samjp26

Last season in the Prem he had a total of 62 shots. 28 of them were on target and from that 28 he scored 7. This season so far in the Prem he has had a total of 28 shots. 5 of them have been on target and he has scored just the 1 goal. For a striker playing out as a wide forward, his all round play and shooting stats impressed me last season, especially being as it was his first proper season for us. This season, and I'd say it would go for any top level player but especially a striker, having 82% of your shots go wide or over is absolutely awful. I think there is a case for saying his faults are standing out more as we haven't scored in a few games but I personally feel he started going off the boil slightly at the end of last season and unfortunately he just hasn't managed to get back into gear. I think a break will do him some good.

I don't think anybody hates Weimann, in fact if anything I think the majority of us love him. The problem is that the guy is extremely out of form and although he seems to be putting in as much effort as usual, his lack of technical ability as of late is worrying. Just saw his opening chance and also the apparent foul on MOTD. He never looked like he'd take his chance properly and he was pretty much looking for the foul from Morrison rather than trying to score. For me, that second point is a worry and we really, really need to give somebody else a chance now. I didn't want him to get injured but if that is what it takes for somebody else to get an opportunity then so be it.

Keep your eyes peeled, I got FM13 in January for £12 I believe it was.

Yeah, although it's not just the fact that my players won't go up for the headers, my full backs literally do not defend at all. They get ran past so easily it's a joke, most of the goals being scored against me are coming from crosses in abundance.

I've never understood how they make things worse with patches, the game engine must be really complex.

Looks like it could be time to wait it out a bit until playing again, unfortunately

So comfortable on the ball and it seems as if he is getting quicker and quicker in terms of both pace and thinking. By far our best defender.

I agree and I personally wouldn't want it to be 'our way of playing', but it gives us a different option at least. As for Helenius, I don't think he is strong or combative enough to play in such a role in our league yet. I do want to see him playing though as I think he can really become a good player, his footwork is fantastic, I just think he and Kozak are completely different players. I think Helenius would complement Benteke far more then Kozak ever will. I don't see how playing two players in the same mould together up front will work. Stoke are the only team I can think of that did this and it is no coincidence that they were the lowest scorers in the league for two years running. Like I said I agree with you and it isn't a style of play that I'd like to become our own, but against West Ham away from home for example, it is very difficult to play through the middle as they completely pack out the midfield (especially with the way our own midfield played today). Our best chance of scoring today was from crossing the ball in and it worked best, in my opinion, with having Kozak up there alongside Benteke.

Although I'm content with a point and a clean sheet, there wasn't any need for 5 defenders and I definitely think Lambert made a bad decision with his formation today. I understand injuries will dictate some things, but that was an awful way to setup. Gave West Ham way too much credit. Credit to the defence though, they did their jobs well bar a few silly Clark blunders and Bacuna being a bit off it after he took that knock to his leg.

Although I'm content with a point and a clean sheet, there wasn't any need for 5 defenders and I definitely think Lambert made a bad decision with his formation today.

I agree and I personally wouldn't want it to be 'our way of playing', but it gives us a different option at least. As for Helenius, I don't think he is strong or combative enough to play in such a role in our league yet. I do want to see him playing though as I think he can really become a good player, his footwork is fantastic, I just think he and Kozak are completely different players.

I hope he does come out and say that, I'd rather our manager not come out in public and say "yeah we played shit today." Behind closed doors he can say what he wants to the players. I always said it was these 5 games that were important ones, the next one against Cardiff is a must win. Hopefully Lambo can get something like the below out of the pre-Xmas games: West Ham (Away) - 1 point Cardiff (Home) - 3 points West Brom (Away) - 1 points Sunderland (Home) - 3 points Southampton (Away) - 0 He says the same old sh*t every week. I'm personally sick of it and would prefer an explanation/for him to show a bit of honesty to the fans? But fair enough if you'd rather gobble up recycled cliches week in week out. It isn't about what we hear though. What sense would it make to come out in public and slate the team? How would that help them to improve? If he's going to slate them I'd rather he do it behind closed doors.

Which is fine, but it seems to be based purely on today's game. When he was in the team in the second half of last season we were playing some fantastic football and ultimately it kept us from being relegated. I just don't understand how people can now suggest he is a poor player when he played well last season and today was his first full run out since May.

But as soon as Kozak came on, we saw Benteke get into space and almost score from a header. I think this is how Kozak can work alongside the Beast, we saw Weimann and Gabby often drag players away from from him last season but this season it's stopped from a combination of bad form and opposition players wising up. You'll often see players easing off Weimann now, who can barely hit the target let alone score a goal, to stick with Benteke and stop him from getting space. Kozak is a somewhat unknown quantity, apart from being obviously a target man - if we can get some decent crosses in it will be difficult for defenders to mark them both out which is what we saw when Benteke nearly scored today IMO.

Different type of player completely. I don't understand people using Sylla as a scapegoat today, it was a crap game in which everybody played pretty badly.

No. It was last ditch for the most part, hardly an assured and competent defensive display, it was backs against the wall helped in large part due to West Ham's lack of a recognisable striker. You can't really argue with 3 away clean sheets in a row though, especially when you consider how bad our defence was last season. The lack of goals is a big concern but I don't think things are bad as people are making out. Agree. Yup, clean sheets away are vital to a club doing well, our problem at the minute is our inconsistent home form. Our home form is what needs to be improved, away from home we're getting decent results.

Our best chances today came when Kozak was on, he put himself about a bit and seemed a little bit better in terms of being up to pace.

Helenius or Tonev over Weimann for Cardiff please.

I hope he does come out and say that, I'd rather our manager not come out in public and say "yeah we played shit today." Behind closed doors he can say what he wants to the players. I always said it was these 5 games that were important ones, the next one against Cardiff is a must win. Hopefully Lambo can get something like the below out of the pre-Xmas games: West Ham (Away) - 1 point Cardiff (Home) - 3 points West Brom (Away) - 1 points Sunderland (Home) - 3 points Southampton (Away) - 0

Still think the next few games are vital. If it wasn't for our poor home form we'd usually all happily take a point and a clean sheet away from home. I think we'll take between 4 and 6 points from the next 4 games (Cardiff H, West Brom A, Sunderland H, Southampton A), although I'd hope for 8. If we can take 8 points, two wins at home and two draws against the Baggies and Southampton, things should hopefully look a bit better before Xmas. Our next game, Cardiff at home, is a must win in my opinion. We need to get ourselves on a run now we've got some of the big teams out of the way.

What about after January when he came in? Or pre-season? Apart from that, today was his first full run this season and the entire team played awfully. If we're going to judge everybody based on today then we may as well look for a new striker too.

The next few games are vital, I'll take a point away at West Ham if we can improve our home form but that performance was dreadful up until the last 10 minutes. We were clearly set up to not lose, which is not something I want to see. It is hard to tell whether our defence really is improving as we had 5 defenders up against 0 strikers, but at least it is another clean sheet. We need goals, we need wins, we need them fast.

Demel just Benteke'd Benteke. Wtf.

What a save

He's like Zidane compared to Sylla. I was actually being serious though, trying to find the positives. One positive is that Vlaar is indeed more of a quick, ball playing defender who is technically sound on the ball rather than the slab of concrete we thought he was originally.