Match Day Thread Eddies nearly safe mags v Palace

Anyone will do

 

Not a good image Roly.

#justsaying

 

Lascelles?

 

You have crossed a line there

I should have said anyone of the 10 outfield players on the pitch at the time of the corner

are u a school teacher or something?

 

Strange that. That’s exactly what his pupils parents say.

 

Probably Max, not like he’s a great defender anyway. Doing more to help the defence occupying 2 opposition players on the half way line

 

I loved the way almiron absolutely removed Zahas soul last night.

Started on him when he's half his size, Zaha laughed at him and then 30 seconds later he scored an absolute worldy.

 

The Good
Defensively we were excellent. We've really tightened right up. Even when our ball retention isn't good enough and we find ourselves chasing shadows, we stick to the task doggedly. Its a great sign for any team. They are clearly well drilled on the training pitch. Its one of the core things that has improved under Eddie - we have a plan and its not a negative backs to the wall plan most of the time. Thought Schar in particular had an excellent game bar some of his passing was ropier than usual. All of the back 5 had excellent games for me in their primary job - defending. Almiron - what a goal and his effort over the last few games has been excellent. Its hard not to like the lad. He gives a ****. Big Joe first half was back to his best but he faded quite badly.
The Bad
Our passing was ****ing shocking for large parts of the game. Conceded way too much possession and 2nd half we just dropped too deep, and kept pinging aimless balls from the back and Shelvey. Even Bruno was getting caught on the ball, although I do think he looked like a foreign player who's been here 5mins and found out what 2 PL games in 3 days does to you! Still kept fighting to the end, he's just top top quality. He needs a quality operator alongside him in midfield. A ball winner who will ease the burden cause Shelvey is a lazy bastardo at times. Wood struggled again and I think he is going downhill. Not in terms of effort and pressing, but the ball didn't stick, the little lay offs are going astray now. His confidence looks shot.
The Ugly
Jacob Murphy and his ability

 

I love how we always pass the ball out from Dubravka even when under pressure, especially with Wood upfront it could be very tempting to just launch it.

 

looking at this table it is defensively where we are doing well.

Take out the spurs result (5 goals) in the last 14 we have conceded the joint lowest in the league.

Look at the last 15 games though chaps. Won 9 of them.

Absolutely Amazing.

 

The 2 main points that screen shot indicate to me are:
1) Our recent form has been worthy of qualifying for Champions League if we'd done that a season
2) You need to charge your phone.

 

Bruce has cost us Europe this season basically.

 

I love apple. I’m a brand Gimp!

 

And it’s on charge as we speak. The electric bills are sky high. I blame this forum. Saps the battery.

 

Looking at it a different way. I’d he hadn’t done so bad we would still stuck with him.

So for that I thank him.

 

And this is what Dele Alli and VDB based their career resurrection plans on back in Jan, love how that worked out for them!

 

I think that was mainly where we went wrong second half. We abandoned it and I could see Eddie Howe getting very animated beneath me. I will defend Dubravka though because he was very clearly looking for the option. Its just sometimes they were making it so he had to launch it, and Schar and Shelvey in particular put us under a lot of pressure with wasteful punts up the pitch. While I thought the defending was excellent, the midfield did not function and allow them to move up the pitch. You'll always go longer in that situ.

In a way it was a good reminder to us all of our limitations in terms of personnel and why we need further investment in the summer. We don't need to go crazy though. 5 first team players would transform this squad. The good thing is with Eddie, you know carpet football will be a given. He will want to play and he will want to press. After the last 6 years of trying to stop the opposition, sitting deep, its just nice to watch a more purposeful football team again. Actually trying to score, press the oppo and win games. As the fans always said, just give us something to support.

 

T.