KHV

1 minute ago, Adam2003 said:

I don’t get the Taylor thing myself - I think Targett was ripped apart today but I think Taylor would have been as well. And Targett at least played a smart little over the top ball that (thanks also to John Stones) led to our goal, where I think Taylor would have panicked and lost the ball in those close quarters.

Surprised at the El Ghazi knock - not brilliant today but an assist, a shot on target, good defensive hustle etc. Agreed on Trez though, I have defended him at times this season but he was woeful today. 

El Ghazi doesn’t turn up more often than not 

Rather have Jack wide and Conor in the middle as he is always good for a goal/assist

Then SJM can come in

El Ghazi is more often than not anonymous 

Been a massive critic of Smith so far this year 

Everything has been a shambles and abject displays one after another

Finally Konsa and Hause we’re binned, a great step forward

Shame this never happened sooner

Still think Taylor for Targett is a better option, Targett is woeful at defending

Think Elmo has better quality with his crosses from wide 

At least we put a shift in today which has been missing for weeks

Drinkwater staying at home, we should never have signed him. Much prefer Lansbury in the squad

Quality lacking effort wasn’t, Chelsea haven’t been pulling up trees, Arsenal are wank, Newcastle can’t score, Man Utd quite often fail to turn up

Put the same amount of effort in and stick with this bunch and maybe we will be okay

Id put Jack wide and put Conor in until SJM is back

El Ghazi and Trez can go, flights to Sharm are on again from Brum, I will pay one way

It’s because they push up too much and lack the pace to get back IMO

Chelsea are falling apart lately IMO , Arsenal are powderpuff and **** knows what Man Utd will turn up

Could do with 6 points

1 minute ago, TRO said:

I think its like who do you like most, Fred West or Jack the ripper?

Jack the Ripper all day long, he can’t be any uglier than Fred

Just now, TRO said:

I thought defensively he had a howler...and the manager even made reference to his error, so it never went unnoticed.....too slow in his thinking for me, defensively.

Watford set the alarm bells off for me. Constant balls over the top of him and he was nowhere to be seen

Shame that type of performance/effort has not been given the last two months

1 minute ago, TRO said:

I thought the performance was a spirited one and to keep the scoreline down against such a highly talented team, was commendable.

However, Their first goal Targett was in his customary dream world, not tracking foden or staying close and subsequently allowing him to cross.......The second was not a corner, but despite that, Mings and Engels were too close to the front post, ball watching and Guilbert ended up in a mismatch with Rodrigo.

Man City are a great side, but we still conceded our customary 2 goals every game.....we have to be more miserly in the last 11 games.

I thought Samatta, looks the business and his goal was more fitting to have won the game...would like to see him play with Davis as a 2

In conclusion, I thought the 2 full backs were poor and Man city focused on the back post with their cross field balls.....we have been weak there all season.

but such fine margins could easily have been 2-2.

I hope we can now gain belief and find the points to stop up.

I prefer Taylor to Targett all day long

Targett is better at going forward but he is so slow and unaware it’s frightening 

1 hour ago, StefanAVFC said:

A lot to be proud of. Only lost due to a dodgy corner decision.

The corner decision was bad, the decision to leave somebody unmarked in the box and not put a challenge in was worse

5 minutes ago, sne said:

Lovely goal!

Also John Stones  He's basically a £60m version of Phil Jones.

More like Phil Mitchell 

Just now, TheAuthority said:

That’s the spirit!

My chosen spirit for this 90 mins is whisky  

Just now, villalad21 said:

Smith saying the players are more comfortable with 4 at the back in his pre game interview.

Then why the f*** have we messed around with 5 at the back for weeks??

It’s a really odd comment

Is he saying he played 3 at the back for the last 7/8 games and the players are not comfortable with it?

Probably goes a long way to explain the horror show attempt at defending all this time

Im staggered with that comment

Just now, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Oh is it?

I've seen the lineup but had no clue on shape, only guesses.

Bein just put up a graphic now.

I have not been able to fathom what formation we are supposed to be playing for about 6 weeks now

Its anyones guess what areas of the pitch our players end up in 

43 minutes ago, Mjvilla said:

433, 451, 442 and 4411 all guessed in the opening 5 minutes of the lineup. Were all clueless

Looks like it may be a 7-1-1

El Ghazi to go missing completely 

3 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Expecting a spanking. I'll take just not being completely embarrassed. If we score and keep the scoreline down it'll almost be a victory.

