Team v Aston Villa

I thought we ball watched too much in the second half and it seemed at times like all the energy we had in the first half had disappeared as we were second best to a lot of 50-50 balls..

On the other hand I also thought John Terry was very fortunate not to concede 2 penalties for hand ball.

A draw was probably a fair result.

 

Agreed.

 

Reading the reports from my (Chinese) bedroom, it appears that when teams try to play football against us we seem superior - or equal at the least - so the opposition change tactics to a more 'direct ' style (hoofball) which we don't seem to be able to deal with.
I may be wrong (I'm sure I will be corrected) but we need to be able to cope with teams that punt long balls forward to the big centre forward - and that would be where Flint comes in - surely should be our 'plan B' to defend the box against wave after wave of high speculative long balls??

 

The goal came from our players ball watching rather than reacting quicker.

We seem to have a problem with seeing games out with the energy and pace we show in the early stages, LJ continues to take Pack off who does admittedly tire visibly, but I would like to see another midfielder in the middle to help him out a bit, we don't seem to have a quality option there. Smith is the not the answer for me, I wish he would stop coming and literally getting the ball off the back 4, its doesn't work, it doesn't draw the opposition midfield in anymore and it leaves a big space in midfield when we eventually have to go long, when there was plenty of space for the full backs to use before he closed it down because the opposition close the width.

Another quality midfielder and a prolific striker may set this team on fire.

Regards Hinds, I believe he should have been on the bench at least last night, Terry was petrified of Reids pace but dealt with Dave easily. Hinds and Reid may have been worth a shot!