....again, went to the game today and I guess there are two ways of looking at it - angry with the team letting slip what should have been 3pts, or positive - great team display with promise for the future. Immediately after the game I was in the angry camp, and tbh still am a little bit. But am now really in the positive camp. THE GAME It was crucial to get a good start and 'quieten' the already quiet home crowd. And we did just that. Pretty much the whole first half we were in total control - dictating the pace of the game and having a crucial stranglehold in the centre of the park thanks to the impressive (once again) partnership of Granero and Faurlin. We lost Bosingwa to injury in the 3rd minute, yet another defensive injury - taking our tally to 5 now. But on came Dyer and he was impressive from the start. He won our first corner of the match and from then on we were on top. Several corners, and decent opportunities fell our way and we really should have been more than 1-0 up at half time. A classic case of 'if only'. Granero (I think) put in a terrific pass to Zamora for the goal - a really good spot to see the opportunity. Spurs didnt test Cesar once in the first half. During half time I said to my dad that we need to get another good start and not let them back into the game - but we did. That for me was the biggest mistake. No idea what Hughes said at half time, but we came out with a much slower attitude. They quickly won a corner and put us on the back foot straight away. We did still have a bit of the ball, but then came the goal out of nowhere. Faurlin unwittingly diverts the ball into the back of Cesars net. Cue panic in our ranks. Within a minute we are on the back foot again and they make a quick counter attack. Bang 2-1 Spurs. Terrible few minutes and from then on the game went backwards and forwards until the final 15 mins when we were on top again. We just had too little too late in the second half. The damage had been done. As I said, at the final whistle I was seething. How we didnt win that game, let alone draw it is criminal. We had them on such a back foot in the first half we should have made the pressure count. We let them back into the game straight after half time which eventually led to them equalising. A disgrace that we didnt close the game out. But on the positive side, we had one of the top teams penned back for an hour of the game in their own back yard. We were excellent, and Dyer was very impressive indeed. We definitely look like a team now. THE RATINGS CESAR - 8 - neither goal was his fault but his control of the area, short passing, and made saves when needed all contributed to a solid defence, mostly. ONUOHA - 7 - was pretty solid, and won most of the headers and by and large did well to keep lennon at bay most of the time. got forward very well, but did get caught out of posession a few times. HILL - 7 - solid overall and his positional sense was very good. pace wise couldnt compete with defoe et all, but coped well. had a decent header on goal in first half that forced a fine save from freidel. NELSEN - 8 - a real warrior and marshals the defence very well. always there to make the tackle/block. DYER - 8 - MOM - probably a outside choice for many for mom, but for me he was at the centre of everything good for us, and was crucial in keeping us on top at times. displayed excellent skills, pace and sharp thinking to outwit defenders and produce some excellent moves for us. great comeback. FAURLIN - 7 - had a good game, but loses a mark for the own goal and lost the ball a few times when in good areas. but overall cant be too harsh - him and granero are forging a good partnership and seem to have a real understanding. GRANERO - 8 - again central to many good attacking moves and was always there to chase and win the ball back. quality player. class ball for the goal as i already mentioned. PARK - 7 - always chased and forced mistakes and was in their faces all day long, but still that nagging point that for me he isnt a LW and shouldnt be there for the 'lesser' games. It stifles us in attack as we cant make quick counter attacks when it goes down the left. But kept posession well at times when it looked like he would lose the ball, and at times he had 2/3 spurs players on him. SWP - 7 - again lots of energy and workrate, but still lacks the final ball that will create decent chances rather than half chances. although, saying that one great cross in the second half which zamora should have been better placed for. HOILETT - 7 - full of energy and retained posession well but missed a glorious chance to make it 2-2 - the goal was gaping but he waited for ages for no reason and got tackled. other than that worked hard with little end product. ZAMORA - 8 - another warrior performance. always there to link up play, and that he did well. received the ball and passed it on to either flank with ease and central to our attacks. looked like he may have picked up a knock, hence the sub. SUBS: BOSINGWA - (left him out above as only played 3mins) CISSE - looks off the pace tbh and half the player he was last season. MACKIE - made an instant impact in raising the speed of our play but had no decent chances really. THE FINAL WORD Well, writing that ratings bit above has cemented my position in the positive camp. Lots of good individual performances and we seem to have gelled as a team now, and will only get better. We played them off the park for large parts of it and had WHL silent apart from their goals and a 10 minute spell after the goals. That shows how good our performance was. BUT, and this is a big but, we cant continue to say performances were good but not pick up points. That is the be all and end all. I am sure we will play worse and win games, but right now we are playing well and not getting our rewards. Unlucky to lose today for sure as we were easily the better side. But we need to pick up our first win soon as it will cause confidence problems if we dont.
