5 corners too ! Nice. Correct score predicted and correct corners predicted. Kiwi got this correct once you know !
Only followed on here and the website text updates, and gather it was poor, but we won! In years gone we've been knocked out of cups in the first round, with managers using it to make a point to the board that they need more money to spend. By the sound of it, Cifuentes has made that point, but we're still in the cup. Great management to play poorly, but just about well enough.
I only watched about thirty minutes of tonight's game, but it confirmed what I thought on Saturday - we're slow, unfit, awful defensively and have very little attacking threat. The new signings will need to make a positive impact pretty quickly.
From what I've read here maybe it's best the full highlights aren't yet up on the Sky website; our goals are though, and that first was liquid football. Very nice. Maybe I'll just leave my catch up there...
Just got home, I think they’ll be gutted they didn’t get anything from that game - Marti has his work cut out knocking our lot into a solid team. Some of the new players look miles off it currently.
There is no excuse for the fitness. Surely it's every professional footballers duty to the club, their team mates and, indeed, themselves to keep themselves in best possible shape? Some of them have been having too relaxed a summer.
I like Marti a lot but personally am disappointed in what i've see so far this season. After the achievements at the end of last season, i really expected him and his back-room staff to have worked the squad hard in the summer and had them ready and in tip-top condition right from the get-go this term. The performances so far fitness-wise are rather concerning. I've read elsewhere that the conditioning team like to start slow and build to a strong finish fitness-wise. This is complete twaddle as professional footballers should be at peak condition to be able to compete fully from game 1. Who cares abut finishing strong if you've already thrown away 20 odd possible points through ineptitude? Obviously all these new players will take time to bed in, so their fitness and performances should improve gradually but whats gone on with the players that were here all summer? Also, as a side note. Santos, Varane, Saito and Dembele all sound like they have some skill on the ball but what worries me is that they all look rather lightweight. My mate, a Celtic supporter said yesterday that dembele is a skilled player but is a man stuck inside a 10-year olds body. Will all these foreign, lightweight newcomers be able to hold their own in the rough and tumble championship? Certainly hope so!
I’m not sure that’s true. Beale had us ‘at it’ and he overworked the players. Even Warnock’s team dipped quite alarmingly at times. Just got to trust the bloke which I think he deserves. We could play well and lose both away games this month. Judge where we’re at after the September games.
Not fit? I didn't see the Cambridge game last night, but I didnt notice any fitness problem against WBA. Andersen and Frey looked clearly in better shape than they were last season. As most of them have gone through a nearly 6 week tough looking pre-season I can't see how the players who did that can not be fit. Thought we lacked competitive match sharpness, rustiness, rather than physical fitness against West Brom.
It was slightly concerning that a small child who wandered onto the field was made to look like Francesco Totti. But the league and cup double dream is alive. Perhaps even a treble.
Varane is 6 foot 3 and plus an aggressive tackler if what I saw last Saturday is the norm. Santos is 6 foot and didn’t seem scared to get stuck in from the Spurs game. Dembele scored more goals than any of our players last season, but it was in namby pamby League One. Saito hasn’t kicked a ball in English football yet, but why not judge him anyway? We won a cup game! Break out the bunting!
Not getting into an argument as thats not what i come on here for, but where exactly did i judge anyone? I just commented that i was concerned in case players maybe lightweight and possibly could struggle in the championship. Didn't state it as a fact. Happy to be put right by your superior knowledge.
