mrfahaji

What happened to adriansfc? Usually found his posts decent, but he was never the same after Midtjylland...! Haven't seen him on here for a long time and yet he was a regular poster.

For some reason this thread makes me think of Pass the Dutchie as John Cleese's character in Life of Brian: "No one is going to stone anyone, until I blow this whistle - even, and I want to make this absolutely clear... even if they do say, 'Jehovah'"

If Manchester United want to sign him I can't really blame Jose for wanting to experience playing for one of, if not the world's biggest club (P**pey & Everton not included obv). I just hope he doesn't start trying to dress it up, which appears to be the case at the moment, as the club forcing him out and showing a lack of loyalty through not giving him the contract he wants. Don't get me wrong, if he wants to stay and spurn all the other clubs, then I don't have as much of a problem with him trying to get a better deal. But would be disappointing for him to turn things sour before jumping ship if that was his intention all along.

Comic Sans?

Would probably play Davis & Hojbjerg if playing a 'Best XI', but the problem is that JWP & Clasie don't work well together at all. Therefore if we are in a period of squad rotation I'd be inclined to play as you've suggested.

But at least he does that. Hojbjerg does a bit too. Not sure Clasie and JWP ever do, which is why they're not a great partnership.

Given that we look a striker light anyway, regardless of Austin's injury, a loan would be frustrating if we had the opportunity to buy a better player permanently. Of course, it is possible that a loanee could be better - e.g. Daniel Sturridge (arguably) might be available on loan but unlikely to be an affordable permanent target. The reasons I can think of for an inferior temporary-fix option when we could sign a player that will bolster the squad next season as well are 1) the player we want won't/can't join us in January 2) the player we want will cost us a bit more than usual 3) the club thinks we have enough options up front already Would be annoying if 2 or 3 were the reasons for a second-best solution.

Before the match, though I was unsure about a few areas of the team (J-Rod, Martina), my main concern was the pairing of JWP and Clasie as the two central midfielders. Neither naturally drive at defences or make runs into the box, so it wasn't a surprise to me that our play was pedestrian and dreadfully boring. I know that Clasie had a decent game, but not sure these two work in tandem very well.

God, things are worse than I thought.

Doubt Middlesbrough have had a more comfortable away game all season.

Thought their comments were both accurate and damning.

I expect many people know this story, but think it's a good one for anyone who doesn't. Tim Flowers had left us for Blackburn the season before (or maybe the one before that). He said to Matt when he left, "you'll never score past me, mate". When Flowers returned to the Dell, Le Tissier duly scored a penalty, and mentioned so after the game. Flowers responded with "Penalties don't count!" Needless to say, after this game at Ewood Park, Le Tissier approached Flowers again. "Does that one count?" I believe that's also why you can see Le Tissier pointing towards the Blackburn goal amidst the celebrations.

I was being somewhat facetious in my reply. I agree that we are light up front. Think that boils down to the board thinking J-Rod was going to regain his form, and maybe also that Long wouldn't completely lose his.

There's a massive flaw in that plan...

Crazy theory, the next thing you know someone will be suggesting we convert Redmond to a striker.

I don't disagree with your post, I was replying to the one that said Redmond did better than Sims last night. Don't think that was the case at all. I just can't get over how one footed he is and how it basically rules out half of his options. Sims has an element of unpredictability about him, whereas you know what Redmond is going to do: run at (not past) the defender, hesitate, cut back, make 5 yard pass inside.

Then the alarm clock goes off and you have to get up for work.

When Sims got the ball he caused problems for their defence by trying to take them on. Redmond just checks back and plays a 5 yard pass. When Sims gets it you feel something might happen, when Redmond gets it you don't. Seemed the wrong choice to take Sims off instead of Redmond in my book.