Agree with most of that Judo, thought Hill was outstanding and back to his late form from last season. Great to see Dyer at last justifying our faith in him, an excellent game and handy in light of the defensive injuries. Two minutes of panic cost us dear but we made Spurs look pedestrian for 75% of the match and that is light years ahead of the Swansea and Norwich performances. Slick, crisp passing had them chasing shadows for long periods and AVB must have trodden in something to get a win out of that...
Respect that you made the game Judo as nothing comes close to the live action From what I saw on Fox a few players deserved a 9 as at one point Gale said that Spurs had better players I didn't agree ... It looked like we had by far the better of the midfields over the 90 and I couldn't mark anyone down below a 8 Faurlin was unlucky for a second but he was there in the action We defended set plays with ease and both spurs goals had some luck about them . We created good chances do on other threads saying we have no punch up front I don't agree Good read Judo Let's hope we beat the hammers under lights
Judo....it was Faurlin's pass for our goal, not Granero and it was meant for Onuoha, not BZ. Having said that, it was a sublime ball nevertheless! You will have been in a far better position to judge, as you were at the game, but on the highlights Granero looked pretty poor. Looked to me as though Faurlin tried to leave the ball but miss-judged it and it went in off his shoulder as he turned away.
Judo good report. For me Hill was my MOM for exactly the reason you gave him as having problem, he knew he didn't have the pace yet managed to use his experience to push the attacker where he wanted them, fantastic effort. Also the running the offside trap, as Nelsen and Hill did against Defeo, they must have real faith in each other, sign of great understanding between the two. Holliet was trying to let the ball run across him to shoot with the right foot, a mistake a striker would not have made which was a shame other than that no real complaints. Oh, some people may not see this as a postive but the little niggling fouls that Granero put in to slow the game break up attacks were clever and showed great awareness of what was around him. Col - Haven't seen MOTD2 yet but the Centre two played well, controlling the middle during the first half. More competitive in the middle during the second half when spuds changed there tactics but still held their own, we really did well. My only fear, like last season, is we will play well against the better clubs but not take it through to the games which we have to win, guess we will soon find out.
Only one way of looking at this game for me. We're becoming a very good side and results will come. We were class and only bad luck (silly own goal and a fortunate bounce of the cross bar to their in form centre forward 6 yards from goal) and injuries meant we didn’t come away with 3 points. Defence did well considering forced changes pre-game and mid-game yet again. Granero and Fauling dictated the game and allowed s to dominate the majority. They will both get better. Play like that against anyone outside the top 5 and we’ll win 3 or 4 nil. Also quick mention to the idiot Spurs fans and witty responses from Rangers fans. I was upper tier to the right near the back and behind the safety of a fence was the biggest bunch of sad acts I’ve seen in my life. One particularly angry old moron turning purple with anger at the taunts from the rangers fans nearly exploded when a few Rangers fans started singing “We like your cardigan”. Good work!!
Great performance from the lads but can't help feel we are a little lightweight in the middle of the pitch. I know Faurlin and Granero looked neat and tidy but I always like to see at least one hard man in the middle of the pitch. While they have the ability to create and pass, my 8 year old son could blow both of them over. Can't wait to add Diakite ot M'Bia into the mix.
