Even though we look like a different team, one that's without question been inspired by the manager tp believe in themselves and have a go, we still don't look like scoring. Having said that, on today's evidence, we'll stay up, no question.
I thought we passed it around ok. Just not good enough. Never looked like scoring. I hope your right about staying up but I think your wrong I think we are going down.
I still believe we will stay up, Feb is now a massive month and all games against those in our mini league.
I just think it's too tight to say for sure but there's something about them now: a belief. Having said that, I agree,we don't look like scoring.
The thing is (for those of us who went to Norwich, Stoke and Palace) at least it looks as if the team has been told there are white sticks at the other end of the pitch. With that knowledge in place they might score more than we did before Christmas, enabling us to win games of football. Forget Arsenal, Man City and Manyoo away - the season starts now, and I have a real belief that we can go from scoring only 15 goals in the 20 games under Malky, to scoring over 40 goals by the end of this season ...... and by attacking we might get rid of the terrible defensive record and goal difference he left us with. Support the boys.
January was always going to be an horrendous month with the fixtures, West Ham was a real low point and the luck went against us. Norwich on saturday and we just need to KTF and support the boys !!
Just got home from the game. Disappointed but further encouragement. The team looked neat and tidy on the ball though lacked cutting edge in the final third. On the positive, John looked Ok at LB and got forward at every opportunity creating a good chance in thesecond half from a pull back. Medel played further up the pitch than I've seen all season. Bellamy was busy and bossy and created a few more problems when he started moving about the park in the second half. Noone and Mutch put in good shifts. Daehli put in another cameo without lookng fazed and looks to have potential. I'm sure we'll see more of him the next few games. On the negative, no one seemed to want to pull the trigger. We got into plenty of positions on the edge of the box where someone could have put their laces through the ball but didn't. We seemed slower of thought than Man U. On many occasions the loose ball was picked up by a player in red (we played in blue, woohoo) with our players flat footed and not anticipating what was happening next. Have to agree with Sparkey's comments on another thread that Kim seems off the pace. Hope the injuries to Huds and Mutch aren't too bad. Mutch had a useful game again. Not confident we'll stay up but saw shoots of recovery. Was right up in the gods, so even though I could hear our travelling support, I couldn't see them.
You'll be OK! OGS will get you to safety and there are at least three teams worse than you - we beat one of them tonight! Fulham were awful (even worse than us, which was a relief! ) You had more possession than manure and OGS will turn that into goals given time. Don't fret boys - you'll be fine!
Scoring is the big problem. Plenty of possession and the team now seems to know where the opponents half is but we never looked like putting the ball in the net and you have to score to beat teams.
Unless someone else can start scoring because FC is limited we will be in big trouble. We made chances last night and were in positions to create more. I think Zaha will help with quality creation on top of our new possession but I don't know who'll actually put the finishing touch on enough chances for us. I thought Bellamy looked very limited last night and I'm not sure why we've signed a left back as John wasn't far off our best player from where I was watching last night. I'm also not sure if Witts decent performance in the middle is encouraging or just shows how weak Utd are in CM.
Conceding in the first 5 minutes was a blow that made everything so much more difficult in a game that was already going to be hard. Failure to, not just score, but have next to no attempts on goal was worst, this needs to be remedied asap if we are to have any chance of remaining in the PL this season. Our play will worry a lot of sides now, our style has improved no end, if we can get scoring heavy enough we will be ok, if not we will go down regardless of how well we play.
In fairness I thought Chris Smalling was absolutely superb for Utd. He snuffed out almost everything and had FC in his pocket. That doesn't change our scoring issues, just I thought Smalling was their next best player behind the excellent Young.
I watched it on the web last night, thought our passing was the best I've seen this season but our lack of fire up front was the difference between us. I hope Jones & Campbell can work together, the next 4 games will be massive. Still not sure about what Whitts brings to us, I'm sure there must be others who can take free kicks & corners. Time for a clear out.
Steve, we certainly weren't given anything by Smalling, but there were a few times that FC was an isolated figure , I hope that changes when KJ plays, as Dai said, maybe those working together can get us the goals we need. We all more or less agreed that January was going to be a month of not much hope, WHU game put us under pressure when it went against the play, but it already highlighted a problem with lack of goals even though we had the best of the game. I was hoping to see more of a flurry against Bolton, but we won 1-0 after subbing, so although it wasn't a great result it was an ok show against a championship side. If we start scoring we stay up, if we don't we go down, in my mind its as simple as it sounds.
The way we played, passed, kept posession through certain periods gave me a sense of security. Even though we couldnt score, we are now playing attacking and attractive football.. Something I have waitied a long time for City to do. We are seeing short passes, 1-2's, through balls rather than long ball/closed down etc. I'm confident!
Didn't see any of the game last night so will have to rely on you guys and the media. It all sounds mildly encouraging, but I stuck a thread up a week or so back titled "Can't Score Can't Win". Looks like we all agree that that's the problem that Ole faces now. Solving (or not) how to finish off the increased possession we're achieving is going decide our league for next season. Not convinced about Kenwyne from his past history - pretty chequered to be honest. Swapping him for Odem can't be a bad move though - Odem brought very little to the table whilst he was here and Jones CAN score goals. The correct midfield combo from the many options available is the answer to control games and provide those chances though. A finisher feeds off the chances made and Campbell could stiil be the main man with the correct service. Just wonder if the Bellamy phenomenom has run its' course. Off the bench for a 30 minute thrash may be the way forward for him now and that's the gut feeling for this whole season not just the reports of last night's pretty indifferent performance.
Bellamy's mind is doing what his body can no longer do. But the football mind is a good thing to have in these type of games, the advice given out by him last night might give us the edge in the coming games against lower placed teams, so perhaps that was part of his job during the game, an inplay insight. Best used as an impact now, no way he can do long stints. KJ may be the key to us getting more goals, either himself or more likely setting up FC, who was left alone upfront a bit too often again.
If Ole plays Fraizer and Kenwyne at the same time, I'd be very surprised unless he intends to push the attacking 4-4-2 philosophy.. The problem would be dropping to a 4 man midfield. With Medel pretty much a fixture in front of the back 4, the other three would have to work their socks off to provide the service to the two up top. I'd like to see it though, and it could work against some of the other sides in our mini league - would be well worth a try. For the games against any of the clubs above say 10th place, I think he'll stick to a 5 man midfield and try to use the pace of Noone and maybe Fabio on the left to get behind the defences.
There was an inevitability about that loss last night, RvP and Rooney's return, Mata's introduction, United chasing the 1,000 points at home tally and we haven't won at OT since the stone age. Some spirited performances from Noone and Mutch and the score kept respectable by the ever present Marshall. United snuffed out any attack with ease. Smalling and Jones contained anything we threatened. Goals are not going to come unless there is a better understanding between the likes of Bellamy and Campbell, too often attacks were broken down due to neither anticipating the others positioning. I think we will have to rely upon the new big fella KJ to bring something new to our attacking options because the current option does not work. When the set pieces we once relied upon no longer produce goals we are in trouble. No points yet for Ole, but February is essential for him to start putting three points regularly in the bank. I think Frazier will be sacrificed for KJ personally.
