Doesn't count, bit of a goal mouth scramble that went in off Kingsley if my eyes haven't deceived me........
Ok! 11th in the table with 1 home game left, and playing offensive football pretty much all game away at one of our bogey teams, and hammered them, so it's not all bad from Franco, now is it?................
Just reading through, I think you were all being very harsh on the substitutions. For me, he made every substitution that I expected. As soon as we lost a goal, I immediately thought we need to close up a bit - not too much. Barrow had worked hard, and Rangel would add some calmness to the back. Naughton is quick and tricky enough to play ahead of Rangel. Good substitution. We go a little bit more defensive, but keep the same shape with a player on the wing (Naughton) who still offers something going forward (not as much as Barrow) but who can defend better if needed. Note: Guidolin did not go 5 at the back. This sub could never be classed as "shutting up shop". Then the closer we got towards the end, you could see that West Ham were just getting corner after corner after corner. My thought was to bring Bafé on to give us a bit of muscle and aerial solidity from their set pieces and corners. I expected this sub. Both subs clearly had the desired effect, as we didn't really give up many chances despite the barrage of balls into the box, but we continued to create chances ourselves. Unfortunately, the longer this game went on, it wasn't a game for Gorre. If we hadn't been so wasteful with a couple of chances and scored a 4th earlier, he would have come on probably. But when West Ham got one back and basically camped in our half slinging balls into the box, it wasn't a game for him - you don't want it to be him that makes the mistake for the 2nd, or even worse, an equaliser. That kind of stuff can break a young player. Touch of class to give Britton a final run out where it all began for him too (although this was almost certainly Curtis' doing). 9/10 for Guidolin from me today. And I never give 10s.
No, it's not all bad Phil. But not all good either. Way too inconsistent for me and he still makes some very worrying substitutions. I think we can do better, but he deserves some credit for doing a job for us, fair play.
SMASH !!!! ... Where in the hell did that performance come from ..,WOW... We should hang on to the Bouncer ( Fer ) just for defensive set plays , he was pivotalable today . Like Stereo says , this defensive set up needs a run of games .Naughton and Kingsley were pivotalable too ..Gents , we find ourselves at the top of the bottom 10 preparing to have our 2nd highest finish yet ( I Think ).
By the way, I'm giving Guidolin credit today, and that's two weeks on the trot where he's got the team playing very good football - but it has been a drag at times since he's come in. I must admit that I am warming to the guy (and this feeling started a few games before the Liverpool game), and I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he took the pragmatic approach to his first 10 games in charge due to the fact that making too many changes to a potential relegation candidate can actually hinder rather than help. Perhaps a way of looking at is is that he's kept us safe implementing Monk's style better than him, and then is slowly starting to branch into the attacking football that saw him take Udinese from a team finishing 15th one season, to a team that finished in the top 5 of Serie A three seasons on the trot. I wouldn't be against keeping him - as Curtis and Guidolin really do seem to have made a good partnership here. However, I would prefer to see the list of candidates before he signs.
He's the Ki to going forward and knows what to do when he gets there . Ki , Cork and Siggy for me with Britton and Fer doing duty for they're type of style when needed . Routs , Barrow and Montero need more conditioning but are doing the job now The amount of different scorers should tell us something . Williams , Paloschi , Taylor , Montero all out for this game .
Let's just take a quick look at our last 4 seasons. 2011-12: Finished 11th with 47 points (11 points clear of relegation) 2012-13: Finished 9th with 46 points (10 points clear of relegation) 2013-14: Finished 12th with 42 points (we won 3 of the last 4 games, 9 points clear of relegation - it was a low points scoring year for the entire bottom half of the league) 2014-15: Finished 8th with 56 points (21 points clear of relegation) 2015-16: Currently in 11th with 46 points (12 points clear of relegation) Not trying to compare managers here. Personally, from a results and performance perspective, I still hold the opinion that 2013-14 was by far and away the worst Premier League campaign that we had. We were comfortably safe in the end, but up until Gameweek 35, we were still only a couple of points away from the drop. There are so few good league results that I can remember from that year - although we were hindered quite badly by the curse of the Europa League. We won our clutch games at the death, Newcastle away being the vital one and then the home win against Villa - lose or draw those games and we were in big trouble. This season, while producing some of the worst football during our run in the top league, still doesn't compare with that season as a whole for me. We've plucked out a lot of good performances against good sides this year, but have been hindered by bizarre and frankly ridiculous formation, tactics and selection issues at times, especially against the traditionally 'lesser' teams. I'm also of the opinion that we would not have come away from the pack like we have if Monk had stayed in charge. He goes on the radio and TV and preaches that he "always knew those players were good enough to stay up", but quite frankly, after the first 4 games this season, as soon as the heads in the squad started dropping, he became out of his depth. Not saying he'd have taken us down, but I do personally think we'd still be scrapping right now if we'd kept him.
For me our biggest problems is getting up for the clubs in the bottom half, we have dropped 5 points to Sunderland, 3 to Newcastle, 5 to Bournemouth and it goes on, If we could only get up for those games, we could push for Europe. Getting up for the Man Utd's and Chelsea's is easy, whoever the manager is h needs to keep getting points in the other games.
When Monk was given his final chance to get things going and to make some changes after the Norwich loss ,, he put Bartley in place of Fernandez for the last 3 games he was in charge ..... While the guy who played beside Fernandez today rode the bench . Speaks volumes to Monk losing the plot totally IMO
A very nice supersize win today ! a first for us up there in hundreds of years I was not expecting that but they do mess with your head dont they getting thumped when they should compete or win then doing that when they are marked as dead certs to lose ! Poor Gwendolins in limbo and fed up being asked where he stands here if jinx n co would keep thier noses out maybe he could get us somewhere but maybe he`s not enough of a yes man for them ? 1 year rolling contract be ok if he uses his contacts to get some class new blood in here . on the whole the boys got a run out today and held their own giving us a great victory so 94% happy.
Come on now lads and lasses..HANDS UP WHO THOUGHT THIS WOULD HAPPEN....Nobody i guess so credit has to be given to Guildo for believing in his convictions and wining the game in style..... I doff my hat to you sir...
