Oh ok, I thought you were gonna say he gave someone a sly elbow or something like that. The one he got booked for was the softest foul of the game.
This is one of the oddest summations I've ever read in that I disagree with every single point you've made regarding our team today bar the one about Ray/Jay. Gaston looked very good and threatening when he came on. Wanyama played some good cross field and diagonal balls. Lallana showed more actual threat than he has in an age in the early part of the second half, and Osvaldo showed a lot more in his runs and positioning than just a good touch. He also plays with his hair a lot, by the way!
BBC reporting that Osvaldo was booked for unsporting behaviour?! I thought the defender had bent over to head it back to the keeper and his momentum took him over, never seen a free-kick given for that (most would play an advantage if anything as it had run to the keeper), so a foul and a yellow was ludicrous. Glad to get a point after being behind most of the game, and I'd have taken 4 points from the first two matches, although expected them the other way round.
the finishing was not up to scratch today or it would have been a high score. sunderland were awful tbh...
Post number 666... Our attack should improve as Osvaldo gels into the side. I do think that it was a sloppy goal to give away and with the exception of their one-on-one, it was their only proper chance. If we had won 1-0, we wouldn't have been questioning our attack.
We should have been questioning our attack, because it was largely crap. Same as the West Brom game, if we didn't get the penalty then all we'd be talking about would have been how ineffective the forwards were.
With a reputation of being a bit of a "Mad Hatter" and a "Public Enemy", he came on to proove he is here as more than just a "Tourist". Despite the referee "From Hell" acting like a "Willie Wonka". Daniel tried to save the game on on his "Sweeny Todd" as a "Lone Ranger. Fortunately. Jose stepped up " In The Nick Of Time" and "They All Lived Happily Ever After".
Dwight Yorke says The Dell will continue to be a hard place to go to and take points. You're not wrong there Dwight...
I thought Osvaldo kicked out at the defender for his yellow. As such it was well warranted. Guess we'll see on MOTD as my stream was dog awful.
Same problem we had in the latter half of last season, and to some extent in the Championship, as well. Possession is a double-edged sword; chance conversion rates plummet at the best of times against packed defenses, and when our forwards are missing chances, it becomes even more stark. One thing I've been wondering: when we have possession for long stretches, are we operating too close to the opponent's area? If you watched Liverpool today, when they were cycling and recycling possession, they were starting from a deeper base, allowing for a wider range of direct passing (rather than lobbing the ball to get it wide, and thus allowing time for the defense to correct), more room to make runs, and more space to see the totality of the pitch and thus any runs made. Because our DMs tend to stay deeper, we often end up with a very flat grouping of our nominally creative players along the edge of the area, with very room from which to pick a pass, let alone get a shot away. Thus, the ball gets pushed to the one place where there is space -- the fullbacks, and much of the time their options are a sideways pass or more often a diagonal into the box. Which can create a good chance (certainly had our share today from them), but there's no room in which to operate if the header isn't won cleanly.