The highlights will bear nothing to the game I am certain of that and aren't worth a **** never are. How you can say Granero looked poor suggests you didn't see the full match Our midfield looks outstanding and you have to say credit to Hughes I also like the faith shown in SWP as he is getting better and is still class Dyer well I was one of only a few that wanted him to stay and he has proved me correct again To the doomers I ask how long has it taken for this team to click ? My blood boils when I read such stupidity a stock check is recommended ... A glass half empty!!!! Should be thinking of Europe as this team has massive potential
All good points DT. Was really impressed with yesterday. A lot of positives. Starting to look and play like a team. If we continue to perform anywhere near that level then we will deffo climb the table in the coming weeks. I stick by my point above though. Think that Faurlin and Granero will be an excellent pairing full of class, but a little lightweight for me. I have no doubt that they can boss the middle against many of the teams in the Prem. We still look vulnerable to the counterattack against the better teams. IMHO, neither of them can be classed as a DCM. To play without at least one DCM in your team is suicidal.
Great report thanks Judo, I share your frustration and the promise. I would have marked us down about a point overall, as we didn't win. I would have given Ale, Dyer and Hill the best ratings - Ale, if not for turning his back to give the og, would have been my MOM, he was great otherwise. I also agree with Vale's comment about Granero, a very prof performance. BZ took the goal well, taking it off Onouha' toes (I think) from Ale's sublime pass, but must confess I was a bit disappointed in BZ 2nd half when he started losing the ball, including critically losing it and letting Spurs counter before their 1st goal - perhaps he had taken a knock though. Cesar made a few good saves and is a huge improvement on Green, not least in the confidence he seems to generate around him, but on a couple of occasions I thought he could have held the ball or diverted it sideways rather than spilling it back into dangerouus areas. I think we do need to be sharper in and around the oppositions box, as you say we could and should have been 2 up at half time, I totally agree with your comments about Park and SWP who are our biggest problems going forward, attacks often falter when the ball reaches them in wide positions. We should also be better able to cope better at the back when teams turn up the speed and pressure, but in midfield at least we are starting to look really good.
All in all a positive performance, though of course only having 2 points is still a little nerve-racking. Agree, Granero and Faurlin make a nice pairing in terms of passing (but they're both guilty of being caught in possession). My only concern, as some people have said, is that they're are a bit lightweight; they're also lacking in pace. I would like to see Diakate in the middle as he likes to drive forward, but also has the pace and strength to go box to box. Overall it's gonna be another nervy season, but I think we'll be ok. I have faith in Hughes: he's got PL pedigree and the team are looking better with every performance; which have been against top league opposition.
I've had a policy that I don't mind losing provided my team plays well. Just for the moment, that policy has deserted me. A second goal for us in the first half might well have done the job. We still need predatory and skillful strikers who know where the back of the net is. Damn shame we never got Defoe if indeed we were ever chasing him. I am pretty sure we will be fine in the end but I would prefer that to be a bit sooner rather than later (just for once!!).
I agree with this. Grenaro and, even more so, Faurlin are good ball players and get their foot in well. However, they both lack pace and that allows us to get caught out on the break when we lose possession. I'd play Diakite, when fit, behind them in a 4-1-2-3 or 4-5-1.
I presume that's aimed at me? I specifically added the rider that I wasn't there and only saw the highlights. On the highlights he looked poor, getting caught in possession and slow to get back into position. A lot of people are looking at things with very rose-tinted glasses. I've read, a lot, that we're going to tonk some of the so called "lesser" teams. Well, I've got news for you....there are no easy games in the Premier League for us. West Ham is a massive game now!!
And Big Sam will come looking for the win without a shadow of doubt. The Loftus Road faithful must be in fine voice on Monday night. I hope numbers are not down due to the Monday / Sky thing.
Just looked on the online ticket site and two things really surprise me: 1) West Ham only have the upper tier - I would have expected them to easily fill the entire end! 2) There appears to be a lot of tickets still available - Why? (I know it's on Sky, but even so!!)
