Extended video highlights, or lowlights if you prefer, of our rather harsh 3-0 loss against Chelsea yesterday for you now.
I say it was harsh because we didn’t deserve to lose 3-0. Yes Chelsea scored three and we scored none, but on another day we could have had four and Chelsea would have had to play with ten men for 87 minutes. Incidentally two of their three goals came when we were playing with ten men after Steven Taylor hobbled off with what looks to be a serious Achilles injury.
However lets not kid ourselves. On another day they could have had more goals aswell, with Daniel Sturridge giving Ryan Taylor a torrid time for the bulk of the match. By my reckoning Sturridge got through on Taylor’s side no less than four times in the first half only to be thwarted by a combination of Tim Krul’s fine form and some coolness from Captain calm Fabricio Coloccini.
Speaking of Tim Krul, he played another blinder yesterday. I can’t help but think that we are blessed to have him between the sticks and his performance yesterday reminded me of Shay Given against Liverpool a couple of seasons ago. Hopefully their isn’t the same outcome at the end of it!
Another player I thought played well was James Perch. I’ll admit I was nervous when he came on, but not as nervous as I used to be as he’s not put a foot wrong for some time now. I’m actually at the point of not being overly worried about him playing against Norwich. Yes Drogba beat him easily in the air, but the organisation from that throw in was poor from the start and Drogba has made better defenders than Perch look amateur over the years.
With our three games again the top sides out of the way, and a point to show for it, we can move on to a run of somewhat easier fixtures. I mean no disrespect to teams like Norwich, Swansea, West Brom and Bolton, but I think even their own fans will admit that they aren’t exactly at the level of the Manchester sides or Chelsea.
It’s in these next few games where we can hopefully start to pick up points again, although with injuries starting to mount up one has to wonder whether or not we can manage to get back on track in the near future?
Time will tell I guess…
When I first saw the fixture list at the start of the season if someone offered me a point from the last 3 games I would of taken it. But with our form going into the games and how we played a point seems a little disheartening for some reason. On the plus side we mixed it up with 3 teams who are going to be there or there abouts come the end of the season for the league title / champions league qualification / cups. They are 3 good teams. Biggest blow is the loss of Saylor ( for the season 😥 ) and Colo for a few games. The defense was very settled and playing very well. But it gives someone a chance to show there worth. Thats my 2 cents for whats its worth!
Johno Toon(Quote)
Tayls out for the season, back to Willo-Collo partnership again. Hopefully Willo stops his habit of wrestling with strikers cause it will cost us one day.
Toon@Jer(Quote)
Think it may well be Perch & Kadar for a few games.
Premandup(Quote)
Off topic, but some nice footage from Elland Road yesterday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytzUQPByb_U
RIP Gary
Chris G(Quote)
Prem,
It’s gonna have to be, unless Tavernier or Remi Streete step up to the plate!
This is going to be a tough season from here on out without Taylor in my opinion. His influence and performances can’t be underestimated. Coupled with Colo being out and we are suddenly looking very vunerable.
Lucky to finish in the top half unless we bring in a serious reinforcement in January as I can see us leaking goals all over and our current position isn’t down to our goalscoring prowess.
Do I think we will bring in quality in January? No chance…
My choice would be Aaron Hughes within budget.
Moreno(Quote)
with the 4 games coming up, perhaps attacking is going to be our best form of defence,no disrespect to these teams.But even with our injuries,i fancy us turning them over,as i said on the previous thread,time to bring back best, as his hold up play,helps us retain the ball,and he and demba ba, chase back as well,slowing the attacks of the opposition
mg man(Quote)
The obvious choice would be Samba. However that aint going to happen. Probably a Carr special.
premandup(Quote)
Moreno I always thought we made a mistake in getting rid of Hughes.
I’m gutted for Saylor as he was proven to people how good he is , but im sure Stardy will be happy. As I said before winning becomes a habit and the longer we go without a win the harder it will be to get back to that winning habit.
Big Dave(Quote)
MG MAN,
Just play 3 at the back in that case with Ba, Best and Shola up front!
Imagine that!
Moreno(Quote)
BD,
He was a quality player who could fill in anywhere across the back. Total professional with invaluable experience.
What we sold him for was a crime
Moreno(Quote)
we’ll see whether Pardew trusts Kadar. I think he’ll opt for Perch and Simpson at CB. Santon in at RB
M(Quote)
Agree Ba & Best have done well up front, and with Jonas back alongside Guthrie, Cabaye & Obertan we good in midfield as well. May even have Tiote on the bench.
premandup(Quote)
2:20, 7:40, 11:20 you can see clearly that simpson is really useless offensively so better for him to give the ball to the nearest partner instead of trying to eliminate an opponent or to center, and stay in defense. Secondly I really can’t understand why Pardew has let Rtaylor in all the game, it seems what we have nothing on your left, you see Rtaylor in the screen when Sturridge has finish his action, it takes him 3 hours to come back when he goes in attack. The half line must work in his brain as a signal, i dont need to go up than this half line. Collocini and Staylor are really very good. But Rtaylor is like a junior tactically and physically.
HBA39(Quote)
We really need defensive re-enforcements. We have all been saying that this could happen all season and it has……..I personally think Kadar is a decent defender but id prefer him to be playing along side Collo or Taylor!
I would love to see us bringing in at least two defenders in Jan. James Tomkins and Erik Pieters for me!
