While Dai is a bit of doom and gloom I can see where he's coming from. As I've mentioned in another thread and one of the other guys has said the same, we take 5 or 6 passes when we could be in the same position with 2 or 3. A quick ball over the top for our pacy wingers to run onto wouldn't go amiss. I mean, how many times are we caught offside during games - not a lot I wager? That's because there's no-one making the runs behind the opposition defence for a ball over the top/slide ball through. Sometimes the wingers start to go and then stop for no reason. If we fix this then I'm sure we'll be fine but at the moment it's no disaster as we're keeping clean sheets. We'll be fine come the end of the season but we can't take any games lightly.
If we are in the relegation zone by the end of December, then we should start worrying. What`s more worrying, and Buck should start to do a bit of work on it, is that of the 13 games we have played, we have failed to score in 7 of them. Possession football is all well and good, but if there`s no end product as in over 50% of our games, lessons need to be learnt. We never vary our game, it`s all tippy tappy pass pass and by the time we eventually end up near the opponents goal, we are outnumbered by the defence. I`m not saying we should abandon our "philosophy", but there are times when we should show a bit of urgency. Buck needs to galvanise the players into a more cohesive unit going forward. Yes, we might get caught out in defence now and again but we need to score more goals, or at least try and score more. If we beat Blackburn, all will probably be well again.
Dai, we should be bottom of the league if you look at the investment the club has had in comparison to every other team in the Premiership. the way we are going we could very well end up bottom if nothing is done in January...all this boll ox of we play entertaining football is going to peoples heads and they believe in all the hype,,,,,well reality check we are in a relegation fight and have only managed 2pts away from home and just 11points at home....but we play entertaining football aye so thats ok then it dont matter we are in the premiership..
I am not quite sure what point you are making by quoting what I said Dai. Just to clarify, we should be bottom, and we're not. We're actually mid table. When we are actually in the relegation zone, have a moan if you want but till then, cheer the **** up.
mid table in name and relegation in what matters ...points, and that is my point.....i cringe when i read the comments the day after a match about how good we are and we are too good to go down when we never won and just 5 points from a relegation place, some cant see the trees for the woods and think we are better than in reality we are, so what i am saying is not all doom and gloom at all its the reality of where we are, What happens after xmas who knows it all depends on who brendan can bring in and how many. we cannot play the way we are playing and expect to pick up enough points to stay up the way we are, and thats all im saying.....get it right in january and we will be in with a big chance of staying up......and thats all i care about...
i wouldn't worry too much - you are doing fine! all three promoted clubs are doing fine!! wigan are not going to be able to string any kind of run of results together any time soon and blackburn seem desperate to self destruct. in my opinion they are both going to struggle to stay up. the other ten or so teams below the top 8 are all fighting to avoid one spot in the bottom three. obviously someone has to go down but the odds are good for survival. no need for panic, at least, not yet!!
yes thats all i care about superman and thats why we need the 4-6 players that brendan wants to stop us dropping points all over the place like we keep doing. I dont buy into this rubbish we are to good to go down because of the way we play......roll on January i say and see what sort of ambition our club really wants.....
We're just 5 points off a relegation place....yes, it's true. But only 2 points off 8th place, for Christ's sake. I'll repeat that - 8TH IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE. What are you expecting, Dai, a Champion's League spot already? Forget the way we play being an issue - as a newly promoted side we're doing ok, picking up points steadily. 0-1-1-0-3-0-3-0-1-3-1-0-1. It's not wild, but as good as can be expected.
