First off all can i just say, 'get in, ****ing magic'. Now what did we learn from the game? imo Giaccherini , well after i thought he was poor against West Ham, it proves that there is a cracking player there. Ki is the man to pull the strings, no doubt about that, will the club hold onto him though? Borini, another one, a bit like Giac, a good player at times, can score goals, but should he start? Fitness, something that PDC harped on about a lot, extra time, they were topper. Poyets subs, well they worked very well, but should Gardner have even started? Maybe this team is gonna make a real fist of it, even if they go down, they'll go down fighting... Well done Poyet, well done to the players, well done to everyone there....
Exactly thoughts Comm, once Ki came on Giacchorini had a quick thinker and passer, apart from the horrible passage of misplaced passes in the 2nd half we stuck at it. The fight is there and after tonight maybe more belief. There aint no way but up for us.
glad gus got johnson off when he did ,he came inside every time and cole had an easy task to handle him,borini gave the team a much more balanced look and cole became under threat as borini mixed his game and offered a bigger threat.
We need to stop passing it out from the back we nearly got caught out lots of times. Other than that we were faultless.
yes but we do keep the ball when it works, the more touches the players have the more confident they become,we rode it a couple of times and was lucky , but there is a game plan at last
What i took from it Gardner should never play for us ever again. He is absolutely woeful and nearly handed the win to Chelsea. Giaccherini is a lovely footballer but has a case of the sess (he can't shoot for toffee) he's best on the left and needs to work on cutting inside and bending the ball in. Mannone is better than Westwood (a few he clung onto that I think Westy would have parried straight into danger, also Mannone's throwing and passing out to defence helps the system Gus wants to play. Johnson is finished at Sunderland (id get what we can for him in january) We need to help Altidore more, felt sorry for him last night. Borini won us the game with his energy and enthusiasm. Cattermole showed us how good he can be. Ki is just class personified.
Real team effort last night, was good to see you beat the billionaire boys. Your best player on the pitch was Wes Brown, stand out performance from him and Lee Cattermole. Johnson was awful from the right hand side, always passing as a last resort as usual so Gus done well to drag him off. Brown was immense though, reads the game so well, doesn't look like he's missed a game never mind a year of football. I suppose you want a Stoke win tonight, to avoid United in the next round? I can't see us putting out our strongest available 11 but you never know. Anyhow, great effort last night I hope it kicks you on for your league games, starting with your big 6 pointer this weekend.
I learned again that we have a tremendous team spirit and team ethic. I saw Borini, Giacherinni, Larsson and Cattermole play well together but only once Ki was introduced. He has emerged as THE key player for us. I saw a back 4 that looked strong and determined and I saw Jozy work his bollocks off but again sadly, about as likely to score as Tom Daley at a lap dancing bar. Johnson showed glimpses of brilliance and lots of frustration and Gardner was poor. Manonne looks solid and pulled off one absolutely cracking save. If we can bring in a striker who likes seeing the position net wafting after he shoots, we will get out of this mess and might just have a cherry on the cake with a Wembley appearance. We need to start and convert this into our league results though and anything but 3 points on Saturday will taint this great result. Still, we've a 2 legged semi final to look in January hopefully against west ham, stoke or Spurs as I'd fancy our chances over 2 legs against them. Watch us get Man Utd or City however. Haway the Lads and FTM.
Ki was a totally class act. I remember when he came the Swansea supporters were dissappointed to lose him but said he wasn't strong enough or effective in tackling. Well, I can't agree with that and one incident last night where a chelsea player was running with the ball and Ki shouldered him off was proof positive that he is strong enough to mix with the big lads Thought Celustka had a good game as well, always willing to run at Chelsea I'm a Manone convert, always thought Westwood was better but not so sure now Giach was all over the pitch, never stopped running, needs shooting practice though Is Catts a better player when he's not captain??
Ki, Giaccherini, Cattermole, Brown & O'Shea!! I honestly think sometimes Giaccherini is too clever for our side (Altidore in particular) - there doesn't seem to be anyone who reads the game like he does in an attacking sense - as Dan says - Giaccherini covered every blade - but needs to learn to shoot (can you substitute him for Sessegnon??) Catts may not have been captain but he led the troops yesterday. Constantly talking and instructing players and reading the oppositions off the ball runs. Passing was excellent too - OK so he gave the ball away a few times but he also completed 80% of his passes. Marked improvement on the Cattermole we've seen in the past.
Another thing I learned was that my boy has rediscovered his love for going to the game which makes me a very very happy Dad!
we can win games, and hopefully that breeds confidence as the lads get more games under their belts and start on a long winning streak......
Teesside I totally disagree. I know we got caught out tonight with some slackness but we absolutely do not need to stop doing it! It's the biggest positive influence Gus has had. We need to KEEP doing it and keep getting better at it. Anxious fans will make the team doubt themselves and start lumping it again. No no no!!
1) We fought back well last night excellently but Ki was excellent and made the difference going forward. 2) To Cattermole I take a lot of what I said back, he was awesome last night, I really hope this time he finally has learned to be smarter because on that form he could easily play for a top 6 team. 3) I think Johnson is taking too much flack, he will shine in other games, the balance of the team was just wrong last night for the first 60 minutes, this happens. 4) Do I think we will stay up?......I think after Norwich we will know so much more, most important game of the season we need to get that gap down to 1 game difference.
It is very sad indeed that it actually took something like this to wake our crowd out of their collective slumber, and undoubtedly contributed to our victory..
