poitier

Typical, most games this season you probably wouldn't even notice if Westwood was on the pitch or not, then as soon as he plays well he gets injured.

Two mistakes from Bennett in the lead up to the goal, Sylla gave us nothing.

Vlaar very good apart from what should have been a costly error, Bacuna did well against Gouffran but his passing was poor. Baker had a good game. KEA was effective and got forward in support well, but the number of times it was him in the right wing position suggests that something wasn't right in the balance of the team - and that should have been corrected but wasn't. Weimann turned in his usual rubbish, how many times did he touch the ball?

The penalty areas seem to be very slippery, hope that doesn't cost us.

Fair to say we don't have a strong bench. Albrighton unlucky not to start, but I think KEA is needed in this one

They have better players than us, but I think we should get something from this one.

I wonder if Bent and Benteke could have been a good partnership. I know it didn't look good the one time we tried it, but I can't help thinking that it could have worked, particularly now Benteke has a bit more experience of playing slightly deeper at times.

I like Delph, good player, but whether he justifies £10m and £50k pw is another matter. If we got a decent fee for him I'm pretty sure we could bring in someone of equal or greater quality.

Two points dropped.

Terrible first half, in total control in the second, but we seemed to really lack conviction in attack.

Albrighton motm for me, but needs a bit more quality on his crosses.

Shaky at the back, outfought in midfield and toothless up front. Lucky to be level but we can play a lot better second half.

Cardiff schmardiff, 3 points for us.

I don't think this was ever the type of game where he was going to shine in midfield, it just wasn't the sort of game where his energy and running was going to be a major factor. His crossing once he moved to FB was poor.

Surely it was obvious to Lambert from the first half that something needed to change, we were lucky to go in level.

This isn't the first time this season that Albrighton has come on and been motm, but he only ever gets a chance when it is too late.

Poor from the players today but awful from Lambert, he doesn't seem to have learned anything from this season so far.

Bacuna seems quite streetwise, he has got under the skin of a fair few opposition players.

Even though it will probably now never happen again, you could potentially see the logic in a Benteke/Bent partnership, but I have no idea, even theoretically, how Benteke/Holt can work effectively. The best I can imagine is like a pair of seals heading the ball to each other all the way down the pitch.

It would be interesting to see Zog play when we're not in the relegation mix. It might allow him to play with a little more freedom and also cut him some slack from his critics.

It never hurt him at Wigan.

I wonder how many times Benteke and Holt have passed to each other in the entire time they have been on the pitch together.

He has been a utility player at his old club, and his relative lack of experience has shown no matter which position he is in. I think he could be a very good full back if he was trained specifically for that role.

Obviously we lost and there are areas to be addressed, but we lost to a better side. Take it on the chin chaps.

I would be happy to do that if we had tried to play them at football, but we didn't. Once again, we played like a bunch of chancers, nicking a goal from nowhere and just parking 8 men in front of our goal.

Shame that we conceded so late, but we got what we deserved out of that game, absolutely nothing.

There wasn't even any attempt to counter attack or play football, we got a goal by turning over play in their half, not by any tactical masterplan.

Sooner or later we were going to pay for Clark giving away another needless free kick, we had got away with it in the last few games.

Just lobbed £20 on Everton. Pretty confident they'll demolish us.

What will you get back, about £22.50?

I don't think we will get anything unless Gabby plays.

He gets stick even when he plays well, but wasn't good today. I still think he is a better footballer than Sylla, but I would like to see if Bacuna could play in his role.

Two poor teams made a very exciting game. Stunning goal from Delph, but it was probably only the two penalty decisions that made the difference in the end, us getting one and not them.

I really don't understand bringing Holt on, I just can't get on board with the idea of playing him and Benteke together.

Pissed we couldn't compete with Cardiff. Wanted Zaha here, would have been a fantastic loan for the rest of the season. I had it on good info Lambert didn't want to pay the fee thinking it was extortionate.

Well isn't that a case of we could compete but the manager chose not to?

Realistically we aren't going to finish any higher than 10th this season regardless of the quality of any short term loans that could be brought in. With the loan of Bertrand and, seemingly, the return to form of Benteke, I don't think we are serious relegation material, so I'm ok with not spending now as long as it is saved for the summer rather than just never spent.

 

 

I think it's hoolahan or nothing. Either way a pretty shit window when you think some have told us about 'the plan' to spend again.

Can you clarify what you mean exactly? Who said what and why are you measuring your expectation against what some random person on the internet said?

The defence of our lack of spending and cut backs has been that 'the plan' is to get finances sorted and then start to challenge again.

Grant holt, a decent loaned lb and wes hoolahan hardly paints a picture of a club trying to be competitive again. In fact once again it shows a club happy to survive while keeping costs down.

 

Spending big in the January transfer window doesn't really fit into a well thought out plan though. If we got Hoolahan in this window I would be happy with what we have done, but I think it is now or never for him. I would expect better quality in the summer.