Ordinarily, I would find that a shocking game-plan when you're desperate for three points to survive. So was there a Board room decision which is to ensure we finish 18th whatever it takes? 18th on the basis of mounting a legal challenge against the Premier League and Sunderland over the decision not to follow precedent and dock Sunderland points? Even if we don't survive on position, maybe we can in the courts...!
I don't think so; I think it's more likely we were hoping to get a chance on the counter, especially after we brought Redmond on. Welcome to the board btw
Chelsea's strength is attacking teams on the break, breaking down a packed defence is not their forte. Keeping it tight and trying to nick something on a break, as we so nearly did, was probably the best way to try and get points today. I think the chances of a legal challenge keeping us up are slim, and surely it makes more sense to try and make sure we finish 17th anyway so it doesn't matter?
I think we were a bit tentative to fully commit forward as they are excellent on the break and for us a draw still kept us in the hunt whilst a loss relegated us. We did however play very well and looked like they were fighting unlike last week. All eyes will be on sunderland midweek if they lose then anything can happen. Shame United ****ed us over two weeks in a row.
Who knows what would have happened had our perfectly legitimate goal stood last week. Oh well! No point dwelling on that now.
I don't think it was a case of setting up for a draw, more like he didn't want to lose it? I would have liked a swap of Howson for Hooper with 10 mins left, but if he'd have gone for it and then lost he'd have been slated aswell! Just a shame the defence couldn't have played like that ore often.
We didnt settle for the draw, we just realistically setup to stop them scoring against us first. Looking at our form all season, we were only going to have a chance of the win if they didnt get on the score sheet, so that was the priority. Had johnsons header had something on it at the end, it would have truly come off.
Just to answer the perfectly reasonable question - regardless of whether it was asked in sincerity - I think that, had we opened the game up at any point, we would have almost certainly lost. The idea was to pick them off whenever we could. We should have had a penalty and Snodgrass missed a sitter, so the plan worked. By the way, despite the imminent relegation, it was nice to go to a game today and see the team (minus Gutierrez and Becchio - have you seen their twitter comments?), manager and fans wholly united. Down or not, the good times at Carrow Road are just around the corner again I feel.
