andym

indeed all we've offered this half is one cross shot that fulop had to tip behind and thats it. we havent tested their shaky defence and keeper. not good enough when you are 2-1 down

having more of the ball but i dont think we have had a decent shot on goal yet. lots of crosses but not really testing fulop

since warnock had that shin injury that was meant to keep him out a few weeks hes been pretty awful. anyway, i think we can score again, but we need the ball to do that. too many loose passes again even when not under pressure, and they led directly to goals. we must be the worst of the top 8 teams in terms of keeping the ball. you cant keep sitting back and trying to soak up pressure when city have tevez, bellamy, adebayour and johnson attacking. man citys defence and their keeper look shaky- we need to test them more

pathetic warnock gives the ball away cheaply to lead to the pen petrov gives it away and they get another

kompany on a yellow already good, i dont think man citys defence is brilliant as it is and this will make them even more cautious

both sides had some excellent chances and both keepers made some brilliant saves. some poor performances from several players but we got the win. gabby was very good again, always is in derbys. a bit lucky with the pen, but for me its just the bad decisions we got against chelsea in the semi evened out- as they always are

quite a few of our best players are below par and we are still 1 up. milner, downing, ash, carew all need to get in the game more and stop giving it away so easily. best example when ash gave it away in the last minute- he has the ball- plenty of villa players behind him, easy pass keep the ball. but no, he tries to go across the pitch and squeeze it past a hull player who intercepts it. this has happened too many times- trying ridiculously ambitious passes instead of keeping possession. i am also not too happy with ash and downing hugging the touchline all the time- it limits us and hull can close us down easier. it also means stan and milner have to do more work and hull have too much room in the middle. i dont get why they dont play a bit further inside. this means they have the option to either get wide or come inside even more. we look miles better whenever this happens with ash, downing and milner all moving around. allows us to mix it up a little in terms of style of play

bit harsh on gabby i think. missed a great chance but i thought his hold up play was pretty decent. he made a brilliant run to set up carew who should have scored and a great turn and run which should have been a penalty. also did he go off down the tunnel after he got subbed? looked like he was limping a touch. maybe hes still not fully fit? one who really struggled was warnock, though given he was a doubt before the game i doubt hes fully fit. should really be rested, as should a few others midweek.

dont think any individual was that bad, and we pretty much dominated in terms of possession. however, the constant tactic of getting it out wide and banging in a cross is really annoying, especially given the poor standard of many of these crosses. we mixed it up the first 10 minutes by passing and moving inside more, and pompeys defence was all over the place. we need to do this more often. i think we have the players to play better footy than we do, just the tactics are holding us back. pleased for fonz, his goals per minutes ratio must be ridiculously good now! we need some rotation midweek though, give a few a rest. ref was awful- we should have had 3 penalties and possibly a 4th, we only got 1.

need to get back to the short passing and movement we showed in the first 10 minutes- the thing that had us causing problems to pompeys defence which is not good. they are there for the taking rather predictably after the goals we have reverted to knocking it down the line and getting it wide at every opportunity. also need to cut out the ridiculous ambitious cross field passes which arent working.

first 20 mins very good. passing and movement a lot better than usual, shooting from distance which was nice- nearly scored an awesome team passing goal but jimmys effort was well saved. then we conceded with some sloppy defending and it was all down hill from there. we spent the rest of the game reverting back to hoof it down the line and then lump in a cross which either fails to beat the first man or is overhit. it was pathetic. thankfully with putting in so many crosses a few have to come to something and with gabbys nice header and jagielkas nice header we got a draw. we will not go any further under MON if we keep reverting back to hoofball at every minor setback. we kept the ball at the start and looked good, and i think it kept us from really tiring like we usually do at the end-so we were able to keep going and get a goal. we need to play like this more

started off very well- passing and movement good, shooting a lot from the edge of the box which i like. howard had to make a great save from milner on what would have been an excellent team goal. however, as usual as soon as we concede its back to the clueless hoofball. when we passed it we looked good and created openings, why stop? our final ball has also been shocking- baines whips in a great ball for cahill- he scores. ashley young keeps hitting the first man- no goals for us. also carew and cuellar really should have scored. and thats the only difference between the 2 teams- everton have taken advantage of their chances and we havent.

first half was good, kept the ball better, made chelsea work and got into good positions. should have had a pen and carew probably should have scored. we played some nice stuff and mixed up the direct play with some nice passing however yet again 2nd half we didnt turn up. just sat back and reverted to the old hoof it down the line, ash/downing lump in a ball to carew and gabby who are surrounded by 4 chelsea players. we didnt make cech work. standard of crossing second half was very poor which didnt help. we never looked like scoring and while chelsea didnt really create much either the threat was always there and all drogba needed was a sniff of a chance. yet again it went stale, we tired and yet no changes were made 3-0 flattered them totally, but they deserved to win overall. as for postitives, thought stan was very good today, as was warnock. cuellar did very well at right back for the most part.

