Is it me or are we one of the poorest sides in the League for retaining possession of the ball? You'd think they were passing a skunk the way we cannot string more than three passes together often under little pressure. Chelsea were just stroking the ball round like it was on a string and we spent 75% of the game chasing shadows. I've seen this at so many games in the last couple of months you have to ask yourself are our players just not good enough? And the answer has to be yes. Yet against Newcastle, Wolves and Villa (in the 1st half) we were playing an alien game - football. What is wrong? I just despair...
We had too many championship quality players in that starting side. Their limitations are obvious. It will get better. I can't see the lineup for the wolves game being remotely similar to this one.
------------Kenny---------- Young Onouha Ferdinand Taiwo -----Barton-------Buz------ SWP------Taarabt-----Traore ------------HH-------------
I like this team and this formation, it gives more fluidity and adaptabilty to change things around as the game calls for, but I think MH will stick with 4 4 2. Also seems HH is injured - we need a new CM and a striker bad.
That's how I see it, a good strong, fast line up, SWP needs to shape up though poor game today, I'd swap him for Moses if it could be done!
SWP - no more pleasssseee! He is just not good enough, blond alleys all the time except when he's giving the ball away. Wouldnt mind seeing alternatives to Barton (african fella we look like signing?...as there is no ball winner in that team) and HH as well but that's dreaming. At least the defence looks solid so that's a start
Totally agree. We were awful at keeping the ball and it cost us. If we could have been better at this we would have created a few decent chances. We wont play that system, thats the one we used under NW and what failed us so badly. 4-4-2 is the way MH plays so I expect that. I have had enough of SWP now. He offers us nothing and constantly looses the ball - and his control and shot of the ball is shocking for a PL footballer.
Yep!!! - I with you Judo on this one. SWP is poor. I thought Chelsea for all their possession were dire, thank god we can draw a line under all the crap that has been building up to this game. Get some new faces in and onwards and upwards. Come on you rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr´s
Chelsea were poor, and tbh wont win anything if they keep playing like that. Even when we were pretty poor and had a depleted side they still struggled to break us down. Ok they had a fair amount of the ball, especially first half, but did they do anything with it? Nope.
Under Warnock and in the Championship for the most part we were up against teams with similar (though marginally inferior) aggregate skills levels. I was lambasted by many on the old 606 site more than 12 months ago when I criticised our style of play as being unattractive. For most, that we were winning and topping the table was sufficient, thank you very much. And given our recent history up to that point it was perhaps ungrateful of the likes of me to dare suggest such a thing. But it was clearly the case that there was a lot of Route One stuff driven off Kenny's boot, but often flattered by the undoubted skills of Taarabt (and a few others) who made the end result prettier than it might have been. Despite the step-up to the Premier League and the additional personnel that were, frankly, acquired in something of a rush, there has been little evidence of the style of play changing that much. Yes, there have been glimpses of better quality - passages during the matches with Man. City and Newcastle at home and Spurs away sping immediately to mind - but for the large part its been the same old, same old. And it doesn't cut the mustard in the Premier League. Since the run of poor results confidence has sunk lower and lower such that these passages are less frequent. The team is left with a defence having to suffer continued onslaught with the only respite being hopeful punts upfield in the hope that some hapless twat in hoops will do something remarkable. This has become less probable with the loss of Faurlin, the loss of Taarabt's form and the continuing disappointments that are DJ and Bothroyd. I'm truly sorry that the above comes across as pretty bleak. But it is bleak. It is far to early to be criticising Spunky. Hughes has to take stock of what he's got and assess whether they can improve, whilst all the time working towards attracting better quality and not just the journeymen and fading stars seeking their last hurrahs. I pray he's got the time and gets it right. I truly do.
I see your point mate, but lets not forget - they spent 50m on one player alone. Thats the size of the task we had today. We played well against Wigan - the game that counted - and there were many positives to take. Our next 6/7 games are the crucial ones.
I really think we weren't interested in a result today, No Taiwo, Onuoha on the bench and no real urgency. If we had wanted it enough a poor Chelsea side would have been there for the taking and a stronger side would have been sent out to win...