Anything less than four will be a remarkable achievement 

Got a feeling this will be all done and dusted after 20 mins

37 minutes ago, Xela said:

Exactly the same for me. Even in '94 against a dominant treble chasing Man Utd, I was confident we could do it. 

I'm literally dreading kick off. Its not nervous excitement, its pure fear of a battering. 

I know i'm an old fanny and I would love to be proven wrong! 

Bosnich Barrett God Teale Staunton Richardson Townsend Daley Atkinson Fenton Saunders

That team shits all over this current one by some considerable distance

Also Big Ron > Smith

2 hours ago, MaVilla said:

Team should be:

                   Nyland

       Konsa Engels Mings

Guilbert Luiz Nakamba Targett

                 Grealish

            Davis Samatta

 

Team will probably be:

                     Nyland

         Konsa Mings Hause

Guilbert Drinkwater Luiz Targett

    El Ghazi Samatta Grealish

Two in the middle against City

13 minutes ago, Robtaylor200 said:

Spot on lets enjoy the day. We are not expected to win. No one gives us a snow balls chance in hell. Enjoy the day. We dont need to be positive but lets stop with doom and gloom and have some fun. 

There are dark days to come. But hey ho we've been through them before. Enjoy the good days when we have one. 

 

It’s bloody hard to given the keystone cops performances we keep producing every week

1 hour ago, S-Platt said:

We had Bruce to build a solid base and Deano to add the excitement.  Ok it was the level below but last year was fun.

West Ham had Big Sam and Moyes then went to Premier League winning Manager Pellegrini before back to Moyes! They are no further forward.

I agree you need to be defensively solid to be successful Kevin Keegan had some great attacking teams but won bugger all.  

I think certain managers buy certain players to fit their ideals and going from one style to the next adds it's own issues. 

The best managers find a balance or adjust their tactics to the opposition.  Play the percentages.

Deano is learning the hard way but should we survive he will be better for it.  

Bruce is Bruce and will never change.

 

Deano won’t be the better for it

He played the same way at Walsall and Brentford 

Both sets of fans will tell you they were shit at the back

Smith should be nowhere near the premier league 

He hasn’t got a clue at this level

This is going to be a bigger margin than the Man City vs Watford final

Giving Man City 20+ shots on goal is never a good idea

I reckon they may even achieve that before HT

8 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

What do you think a better manager would do with these players?

I agree heartily with the underlined.

Have an extra man in midfield 

Train on how to defend

Not play Konsa or Hause

Not play Drinkwater 

Not play Trezeguet

Not play El Ghazi

Stop trying to play out of the back like we are the 1970 Brazil team

Be inspiration and able to man manage and motivate 

If something clearly isn’t working, change it. Don’t do the same thing week in week out hoping that something will eventually change

Not sleepwalk blindly into the championship like a clueless buffoon 

3 minutes ago, PaddytheVillan said:

Concerningly, the team that beat Derby in May last year is better than our current team. Obviously nothing we can do about SJM injury, but he is clearly better than Luiz or Drinkwater, Tuanzebe is better than Engels or Konsa (Hause was just a backup), Abraham was definitely better up top and I'd even take Adomah over Trezeguet. 

With the exception of the humiliating s***show against Southampton, I don't blame Deano for this; he doesn't have full control over who we signed, and as we did last time we were relegated, we spent a large sum of money on players who are

a) not very good

b) not ready to be relied upon as starters yet or

c) both.

Other than Heaton, our new players have been a bit of a disaster. It would be hard to say any of them have had a "good" season - Nakamba, Guilbert and Targett have shown their potential in flashes, but that's it. Suso is the person I blame for this. 

Smith and his appalling tactics and stubbornness to change playing style to suit the players is where it has gone wrong

Quite why he persists with a midfield short in numbers and two wide players who are crap is beyond me

Sleepwalking towards the championship like Remi Garde did and this has been going on for weeks now

1 hour ago, M_Afro said:

They’re all better than Chester which is why Chester is on loan at relegation threatened Stoke

They are crap

3 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Has it ever happened that the team that's conceded the most amount of goals have survived?

I think we will finish bottom

We’re going down