Jump to content
Just visiting?

srsmithusa

Established Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,827

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Everything posted by srsmithusa

  1. srsmithusa
    that goes double for Ramsey !
  2. srsmithusa
    Zaniolo is great at positioning off the ball, good at moving in possession, better than average at picking out a pass, and unlucky as **** when shooting. I truly believe he can come good and be something special, but I'm not sure what it will take for his moments of promise to become a habit of accomplishment.
  3. srsmithusa
    boring draw and we're in. With apologies to those that travelled. I'm good with that.
  4. srsmithusa
    OS shows ramsey fouled 3rd minute and Canadjija carded in 4th. is that the same incident, or two hard fouls by the same Mostar player?
  5. srsmithusa
    but he's right. they wasted more time then Emi Martinez ! and that's saying something.
  6. srsmithusa
    i'm trying to write the ultimate post to describe Arsenal's manner of play. But I need to look up Whiney, Flopping, Faking in another Thesaurus first.
  7. srsmithusa
    they just went ahead and buried him where he lay.
  8. srsmithusa
    wow. we were clearly so tired. Arse clearly watched the MC game tape and shifted to double Bailey most of the time to keep him from cutting in on his left foot. we did not press as high as we did v MC and that gave them more time and more possession, but surprisingly, they still couldn't time runs to beat the offside trap. Emery's subs were brilliant. I don't rate Donk at all, and he did commit some obscene giveaways, but defensively he closed a lot of space and made several great tackles.
  9. srsmithusa
    this ref, I know lot's think he's cheating. I don't. he is completely consistent with his goal. His goal is to not call anything unless it is too obvious to ignore. He is not biased. But I don't like his style at all. 1) He rarely calls any upper body contact except shirt pulling. (it's not blatant enough) But shirt pulling depends entirely on your angle. 2) he NEVER comes back an deals with a foul after an advantage. 3) If your goal is to call only the blatantly obvious and impactful, it leaves so many things uncalled that could or should have been. It also means, you sometimes call something that's much less impactful because your particular angle makes it appear so much more obvious. i would bet that the losing team blames him for their loss about 95 % of the time. Not because h is cheating, but because he leaves way too much unpunished and then occaisionally calls a light or imaginary touch.
  10. srsmithusa
    Dermott Gallagher, I think
  11. srsmithusa
    YES !
  12. srsmithusa
    i think that either right away or pretty soon, ramsey on at left md and SJM shifts to right and bailey steps off. then diaby for yuri (but more tactical change than Yuri being poor) then moreno for digne and shift the attack from a right sided focus to a left.
  13. srsmithusa
    i'm already 3 ahead of you
  14. srsmithusa
    we don't seem to be pressuring the ball as high as we did v MANC
  15. srsmithusa
    Honestly, I'm a more nervous about this one. MANC showed what we're capable of. on our day, we can dominate anyone. but i fear that we have not come far enough that we can expect that consistently. If things aren't clicking as well, I fear we will get frustrated and heads will drop. Also, someone please tell the lads, the only thing this referee calls is shirt pulling (blatant) and knocks below the waist. So, don't grab a shirt. And don't go down under body pressure. if you are shielding tha ball you will get pushed over and no call. Don't let that happen. bend your knees and hold up to the body pushing. Arsenal will play to the ref. We should be smart and do the same.
  16. srsmithusa
    what's not to love. A few odds and ends I notice. Emery doesn't play the same way more than a few matches in a row. He switched things up for ths. Based on general principle and past setups. when anyone saw mcginn, tielemans, bailey in the line-up, you would have thought mcginn right mid, tielemanns left, bailey withdrawn striker. NOPE, NOPE, NOPE. With a back 4 of Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne, one would think mostly a back three with Digne pushing up. NOPE, played a pretty straightforward back 4 with Ezri often pushing up just as high as Digne. Bailey MOTM easily for me. But feel guilty not giving it to McGinn, Kamara, or Torres. I thought they all put in MOTM worthy performances on another night, but Bailey was simply the destroyer of Man City. But I was struck by how and why. Yes, he and Tielemanns showed a good understanding of each other. Tielemanns fed him the ball quite often, but importantly, Tielemanns was almost an advance