All we are missing is a goal threat at this level, everything else is in place, and once Rodgers sorts that issue out, I don't think that a top 10 position is unrealistic, I always worried about this issue with Borini going, and we do have quality up front with Sinclair, Dyer, and Graham, but neither one of these three is finding the net, consistently enough at the moment, Dyer really needs to improve his final ball, Sinclair needs to be not so selfish, and pass the ball better and a bit more, instead of banging it into the goal keepers hands or side netting, and Graham really needs to raise his fitness level, we need him to be a lot more sharper, he needs to realise he has to step up to the next level. We have played 13 games, and have collected 14 points, point a game, with 25 games to go, or pretty much two thirds of the season left, the way I see it we've done good, but that's not to say there are no issues, and for me the main issue is our goal threat, or the lack of it, and it's now down to Rodgers to resolve this issue, and I'm sure he has this in hand, I'm keeping my powder dry until January the 1st, when we'll have a better picture. Yes Graham has scored 4 goals, but I'm not that excited, to be honest, for me he seems to lack the tenacity at this level, and the next six games through December will show what he is really made of!................... please log in to view this image
We have 14 points, not 13, and Graham had zero service yesterday. He'll never score if he doesn't get the ball.
now then dragon that is exactly right, we are fine in defence thanks to monk and his organisation at the back, the midfield are good up to a point. they can keep the ball ok but the minute someone puts pressure on them then the play the ball back most of the time. Sinclair has not shone like he did in the championship and can be greedy sometimes and dyer is like a whippet and in my book our best player but his crosses into the box must improve. danny works hard but dont have that killer instinct and fair play to Lita who has not played much looked the better of the two at going forward.......our goals for is poor and like stan C and keegan said it will be our downfall at the end of the season if it dont improve.....and of course they are right....i hope for big changes in january to give us the strength and depth we are obviously lacking at the moment......
We have 14 points, not 13, and Graham had zero service yesterday. He'll never score if he doesn't get the ball. I rest my case...
Graham had zero service ! Well I could say that he needs to put himself about a bit, try to find space etc. It`s going to be hard for him as our style of play is build slowly, by the time we`ve built it up to the opposition area, there are too many defenders around to do anything. As Superman has commented above, let`s have a look at Norwich. They can score goals and when they make a substitution, what do they do. That`s right, they fetch on Holt, and what does he do, he scores a goal to either win the game or get a draw. Have to say that Lambert does seem to have the knack of getting something out of nothing, something Buck could learn from, perhaps. Think it`s time to give Lita a go, at least he can make a nuisance of himself by being tricky and quick, with Joe to back him up the two could pose problems. Perhaps it`s also time to give Sinclair a rest until he realises he`s playing for the team not himself. Roll on January and let`s see what`s in the mix.
A summary of what I see:- Graham will score if he gets the right service. He is not getting it at the moment and at times must feel like crying with frustration. He scored 27ish goals in the NPC in a not very successful team because they knew how to utilise him. WE DO NOT. His work rate is excellent and his attitude can't be faulted but no striker will succeed without good service. Lita is a useful performer but benefited from Heskey going off. When that happened, Brits was free of his shackles and he and Allen pushed us forward in the last 15 minutes. Graham could have looked equally dangerous in that period. Sinclair is being more selfish than usual at the moment because, imo, he is desperate for a goal. His open play goals have dried up; couple that with his horrendous miss last week and he must be aware that people are pointing the finger at him as being a Championship goal scorer who is not cutting it in the PL. Right now he is being one-eyed about his own situation and ignoring what might be best for the team. Dyer is playing really well and demoralising some seasoned defenders but his final ball, as we all know, is dross. A large part of that is down to the midfield who, for the most part, get a nose bleed when they get near the opposing penalty area, so Dyer usually only has one well marked Graham to pick out except when Sinclair gets in from out wide when there are actually two to aim for. Oh, such ambition!! I'll look at the midfield as a unit. They keep the ball, pass it well and stifle the opposition. Highly commendable but they create little directly and score even less. Worse still, their reluctance to push into the box means that Dyer and Sinclair have limited options when