He didn't want too many defensive midfielders. Huddlestone made way for the attacking abilities of Ryan Mason. Unfortunately we didn't win the ball enough in important areas for us to see that ability. I expect we'll see a far more defensive midfield against Stoke City. Don't concede, try and score on the break.
Whilst its easy to suggest the wheels have fallen off,am I alone to suggest a handful of games mostly against the top 6 suggests little about our fate? Ok,everyone has an opinion about Phelan now,but many posts seem so cynical rather than constructive lately of a man who just a few short weeks was welcomed with open arms after a nightmare fixture start. Ask yourselves this,has Phelan really gone from being a no brainer replacement to one of having no f'kin brain at all now? Is 8 ( yes eight) games really anywhere near enough for you to turn against him or do you just like the sound of your,own gob? Even allowing for the wind up merchants and obvious multi posters all trying to out do each,some of the more serious comments after Saturday debacle whilst understandably being angry,were again so f'kin knee jerk it beggars belief . Yes,Saturday was not acceptable and yes,some of Phelans team choices had me scratching whats left of my hair,but common,give the man and his new imports a fair chance to sort things out because if you don't,your just condemning the club and its new appointments for the sake of it which makes us all sound as f'king fickle and cringworthy and full deserving of our current tag as Premiership no hopers who are completely out of our depth. Rant over.
Fanscwould have something to moan about regarding the distance from the pitch and poor viewing angles if our ground was like theirs. If it all goes tits up we could be experiencing something like this at Costello. please log in to view this image
It is quite odd, watching the game on Tiger Player compared to the live game I remember. We did not look all that bad, for most of the game on it, but live we looked terrible all game. The first goal Marshall set everything up wrong, a 5 man wall, with Maloney in the middle of nowhere and 4 on 4 in front of the goal. It Did you go to the game? In my humble opinion, the team selection was poor. It also looked like players could not cope with the role that they were being asked to fulfill. Off the ball, Bournemouth were opening up space at will as our midfield struggled with what appeared to be a man marking system. Elmo and Snodgrass had their work cut out on the right hand side, but the only help they got was from Livermore. At one point after Meyler came on Elmo was actually on our right wing, close to the Bournemouth goal line. Aarron Maclean and Josy Altidore would have fared better than Maloney and Keane. Marshall failed to impress, his distribution was slow and it was his call to put 5 in the wall with a 6th just off it, for the first goal. Curtis Davies is Curtis Davies, a good honest player who did as much as he could, but he tired at the end. Maguire, a cart horse competing with race horses. Hard to get around but once past, that was that. Elmohamady, got pulled this way and that by quicker players. Always seemed to be catching up. Robertson was struggling to contain the right side. Snodgrass was hampered by the yellow card and held back too much, because of it. He should have looked around far more, failed to spot players moving out wide a few times as he drifted into the centre. Mason is technically good and that's it. Nothing will do except perfect service. Maloney failed to track back with any desire at times. Jake Livermore had no time on the ball and his hopeful passes went into spaces with Keane running the other way. He did however make so important tackles. Clucas did well, a few loose balls, but.. Keane can run all day at a reasonable pace, but I cannot recall him making a tackle. Mike Phelan, well if he had a plan, the team did not believe in it. Even Nigel Pearson would have got up and thanked the support.
Snodgrass was ducking out of challenges long before he picked up his booking. He just didn't seem to be concentrating half the time.
All of the midfield stood off except Clucas for the first half. When Snodgrass did tackle he was blown up for it, three tackles three fouls including the card and penalty. His passing was great (when he got the ball). But for most of the first half he was simply running up and down a channel ten to fifteen yards in from the edge of our box to the edge of the Bournemouth box. His only errant pass went to the keeper. His pass to Mason led to the goal. Having had the opportunity to have a look at the game, it was definitely a game plan, to make Bournemouth go the long way round. We should have had at least two penalties, Maguire was held by a player who did not look at the ball and Mason was brought down, the defender did not get the ball and took his legs. Not enough was made by our players.
Did you go mate,course you did..wtf? Really strange how those with endless posts to say on here all day every day rarely get questioned as to why they fail to attend the KC,let alone Bournmouth.. . Oh,and just for the record,I travelled away for years when the club really was crap so in my opinion mate I owe this club f'kall in term of milage so if you are having a pop,jog on. Back to the OP. Like a suggested,if 8 games is enough to crucify any manager when many jerked off over him just 5 games ago then we are well and truly the leagues most fickle set of tosspots going and deserve f'kall ,no wonder the Allams hang around,they wouldent get away with it so easily elsewhere.
Why the assumption of an aggressive question? I asked because as I pointed out, the difference in watching live as to listening, or watching via a steam is often missed. So I will reply in the same tone that you have used if that is alright. **** you with your presumption that I don't go to the KC, I'm a season pass holder and I live 250 miles from the KC and I also attend as many away games as I feel I want to, every ****ing home game takes me at least 4 hours of driving, Bournemouth and Southampton are local games for me The OP opens debate and if you track back, I never posted a negative response on this or any other thread about any manager at the club, until after Saturday, when Mike Phelan lost my support, so you convince me I am wrong, by debating it rather than coming on here all ****ish. Oh, and by the way the big button in the middle of the keyboard is the jogging space bar.
Ouch,now were all square. My dig was not actually aimed at someone with your apparent posting record mate,but that's the trouble with the internet you see,it's all too easy to hide the truth and some on here are experts at it. Good to hear you put that kind of milage in to watch the another dismal performance,wish I had a pound on that score,it's all about opinions I guess. Anyways back to your challenge on debating this. Currently in Orlando with the wife who needs a well earned break mate but never the less,fully accept your offer and will do exactly that when time difference allows a better window. Don't have the opportunity to post during the day usually,so it'll have to be after work.
I'm classing snodgrass and Maloney as wingers , neither of which have any pace something were lacking
Your original post said the midfield was "packed with defensive players" it clearly wasn't, you never mentioned pace or wingers in it either. So, just to clarify, how many defensive players were "packed into our midfield?"
I've just watched MOTD for the first time since this game, so obviously watching this debacle for the first time & seeing the goals for the first time. I know if it's been analysed a lot, but the penalty looks like Snodge won the ball, maybe the wine is affecting me, but it really looks like it's a tackle & our ball. Can someone sort this out for me?
He goes over the ball and connects with his studs. Live I was with you and thought he cleanly won it, but the reverse angle shows him catch the Bournemouth player over the ball.
Ok, I'll have to check MOTD to see if they show the reverse angle then. Watched it back several times last night & still couldn't tell.