midfielder, not an attacking forward. His dropping deeper than others have in that role. This created all sorts of room for Bailey to create and cut in to the middle (and his fearsome left foot ) all that room, let Bailey do all that footwork flair that fires him up and builds confidence. Then when he went inside, Ezri or youri would swing out wide for an option (and often a cross) the other of the two would drop into space behind Bailey to give hime a safe outlet or even a back up if a defender poked it away. The motion and the space Youri, Leon, and Ezri created for each other was a thing of beauty, and I think Unai deserves the credit. (can the manager be MOTM?) The other thing we changed was that we were much more compact. RArely were there more than 30 yards between Pau and Ollie. It gave MC no room for passing about and create an astonishing number of turnovers. We just had too many bodies pressing the play. TBH, I expected MC to start trying more balls over the top, but there was too much pressure on the ball for them to see the runs and time the pass to beat the offside trap, which we continue to run with excellence. SJM was a study in possession. Everyone played with immense confidence and aggression. Happy, ecstatic, over the moon, what a performance
  17. srsmithusa
    are you sure you don't mean "in living memory?"
  18. srsmithusa
    I would love a win. I’d take draw in a heartbeat
  19. srsmithusa
    oooo, you have messed up now. You have accused the wrong VT member of short-timers disease.
  20. srsmithusa
    Mr Brammal s part of an increasing cult of referees in the Premier League that seem to believe that any foul committed above the waist does not count. Mr. Brammal was repeatedly on the wrong side of the LOTG today, most often becuase of that mistaken dogma. But AVFC is a professional team. They should know the referees tendencies. When the referee will not call it when a defender runs through and over a midfielder to get the ball (which Mr. Brammal has no interest in calling) a well prepared team needs to know that and NOT physically crumble on that pressure. Brace yourself for that impact. Imitate SJM and roll that pushing, cheater off your backside and turn the ball away. If the defender contacts you below the knee, the you go down in hospital worthy evident misery. Bournemouth knew this and did it to consistently. Villa seem to be cluesless to this. I hate it when poor referee decisions impact a match outcome. But I hate it even more, when a professional team with all the resources in the world don't know how to scout and prepare for a referee's weaknesses. 2 of Bournemouth should have seen red (and possibly a third) for clear fouls. But those fouls were above the waist (and not at the head) so they were ignored. It's too clear a pattern from certain, and a growing number of referees, not to learn and be prepared.
  21. srsmithusa
    it really is an interesting line-up with plenty to discuss. Seems Watkins might have a knock, if he's just resting, he could do that from the bench. Olson in seems pretty straighforward, whether you agree with it or not. Love to see Moreno back, but doesn't it seem that bringing him on later might make more sense to ease him back? My guess is that Cash will be told to stay home more, and use Moreno as more offensively minded. It will be interesting to see how SJM plays it, staying wide to give Diaby room? or sliding more inside where SJM is arguably at his best? This is gonna be fun to see how it all plays out.
  22. srsmithusa
    I'm not. On a completely unrelated note. If we lose tonight, can we still win the group?
  23. srsmithusa
    so.... 3-4 hours most days.
  24. srsmithusa
    I’m sorry but “go strong and wrap it up doesn’t look like the lineup you propose carlos and l naglet are not our strongest back pairing moreno hasn’t played in (seems like) years Yuri is second choice in the central mid at best ramsey too is playing into fitness Zanuck’s has not found his British legs yet duran is in junior high I don’t dislike any of them, it was simply NOT what I was expecting when you said “start strong.”
  25. srsmithusa
    IMO, the main reason Matty was not very effective was that he was pushing more to the inside and up high, it also negated a lot of Diaby as they were both in too much same space. It worked when the personnel was changed to Youri and Bailey, not because they are significantly better, but becuase Bailey stayed a bit wider and deeper and Tielemans started from a deeper position, it left room on the front inside right for each of them to take turns exploiting. I suspect that it was Unai's original plan but negated because Matty moved too far inside and then stayed too central, while Diaby stayed too high so he didn't have space to run into.
×
×
  • Create New...
Â