08 Nov 2015 17:56:21
Well what a strange weekend this has been. A routine win for us at home, Chelsea lose again, City can only draw against the bottom team, Arsenal lucky to get a point against Spurs, and best of all, Liverpool losing to Palace.
All in all a great weekend for us, yes we need to be more fluid and direct but if Carling did weekends.
08 Nov 2015 18:04:09
Hi Tony
Great results for us. I think we need to win our road games against lesser teams to stay in it. Maybe our offense will come to life as the season goes on, who knows.
08 Nov 2015 18:08:58
Getting a point at palace not a bad result after all?
08 Nov 2015 18:23:19
We were utter rubbish at Palace and them beating Liverpool does not make our performance any better.
08 Nov 2015 19:18:04
GCU,
A point there was a pretty good result from how bad we played, when you say we need to beat the lesser teams to stay in it, we are well and truly 'in it' at the moment with a pretty decent run to come. Arsenal play city in December as well as city up against Liverpool next up. We have to be feeling like we are in a title race now surely? Even the most negative people can accept that?
08 Nov 2015 19:19:13
We were the only premier league team that is in Europe that won this weekend, think that puts it into perspective really.
08 Nov 2015 19:50:32
AJH, if Carling did do weekends they still wouldn't be as good as the ones that Carlsberg do :)
08 Nov 2015 19:53:50
Not sure about a carling weekend tho. Carlsberg maybe ;)
08 Nov 2015 20:10:29
Lol Betty, good to see you back. Brain fade on my part.
A point at Palace looks ok but we played dreadfully. Arsenal created fewer chances today than in any of their games so far his year. However, it was more chances than we have created in most of our games. Surely something has to click soon.
08 Nov 2015 20:54:26
I'm going to try to stay away from the whole negative / positive posters debates mate as they have become so tedious I think they are dragging the site down. Some posts just grind my gears a bit and I end up trying to argue a completely pointless topic. It is clear that some people will never change their views, so it is pointless even engaging with them. It has taken me too long to realise that really, so my bad to be honest.
Anyway, back to the football. Hopefully a couple more wins and we can kick on a bit and start scoring a few. Style of play and the whole obsession with possession ( there a rhyme in there somewhere) thing is obviously an issue, but I think it's a combination of the managers' tactics but also the players themselves. Everyone was pleased and happy with the Everton performance, and rightly so. But does anyone honestly think that after that game, LvG said "right lads, we were too good and too positive and scored too many goals today. From now in I want you to drop deep again and slow down our attacks and score less goals"? Of course not. He likes to keep things tight in defence and keep the ball, but I'm sure he wants us to break quicker than we do and be more positive.
I think the Chelsea situation sums up modern football very well. Confidence is everything. Take it away, even a little and the belief starts to disappear quickly. In many ways they are similar to us this season from the point of view they are not scoring enough goals, the difference being that we are not conceeding many. We are criticised for playing 2 holding midfielder, perhaps with some justification, as are Chelsea. This is seen as a negative thing because both teams are struggling to score goals. But remember the first half of last season when Chelsea's were scoring bags if goal and strolling to the league title? How did they play? Yes, you got it. With 2 holding midfielders in a 4231, the same formation that LOTS of people wanted us to play. The 2 holding players is not the sole problem. It is what's going on in front of them, and at the moment our creative players are just not creating enough. For me, like many others, Martial needs to play up top and make those runs in behind to stretch defended and create space for others. If the forwards click soon, and they need to, Imsee no reason why we genuinely shouldn't challenge for the league title.
08 Nov 2015 21:31:28
Good post Betty. I agree with all of it. I have also been drawn on the positive/negative posts nonsense.
We are in the title race regardless of what others on here think. I'd take the 2 holding midfielders all day long if it kept things tight at the back and we were getting goals the other end. Like I said in a previous post. We are a striker away from being a very good side.
08 Nov 2015 22:52:02
Welcome back betty, better to adopt that attitude than not to post at all.
09 Nov 2015 00:07:19
Not saying we played well but points better than nowt.
09 Nov 2015 05:52:42
GDS
Offcourse a point is a very good outcome and bit of highway robbery lol.
My point was we should be honest and palace beating liverpool yesterday does not make it okay for how poorly we played at Palace.
BTW I have always said Liverpool will finish 6th or 7th so they are not the benchmark for me.
Liverpool have gotten a boost from a change of management but things will settle back to reality and they will not be a factor. Its still Arsenal, City and I think Spurs/Southampton/Westham will be in there given the fact that Chelsea look like finishing outside the top 4 now as the gap is getting quite large and so many teams for them to go past, unless they get a management change.
If we are going to challenge for the title our away form has to get a lot better and the next 2 games should be a good test at Watford and Leicester. Need to beat those teams if you ask me to sustain a challenge. Arsenal's away form is really good and they beat teams they are suppose to and we need to match that.
Whilst everyone is talking about how solid our defending is City and Arsenal have conceded one more goal than we have, so its too early to claim we are fort Knox IMO.
09 Nov 2015 08:15:58
Champions should be able to play poorly and grins out result even under fergie at times we played badly and won games let's just encourage our team pls.
09 Nov 2015 10:59:11
GCU,
I would agree with you on all of that mate, not sure why my post came across as me disagreeing with you the other day, it didn't mean to.