lash out at him in rages of self hate. So Yeh
I've been sitting here for 3 hours trying to think of one player who had a good game. The nerves really showed today and I for one am more than willing to forgive; this team and indeed the manager are exceptionally young and inexperienced. West Ham away - a crowd fired up for their cup final, a really tough, physical side and the worst pitch I've seen since Colchester are all ingredients that contribute towards magnifying that pressure. For so many reasons, if I had to pick one fixture which would be our chance to go top of the league, this would be one of if not the last! Taking nothing away from West Ham; Bilic set them up well and got their tactics spot on. We didn't deserve anything from today. I think it really underscores just how important Jan and Mousa are at this stage of the season. Not just because they are quality players but because they both have tonnes of experience and have both stood out over the years for their cucumber cool playing styles. I think those two returning from injury will help immensely towards the business end of the season. Keeping Mousa fit appears to be the more crucial of the two as we were totally over-run through the middle today. Quite a few tired legs out there that aren't exactly going to be fresh come Saturday. Heavy rotation is needed but we have zero cover in key areas... The small consolation is that other results went our way, and as I said before the game, I don't really want us going top of the league until we have the personnel to cope with the pressure of being there. Leicester will drop points yet, as will every other team from them downwards - ourselves included. We will have another crack at the whip beyond the few hours Saturday could potentially grant us
Totally agree with you CK. Knew you'd turn up with your analysis a few hours after the game, always makes for a level headed read. I honestly think Kane struggles with that mask. The Kant breathes through his mouth as it is....imagine how he's struggling now. Not to be under estimated but the kid does look fizzled out. Plus playing on a potato field adds heaviness to legs that are used to playing on carpets, like our boys, this made us look even more lacklustre. These are not excuses but factors that I believe exist in subtle ways. there's no good time to lose, but if there is, it was this fixture. 10 games..lets respond like we have done after our other defeats...if we do...then, well I'm not saying anything.
Kane looked like he was running through quicksand and when he kicked the ball it was as if someone had replaced it momentarily with Kim Kardashian's backside it looked so heavy at his feet! Clearly wasn't himself against Swansea either but still looked competent because he had plentiful service. Today quite literally nothing worked out. Bilic set them up to batter their way through the middle of the park and the ferocity of it caught Dier and Mason completely off guard. The latter looked lost most of the time whilst the former was too often retreating into the CB position as he often does, only this time it was to give himself time and space to compose his view of the game - to the end result that we basically had no midfield. Chadli was simply awful from the moment we started until the moment he went off. Lamela worked really hard but tbh looked out of sorts after that nasty gash to the head. Eriksen showed flashes of quality but was being dragged all over the pitch by their movement. They use Payet and Antonio very effectively; perhaps more so that I've seen most teams use their wingers. You'll regularly see them punch holes through the middle through Noble, Kouyate and Obiang but then suddenly switch play to their danger men out wide. Watching it was so frustrating as we couldn't maintain anything resembling a shape for more than seconds at a time. The end result was that Kane had zero service and almost our entire back line went into the book. The saving grace is that Arsenal are reeling at the moment and are now without Cech too. Poch will have to prove his weight in salt with the line-up he chooses for that game as today both the line-up and the subs didn't work.
It will be embarrassing for them whether Cech is there or not. It wouldn't surprise me to see them go down by six or seven unless Barca decide to rest the unholy trinity.
Last night was the first game this season I sat there and thought "we were dog ****". I know all teams have a bad game/ bad run and thankfully for us it took until the 28th Prem game to do so but we looked really, really bad. Not a single player in our colours done themselves, the manager or the club justice and to do it in what was our biggest game of the season against a London rival was really bitter to taste. Our passing was the worst it's been all season, it might be easy to blame the pitch as there were some bobbles but these are guys earning £50k+ a week, I can hit a half decent pass on a football pitch that's basically just mud so I won't buy any cheap excuses on that part. I felt Lloris perhaps could've got a hand to the header, maybe being harsh there but he was positioned in a place where I'd like to think he'd have been able to stop it, the full backs didn't venture forward enough, the CB's didn't seem to work as a pairing, Dier and Mason were non-existent in the middle of the pitch, Chadli had his worst game in a Spurs shirt - giving away the sloppy ball for their corner and then allowing Antonio to beat him to the header for the goal were just parts of an awful display, Lamela held the ball for too long and when he released it it was often to an opposition player, Eriksen was probably just about the best of a bad bunch as I thought he made a few passes and did seem somewhat willing to try and make something happen, albeit nothing came of it and Kane only touched the ball about 5 times the whole game didn't he? One of them somehow not finishing from 2 yards (even if he was offside). Our pressing and quick play was nowhere to be seen, Poch must have been livid with the display. I hope this has given the team a huge kick up the arse because we threw away a massive opportunity last night, luckily results went our way elsewhere but failing to capitalise on them is a huge shame. Hopefully we can fully recharge as there were some tired legs out there but I'd like to think playing Arsenal will give them the energy they need, with Mousa potentially back, Alli able to play from the off plus Walker and Rose being fresh, we've really gotta go at those fake North Londoners on Saturday and put this poor performance and defeat behind us. COYS!