Oblong(Quote)
@ HBA39
I dont think Raylor had his best game yesterday but he has done an amazing job at left back this season, he cant be written off on one bad game…Sturridge is a class act and he has made a lot more established defenders than raylor look **** this season!
Oblong(Quote)
@OBLONG
In first game you always had something we call excitement and concentration when you play a new position, like he had in first game where it was highly focused on the game. But after his goals he scored he believes that he has the same quality as Marcelo, in the 3 last games it was really really bad, maybe some forgot than in Manunited it was really bad to but the consequences was not direct goals so people aren’t to critic. I am more critic on his position in the pitch, in all the game it was like we played with no leftback, I cannot understand after one or 2 mistakes of positionning, you need just to think a little bit and correct your position and the guy continues in the same way all the game. I think a guy like Santon yesterday couldn’t too more bad than Rtaylor because at the ends Rtaylor did nothing yesterday.
HBA39(Quote)
I think Raylor has been shown up, but bear in mind its been againt the Manchester sides and Chelsea who will make other experienced left backs look silly at some point.
I do agree he needs dropping though as you can’t have a squad built with competition for places in mind only for the competition to not get a look in when a player has a bad, or a few bad, game/s.
toonsy(Quote)
I think Raylor gave Studridge too much respect yesterday and his positional sense is very suspect. He also gave us very little in attack, apart from his set piece. Credit to Ryan for his 100% commitment but as I said before, it is not enough to cover for the burden in defence he brings.
Since Collo and Saylor are potential absentees for the next game, Pardew should really consider making a defensive shuffle, especially there might not be any Collo to cover for Raylor if he was to be out of positon again.
Instead, hopefully Santon will be drafted in for the next game as I believe majority of the fans are eager to see what he is made up of. Say if he had a bad game against Norwich, the Raylor critics (including me) will keep their peace.
Toon@Jer(Quote)
Yesterday’s game was really disappointing and we definitely deserved something from the game, we’ve been done over by the ref who by his own admission now says he should have sent him off-wonder whether the f.a will give him a match ban? Anyway here’s the luck we got for wolves and Man U I suppose except its hit us way harder in the form of injuries. With Taylor out for the season and Colo still troubled we’ve got from top 7 to very mid table.
If we have Tiote right back in it next week we may be able to soften that because neither Guthrie or Cabaye can cover as much ground or tackle as well as he can and that’s why he he has to be right back in the team when fit in place of guthrie.
Raylor has once again shown he’s not a left back and as I’ve been saying all year as soon as Jonas isn’t there to track back for him we get destroyed. We could have conceded from about five counter attacks because we had no break up presence in the form of tiote and the only people with the stamina and pace to track back are Obertan and Simpson.
Simmo wasn’t great today but I think he’s proved he’s the better defender than Raylor and when we go forward he can actually create space with his pace and sometimes put in some dangerous crosses/passes.
Obertan was very poor I thought, he needs to be told to just bomb to the byline and shoot across the goal because he fannies around way too much outside the box and tries technical crosses which he just can’t pull off enough times out of ten.
As for our defense for next week, Simmo and perch at centre back? Is that a combined weight of 15 stone against Holt who probably weighs that much himself? Reckon we’ll get bullied 😕 Still at least we’ll have Jonas back, and a pray for a speedy recovery for Colo and Tiote, absolutely gutted about STaylor.
Newkie(Quote)
What about Onouha anyone for January?
dan4toon(Quote)
Good shout Dan 😛
richietoon(Quote)
@ best we could have expected 4 points in the 3 games but that would have required a win somewhere between Man U and Chelsea. These are not the teams we are fighting and I think the scoreline flattered both Chelsea and Man City considering 2 of City’s goals came from penalties.
We doubtless need 2 strikers up front because this business of having 1 striker being Ba was not working. That is a lesson from these three games
Michael12(Quote)
Let’s put it all into perspective.
3 games, 2 away games to the Manchester clubs and one at home to Chelsea.
Hope of all hopes we wanted a decent return and anything from 2 to 3 points would have been a good return when you consider we are really still in a transitional period.
However, such is the good start we have had to the season, expectations have risen to unrealistic thoughts with some fans.
The fact is, if we are all honest…had Luiz rightfully been sent off , we would have won that game in my honest opinion but it wasn’t to be due to a ref that basically gives us nothing anyway from what I’ve seen.
But…luck being luck and fate being fate and dodgy decisions being just that, we lost the game and lost 2 centre backs (first choice), hopefully Colo recovers in short order.
That game is now over and we can;t do jack skippety **** about it but we can take heart from being the only team to score and take a point from Man Utd in their own backyard since Man City mauled them.
Now that…brothers…is a miracle…and miracles are the way things ought to be…..
Can you dig it……………………… can you dig it……………………..cannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn you digggggggggggggg ittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt . 😀
Now here’s what we have brothers…..winnable games coming up and we need to secure a back line good enough to aid us through it….can you dig it… 😀
Now we have the Perch street boy… right beside the Colo crew…..
We have the Williamson ranger…right beside the Kadar rambler…
Nobody is wasting nobody, cannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn you digggggggggggggg ittttttttttttttttttttttttttttt 😀
Now here’s what we have to do, we take over one team at a time….one team….
We secure our territory….we secure our turf………because it’s alllllllllllllllllllllllllllll ourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr turffffffffffffffffffffffff….can you dig itttttttttttttttttttttttt 😀
So there you go brothers….It’s all in our hands. 😆
wolfie(Quote)