Correct, all up to us. Villa and Everton are very beatable now Villa are on their way to safety and Moyes is going to United.
Despite the ref playing an excellent advantage for their 1st goal and scoring an offside goal for the 2nd? Strange. It's always the referees fault when they don't beat Chelsea though..
Yep I do, I still don't think he gives a toss where we come in the PL. I think I must be the only one to thinks he didn't have a clue in the last part of that game, and lost it for us. Hazard off at 70 minutes when he was a vital player out there. (and I still don't rate Moses ) Putting Banayoun on !!!!! when Lampard was sitting on the bench eager to get out there and score a goal for more reasons than one. Ramires had worked so hard and was knackered towards the end yet he was left out there with us running more and more out of steam and Spurs looking more and more like they were going to score.
He will play a weakened side for sure. But it should still be enough to beat Villa. Bare in mind no side in the top 9 has lost at Villa Park this season. They are side with potential but like Wigan always concede goals. Mata looked leggy last night so can't see him playing. I'd go with Oscar and Hazard myself. Moses on the other side and Ba up top. Kill the game off and make subs then. If we go 2 goals up this Villa side won't recover and we can pick them off. The only worry is the pace of Agbonlahor, Benteke and Weimann, which is why I feel Cahill would have been better suited to that type of match and JT yesterday.
Got to be happy with a point as it keeps it in our hands. One win will seal top 4, 4 points probably enough for 3rd. Should have won but Spurs do have a knack/luck of getting late goals recently and accumilating more points than their performances deserve. It would be a traversty if Spurs got top 4; just look at their GD for a start.
You could say the same for Arsenal and even Man U. Neither are good enough to make a real impact in Europe IMO. We concede far too many goals in the closing stages of the game and score few late ones by comparison. Need a manager that won't keep on fiddling around with the backline as well.
As I've said elsewhere, our backline/defensive side is nowhere near solid enough to hold onto 1 goal leads for large periods. With a more positive attitude we'd probably have taken a further 4 points from the Liverpool and Spurs games and top 4 secured. Villa game is gonna be nervy now...
True, but i) it's the job of the whole team to defend and ii) we wouldn't be talking about this had we taken our chances and been a bit more clinical in front of goal. It's been the story of the season really - we've been great going forwards and on the counter, but have failed to fashion enough clear cut chances, and when we do they aren't taken consistently. We are inept at defending leads, because our front line players aren't really up to the task of defending from the front - Juan Mata especially.... Ergo, I think with the current team, attack truly is the best form of defence. Notice how they began to come much more into the game as soon as Hazard was taken off... We absolutely need to kill teams off with more goals and a clinical striker is imperative. This striker must be on the same wavelength as Hazard, Mata, Oscar - be able to read their intentions and position himself for the throughball / pass, and be a clinical finisher, converting chances when presented.
I'm confident about the Villa game purely because I don't believe they are capable of beating any half decent side at home. Also not convinced both Arsenal and Spurs will win both their games. All it takes is one of them to lose/draw and we can draw both our last 2 games and get top 4.
I'm confident about the Villa game purely because I don't believe they are capable of beating any half decent side at home. Also not convinced both Arsenal and Spurs will win both their games. All it takes is one of them to lose/draw and we can draw both our last 2 games and get 3rd
