Seems that our three most potent attacking players this season are looking very doubtful. We know Defoe is out for the next three games, Lennon still looks half fit and now Bale could be out for the rest of the season. I have everything crossed that other players can step up for the run in. I think progressing to the semis of the UEFA Cup look shaky but my biggest concern is our push for the top 4. Without Bale, we look toothless at times. Defoe's not scored in 2013. Adebayor seems to be lost in most Prem games. So where do we look now for pace, invention and goals? I sincerely hope we don't regret not signing that elusive top class striker, or even loaning out Andros Townend to QPR who's showing good form. Which way now?
Plus Sandro, Kaboul missing the whole season so far, Assou-Ekotto missing most of it and coming back ****e, plus Lloris picking up a knock when playing for France. Going well!
Carroll's also injured apparently and Gallas went off towards the end, too. Oh and Parker missed most of the first half of the season, prior to Sandro's injury.
Lennon is a big big miss...was at the lane tonight...was not a coincidence that we conceded after he went off...his defensive work is very important to us.Bale and London out on Sunday is bad but at least everyone have fellani and paenaar suspended
The sandro injury is the worst for me. After bale. What has happened to the Parker from last season. Ignoring the open goal miss which can happen to anyone, his general play has been well below average IMO with the excreting of the arsenal and possibly inter games. A really high number of his passes are inaccurate. This would be ok as in his position he can play the safe pass. But he always tries passes he can't make or are not possible regardless of how many times he's already misplaced passes. He also holds onto the ball for far too long when a simple pass was on straight away. A lot of the time he tries spinning with the ball and then tries finding the same player often getting dispossessed. The contrast in performance between Parker and sandro this season is huge for me. I would seriously consider choosing Livermore over Parker of we have to play a more defensive midfielder as I think he keeps and passes the ball better. I also think Parker, gallas and Friedel shouldn't play at the same time.
Parker's suffering from some confusion over what his role is, in my opinion, but I agree with your assessment of his performances. He doesn't seem sure what he's supposed to be doing, as his role in the last campaign was largely to clear up in front of the back four and give the ball to Modric or van der Vaart. Dembele's a very skillful player and his physicality is very useful at times, but he's not a playmaker and we lack options when he gets on the ball, a lot of the time. Bale's no longer a fixture down the left, Lennon's been injured and Adebayor's often very isolated, despite all of the play being compressed. Naughton's got no left foot, Sigurdsson, Dempsey and Holtby all want to play inside, Walker's looked very dodgy and we don't have much pace in behind the opposition defence.
Bale's injury isn't that bad, according to Villas-Boas. Might only miss two games. He said something similar about Sandro though, so I wouldn't take it as gospel.
A common phrase heard during the Europa League this season: "Gallas should not play again." Tonight was no exception - he seemed off the pace, his distribution was poor, and he was anonymous at a time we needed the leadership and experience he's supposed to offer. Caulker or Dawson should've started in place of him, frankly. Of the other two, Parker deserves games (not least because he was driving us forward in the end of the first half to get us back into the game), whilst Friedel doesn't do anything wrong per se but he's a noticeable step down from Lloris.
As big a short term problem as Bale and Lennon being out may be that most of the players look vey tired. I had the same feeling before the Fulham game. This is two straight games where we pulled together to look great for 20 minutes, and spent the other 75 on the back foot. These have also been two of the few games where we've gotten outshot. So I hope to be surprised by the Everton game but I don't have my hopes up. Anyone know what Carroll's status is? I think we could be a lot stronger with him starting in the Dembele role, Dembele farther forward, Gylfi on the left and Holtby on the right. No width, granted, but at least we'd have a group of good players. On the other hand, I'm influenced by watching Gylfi almost single-handedly lead Iceland over Slovenia with two goals that were Bale-esque in the CM role (where he played for Swansea). Leave Dembele where he is, give Gylfi a license to roam, and hope he can continue what seems to be a good communication with Ade. That leaves Holtby on the right, which may be okay, and Dempsey on the left, which isn't. The third option is to start Holtby at CM with the idea that he and Dembele will take turns going forward. Leave Gylfi on the left and...we still have Dempsey on the right. I don't suppose Jan could play in midfield...
To be fair to Parker, his shot was probably on track to creep into the corner of the open net, but took a deflection off a teammate's boot. Gutted about Bale, I hope he only misses one or two PL matches, I want you guys to grab one of the CL spots and kick either Chelsea or Arsenal out of the top 4, preferably Arsenal. Hopefully we'll hear some (relatively) good news when the scan results are revealed later today. -tennisball (United fan)
Parker didn't miss and open goal, it hit Holtby. I know I'm repeating this because you can be sure that someone somewhere today or soon will again mention that he missed an open goal.
