Away at Everton I would play Agustien, but for QPR and Tottenham at home where we are likely to get more possession I would play Gower.
Footnote: I appreciate that Sincs/Dyer/Routledge get up in attack but I want to see more, CONSISTENT, support from the other three.
Final 3rd is our problem not the striker. Lita and Graham have scored when had chances, even Luke Moore has made a good contributuion, what hasnt happened is goals from midfield. On planet swans there was a post put up RE Darren Pratley and how he is hated by all the Bolton fans,they seem to think he is a terrible signing! sometimes i wish we had him in our team or on the bench because the guy would be box to box for 90mins unlike any of our current midfielders, if Pratley got 10 in the ccc then im sure he could have got at least 5 at this level, thats 5 more than any of our central midfielders look like getting. I would take prats back for free in January, if possible. Would do a decent job coming off the bench and adding extra pace and goal threat
Yea, bring him home Also re:Gower - http://soccernet.espn.go.com/stats/assists/_/league/eng.1/barclays-premier-league?cc=5739
The stats look wonderful i admit, and Mark gower is doing ok, he isnt the best and isnt the worst player in the prem why is he not appreiciated more by the supporters ?? well, ive never been a fan of his but since he played in the middle he has done a decent job, if he could add goals to his game then he would be a firm fans favorite but the fact remains when the ball drops to mark gower on the edge of the area people in Row Z are running for cover
Funny thing, Norway, I had wondered about Prats myself and think he could do a job for us. I'm not suggesting that he would be a regular starter but there would definitely be games where we could use his engine.
we should have took care of pratts while he was here......he wanted to sign but no the club was not interested enough to sign him..........he would never come back and who can blame him......
Agree with post # 20 by Ivor, get the midfield moving forward instead of sideways or, more often than not, backwards. We can only score when we are in the final third. Kemy`s got to play to show the team the right way to go.
Never say never Dai!! im not saying its on the cards but you have to think that its another player that will fit straight into the team like leon and bessone,who would have thought they would come back ?? Pratley had goals in his game and i was sad to see him go, he wasnt first choice anymore,not sure if that was because of his contract situation or not though ?
Look guys Newcastle failed to capitalise on their possession and making their shots count, they only had three shots that tested Vorm, why was that? simple we defended Sousa style, and by sitting so deep, we reduced the effectiveness of Newcastle's possession, and we in the same token reduced the opportunity for Ba to exploit space between Vorm and our back four, because there was none, you can say this was as a result of Newcastle pressing us so far up field, but I don't think so, the Toon fans called it parking the bus, and at times it looked like that, but I am going to give Brendan Rodgers rightly or wrongly full credit for doing a number on Newcastle, because they definitely dropped 2 points, where as we got what Rodgers wanted in my view and that was a point. What did concern me yesterday was two things, firstly the ease at which Obertan caused so much problems down our left side, and how Taylor failed miserable yesterday against him, secondly we gave Newcastle Tiote, far too much respect, he had so much control in the midfield, it was embarrassing on times, and it was not until the second half when Agustien came on that things started to balance back into our favour. Having a weakened right flank with Rangel out, and no Dyer at his best, we needed a left flank firing on all cylinders, but it never happened, both Taylor and Sinclair seemed adrift for most of yesterdays game. So at the end of the day it wasn't a perfect performance from us, but it was a great result, a result in my opinion that was due to a defencive tactical decision by Brendan Rodgers, that required the utmost concentration by our back line, and in short except for bricking up the goal mouth, it worked a treat, and I can't begin to say how pleased I was that Rodgers pulled this off, it says an awful lot about our team when asked to change from our usual passing style to go and successfully achieve this at St James' Park. Finally remember this Newcastle had over 40 crosses during the game, into our box, but only 14 were successful, and that's down to how our boys executed Rodgers tactical change................. please log in to view this image
Certainly not Norway, we lost control of our midfield game, but when you sit so deep, and have players well off form (Gower, Taylor, Sinclair,) it will happen, the thing is we dealt with it, and of those 40+ crosses, only 14 were successful, Vorm in my opinion was only ever tested twice, and that says a lot for the way we reverted to the Sousa style so succesfuly, hell I'm sure I saw their Newcastle kitchen sink in there too. When you play like that you expect to be able to counter attack effectively, but both wings were well below par yesterday so we invited even further pressure on ourselves, at the end of the day, we had a result, that I don't think we could have got playing our open attacking game! It's only my view, and why I was so upbeat after the game, most predicted down my local, that we would lose 3-1, well we didn't.......... please log in to view this image
I agree that it was a point gained !! and it was very disapointing from numerous players as well, to play so badly and get a point was quite refreshing i do admit, lets hope we are back on form for Everton otherwise it will be a long afternoon !
Think Brendan went there for a point yesterday, not quite park the bus but not to far from it. We had nothing going forward, Sinclair needs a break. Feel Taylor and Jazz were told not to venture forward too many times. Taylor struggled with Obertans. Gower needs a bit of time on the bench as well, when Kemy came on he looked the only player who had the ability and vision to pick out a decent pass, oh and while I remember Sinclair getting caught offside, when looking along the line all he needed to do was wait a fraction of a second and he would have had a clear run on goal. Would like to see Dyer start on Wednesday, he will trouble there full backs. I actually fancy us to get three points on Wednesday, think Brendan is come to terms we can't play and expansive games against some teams away from home. He's prepared to play a different game plan to get a point. Still excellent point against The Toon, thoroughly enjoyed the trip north. Very subdued atmosphere with was only to be expected with the events before the game.
good comments neveroffside. Maybe Dyer will start with Routledge on the other wing ?? personally id start with sinclair
come on dragon we were lucky to come away with a point yesterday, just look at the stats some papers had us 50 -50 possession wise with 73% toon in our half. they hit the post twice while we never had a single shot on target. danny got the ball a few times but he was clueless in doing something with it, i would rather play Lita against the more stronger sides as at least he takes and beats players and shoots from anywhere on the pitch, I just think that Lita has a more all round game than danny, I know danny has not played in the premiership before but he should have picked up some tips by now. you cant hang around waiting for the ball to come to you, you must try and make something happen and take some shots from anywhere. I would definately play Lita at everton and keep danny for the home matches unless they are really big teams where i would use the more experienced striker in Lita....
99, You have a god point there. Thought yesterdays game was more set up for Lita than Graham, Lita's a bit more of a physical player. He does like the ball to his feet and can fashion a shoot out of nothing al ah Villa game. Still who wouldn't have taken a point before the game, we rode our luck at times but the point was well earned.
So based on these stats, as goes Gower, so goes the team. When Gower gets the job done we score and win, when Gower is ineffective or fails as in yesterday we do not. Leon is just not a creator in midfield (not his role, plays too deep), which means the likes of Allen, Sinclair / Dyer / Routledge, really need to get their collective **** together and start being creative.
we will get there i have no doubt about that but we do need the players that brendan wants i january. we have plenty of possession but that possession is mainly in our own half where teams we play dont mind that as we cant hurt them. Brendan would never criticize his players as its bad for moral but you can bet he knows some of our players are not up to the job of going forward and penetrating defences, he cant change the team much as there is not much to choose from in the squad and thats why he wants at least 6 players (his words) i can understand what he means and i totally agree. The lads are doing their best and because this seasons premiership is the weakest i have witnessed in a long time that from stoke in 9th to Bolton in last place we are all in the same boat and it will be the ones who uses the january window the best will be the teams that will survive........we will be one of them teams........
