I also support it in principle but in practice it could be horrendous. Imagine a stupid incorrect decision early in a game by a ref. Players booked for dissent and end up getting sent off. And the ref was totally wrong. What will the league do in that situation I wonder? Poor decisions compounded. No recourse. That was my only point.
I'm guessing if we'd have won the ball, broken away, and scored the winner (probably someone other than Long having to do the scoring though), Arsenal fans, players and staff would have been absolutely livid at both us and the referee. (And that's even if the referee would have allowed us to do it. I also wouldn't have been surprised if at the moment did we start to break, he then blew up for the injury)
Getting back to individual performances, and the Redmond experiment as a striker, in particular. From what I am seeing, he has been most effective on the occasions when Tadic has been taken off and he has dropped into the "tip of the diamond" position. He seems to come alive there, being happy to receive the ball with his back to the defenders, then spin and run at them. He unsettles defences, from that position, because he can go past a deep sitting midfielder and draw a CB to him, creating space for others to get into. When this switch happened against Sunderland, we had several moments when we had players running into the spaces being created, with just the final pass being not quite right. It was the same pre-season, when he was best picking the ball up in midfield and driving forward. On another point, about Redmond. I wish he would keep his mouth shut, where ref's are concerned.
I mentioned this yesterday (with little support I might add) but I feel that although overhead kicks are sometimes spectacular, they are in a lot of cases dangerous to the defending team. please log in to view this image There is no way that kick would not be penalised in different circumstances ie not a goal scoring opportunity, but refs seem to be caught up in the excitement of this type of goal and allow what constitutes dangerous play. Someone said yesterday that our players weren't close enough to the ball for it to be dangerous but I think this picture shows they were.
On a lighter note, every time Mustafi was mentioned, my mind screamed "Mustafa Leak!", the battle cry from Carry on Follow that Camel. Vin
The board won't sack themselves. If a team plays poorly or doesn't do as well as first thought, the manager is always the one that cops it.
I just wish you were consistent in your dishing out of understanding. You will keep on getting ridiculed for defending them blindly, particularly when you seem to have double standards in giving them some understanding and leeway, but Saints none. To be honest it is baffling.
Remember that well as we used to sit at that end at the time. I also remember it because at half time I was discussing Delap with the guy who sat in front of me. I was saying that he did nothing of any merit just ran around a lot. When he scored that goal the guy in front just turned round and said "Rory Delap, he does nothing". Also that Delap goal is perfectly legit as it wasn't a risk to anyone. (Except those who sit in row Z where I thought it was ending up).
Yeah that goes without saying... though I wonder what the boards minimum expectation is this season. I certainly think top half would be too high taking everything into account.
Top half is a perfectly fair expectation. Anything less than 12th and Puel's done a poor job (unless he wins a trophy or gets far into the Europa League).
As a minimum top 10 is fair? Not for me considering the players we've lost, new manager bedding in, a European campaign and haven't strengthened the squad.
In no particular order, we should absolutely not be finishing below Hull, Burnley, WBA, Bmouth, Boro or Sunderland. So that's a minimum 14th place finish. Next in line I think are Watford and Swansea. I would be very disappointed if we finished below them, but I don't think that it's out of the question that we might. But it does mean that my minimum target increases from 14th to 12th. Then it's Stoke and Palace. Then it's Everton, West Ham and Leicester. Then it's the current top six. In my view.
I agree to an extent but think Boro & particuarly Sunderland might be higher than Swansea & Watford. I agree with your top 9 for sure though. I just think with all the changes we've had and the fact that we've not strengthened the squad despite extra games then top 10 as a *minimum* is asking too much imo.
