On paper teams like Man Utd and Tottenham are far better than us, they too have been struggling with inconsistencies, yet we are 10th and still in the Euro Cup ... a position I would have been extremely satisfied with before the season began. Players: Pozuelo played fine vs Newcastle but otherwise he has only been good when subbed in at the second half with fresh legs, he like Dyer tend to exagerate when trying to take on opponents and these two dont always know their limits. JDG is like Jeckyll and Hyde, good on one day to absolutely horrendous the next two times ... I would have Ki over him any time of the day. Both Chico and Ash have off days apparantly. Bony seems to be an excellent "goalgetter", but he doesnt offer much versitality upfront and still doesnt hold the ball that well, my oppinions is still that we should have a more intelligent and mobile striker. As for Michu, he always works hard, hardly ever misses a pass and I am actually satisfied with him although realising that he hasnt lived up to last years performances. To be honest the only truly consistent player I have seen this season is Canas, he somehow always seems to do well. I expected inconsistencies when the season began, our team is not as good as some apparantly think it is. I truly hope we will see better overall performances in the second half of the season, but for as for the next games I cant see things changing, the others teams know that sitting deep with a tight center is the way to play us and they are doing it more than ever. People also forget that we had quite a few terrible games under Brandon where the ball was passed around but nothing happened. I think some people really are loosing perspective.
I agree that some fans have overreacted Daniel but that's come out of frustration. We watch our team demolish a very good Newcastle side one day then play pretty badly less than a week later. I posted somewhere else that last night, with the game being televised around the world, I almost felt embarrassed to be a Swans fan. We've been used to champagne football but last night's offering was like a flat bottle of year old Dr Pepper. But I firmly believe that with Bony and Rangel in the side last night we'd have taken all three points, and the impact of injuries on the team cannot be underestimated. You are right about other teams though. We are very very fortunate that this season the Prem has an air of the Championship about it and anyone can beat anyone on their day. Other results have gone our way luckily for us. If they hadn't I think we'd be much further down the table.
DS - I like how you accuse people of being harsh and then proceed to discuss all the failing parts of the team, just kidding To be fair all good points. Consistency is the only real gripe we as fans should have as we have a really nice team to watch. I fear that the home performances may lay a little bit of blame at the fans, the atmosphere in the stadium has been very disappointing of late and I'm sure that's why some of the players appear to lack a bit of fire. We need to get the place jumping and that should transfer to the pitch. KJ - Nailed it. Rangel is the biggest loss for us, we always play badly without him and he just seems to be the metronome in our playing style, without him we really suffer. Still can't believe it but players like him, Briton & Dyer are still some of the best in the squad despite starting out in the bottom leagues...
Norfolk, the atmosphere is flat because much of the time we play the game like a chess match with no urgency or passion and very little movement. Results have been bad at the Liberty and the crowd is apprehensive. If the team played in a more gung ho fashion the crowd would respond. However, that is not our way and it is difficult to clap, stamp and cheer the team on, when much of the time we are playing walking football. I'm not criticising our style of play but when we are in slow mode, which is often, it just doesn't stir the blood. In short, it might be pretty but it isn't exciting.
As I said on the match thread I thought we played very well the last 5 games including the Valencia and Man City games but last night our off the ball movement as a team was so poor and lethargic I'm convinced a League 1 team would had defended against us with ease with the exception of the 5 minute spell after Pozuelo's introduction, it was reminiscent of some of our poorer performances earlier in the season. Regarding Canas I wasn't impressed with him initially but the last 3 or 4 games he's really picked it up IMO, he's looked sharper, getting on the ball more, closing down making blocks and tackles, doing the things he should be doing. Last night he was our best starting midfielder.
Agree with all that, but teams in Italy & Spain play in a similar fashion and the crowd make their own fun, banging drums, singing songs, etc. That's what we need to be doing, it would be good if there was a way of "bunching" the livelier sets of fans together so we could have at least one raucous stand. Our away fans consistently out-sing the opposition when we are often on the back-foot/not playing well, so it's frustrating we can't get ourselves going at home. I'm sure it would make a difference to the player's performances.
I thought the atmosphere prior to kick off and at the start of the game was good in response to improved recent performances, then Graham scored and we started playing like crap. It's hard to get up for games like yesterday, the West Ham game and a few others I've already forgotten about. We had 2 real attempts all game, Chico's arm goal and Michu's effort saved by McGregor. The players need to give us something, such as three passes in the opposition half, a shot on target, 50/50 challenge, anything.
That's just it - real supporters don't NEED something. Some fans have got ahead of themselves 'we've been in the Prem 3 years we are Kings of Football'. V Newcastle I was stood among positive supporters, last night started and stayed like we were watching TV - almost no vocal support, lots of moaning and constant back and forth to the catering. Most away fans are making our home support sound rubbish.
Granted, but at least we knew how to keep the ball. We have become terrible with the ball now. Under Laudrup our short, slick, crisp passing comfortable under sustained pressure has vanished. Our game looks alien to the system that Martinez brought into the club so Laudrup better pull his head out of his arse and re implement the system and style, and fast
What man utd ,spurs or any other team do is of no concern to us and should not be used as an excuse for the way we approach a game at home when we have a european game up next. We beat teams convincently when we don't have a european game coming up so we should at least put the same effort in or you are cheating the fans who pay good money to see the team do its utmost best and they never showed that against hull. What other teams go through don't have any baring on what we do..
Above is right, our careless and wayward passing is not our style and this is not an overreaction of any sort. We are known for passing the ball well but this season that reputation is slipping away, when the media say that we are inconsistent they are not only talking about results... They are talking about our players performances and OUR players sloppily losing the ball like OTHER premier league teams. And they are right. Our passing standards this season has dropped and European football has nothing to do with that, the stupid amateur mistakes are not caused by a few extra games just 25 games into a season. These are seasoned players used to 45+ games every season, blaming Europa is not valid because our style is not based on run, run, run, run like all the other teams that suffered.
