I have just seen the January fixture list, we have five games and will lose them all playing negative football. If Malky has learnt his lesson from the second half at Liverpool we will find out with the next two games which will be far easier to win than those coming up. We have to win games to stay up and that is the only important thing for us to worry about. Tan has complained about this negative style and wants more bite in attack and who can blame him. jck
No chance of anything other than park the bus tactics, till we go down a goal. I'm beginning to think Malky hopes to hold on for the first half and display a more attacking nature during the second. To be fair though, I think our best chance in some of these games of January is to hope to contain rather than look to win. We are simply too outclassed to make it that type of game.
Theres a time and a place to be more attacking. Away to Man City , Arsenal and Man Utd are not the games. Pack the midfield but for FFS pick the right players.
4 points is the absolute max we can hope for IMO. I'd be well happy with 3 and the goal difference not taking a hammering.
If we stick to an average of 1 point a game, we will stay up. Doesn't really matter when the points or who against. 1 point a game will be enough.
Would you rather see a style of play similar to Blackpool and Palace (before Pullis) and get relegated, or a style of play that keeps you in the league? Some fans are ridiculously deluded. The only priority a new team in the premiership should have is survival. Anything else is a bonus, and Malky is spot on with his tactics as you are 5 points above the relegation zone. Would you rather play attractive football and be in the relegation zone with a 5 point deficit? Thought not. Nadolig Llawen everyone
It should be possible to strike a balance between the two and many on here feel that it's too heavily biased the one way. Your question regarding whether we'd rather be where we are than in the relegation spots playing attractive football doesn't need an answer from anyone. Unfortunately, there's an assumption there though that playing a more attractive/attacking style would put us in those spots. That may be right, but it's by no means a certainty. Going safe has been Malky's approach, and until he tweaks that a bit, we'll never know. Does he risk it? If Tan has his way it would seem to be yes, but he'd be the first to have a fit if we were down there.
To be fair Malky did change tactics second half of last season getting Frazier and playing the invisible Kim. Maybe we will at last see a hit man up front in Cornelious that will give us someone to aim for as all our long balls seem to go right back to the other side. The two games coming up will not be easy but we need to hope for everyones sakes we can get good points from them in case January goes the way it looks on paper. jck
Jack, you seem unable to get to grips that to play attacking football in the first half against Liverpool would more than likely have ended up in exactly the same result. With a three goal advantage they were able to soak up pressure. Granted,they did look ruffled after the goal, and it's fair to say that there may need to be a need for a slightly less pragmatic approach sometimes. However, to go to Liverpool Man U man city with a cavalier attitude is to go kamikaze. You'll end up with less than nothing. I wonder if you know any more about football than VT sometimes.
In all fairness if we had that attitude,that if we played attacking football we lose against these teams, would have seen us lose against Man City etc, I don't see any harm in having a go at teams we are expected to lose against, and the second half showed we are more trouble doing that. Ok, the result might have been the same, or worse, but to sit back and invite such teams to attack at their pleasure is not something we should do. We have played some of our best football against the better teams, and we done that by having a go, not playing negatively. Of course some degree of caution must be allowed for, but I would rather city went down fighting anytime than to play as we did in that first half, or worse, like we did against Palace. Like I said, play like that and lose the next 2 games will see people changing their minds about holding on to Malky. Personally I believe Malky is the right man for the job, but he needs to change things.
