Bailey

Sunderland are fucking dreadful... Kone looks like a bullet dodged too.

I was expecting to see a dogged defensive display but they are so passive. As soon as Arsenal picked up the pace again they scored 3 on the bounce.

I am not convinced by Mustafi though, I can see Lukaku bullying him or Mirallas getting in behind him.

Opponents know how to frustrate Barkley now. They cut out his forward passing lanes and he does not know what to do. Invariably he goes backwards or occasionally might take a shot.

 

I would tell Barkley to shoot on sight, pressurising the goalkeeper into making a save should cause a defender to eventually step out to block further shots. No team is going to let him take 4 or 5 stabs at goal.

 

We have a few players like Ross in our team. Good players but just not quite good enough to take apart a dogged defence and it's no surprise that we get our best results against teams that like to try and attack us.

I completely agree. You want him breaking forward into space, behind the ball rather than with his back to goal. He is the player you want to transition the defence to attack dragging the team up the pitch and counter attacking. I agree with MC in that he should play in midfield. He isn't good enough defensively at the moment, but make him good enough. I think it is more about having the desire to defend properly rather than anything else that holds him back. His style would have fitted perfectly with Leicester or West Ham last season playing on the counter so often.

I still wouldnt sell him for any money. He is a blue through and through, he is good enough to play for the first team and its players like him that we should be keeping hold of, they are the heart of our club.

His decision making has been awful today so far. He looks a decent keeper but has a lot to learn.

He is still a young lad so it is to be expected. IMO he looks better than Butland did at this stage of his career.

I would say though that it is easier being a keeper at a club at the bottom of the table as you have more chances to impress but I think he would still be worth the risk based on what I have seen of him.

We got away with that but a point away at City is better than expected... If we played the same way 9 more times we would more than likely lose all 9!

That midfield 3 for Slovenia were excellent. Really disciplined, aggressive and knew their job. You compare that to our midfield 3 who have twice as much talent but look like they didn't know what they were there to do.

Everyone they got the ball they looked forward and quickly. Everytime ours got the ball they slowed the ball down and passed sideways. At one point Henderson won the ball back in midfield with a counter attack on but instead he played a slow pass to Danny Rose behind him instead of carrying the ball or playing it forward.

Until our mentality changes we will always struggle to beat defensive teams.

That was between his ears nothing to fo with his right foot.

We conceded a goal from Jags side, so couldn't give it to him.

Went with Gana as he still covers more ground and works harder than anyone else in that team.

Ey? How was that goal in any way Jags fault?

Completely agree Dunc. It was high boot before it was handball.

I still don't know what role he was playing last night.

He was better last night, but there's still something very wrong with him. How do we fix it? What would be best? Dropping him and getting him out of the limelight? Or keep playing him hoping that game time is the way to build him back up?

 

I'm not even sure dropping him is an option because we have continually failed to sign a creative midfielder to give us that option.

I thought he did ok too and put in a good shift, we were poor without him (which was a very strange sub).

Someone just needs to get hold of him and make his mind up for him. Look at Harry Kane, when he gets an opportunity to shoot in the opposition half he takes it on and Ross needs to get that mentality. As soon as he has any space around the box, get the ball out of your feet and hit it. Likewise out wide, get half a yard and whip in a cross.

Gerry is the only player that we have that can come into that position and be creative so he would be the guy I would try if we need to give Ross a break.

 

we don't have any depth. we can either go all out in the cups and pray for a good draw with the odds being a lot worse (since you have to win to get the cup and europe) or we can go all out in the league and get top 5 or maybe top 7 depending on cup results. a lot better odds with that, as it's not 2 cup victories but 5 potentially 7 spots. simple math and statistics.

 

yes it's 4 games, and if we win tomorrow the best start since 69/70. we're beating the bad teams thats a good thing, i'm not sure why people keep bringing that up. should we lose to them? FFS you want to beat the minnows and mid tables home and away, and then draw the big clubs away and hope for the best at home. we are currently doing that.

 

united doesn't look great, chelsea not great, arsenal looks usual arsenal win some lose some half the team is injured, liverpool are up and down, spurs have injuries with kane, the only side that's dominating is Man City. that's 1 spot of 5, we still have a great chance for the other 4 europe spots (again could be more).

Are you still feeling the same way? 1 point from 2 very winnable games?

The point about beating bad teams is that it doesn't give you a true reflection of how good (or bad) the team is.

Jags... Thought he was superb and it was a performance that should keep him in the England side.

 

Seemed to work pretty well, if ref and linesmen mistakes were ruled out, they just won 2-0 away at a team in the top 4.

That's an indictment of us more than anything else.

I didn't think Palace were very good. Their sole tactic was to feed Bent eke with long balls... that's it... nothing more.

Really poor. No threat, no shape or identity other than the back 4. Aimless long balls and strange subs as well.

We could play for a month like this and never score from open play

 

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That my worry. Bar one Gueye chance we have barely threatened from open play.

Jags has been awesome tonight. Easily my MOTM.

Our attacking players are all over the place atm... no shape whatsoever.

Apart from the lay off to Coleman, Rom has been a passenger this half

 

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In fairness to Rom, the service has largely been shite.

We aren't even getting anyone in the box. 2 balls have gone in there and only 1 player.

I'm getting sick to death of several of our players slowing the game down. People pick out Ross, but Coleman, Rom, Cleverley, Gerry, Oviedo are all guilty of it.

As I say that Mirallas on for Barkley.

Maybe Cleverly will move forward and Mirallas to stay wide?

I can't believe we haven't made a change. This formation we are using isn't working...

Ffs let's get behind the lad rather than wrote him off.

We know he has faults but he is one of the most talented English players currently in the game. Someone just needs to tell him to stop over thinking things and get a shot away. When he is playing well he does that naturally but when he starts to doubt himself he tries to walk the ball in.

 

You and Haf v Guardiola and virtually every pundit on the planet.

 

Difficult one to call.

That made me laugh!