Goal difference is a fragile thing. We are losing therefore it is eroding. One bad defeat and that can drop sharply. Arsenal were hammered. They are going to look to resurrect and that target is us. A 0-x against Arsenal and then against Chelsea where is some big number and we have lost that cushion. Going forward, it's about clean sheets, and scavenging one point at a time. Valley makes the point that tactics were fine - we effectively lost the game 3-1 because with 30 seconds left Everton had clocked off and couldn't be arsed and our top scorer who had scored and looked a threat was on the bench to be replaced by Michu who is still trying to find the gears. We had yet another second half slump - third in a row. Tactics as they are are not working.
Of course the tactics were fine, we created a number of chances that we should of finished. If we don't create chances then you can criticise tactics/game plan. The game plan for me worked from the 25 minute onwards, it was the defensive mistakes along with our inability to finish our chances that cost us the game.
"it was the defensive mistakes along with our inability to finish our chances that cost us the game" In other words,we were just not good enough,in any department.
Yup spot on Vetch. The game plan was spot on, but most of the players are just not as good as we thought, which is worrying given the money we spent last summer. Looking at the squad, we need to buy quality rather than a number of players in the summer. For me we need 2 proper centre backs, an out and out DM and somebody who can cross the bloody ball to Bony. We have far to many players who are average and think that they are superstars.
Doom and gloom all round it seems. Actually, not for me. We bossed Everton for large parts of the game and, except for goals, ALL other stats were in our favour. Possession 59/41, shots on/off target and blocked were 21/9 in our favour with on target 7/6. Corners 12/5 and passes 585/403 - and this on the ground of a team pushing for top 6. So, I read from that, that our possession and passing was meaningful and we only lost the game because of a couple of defensive errors. Personally, I think we were unlucky not to get a draw and, on another day, could have won it because we had Everton wobbling for large periods of the game. In fact, until Ash got that last gap consolation, the commentators on my stream were bemused that we only had one goal to show for our efforts. At least Monk got us to put in a 90 minute performance this time and we really looked threateningly good for sizeable chunks of the game against our bogey team. But Monk again showed his inexperience when he hauled off Bony when he was having a good game. He was always a threat and some of his touch play was superb. To replace him with an out of touch Michu, lacking match fitness, was ridiculous. Better play Michu in behind Bony to increase our goal threat when we needed to score. If the choice was to play one or the other to keep team shape then it was a no-brainer that Bony had to stay on. He was looking sharp and up with the pace of the game whereas Michu had to get up to speed. All in all, I'm encouraged. The performance was good, well good enough to easily beat a team of lesser calibre than Everton. Maintain that level of performance from now on in and I've no doubt we'll get the points we need.
"We have far too many players who are average". Judging by the number of teams who are embroiled in this year's relegation battle,we aren't the only one's with "too many players who are average",Valley. The Premier League is so over-rated in my opinion,and merely being in it does not mean you are producing something of a Premier quality. Perhaps the paying public expects too much of the player's who find themselves embroiled in the over-hyped environment that is The Premier League. I much preferred the old First Division.It was a more level playing field and produced a better product. I'm in the minority,however,and we are stuck with the infernal P.L.
Agree. The quality of players in the premiership has declined at an alarming pace, especially British talent (with the exception of Bale and Ramsay)Teams of the 90s and 00s would rip the teams about today to pieces. In terms of technical ability and skill, the PL is light years behind compared to La Liga and Bundesliga.
Perhaps I should have start a third paragraph - my second paragraph was in response to Valley. The point I was making was with reference to tactics and their effect. Yes we lost 3-2, but for all practical purposes the tactics were not effective in the second half. If Everton had not switched off in the last minute of extra time we would have lost the match 3-1 and lost the second half 2-0 .... yet another second half slump.
QUESTION: when using this site I find that when I click (tap on iPad) around the edit box / quick reply box, I am often shunted off to Amazon. Are others finding this. Is this a new "feature" of this site to generate revenue from referrals to Amazon? It's becoming really annoying.
Can't say I've had problems using the ipad in that way Yankee, although I have had problems editing and deleting posts using the bloody thing in the past.
The chances we created suggest that we didn't suffer a second half slump at all, we just failed to convert said chances. A second half slump for me would have to be a second half where we created next to nothing. We were creative in the final third, just couldn't bloody score.
No Doom and Gloom from me Ivor, and I concur with your view, we gave them a good game as I thought we would, and I expect us to do the same at Arsenal, if we had been a bit more clinical in our finishing ( Bony, Hernandez, Routledge) then we could well have taken all 3 points. I do think it's time that Ben Davies was rested, and Taylor given a run out, as he is better defensively. Shame Chico coming back from a red, gives away a penalty which didn't help the result! But we are making progress in our performance levels, and I see the results coming soon enough, and I still maintain that we will get at least 3 wins from our final 8 games, and maybe a few draws, the Library needs to be turned into the Liberty Fortress for the remaining home games, the twelfth man is crucial to our cause. I'll let you all know when I'm panicking!...................
Initially, I thought this was a bizarre thing, now I notice by hovering over an area that there is a large "hot spot" around the cancel button and extending a bit below that when touched opens a new window and loads an Amazon presentation. Today, trying to cancel out of a reply or edit does this and I have had to use the back button to escape instead. BTW, I see this on the iPad in the Safari browser.
This is very true and the cause of most of our problems if you look. The effort and the football we are playing now is very good but we lack that killer punch that the top teams have. We have competed against the very best these past few months and not once did we look out of place, We should have beaten Liverpool and ever-ton at their place with the amount of chances we have had and as for napoli we should have buried them in the home leg let alone the away leg, The football has been up there with the best but sadly we don't have quality finishers that the big sides have got and this is where we need to improve for next season. Bony is ok but he dont half miss some clear cut chances and if you cant put them away then your chances of winning are less. Vorm has not been as good this season either and i never thought i would say this but i wish we had marshal instead as he would have saved a few of those goals he has let in this season. I dont think we will have any problem in staying up myself as there are quite a few team who are much worse than us and as long as we can stay where we are with 4 or more points ahead then we will be fine, If we finish joint 3rd from bottom then our better goal difference will save us but im not expecting that i think we will be safe with a couple of games left to play...
Agree about Poyet - (I don't think Ki ever lived up to expectation here but if Poyet can get him playing I'd happily have him back) And if we could persuade Marchal and Caulker all we'd need would be another good winger and defensive midfield player to be a top 10/12 team.
