A strange start to a season but no doubt better than last season! Think its fair to say each of the players have had their ups and downs! Mannone - Been same old self and looked quality in the games making some fantastic saves. Pantilimon - Good game down Birmingham, Shocking game against Stoke, a keeper that can't catch a ball from a cross, especially with his height and the fact it was in the 6 yard box is very worrying. Jones - Has looked good with Buckley, helped with attacks and pressed up the pitch. However was part of the reason Adam scored at the weekend due to being up the pitch. Vergini - Possibly has been our best player so far this season, slotted in brilliantly wherever he has been played. Believe he should stay as a centre-back however due to Jones' pace on the wing. JOS - One of his biggest critics but can't really knock him this season. Was worrying at Burnley when he was turned inside out a few times by Sordell however has been solid for the majority. Brown - Prefer Brown to O'Shea everytime, however as Captain JOS will always be first choice, however think its going to be difficult for him to get back into the team with Vergini playing so well. Coates - Although only played 45 minutes against Stoke in the cup, looked solid enough. PVA - Bit of a shaky start but looks to have improved every game, especially getting forward, him and Jones could be brilliant for the team. Has started sweeping a lot as well if there are any fast opposition, also has a very good shot! Catts - Fantastic. That is all. Bridcutt - Has been better than he was last season, nothing fantastic but effecient at his job. Rodwell - Slow start but improved every game, last couple of games has been rather quiet. Gomez - Looks like a bit of a super-sub, brings some much needed creativity into the team, however when starting has looked right off the pace of the game. Also seems very slow. Larsson - A big critic of Seb as well, has worked his arse off in the games to be fair but fail to see what else he brings to the team now. Seems to have completely lost his dead-ball ability. Buckley - Looked good in some games and disappeared in others, his pace is something we have been missing for a long time and looks as if he actually wants the ball. Johnson - Seen glimpses of the form of last year however seriously lacking in any sort of form. Hopefully being dropped against Stoke has give him a bit of a kick up the arse, looked a lot better when he came on. Giaccherini - Looked very good against Burnley until he limped off, moved around and tried to get things moving. Think he is the most intelligent player we have and would like to see him given more game time when he returns to fitness. Alvarez - Hit and miss upto now, relatively anonymous in the Tottenham game however the team was dominated in that game, poor against Stoke however fantastic against Swansea, cant wait to see more of him this season! Altidore - He scored...had a shocker against Burnley however looked like his usual self most of the time he's been on upto now. Fletcher - Had a poor start but hopefully he plays like he did against Stoke and he could work his way back into our good books! Wickham - Not as good as he finished last season but has still been working hard and to be fair to him worked well with Fletcher last weekend. As a start of the season I think it could be said that against Burnley and Swansea we should of possibly got 6 points instead of the 2, however dont think any of us expected anything against Tottenham/Utd either (even though Utd were shocking up here) Far better start than last season and the win against Stoke was needed just to give us that little boost up the league. Also think the last 3 or so games has seen some of the most shocking refereeing performances i've ever seen (for both teams) Hopefully we can build on the win and try and maintain some form, with the next games being the fairly in form Southampton (even though our record last season against the was fantastic) and Arsenal. However Palace/Everton/Leicester after that I would like to see us get at least 4 points from Either way rather happy with the start! Anyone feel any different?
We got the better part of the deal by having Mannone rather than Mignolet. The dippers are realising now, what I saw when he was here. His positional sense isn't that good. He makes great hollywood saves when the ball is hit at him just right. (But quite often those hollywood saves still leave the attackers with the upper hand.) But he doesn't do the basics well and often pushes saves straight out in front of him to oncoming attackers. I agreed with every word that Neville pointed out about him, when he gave him stick last week. Mannone still makes mistakes as do all good keepers. My money is on him making less mistakes than Mignolet though.
No, very sound analysis, we go into every game as determined as we did against Stoke and we may well spring a few surprises, in the next game or two.
