SikhInTrinity

That performance also shows why stats mean very little. He was ranked as our worst player by Opta but for those who actually watch the game as a fan of the sport rather than as a Statistician will know that he contributed massively.

I have just read something that said Fergie sold Stam because the Opto Stat boys at United said he was making less tackles, running less and was clearly getting old.  Stay of course went on to be fantastic at his next club.   Fergie has since said that what actually was happening was that Stam was getting smarter, running less because he was taking up better positions, and because he anticipated play better he made less tackles.

Couple of shakey moments today but two excellent saves to keep us in it.

 

For people asking earlier how many games Guzan has saved us points in in recent times, there's one for you.

 

I'm encouraged to see if he can shake his nervous moments under the new manager.

I'd be half tempted to buy a new left back and push this fella further forward.

Isn't he a bit too good going forward to have to concentrate on defending? Has a touch of the Gareth Bale's about him.

Just a thought.

 

Thought he did well today against excellent defenders.

It was interesting he wasn't pressing high on the defenders but was dropping deep then pressing, obviously under instruction to do so, imagine that a player being given specific instructions. 

Gave the ball away a lot - and looks ponderous and slow. Sure they were some nice touches towards the end of the match, a long way to go for this lad IMO. I would like to see him bossing the midfield, with real influence - and he is some way off that at the moment.

 

  

Which were caused by tactical decisions.

Not marking you man and as a goalkeeper coming out of your goal and totally missing a cross is not tactical, that's just shit play. Just like Guzan and Lescott's contribution at Chelsea which was also shit play, as was Amavi's error at Palce, as was Clark's defending for Tottenham's first goal. None of those goals have anything to do with tactics

I might be going against the grain but...

 

...I don't actually think Sherwood did that badly.  It's the cliché fine line between success and failure.  Of course, some games we were terrible in and some decisions made were awful.  However, we haven't looked like a team that should be rock bottom this season (IMO).  Sunderland have looked far, far worse and we only managed a draw against them.  That wasn't Sherwood's fault (again, IMO) - the players let us down.

His crime was not sticking to a system.  Not ever allowing a consistency within the team this season.  Even if he's right about not 'wanting' the players we signed, he should've at least tried to get some cohesion.

I think Garde will achieve this.  And, therefore, we will look better as a unit.  I'm not sure whether we can be saved from relegation (if I was to bet one way or the other right now, I'd be betting on us going down) but I'm sure we'll be more organised and, thus, more able to hold on to leads.

I disagree with the bolded.

Advocaat changed Sunderland at half time. They came back into the game then. That's how they got the result.

Sherwood changed nothing.

He didn't need to.  Toivonen took apart Sanchez in the midfield battle (Advocaat's change) but we still battered them.  It was ridiculous.  From memory, Richards missed an absolute sitter too.

I'm certainly not putting that on Sherwood.  Leicester, sure.  Stoke, sure.  Sunderland?  Nah.

The marking and the goalkeeping for Leicesters 3rd goal was criminal, thats basic player error to let Dyer of all people score from a header. Sherwood made plenty of tactical mistakes but the players individually have cost us a large number of points.

Really excited about Sunday, think I'm just brimming off others confidences as I really don't know what to expect myself.

I just want to see us full of fight, and the players look like they've been given something cohesive to work with for Sunday...win or lose, as long as we go down trying I'll be much happier.

At the end of the day its another bloke picking 11 players from 25. - He's been training them only since Tuesday - Im really not expecting much on Sunday.

Just look at what has been wring wwith the team, playing with no confidence and seemingly devoid of any planning - showing a lack of faith in the managers plans.

 

Words alone could haxe a profound impact..

I disagree. He has to choose 11 players from 25 - everyone on here would pick a different 11. But picking player xxx won't suddenly cure all our ills. Likewise the confidence thing, you can't actually GIVE a player confidence. That comes from winning games, and playing well in those games.

The most obvious thing to me is organisation and some sort of system of play. 

But lets be honest - I don't we have a squad of worldbeaters, just waiting for some new messiah to lead us to the promised land.....I really don't think it is that easy.

Being in shape doesn't mean that you're good at handling being told what to do. That picture has nothing to do with anything.

Richards doesn't seem laid back to me at all. Gabby, sure. I couldn't really say about Lescott.

But Richards seems pretty intense to me on the pitch.

 

 

Indeed. A man does not get to be such a unit without being absolutely dedicated to his health and fitness. I have never once watched Richards play and thought "he's flagging here". He's surely the type who will absolutely love a 5am run?

 

I think people are being a bit harsh on Gabby. I recall him responding well to Duverne last time and he looks after himself, no doubt. I still think he's done as a player, so it's most likely irrelevant.

 

I don't think anybody wants him to go Felix Mcgath on them.

He did respond well to Duverne, Houllier and GMac were impressed with the work they were doing together

We cannot bring him back till Jan, he's not been registered to play we left him out for Joe Cole.

What are the rules around this now being as Cole is no longer here? Can we fill his space

Very much so. Albrighton was too comfortable here and needed to move on, one thing I will say is it potentially highlights the lack of proper coaching we have here. It's ok producing players but I'm not sure we coach them properly in order for them to improve, he seems a much better player at Leicester and not a one trick pony.

It's almost like we're going back to what we tried to do under Houllier - hopefully it'll work this time but I'm concerned about the possibility of negative attitudes from some of our more laid back British players like Gabby, Richards and Lescott. 

For me it's a 27 game season starting this weekend, and we need 36 points. We've got to be 100% behind him.

That is 9 wins, 9 draws and 9 defeats. That is a big ask IMO considering it's going to take him a few games to fully get his ideas across. I wonder if it's a step too far considering we've already dropped a lot of vital points from 'winnable' home games this season.

Could any of you see us winning 9, 10 or 11 games this season?