First i must say well done to Norwich,they won fair and square and gave us a tough game. Im not that dissapointed by the result as a felt the other team could have actually scored more goals, ive seen us play much better though and our game yesterday wasnt one of our best.I dont mind getting well beaten i hate losing when the performances of players arnt there and we lose to teams not better than us,Norwich in fairness were good value and probably the hardest team weve played this year. Having said that i thought Brendens selection of josh Mc was a bad one, we all knew Norwich were going to come here and rough us up a bit, so playing such a lightweight player in the middle seemed an odd choice,im not sure if Kemy was fit but he should of been the guy to start this match imo,josh doesnt look to me as if he enjoys mixing it like Joe allen does, this worked against us yesterday as we didnt go hunting for the ball and closing down with our usual bite. Josh does have great passing skills though and will be one for the future no doubt, maybe Rodgers feels obliged to give him game time but to me he doesnt do enough of the dirty work and that put us at a disadvantage yesterday. Overall we played ok, but with no midfield control it was always going to be difficult, Neil taylor was caught out a few times yesterday,was way out of position for Holts second and has developed a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, 2 deflected goals in 3 games for him!! Sinclair looks to be lacking confidence in open play, last season he would never of squared that ball,he would have broke the back of the net!! time to give routledge a run of games now IMO. DG was unlucky not to get a hat trick and it was nice to see caulker getting on the end of a few chances,with Norwich having so many injuries at the back i was hoping it would be a productive area for us, unlucky for us !! Ash is fast becoming player of the season for me, has developed a nasty streak in the last few matches that is going to serve him well in this league,Vorm made some cracking saves to keep us in the game but overall it would have been unfair on Norwich if we had claimed a draw, a below par performance,beaten by a better team? I think a little bit of both,but thats not taking anything away from the Norwich team. Thoughts on josh Mc selection ? Was gower the right sub to bring on? Should sinclair now be rested for routledge? What are your thoughts on the game yesterday ??
McEachran - easy with hindsight but you're right. Probably the wrong choice in an ideal world. That said, Allen and Agustien not fit so who else? Start with Gower? My views on Gower are well known. Capable of brilliance and real ricks within the same minute and is therefore far too inconsistent at this level. Injuries again limited the Manager's choices though. As I said on another thread (before seeing this one) , Sinclair would have gone for goal last season and clearly lacks confidence despite making noises to the contrary. He seems to go for goal when he should lay it off and now he's doing the opposite, so a run on the bench will do him good imo. As well as Norwich played yesterday I'm not too sure we'd have fared so badly if Agustien had started. I've yet to see him muscled off the ball in a Swans shirt. We could have done with him for sure, but that was out of the Manager's hands.
Didnt know Kemy was injured, agree kemy would have made a difference . Sinclair has found the step up hard, there is plenty of pace in the prem league so its been harder for him to turn on the gas and blaze past people. I dont know if i would start Josh again, seems to have plenty of talent but no physical side to his game, he didnt seem to run his heart out and close down like Joe allen does, i think his position would be better more advanced but i dont rate him above gylfi either. Seems a decent stand in but not good enough to dis lodge our first choicers
That's true but are we likely to have both Allen and Agustien unavailable at the same time again? If so, the alternative is start with Siggy and Gower.
Think the comment about Taylor being out of position has merit - it's becoming noticeable, particularly when Sinclair is off the pitch. But as for his blocks resulting in goals that's just bad luck. Defenders are coached to block. Sometimes they are praised to the skies for it, but sometimes it takes it past the keeper. One of those things.
Yes he has been unlucky with deflections it is an occupational hazard as a defender, he does get a little bit exposed positionally from time to time though, Buck maybe feels that josh will grow into the team quickly because of his passing ability, i dont doubt this but he doesnt seem to have the feisty nature of joe allen or even mark gower, he looks a very cultured footballer and played some wonderful passes but him and gylfi look a bit similar and it leaves our midfield a bit unbalanced perhaps. Stoke will be a massive game where i dont expect us to get much success, i would gladly settle for a point there, with WBA stuffing Wolves 5-1 results went our way and it gives some daylight between us and the bottom teams, last thing we need is for mick mcarthy to be replaced though!!
Good read Norway, agree with all, like to think that Rodgers had no choice other than to throw young Josh, into the deep end, but maybe it would have been better to have started with Gower, and brought on Josh, second half, not sure either why Rodgers experimented , with us playing 4-4-2 formation from the start, as we had a weakened midfield as it was with Allen, and Agustien out. Sinclair just not clicking quit yet, which is an issue, and Rangel seemed off his pace yesterday too. Is Taylor unlucky, with his second own goal in the last week or so, or is he positionally not focused? we were second best, after our first goal all game to be honest, just one of those games, we forget and move on. My 12 year old, who was watching with me, said, I don't like that Grant Holt, he's a bully!...........................
I don't like Paul Lambert particularly, mainly because I can't understand a word he says, but he's an excellent tactician. I'm surprised that more teams don't try his tactics against us. When we have a goal kick they push 3 up front and stop the supply to Williams, Caulker and Britton. Put someone on Rangel and on Taylor on the touchline, as that's usually option 'B' and then we're reliant on kicking long and they get the ball because we've no height up front apart from Graham. Norwich seem to play a curious mix to me. They can play a bit rough (not dirty) and they were always right up our players' backsides so to speak. They bully and hustle just about within the laws of the game. But they also can knock it around and break at pace. Not a style that is common and it's easy to see how effective they are and in a well-deserved 8th spot. While I think we're heading for safety this season, I hope Brendan's working in Tenerife on how to beat the 'Norwich approach' as next season (IF there's a next season in the Prem) it could be that more teams will stop us playing out from the back.
I think with Norwich ( and any others that try ) pressing us back with a lot of men forward , instead of trying to work our way out , have Vorm boot them up field ( like he was doing ) but have Moore & Graham waiting to bring the ball down & begin our attack with the extra players pressing us in our own end completely out of the play . McEachran would have given way for Moore if it was me penciling the line up
Some very good points there Jacks, and have to say it was a very entertaining game yesterday, played at a very good tempo and with out to much incident. I glad to see that after all the pre match hype that we are this supposed "long ball team" it was apparent that we do play some very good stuff when we have the ball. I do feel that this image given to us is a little unfair at times and based mostly on the amount of goals we score with headers and from crosses. In Lambert we have a very good tactition as you have pointed out and he has formed many different styles of football this season based purely on the opposition for that game. This has been huge in getting us to these giddy heights, and long may it continue. This will be a fixture next season that hopefully they bring the t.v cameras along to. Good luck for the final push
I was hopping we would have gone above Norwich yesterday, playing at home as well, but it was not to be, back to the drawing board, it would seem, I still have a sneaky feeling though, that we will finish above the Canaries before the end of the season, they have not had a bad patch yet, but they will!................ please log in to view this image
We havent had a bad patch either IMO. I dont think Norwich are the first to close space down, there are plenty that have done that but i think they have been the most disiplined at doing it.credit to them for that, its a good mix of power and guile that they have, im not bothererd too much,id rather lose to Norwich than some of the other teams, a bit sick we didnt take 3 pts it would have put us on the home straight for survival !!
