This, surely, is a contradiction. On the one hand it's his first game and you don't want to rush to any conclusions and yet if we don't win the next game we are certs for relegation! We could lose the next 5 and still not get relegated. The Watford game isn't the be all and end all for the season's outcome. Steady improvement is what I'm looking for.
But the PROBABILITY is that you're likely to get more points from playing Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Watford and Stoke rather than Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool. You're a betting man...surely you'd accept the basic principle?
I enjoyed that game yesterday. That felt like the games of old (by old, I mean 'my' old, as in 5 years ago) against Arsenal. You could tell that they had the slightly better side and had a sh*t tonne more money than us, but we were competitive and gave as good as we got. We battled hard and, to be honest, in the first 25 minutes I wasn't worried. Arsenal looked dangerous, but we had them contained. My issue is that we currently have defenders who can play a good game for 90 minutes, but the 1 mistake they are making is costing us dearly. Amat for the first, Cork for the second...well the third was a combination of Fernandez not tracking and Fabianski supergluing his heels to his goal line. Rangel is the biggest talker on the pitch that we have, and I think he should be playing for his organisational skills alone - he knows the club, how we play and where we come from and he isn't afraid to get the hairdryer out on the players on the pitch - we need that right now. We created chances at will in the second half against the 10 men (who dropped deeper and held shape more), which shows that we have the ability to create chances against anyone. Barrow was electric, but Routledge was anonymous. We need to start playing with Barrow and Monty from the off as soon as Jeff becomes fit. We must play with Borja upfront from the off too - I'm assuming there was a fitness reason unknown to us as to why he didn't. I agree that Curtis will have had a hand in the starting line-up. Bradley will have had limited time with a lot of the International players so this week coming will be his first real full week with the full squad, Curtis must have helped out with that starting line-up. The negatives from yesterday for me were: 1. Ki - He came on and made absolutely no impact whatsoever! Absolutely useless performance and lost the ball twice in deep-lying positions when we had everyone pushed forward. Not sure what's wrong with him, but whatever he had before, he's lost it. 2. Routledge - He's just become too hit and miss for us at this level now. Capable of producing electric one week and absolutely nothing the next. You look at wingers like Chadli and Ibe who seem to be able to produce moments of magic every match - unfortunately Wayne has lost that now. 3. Fer - While he offers something going forward and in the box (unlike Ki at the moment), he gives the ball away so cheaply at times through loose passing and getting himself in a tangle. 4. Fabianski - Did nothing to put off Ozil for his volley, despite a lofted cross and being only a few short yards from Ozil when he connects - you know that Cech or Hart would've been doing a star jump a yard from Ozil if they'd been there. Also, did not make himself big enough or react quick enough for Walcott's first goal. A decent game overall, but to be critical, he'll probably be disappointed with himself when he looks back. 5. Taylor - Just his usual headless chicken self. 6. Fernandez - Gives the ball away so many times through slack passing from the back and isn't nearly commanding or strong enough in the air for an international grade defender. Van der Hoorn fills me with a lot more confidence. Now don't get me wrong, despite a lot of negatives listed, I did enjoy the game and was proud of the players. We perhaps should've claimed a draw at the end, but we left ourselves very vulnerable to the counter attack trying to do so. If Barrow scores his header around the 80th minute, or knocks it back to Borja to score, I think we go on to win the match. So overall, I'm happy with that for a first game for Bradley. However, there were a lot of similarities to Guidolin's Swansea vs City/Pool. So it's going to take a few more weeks for Bradley to get all his ideas across and then we'll start to see where we are with Bradley and what sort of game we're going to play. If it's anything like the last 30 minutes against Arsenal, we're in for a hell of a ride!
You can't load anything on a single game as anything can happen, but if our next 20 fixtures were 10 games at home against Hull and 10 games at home against Man City there is a high probability we would take more points from the games against Hull. Therefore Hull are an easier prospect than Man City. On this occasion though it didn't work out. That's why I don't bet
I agree with Big Kidderz. Good post, that. On Borjan I have it on good authority he was fit to start Saturday. No idea why he didn't.
Every single player you mention has been praised and won MOM so it's ludicrous to slam players that have been the flavour of the month in the past......Ki should play more games not less as he is one of the few quality players we have in the squad...
Dai, I think the gripe with Ki is that although he's an elegant player he has stopped creating anything and is too easily muscled off the ball (always a weakness with him). One of those guys who could have been a top, top player but something is amiss - and I've been a big fan of his.
My gripe is that he's been piss poor for nearly 18months and a wet towel would be more effective in midfield.
Leon is to small and easily brushed off if he is in a tackle. Let him grow old and be the clubs captain with the odd game here and there.....We need a more reliable player in midfield who can play every game and not a bit part player now who wont be consistent as a player any more and that's what we need is consistency...
I've watched Leon since he joined us and even against players the size of YaYa Toure he has never been easily brushed off.
I've been away this weekend and have only seen the highlights on Match of the Day. The pundits said Arsenal were on top form but highlighted that we missed a lot of chances. I never thought we would be anywhere other than in the bottom three at this stage but have always thought we wouldn't be in May. I have seen nothing to change my mind.
Did i say that ? NO...I want someone who can be consistent and not subbed every game ....Are you saying Leon can do that because he gets subbed every game he plays...
I can see where you're coming from Dai - Leon is getting older and pretty close to retirement. Certainly within a few seasons imo. But he's the best we've got right now - and he's very effective.
Not sure what happens to Ki sometimes. It's almost as if he panics with the ball at his feet, freezes, slows down and will just have the ball taken off him easily. I think Ash would have been furious with him on a couple of occasions yesterday, an aspect we seem to be missing this season. I don't think Jack is one for dishing out an on-the-pitch bollocking, but's needed sometimes.
