Just been going through the "1,2,3 votes" thread and reading a few of the opinions expressed as to who was a fault for what, and most were about perceived defensive errors (to which I added my opinion about Chester's abysmal "defensive" header), HOWEVER - the main reason we didn't get a point at least, was due in my opinion to an equally poor header from Graham. My goodness, am I missing something or did we in fact get precisely ZERO from Graham yesterday?
I thought he did ok. I'm not defending him but it was a poor cross with no pace on it. He was back pedalling and couldnt get any power on it. If we had another CF he would be dropped but we dont. plus if you're saying DG cost us how poor was Chezzy's first touch from Boyd's pass?? He knocked at least 5 yards away from himself. So he could only hit it straight at the GK. A better touch and he would have had the whole of the goal to aim at.
Let it go, there's nothing to be gained from trying to blame someone for yesterday. We played well, on another day we would have got something out of the game, but unfortunately it just wasn't to be.
3 reasons we didn't get a point: Lack of clinical finishing A couple of lapses in concentration & A weak referee
I suspect you're right Ailie. I'm not really looking for someone to blame and in that respect I perhaps shouldn't raise the question of Graham specifically in relation to this game but the example I gave just seems to sum up his entire contribution.
Same old from graham, worked hard, did well in build up play, fell to bits whenever it mattered. It's got to be a confidence thing, he's good enough in general play, but when it comes to him either getting himself through or playing someone else through he gets the touch of a rapist and the chance blows straight by him. That header was unfortunate, the cross went well behind him and he had to back track and lean back to reach it, impossible to get any sort of power on it and he did well to get it on target in the best place he could have directed from that angle considering. I'm more annoyed about the time the ball came to him and it was either Koren or Livermore making a great run between Utd's far apart defenders. All graham had to do was trap the ball and make the pass and we were behind them 1 on 1 with the goalie. But his 'touch' pinged about 30 yards off him and straight back into the Man U midfield.
Absolutely, been thinking it for a while but Graham and Sagbo seem to run out of puff in the second half and we have no one decent to replace them with. Boyd looked fantastic when coming on but he's not really an out and out striker.
The ref was mainly to blame, if he had booked Rooney early on for the delibrate kick on Huddlestone and then hadn't let him off again from a dreadful dive from which Huddlestone was penalised. Oliver was a disgrace yesterday, how many of their diving players did he book? How many time did he allow the Utd players to hound him without reacting? Rooney won that game for them and shouldn't have been on the pitch. Cowars refereeing.
4 reasons then, we sat back at 2-1 when we should have been getting in the faces of them. And I don't mean they pressed us back, I mean we stood off them and allowed them to play the ball around in our half (in line with the edge of the centre circle) whilst our defence were sat roughly on the edge of the area (correctly) with the midfield about 5 yards in front of them (far too deep). As for Oliver, his decisions this season are so crooked even a politician could accuse him of corruption without looking like a hypocrite.
what got me is Young clattering into Scotland's number one and not even getting a talking to. Piss poor reffing by Oliver ''****ing' Twist. No surprise there then. A fit McGregor would have saved Rooney's effort. No problem. With one leg he didn't have a chance.
Off the ground, studs up because in reality he wasn't in a position to go for it. He made no attempt to minimise the impact.
We lost because Davies lost his man for their first. He was the wrong side of him completely. It was a schoolboy error. Had the first not gone in we might have made it to HT at 2-0. Ifs and buts though
They called Young' s assault on Mac 50/50; that is bollocks, he has enough experience not to challenge in those circumstances. Chazz had a good period and then he had a really bad one; the good period lasted 5mins or thereabouts . . . Alex Bruce is playing well above what we could have expected, which is great; he isn't playing as well as some are saying, though. Figs don't figure; somebody give Brady's head a shake. McGregor was awesome; his fingertip save was simply superb. The only way to get the best out of Sagbo is to get Graham out of the way; preferably before Fulham. Elmo did a very good job, he's not a clever player, he's not that tricky, but his pace an relentless runs really occupies the opposition. We weren't fantastic but we did enough to win; the pro-divers of ManU and the totally inept and inadequate officials (all of them) took the game of football away from us. Davies should have gone down, as he had every reason, we have to learn to be PL savvy. Wayne Rooney's goal was superb and nobodies fault. If we had a striker who knows where the net is, how to control his feet and how to read the game, then we up there with Newcastle; but we haven't and we aren't, yet.
re the header - nothing wrong with the outcome of the header , he was stepping backwards all the way through the move - same as when he struck the ball there was never going to be any power on the header - practically impossible to add pace to the ball in that scenario stop moaning
I agree with most of your posts, but on the evidence of the games he has played of late, in the 3 centre back system he has been our best and most consistent CB. There was a series of 2 or 3 slide tackles he did in the game yesterday, all outstanding and perfectly timed to win the ball, and take the opponent down.
