Sorry, but Palacios was woeful for us after the initial six month period. After the tragedy with his brother he couldn't complete a six yard pass without losing possession. And the number of times he passed the ball into touch...
He was still important to the team (overall) even if his game did suffer and played his part in the famous 1-0 over AC Milan so you can't fault (to excessively) the role he played.
The task list for Pochettino was (IMO) Play better football (check--for the most part) Continue to develop young players (so far so good) End our crap record against West Ham (check) against the top four clubs (no check) The lack of belief against the top four clubs is disturbing, though. It's now three coaches old, and seems to still be going strong. I'm not sure how many people feel like spinning yesterday's loss as a slight improvement, but I don't.
"The lack of belief against the top four clubs is disturbing, though. It's now three coaches old, and seems to still be going strong." The heads went down with the penalty. There was no sense of "don't get mad, get even" in the players. "I'm not sure how many people feel like spinning yesterday's loss as a slight improvement, but I don't." More composed finishing (Adebayor, Chadli) leading to a different game is the best I can offer.
Pochettino took the penalty in the same way that most of our previous managers would have, which is why we keep getting crap like that in games. He should've slaughtered Dowd, called him a fat bastard, called Allen a diver and pointed out the blatant Adebayor one that was missed. He might get a fine or a short ban, but it's the only way that this stuff will change and the refs have only themselves to blame when this happens. They allowed certain managers to set the tone and allowed themselves to be intimidated, so they now have to deal with that situation when others exploit it. Is that the way that I want to see our manager behaving? No, but it appears to be a choice between being pissed about or acting like a petulant twat.
I would prefer the club to "post-match cite" in writing to whoever (PL, FA) about player/ref actions. I recall someone saying the club has previously employed (former) refs in training to work on certain things. Get them to add an "expert witness" viewpoint on what happened. I would forego a temper tantrum as long as the club is taking this seriously. If those in charge don't care, you can always "leak" something about the club never wanting that ref officiating again on the same pitch (and why) .
There isn't a manager alive who would get top 4 with our current squad. They just aren't of the required quality.
Exactly! The idea that we're going to get anywhere near top 4 with the likes of Kane, Rose, or Townsend in the squad, is laughable. Those players may develop into top 4 players, but they're not there, yet. That's no reflection on Poch, but on Levy. I've said it many times before, but I wish Levy would come out and admit to the fans that he's aware that we're no where near top 4, and that a failure to achieve it will not be a black mark against the manager. I do think we can remain competitive for a Europa spot with this squad, and we should use that as a platform to build, until we have the money to invest in the players necessary to gain top 4 - if that is a long-term ambition of the club.
I think we should be more concerned about being outplayed than going on about poor refs. Dier should not be trying to haul the player back with his hand. The fact that other incidents were missed is not the point, that will always happen. If we had been in the game I would have been annoyed but we were not. Their midfield broke up our attacks throughout the game and we had no answer. Our most creative player was subbed because he just wasn't in the game. That's what bothers me, not the ref.
Both bother me, Spurf. How many times have we heard the crap about winning while not playing well? We were terrible all over the park and didn't deserve anything from the game, but that's never stopped other sides from nicking a result.
You expected to win against us whilst not playing well? That saying only holds true for playing **** teams. I would never expect to beat a good team if the team have failed to turn up.
We used up that luck when AVB was here, as under him we would play terrible for most of the game but Bale would save the team. We no longer have players who can do something special to change a game that isn't going our way as Eriksen could be that player but he looks more like he will be a poor mans VDV.
It's the inconsistency in the refereeing (again ) that I was on about. If Ade had done what YV suggested yesterday, and what Allen did, I.e. hit the deck theatrically, Dowd may well have given the penalty - who knows. What Loveen did to Ade was by far the more obvious offence, but as he didn't go down, nothing given.
I think the point is that moaning about the ref or decisions are excuses as they are taking away the focus from how terrible the team was. Liverpool won because they where the better team and even if we had decisions go our way, we would have just crumbled and ended up throwing away the position as we don't have the leadership and organisation to dig in against the top teams.
We beat you 2-1, must be the best part of a decade ago now, scored in the last minute while not playing well and being totally outplayed. Does happen, but you're right, you shouldn't expect it.
Maybe. But they are two separate issues. There's no doubt that Liverpool were the better side and deserved to win. However, games can and do change on decisions like Dowd's penalty decision yesterday. If he had, at least had the consistency to give a penalty for a far more blatant offence, then you could say that he'd been equally fair to both sides on that type of offence. It's the inconsistency of officials like Dowd that annoys me.
