Such a shame the injuries to Kante and Drinkwater meant they had to make do with £40m summer signing Tiemoue Bakayoko and World Cup-winner Cesc Fabregas...
After an international break, a win and a clean sheet is not to be knocked. However, we were bang average in the first half in what was an almost silent stadium. Dreadful atmosphere today. Second half we were much brighter without ever being convincing. I never thought I would see Eddie Howe set up a side like he did today, but I guess we'll see more teams do that against us before the season is out. The result was more important than the performance.
I wager that by the end of the season, the only PL teams that will not have done so are Citeh/Goons/Poool.
IIRC during the Burnley game Hoddle (the co-commentator at the time) mentioned that he had been chatting to Toby who had bemoaned the design of the pitch to him. It seems the two were discussing long-range passing, and Toby said that WHL's 'claustrophobic' pitch made them much easier, as you glanced up, saw the ad boards, and immediately knew that if you aimed a meter before them, the ball was in play and the attacker on their way. The trouble with Wembley (and it's a similar issue at the HMRC Arena) is that there are 5 yards of grass beyond the end of the pitch, making it much harder to find your range if you are trying to play an adventurous ball to transition from defense into attack. Hoddle was then asked by the commentator if he would've found it hard picking out a pass at Wembley, to which he - incredibly - said 'yes, I think my instinct would be to play the shorter, safer pass rather than risk booting the ball out of play every time'. To hear that from a player of Hoddle's ability - he could probably hit a sixpence from 100 yards away - only underlines the extent of the problem.
B'mouth have been quite good defensively this season, only really getting turned over by the Woolwich. They were very unlucky against City, and have lost almost every game by just the one goal. The other end of the pitch is where their problems lie. Only Palace have scored fewer.
I agree. Unfortunately our so called super duper manager doesn't seem to have adapted his approach to these opposition tactics. I'm obviously delighted with the win, but it doesn't hide the fact we are still struggling to adjust to Wembley.
Thought goes out to GKN - finally gets out of the treatment room and then spent more time injured on the pitch than he did on 2 feet Hope he's ok!
I did think it was possibly a red card, but several people have told me since that a yellow was the correct decision.
Hoddle would have took every training opportunity possible to get his bearings wrt that pitch and the ad hoardings, so it was not an enduring problem.
That's really interesting CK I must have picked this info from somewhere, and what you heard tends to confirm it.
Spurcat you really dont like Pochetinno do you? You barely say a kind word about him. Our win rate under him is excellent and we had the best defence and the best attack last season and have amassed more points than ANY other side over the last two seasons. All this done with a transfer budget that is dwarfed by the likes of the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea. I know he makes mistakes from time to time, all managers do, he is still young and learning. On a personal level he always comes across as polite, charming , happy to speak to other fans and the media and a real gentleman. I know you often remark about his scruffiness, i let my stubble grow from time to time and im pretty good at my job. I think Poch has been a revelation for us and we are lucky to have him. I just dont know who you think could be doing a better job for us right now?
