AVTuco

Yeah they won't, but they'll work for Lambert's team better. Bent is clearly an outstanding goalscorer and his positioning will mean he'll do it and basically any club, no matter how bad. Problem is we need someone with a bit more about him. Thank God we have Benteke.

Not sure if I dare say this here, but I hope Benteke starts doing more of that extra work in the next few games, since I haven't been all that happy with his game, or work rate, so far.

If Weiman or Agbonlahor ever go on to be prolific scorers like Bent i'll eat a cat

 

and you can quote me on that

No worries, won't happen.

Wainy, I can't help you but I'm intrigued if you were able to get a ride in the end?

Had the pleasure of watching bent lat night spend 120 minutes showing why we were right to get rid. Now I like bent as a goalscorer and whilst he was obviously lacking match fitness he spent he spent almost the entirety of the match in fulham's attacking half, only ventured to their defensive side of the halfway line once when burton had a corner and then just to the edge of the centre circle. He is a goal hanger. Did f all to help his team and they had no creativity at all, Tarabt was also lacking in helping his team, and spent the firs half sulking.

All in all Fulham were pretty poor

Thanks for this analysis. Although, it has a sense of prejudice in it.

We don't have a game for two weeks after this match right? I can see Lambert putting out a strong squad if that's the case.

WhaddoIdo for the next two weeks then????

Let Bennet play a game. Also, this would be a good opportunity to see what Tonev does when he gets to start and play longer than the last quarter. Will he still shoot from everywhere and piss everyone off? And Helenius in for a whole game please.

Vlaar is being played as the anchor of our defense, and even if our defense is improved from last year, I think he is not good enough to do that. Okore looks good to me. Hopefully Clark or Baker improves further in the coming months to take Vlaar's place in the future.

If that happens, he needs to be covered. They need good communication, which I thought didn't happen on the goal yesterday. A simple switch in sides by Sturridge allowed him to walk in unmarked. I can understand when people say it was Okore's fault exactly from your point of view, but I'm not sure if he should've followed his man or take his position. He took his position so I assume Vlaar told him to do it.

What did you guys think of Tonev today? I liked him more after all the YouTube clips than I do now. Now I think he thinks he's better than he is. He tries to be a hero and score by himself. He has no connection with his teammates on the attack. When he doesn't shoot he has no idea what to do with the ball, which result in silly passes. I thought he was very disappointing, and in a kind of a way that I don't think it will turn around. He's just not good enough for the role he's seeking.

He's had a disjointed pre season and about 20 minutes in the Premier League. I can't believe what I'm reading. You're actually writing him off already! If he'd scored one of those thirty yarders everyone would be raving about him.

The players are clearly under instructions to have a go from distance a lot more. He looked lively and confident. I like that. Looks like a great weapon to have in the squad, especially from the bench.

You're right, I shouldn't write him off yet. But I don't like him at the moment. He breaks the rhythm when we're trying to press with his poor decisions and shooting from far away. I know he tries a lot and it seems there is an offensive weapon in there. But will he be able to develope into a real threat? I don't know. I'm not so optimistic after Malaga and yesterday. Granted, had he scored from distance, I'd be singing a different tune .

When he came on, pretty quickly my feeling was that I didn't want him to have the ball.

Edit: reply to smetrov: Helenius?

Tactical mistake from Lambert to put him on instead of KEA. And it wasn't an easy place to debue in front of a full home crowd. I'm willing to give him another try.

He plays forward with poise, that's for sure. Joey Bennet is not going to see the pitch any time soon.

What did you guys think of Tonev today? I liked him more after all the YouTube clips than I do now. Now I think he thinks he's better than he is. He tries to be a hero and score by himself. He has no connection with his teammates on the attack. When he doesn't shoot he has no idea what to do with the ball, which result in silly passes. I thought he was very disappointing, and in a kind of a way that I don't think it will turn around. He's just not good enough for the role he's seeking.

He will be an awesome player. I'm already trusting him more than Vlaar. He looks so comfortable and confident out there.

Liking Luna very much right now, ever since second half of Arsenal game. His attitude is great, the guy hates to loose.

Okore was good, love seeing his confidence grow. He'll be great. Hope I could say the same about Vlaar. I really think it's time for someone else, even if today we had worse players.

Weimann was horrible, Bacuna very bad, and Tonev was just all over the place when he came on. He has a very long way to be a player on this level.

Luna was positive, Delph quite good.

Tonev for Weimann! Good.

Weimann get off the pitch, there's a game on.

Well done Vlaar

Come on Gabby, we need some magic!!!

I just wanna see Helenius play to be honest

Yeah, he can't be worse than Weimann right now.

Regarding the goal: it was really classy by Sturridge, however Vlaar and Okore need to improve their co-operation so that they know who marks who in those situations.

Why did we not start KEA? Not that it would've made much difference. An effective AM pls Lambert.

Bottom percentile, give or take(0.1% chance of 16th0.3% chance of 15th0.6% chance of 14th)

Ok thanks mate. it's all interesting. Even if I'd still give it much better odds, even with our good start .

How far in the tail is 14th (my prediction a few weeks back)?

Didn't Monte Carlo give us about 1% chance of escaping relegation at a particular point last season?

 

A Monte Carlo model may have done, but I'd wager that whoever ran that model put the wrong variables into it!

It wasn't all that far away now, was it