srsmithusa

Stuck in airport in Dallas, who is the ref?

I am doubtful of a Benteke - Kozak partnership, but in it's favor, I think Kozak, despite his height, is not the long-ball, flick-on-to-others, type. Benteke can do that well, unless he's getting beat on and gets frustrated that he's not being protected. Kozak always seemed much better with the ball at his feet than in the air, and he always seemed to be intelligent about what to do with it. I think it's POSSIBLE that Kozak might be better at moving off the ball for Benteke than many think. Not likely mind you, and not worth the risk of trying until we are completely safe, IMO.

Sorry, sense of humor. It amuses me... and that's enough sometimes.

I didn't know Paris was in Qatar

My view is that most people who claim this (or use the whole 'lose our soul' angle) are really just comforting themselves that we are also-rans devoid of any ambition. I find it difficult to genuinely believe that anyone on here would be up in arms if we were a regular top-four side and winning titles simply because we had Arab owners, a sponsored stadium and some newfound glory-hunting fans. You are entitled to your view, of course. But it's wrong as it applies to me, for one. we have been terrible for too long. I want to see us competing with anybody. But I don't want us to be nothing more than the best team money can buy. when wins are completely expected given the inequity, they mean less. When was the last time man city invaded the pitch? I can beat 5 year olds arm wrestling or chess or football, pretty easily, but the wins don't really mean that much.

I missed Sherwoods quote that he prefers english, apparently, so did Bacuna, Okore, Guzan, (Hutton and Clark sort of) Sanchez and NZogbia, Benteke. I actually thought Sherwood sort of liked Benteke. Foolish me.

Umm, I like the appointment, glad he's back, and I'm not saying he should be made manager, but the point above that he didn't do well as manager here seems pretty weak to me. He was, based on the above, 2 wins and a loss in the league. If we did that in the 25 matches this season, we would be 48 or 49 points depending on how you round it. Without adjusting anyone else's points, I think we would all be happy with third in the table. OK, so let's add Vienna and give him a 50% win loss ratio. At that rate, we would currently be 9th in the table. Again, I remember Vienna and Newcastle and cringe like everyone else, but to say he did not do well when the win-loss ratio (and points on the table) was better than we had under any appointed manager in many years might be over-emphasizing the negative.

how can someone be "more than aware?"

Critical that we win. Points are good and all that, but as the great deliverer of half-time talks said, "winning becomes a habit." We need to build of the energy and new manager buzz from this weekend past, and keep it rolling. Otherwise the old patterns of thinking snap back into place too quickly. Really looking forward to seeing how Mr. Sherwood sets us up.

Tbf, Not many pre-match threads that could not be posted

Loss if Gil starts, draw if he does not.

OK. I'm personally just annoyed at the negativity here most of the time, but that's just funny! Well done.

results have been disappointing either way.... But I would prefer to see the passing game we have now, to the hoof and hope we had before. Thank you very much.

Based on recent posts it seems that we must all decide whether a teams performance is pre-determined by the money spent OR on the quality of the support, but it can't possibly be in some measure both. We should have a poll: The exclusive and sole determiner of a team's performance is... -the manager -the transfer funds spent -the plushness of the team seats on the bench -the beard of it's center half -the extreme unipolar views of its fans

Waste of money to appeal it

Oh, and previous question is there any penalty to the referee....nothing official or formal, but it's damn embarrassing.

Wait, the FA can publicly make it clear that a red card is wrong, but our players can't do the same in the heat of the moment?

I get that you don't like Lambert. I even understand you have some very good reasons for that dislike, but that's just really blind, reflex blame, and just wrong. This was ot Lambert's fault. It was Richardsons. End of. Lambert set is up with 3 up front, not one as you falsely assert. In fact Gabby was often ahead of Benteke for flicks as has been a trend recently. The plan b that you were unable to see, was pretty clear to me. Drop Zog back a bit to help in midfield and carry it forward if possible. As the match went on, and the pressure of an extra man mounted, gabby dropped more, too. finally, pushing the keeper forward late is not some panicked idea Lambert dreamed up at the last minute. It's throwing everything possible forward, caution to the wind, to get something from the match....hardly the defensive mindset you claim. I am sometimes frustrated with our tactics, too. But this match was not lost on tactics.

For years in USA camp, they have considered Guzan excellent at distribution..... When he throws it. Watch the difference between his throws and his kicks.

Agree completely. Really, what have we got to lose? As you say, we can always sub him off. Who needs to see him? You? Me? Who? Perhaps lambert, keane, and every other coach has already seen, and there decision about him being ready is pretty clear already? I don't need them to prove they're right to me by starting him, letting him be a cluster, and then wasting a sub. I suppose that after they did that you would completely approve of the decision not to start him to this point and say nothing critical of the decision to start him so "we" can see? I really don't get some of the thinking on here.

Guzan looked great at the end, but not so much earlier. I rather liked our opening tactics. The midfield and forwards were very fluid and rotating nicely. Much more movement and passing in the middle than we've had before. Clearly, too many of those went awry but west ham had just as many go awry and they are doing fine in the league. I had Baker as MOTM until he went off. Sanchez still makes to many mistakes, but I like his movement and vision. More impressed by him at each outing. It seemed in the first half we had much more of our players giving each other grief for mistakes than I've seen before. I actually like that.

Do NOT sit back !!!

Well, they're not going to say "Jores is still recovering, but we've found he's very reluctant to turn on his injured leg". Bit of a giveaway for oppo scouts. Well they are obviously not going to say that, and I wouldn't expect that either. All we need is just one line, Okore is still trying to get up to the speed of the Premier League after his injury. Simple, no conspiracy theories needed. Maybe I'm hallucinating, but didn't Lambert say basically that, recently?

It's pointless

I'm actually more optimistic about this one than I was QPR. Not sure why I had a bad feeling about QPR. ( I know, I'm ashamed of myself, the result was probably my fault. i have flogged myself accordingly). I think we'll break our goal drought, and with a bit of luck we'll get a point or three