Yea that's true. Gotta look for the positives. Unfortunately a good defence will never win you a game though
Unless Skrtel crashed in another Header. Maybe he would have if Downing could get the ball over the first man, or Adam didn't curl everything neatly into the keeper's arms. Those two are a big disappointment on set pieces.
I was livid with tonight's performance, I switched over to SSN after 80 odd mins and I never had my ritual pre patch poo...and Bluff watched the game. It was a heartless, un-passionate and derogatory performance but after making myself a cup of tea and thinking about it...we have nearly surpassed last season's away points tally. We had results like this in our 08/09 season and we have 2 home games coming up which we need to win. If we don't get 6 points in those games then i will unleash the beast within!
For the first time since the Spurs game, I was more disappointed with the performance than the result. We got what we deserved. The midfield ran out of ideas, very sloppy and we lacked creativity and guille in the final third. Suarez had a quiet game and perhaps the effects of the proposed ban could be playing on his mind. Despite all of this, he still looks like our most threatening player. Adam has improved a lot recently but he had a really poor match - passing was sloppy, set pieces were atrocious and missed the penalty. Also, there were so many times Wigan got the ball behind our midfield and ran at our defence - there was so much space. This is where Lucas would have been useful. Kuyt is beyond useless - he doesn't contribute towards goals or assists. He slows down the attack and can't really do anything with the ball. However, I rather we swapped him and Suarez around. Why is Kenny persisting with Suarez as the main striker is beyond me - we have no link between attack and midfield which means Suarez is often isolated. He is too far high up the pitch and needs to drop deeper so he is more engaged. Despite all of the above points, we still should have won the game as we had the best chances - Kuyt had a couple (one was over his head and difficult but typifies his lack of technique), Johnson clean through and the penalty.
didn't think i'd ever say this but we are badly missing lucas - what he does is understated but extremely effective
Haha exactly - I understand his importance while he was playing but now you can really see the gaps between defence and midfield without him. Luckily it hasn't cost us in terms of conceding goals, but better teams will exploit this space.
i'm proud of the work our defense has done to be so mean. i just want to say one thing about Lucas... you are right BUT... not focusing on him but i've made the point about Adam several times and been told i'm just bashing. He has zero positional awareness defensively and often just runs out to close some guy down or lets guys he should track run by him.... Henderson did a good job for a guy who like lucas is inexperienced in the role. Rather than say we miss Lucas i say the guys we have should do better at the job ALL midfielders should do.. better teams will indeed exploit what adam gets up to. we need him to stop running about trying to make a difference and concentrate on making far more passes to link play... that then requires players out wide and up top to play better too
