Say what you want about us having difficult games, but we ALWAYS turn up against United and the chance of us pulling a win out the bag is there; same for City, we've looked good against that assortment of mercenaries each time we've met them and I'd back us to come away with a point. Spurs will **** on us though, we can never seem to up our game against them.
Jenners I wasn't referring to you with the rawk jibe The derby 'goal' was scored by a player who shouldn't have been on the pitch if you want play ifs buts & maybes mate We've lost 3 games out of our last 28 in the league, so that says we're quite good lke
fair enough, sorry TB, another misunderstanding lol also i did say that WBA is the only team i can see dropping pace, i did actually give you horrible lot some credit
So as things stand we'll be 2 points behind you by the end of tonights fixtures. Would you count yourselves as challengers for 4th? Because if so you're making yourself look very silly by not counting Liverpool amongst the challengers too. Numpty.
Regardless, we're 2 wins away from being a point ahead. Tonight showed just how quickly things could change and especially now that we're in our stride.
Hmmm, we could also say that your free kick from which you scored tonight, and the lay of for jelavic to put in his cross, were both supplied by a player who only got a three game ban for three assaults in one game. Or that had Coleman rightly been sent off for a second bookable offence in the semi final, and had carroll not scored with that header, we would have deservedly beaten you by 3 or 4 goals in extra time. Or had a ridiculously blind/biased linesman givena throw-in in the right direction you wouldn't have got your second goal in the derby. If, buts and maybes indeed.
Bottom line is Tobes, you can get fourth place, realistically, we can't. And if we can't get top four I genuinely hope you do. The other scenario, however, is that we can catch you, and your run-in is a lot, lot harder than ours. We've got a pig of a month in the league now, but if it's still five points between us at the end of February I think all could be down to the derby at Anfield. Then again, after the Villa game I don't deny tht any team in the league can still beat us.
2 wins coupled with 2 defeats for us you mean. Given that we've lost 3 in our last 28 don't hold your breath mate If you're still close after the next 5 fixtures then I'll concede that I'd written you off too early - but I'm confident that I won't have to
If you keep conceding that could change, can see you getting a clean sheet soon though. You usually play well against Swansea.
Not wrong that tbh as defensively we've been pretty ****e at times of late. Fortunately we've been scoring plenty so it's not really hurt us.
Games 21-25 arguably our hardest run of the season! We already have 3 points which is better than 1-5 which is a good start. If we are within 10 points of 4th by game 25 then we still have a chance as we have one of the best run ins, but I think 5th is more realistic this season in which we have again struggled to score enough goals despite some good performances.
I've saidseventh or eighth before a ball was kicked this season, and that was backe up with the transfer debacle in August. Maybe sixth, but no higher than that.
We're got a lot of plusses over the Christmas period in terms of points and goals scored, but we also had some wretched performances, such as against Villa (who are getting pounded week-in, week-out). We look fantastic when the opposition sit off and give the midfield room to pick a pass. Fulham, QPR and Sunderland simply surrendered the midfield for huge periods of the game and Steven was given 5 or 6 seconds to get the ball under control under no pressure, get his head up and ping passes about. Contrast that to the game against Villa, where they upped their energy levels for once and contested the ball. Okay, we could have scored, but we were pressured and we conceded possession in key areas again. Early balls in to Benteke allowed him to use his body strength, and for once Skrtel looked lightweight. We have to develop a plan B for teams who close down early, as the 4-3-3 we are using is vulnerable to this swamping of midfield. If we can do this and cope with teams playing a pressing 4-5-1 then we can say we are progressing. I just see no evidence of Brendan allowing the players to just 'get rid' instead of playing it out from the back under extreme pressure...
I think you're absolutely spot on there. Liverpool look a totally different side when the opposition stand off them, compared to when they're pressed high up the pitch. Sunderland conceding an early goal to a ball over the top might have lead them to drop off yesterday, & QPR were just dire tactically & physically the other day.
"We have to develop a plan B for teams who close down early, as the 4-3-3 we are using is vulnerable to this swamping of midfield. If we can do this and cope with teams playing a pressing 4-5-1 then we can say we are progressing. I just see no evidence of Brendan allowing the players to just 'get rid' instead of playing it out from the back under extreme pressure... " This is the key. Villa and Stoke didn't oblige us like QPR, Fulham and Sunderland. We need to be able to adapt on the pitch if things aren't going our way. Great teams and good players can vary their approach. Passing the ball in triangles on the halfway line isn't always the best approach.
Sturridge should help with this, he will offer a better option with a long ball as he good at holding the ball up, he is quick so defences will want to play deep, Sturriddge must CONSTANTLY be trying to get in behind forcing there back 4 back, so it will be harder for opposition middfields to press us hard as they will leave space between the midfield there defence " in between the lines" as Rafa would say.
absolutely. In those circumstance Gerrard can play the same role that Pirlo played for italy in the EC, and he proved last night he's still in that class of passing the ball. that would mean the other midfielders running their socks off like Italy's did to provide Gerrard with the ball, but a combination of forcing them back and then playing pass-and-move 'in between the lines' isn't sacrificing 'good' football at all imho.
The question is, Can the team develop this quickly enough? and Will BR deploy Sturridge immediately as a genuine 9 and have Suarez moving loosely about the front line, with one other (Suso, Downing, Sterling?) as a wide player? Is this asking too much too soon, given our impending engagement with Yernited, Citeh and the Gooners? Because they aren't about to surrender the initiative in midfield a la QPR/Sunderland/Fulham...