I'm not even sure we were that bad last night. At Half Time I was thinking "ok, we haven't been great, but we haven't been bad either, we're in a decent enough position". But we didn't get better, it was the same monotonous play until we found ourselves in dire straits. On one hand I wondered whether the "0-0 is enough" mentality affected us, and let's be honest, knowing that conceding a goal was disastrous, perhaps such a mentality or strategy would be understandable. However, this wasn't a one-off. We play like that in virtually every game - sucking the life out of the match regardless of whether it helps or hinders us. I agree with many of your points, and that it's not all doom and gloom - particularly the emergence of a few youngsters - but I wish we would play a bit quicker and sharper at times. We rely so heavily on players like Tadic, because he's one of the few players who doesn't always take the safe option. I reckon this slow, predictable approach is what most people are unhappy or worried about - especially as we have a knack of conceding every shot the opposition have on target. Even though I do not view it this way, thought I'd be Devil's Advocate and use your list, interpreted a different way. Some are tenuous I admit (e.g. the youth players!), but think it shows how we are really at a crossroads in our season and it could end up either way! - We have to beat Liverpool over two legs to reach the final of the League Cup - We failed to qualify from a Europa group that included an out-of-sorts Inter, Sparta Prague and Hapoel Be'er Sheva - We failed to score in any Europa away game, put in one dreadful performance and failed to capitalise on a good performance at the San Siro by taking any chances - We are 12th in the league, having messed up chances to stick with the top group and are hovering just above the relegation battle - We have played 30-40% more games than everyone else, and that will catch up with us later in the season but particularly Dec-Jan where we have matches every few days - Where would we be if it wasn't for the emergence of a couple of our academy players?! - Our only reliable source of goals is injured again, our new star-signing has shown glimpses of brilliance but doesn't yet appear to be a dependable starter, and we seem to be picking up more injuries than normal

I'm not actually sure he has pace. When did he last out sprint someone to the ball in the way that say, Shane Long does? For a long time I have viewed him as a 'pacey' player but it might just be a myth. I recall seeing him in the pre-season friendlies and thinking he looked quick then, but not seen any evidence of it recently. Unfortunately I disagree with your last sentence, he was by far the worst player on the pitch from where I was sitting!

I think Reed sees Pochettino as a huge success and his tenure as a blueprint for how the club should operate. Bringing youth players through, playing possession football. He's referenced it in interviews and there's no doubt that's what we've gone for in Puel. In that sense it was arguably the right appointment, although we don't press in the same way we did then and a pressing game is also part of the plan. The question is whether that is what we should be aiming for. I'd like to see us play with a bit more zip. Like Bournemouth - the best team on the South Coast...?

I was getting p1ssed off with a section of the Chapel (I was in Kingsland) that would be randomly cheering, or 'ooh-ing' in the way crowds do when there's a mexican wave going round. Turned out to be because people were making paper aeroplanes out of the flags and sending them pitch-wards. Watch the bl00dy game and get behind the s0dding team.

Most gutting - HBS. Worst performance - Prague (although I didn't see Hull & Palace, Prague was one of the worst performances I've seen for years, I'm sure the others couldn't have been that bad). Worst result given the circumstances/opposition - Hull. The other ones you've listed aren't even that bad. Although perhaps the worrying thing is that the three above are all pretty recent (maybe that's a psychological/statistical effect, I'm sure someone like shurlock will be on hand to point that out if so!)

Because he can't use his left foot. At all. And he doesn't actually appear to have much pace either. Must be so easy to defend against when he's playing as a Left Winger - just show him down the line, because he sure as heck doesn't want to go down there! If he could actually complete an inventive pass effectively these things could maybe be forgiven, but he failed to get those right too. Anything more than a 10 yard pass to feet seems beyond him - so often there was a ball into the channels for someone to run on to, and he failed to execute it. He doesn't make good enough off the ball runs either. The crux of it is that he should be the sort of player who does out-of-the-ordinary things, yet he probably plays safer than anyone else in our team.

Head to head, for this reason, seems fair to me. If you've beaten a side twice, it seems silly that they can progress instead of you just because they hammered the cr@p team by more than you. Goal difference between the two of you is when it becomes a grey area for me, but I can see the logic. The away goals rule as a group tiebreaker is what I think is wrong. Fine if it is in a knockout, but in a group it's ridiculous that the stadium in which you scored your goals becomes more important than how many goals you've scored. These were my thoughts a couple of weeks ago when PSG went above Arsenal in their CL group on this basis - not just sour grapes because it has cost us a place! But as I have said in another post elsewhere, perhaps it's fitting we went out that way given we scored 0 goals away from home in total. Had we lost 2-1 in Milan and 3-2 in Prague, there would definitely be a case of feeling hard done by. Not so much when we've managed 0-1, 0-1, 0-0.