they look to cross. How often is there a goalmouth scramble in the opposing box? Not very because opposing defenders usually have all the time in the world to deal with our solitary attackers. Meat and drink for the PL lads. Look at Norwich. When they pressure they do it with numbers, we do not. Morrison is looking better value than DG courtesy of the backup he gets from his midfield in and around the box, the sort of backup that DG got at Watford but doesn't get with us. Whose tactics are the best? Early days but right now Norwich are above us and scoring goals. I'm not fooled by our midfield possession. Essentially it is a defensive tool, a la Sousa if you like; we just look a little better doing it. We need more in the final third from our midfield or the goal drought will continue. Britton and Allen in particular, have to be doing more in there and getting off some shots. At the very least that will present another threat for defenders to deal with and give our other front men some space. The defenders are doing OK but I must confess that I would still prefer Caulker to Monk, as well as Monk has been coping. Let's not forget that a lot of their plaudits are down to the cover our midfield give them. Perhaps it's time for them to start coping more on their own to allow the midfield to give some much needed support up front. I don't mean that they should be abandoned, just some more balance to what we are doing. Finally, I refer to a point I made several times on previous threads and has been brought up again on this one. Time and again Dyer and Sinclair receive the ball in front of their markers. This means that they have to get past the defender one way or another. We rarely see a ball played over the defender for our wide men to run on to. This turns it into a foot race and, Dyer in particular, would be the favourite in most instances to win it and get clear with the ball. That we don't is down to the way we play. In such cases, Dyer shall we say, might get onto the ball but in rugby terms he is then isolated. A ball like that might take out a defender but it also takes out our own midfield who are sitting deep and cannot make up the ground in support. We are then presented with a familiar scenario. Dyer looks up, sees one, possibly two options to find in the box (Norwich even QPR might have 4/5) and usually doesn't find them. I know I'm going to catch some flak for saying this but perhaps our much vaunted midfield could be the reason we are not scoring more. It's not difficult to pin down. Depending on the source, our possession stats against Villa ranged from 55% to 65%. We tested Given once in the entire match. Buck thought we were excellent. I did not. Compare our weekend stats with teams around us:- WOLVES v Chelsea 2 OT/5 OFFT FULHAM v Arsenal 6/4 BLACKBURN v Stoke 12/4 BOLTON v Everton 7/1 NORWICH 8/7 QPR 4/9 WBA v Spurs 5/4 SUNDERLAND 11/6 WIGAN 4/3 Okay, we might have had an off day but it is a disturbing trend and, as badly as Blackburn are playing, they had 16 shots with 12 on target. If they repeat this against us they just might get 2 or 3, so I hope Buck has got some serious prep in hand. We might need it. On the other hand, we are not far off from being a sound PL team but we have to be more ambitious. Or pray for Borini and Bodde for a quick fix.
i dont know if anyone saw this in the papers but the fastest defender in the premiership so far this season has been..........wait for it......... MONK of swansea city......so that is a shock for the ones that said he dont have pace..
We never scored our first 4 games , so things have picked up . We have 6 clean sheets & if not for Graham's own goal , Vorm bowling the ball off Rangel against Arsenal & Rangels gift to Man U we'ed have 3 more clean sheets . We sit in good position once again but it never seems good enough .
You'll be Ok after Saturday. If we can't beat Blackburn tomorrow, we'll make sure we soften them up for you to finish off. Seriously though, you guys look anything but relegation fodder. There are plenty of clubs in the Prem who not only get worse results than you, but don't even have the same quality on the park. Just keep what you're doing and the goals will come.
Seriously , 4 seasons of absolute success & you would never know it around here sometimes . I'm seriously worried of having a bad season because a lot of of people freak out over good seasons , it's shameful .
Be happy with that,clingo, but Blackburn might put out a second team against you. If they were higher up the league they might put out a full strength team......... I wonder if they will anyway. I hope they do and then by all means soften them up.
Ivor it took me two hours to read all that! Anyway I agree with the midfield needing to push up more, though I would prefer Allen to really get back to his attacking midfield roll, he had under Martinez, and leave Britton to protect the back four, and generally retrieve and carry loose ball! I think the answer is getting young Joe Allen more involved in the attacks, for me Joe needs to be in the box or around it to support Graham, Joe will always break a defense with a killer pass!.............. please log in to view this image