decent half, we look very good when we keep the ball on the floor and pass and move- we are creating chances when we do this as well there is still a quite annoying tendency to rush and resort to hoofing to gabby or carew though. we could do we keeping a bit more sustained pressure and kill them off. i dont think they would come back from 2-0. need to keep playing it into gabby and carew on the floor- they are holding off knight and cahill and gabby has easily turned them both a couple of times. in the air and the CBs have the advantage

carew is awesome!!

need to hold on to the ball better that means collins needs to stop trying ambitious long passes and carew needs to hold it up better its coming back too easily at the moment

2 home draws against wolves and sunderland is not good enough at all. going back to the start of jan in the last 10 league games weve drawn 7, and won 3. and burnley game aside (the worst defence in the league) we are struggling to consistently provide a goal threat. the team selection was crazy- 3rd game in a week and you pick the same team again! dunne went off injured saturday- why not rest him as a precaution and put in a natural right back who is one of the better ones in the prem. the team look tired, out of ideas. yet again they are been run into the ground by the lack of rotation and it is now catching up with us. and yet again when we come up against an organised team who sit a bit deeper we cannot break them down to get a win at home. that is not good enough considering the midfield cost 40 mil to put together

gabby told the bench he needed to come off on wednesday, he had a slight groin strain. he was angry with himself that he got injured. he then hurt his foot in training yesterday. no conspiracy here but how much did we miss him today! the first 20 we were excellent and took advantage of the space wolves gave us, but we fell apart when they tightened up in the middle of the pitch. there was lots of space down the wings but apart from ash nobody was looking to use it. usually gabby will pull out wide and hold it up for the winger- this also drags the CB out creating more space in the middle. heskey and carew do not do this. our only tactic 2nd half was to get level with the corner of the box, see no movement and lump an aimless, lofted ball into the box. piss poor. only ash was looking to beat a man and whip a ball in. carew and ash were our best players. petrov was good first half but quiet in the second after his warning from the ref. jimmy was inconsistent, maybe trying too hard. everyone else poor. im not convinced bringing warnock back so soon after his shin injury was the best idea, and i feel sorry for carlos. he tries his best, gets stuck in, always willing to get forward. its just like any CB hes not very good on the ball. not his fault at all. heskey was crap. yes he holds it up nicely but carew and gabby do this as well. they can also win a header without falling over and actually score goals. heskey has no goal threat, hes like the anti striker. rather have seen fonz today.

Please please tell me what you mean? He's gash what has he done other than hack several players down one which led to their first goal He's not gash (whatever that means!). He's getting stuck in and winning ball in the midfield and spreading it out wide. Milner on the other hand has done f..all. Watch a replay of first half and see how wrong you are. Unless stupidly hacking players down that gives away free kicks in dangerous position is a good way of getting stuck in. I've been saying it for months. We will not get 4th or win a cup with Petrov in the team he gave away one free kick with a bad hack. im very disappointed we conceded from that free kick considering it wasnt that close in and the players we had in the box are all good in the air. other than that hes made some excellent tackles and then moved forward with the ball, drawing fouls and moving it on to other players. im not sure why the commentators kept going on about the incident with zubar. zubar shoulder barged stan and they both fell over, unfortunatly zubar got his leg caught between stans.

that first wolves goal was awful defending and an exact copy of wigans goal. we had dunne, collins, cuellar, carew and heskey in there and still couldnt deal with it! since then its been poor. 2nd goal was also bad from the fact nobody pushed up on the wolves players and gave them loads of room to work, thats what did us there. 2nd half need to keep it wide. ash has loads of room and we create chances when we get it down the wings. wolves are targeting milner which frees up ash and downing, we need to take advantage.

hopefully we can start putting away some of these chances 2nd half. i like how we are mixing it up a bit more today. weve tried the usual long ball and get it wide and cross it, but we are also passing it about a bit better. milner, ash, downing have all been interchanging, carew and gabby are taking it in turns to drop short or come out wide. keeps the opposition guessing.

this is dire yet again all we have is aimless balls into the box for heskey and carew to not get. playing right into stokes hands with the wind against us this half surely we should be passing it on the floor?

agree with those ratings. warnock doesnt seem the same since his injury and neither does collins. stan looks less than 100% as well. we were very poor apart from 15 -20 mins in the 2nd half when we destroyed them. i dont think ive seen such a difference in a players performance than between 1st half carew and 2nd half carew. went from truly awful to unplayable. ash had a similar game to this as well. back to Wembley we go!

what did carew have in his halftime tea!!

carew is done here. another pathetic lazy display, hes been outmuscled every time and yet again even fails to attempt to get on the end of a ball across the 6 yard box. heskey has been dire again. his weakness in the tackle led to the break for their 2nd. the delivery from young, downing and milner has been rubbish and broke down every attacking opportunity weve had get fonz on, get delph on, get luke young on. get some players on who can actually be bothered. and get some new tactics MON- this hoofball and get it wide at all costs is not working with those 2 statues upfront