Kwan

Thought he played quite poorly when he got subbed on. Always maintain that he plays better on the right, but still not a good show from him.

Anyone else finding Seasons lagging a lot lately? Haven't been able to get a good connection for a couple games.

Shorter America: Obama is a Communist and Romney wants to institute Feudalism

As a big fan of his, I'd rather not. It would probably look like Warnock playing LM. That being said, he does have some value and should be considered with some weight.

-----------Given----------- -Lowton-Vlaar-Herd-Lichaj --------KEA----Bannan------ --Weimann-Ireland--Agbonlahor-- ------Benteke--------- ?? Can't surmise what we're trying to do with all those strikers

Just don't really see the positives anymore. No pace, horrible decision making, can't beat a man, all his crosses are floated, etc.

I think KEA is better in a 3 or 5 man midfield. Asking him to play along Delph just has us too light. He links up well, but I think PL's asking a lot out of him by playing him as a part of the 2 in a 4-4-2

Immense game from him. Only reason we got a point

Love the game. Just a few things I've noticed. -Pro Clubs seem decent so far. Not a lot of midgets with afros running around yet (though it is still early). Finesse shoots are far more difficult in this game. So far, gone are the days of just getting to that angle at the edge of the box and whipping a shot in. The CPU blocks it a lot better and they tweaked it a lot so its not an automatic goal. Of course, this can also change once players start to get better but its refreshing to have a different style of play so far. My tips to people struggling to score would just be to shoot more. Stop going for the perfect goal and just let it rip. The new touch system leads to a lot more havoc in the box -Clear it. There's no point to it. A lot of people like playing the possession game, but the new touch system is a disaster waiting to happen if you're not careful. The ball has a real weight this time and you can't just lightly tap the pass button and have it like a homing missile towards your closest teammate. Even more, they're weaning people off assisted passes and switching it more to a semi/manual sort of play. -Lob pass. Square if you're on the PS3, but this is your new best friend. The ball doesn't travel sluggishly along the ground and you can switch the play a lot faster than trying to Barcelona it along the ground. Caveat: poor traps will ruin a couple movements

I think the problem with Gabby has always been that he's a bit useless when he's carrying a knock. He's just not the type of player made to play the whole season. That might sem like a luxury but it isn't as if we're paying him outrageous wages. When he's on form, he's as dangerous as anyone. Hopefully, with finally some depth at striker and a few players that have unique roles, Gabby can come on and play fit and we can sit him down when he's tired or carrying a knock. It's the best of both worlds.

It's only been a couple games under PL and I'll give him more than a benefit of doubt. We've showed some flashes and promise and, at least, a willingness to go for it which is more than last year's bending over and taking it as slowly as we could. That being said, I do see a disconcerting pattern of deploying midfielders and just chucking up strikers up front when we're behind. It's been commented on here before, but there is a disturbing lack of width when we're losing. Instead of expanding the pitch, we seem to narrow it even further when we're trailing.

It's a learning process and I'm sure PL has his own belief of how he wants the team to play, but the key is spacing. Whereas we had a good structure vs Swansea, we lost it all vs Southampton and that's why you saw a lot of our back line kicking it up to Benteke. Once Ireland was gone, KEA got moved to the right while Westwood took the middle. Holman's simply not talented enough to play the fulcrum at the top of the diamond while KEA is just Bannan on the left. The diamond won't work without raiding fullbacks and center mids tryin to play as outside mids.

Delph would be good there too. The more I think about it, the more I don't like our current squad playing the diamond

Herd or Delph could play the bottom of the diamond better and KEA might be a good replacement if Ireland is out for any time.

I'm in favor of rotating a first eleven, but I think PL should really get away from the diamond that he's trying to play right now. I'll highlight some of the issues below. Against Swansea and Southampton, we played a diamond that consisted of KEA at the bottom, Holman and Bannan on the sides and Ireland at the top. There are inherent issues with this. While Ireland plays his part, KEA is obviously not good enough to be the ball winner at that part of the diamond. Furthermore, he doesn't really keep good spacing when he plays this part. If Holman or Bannan gets it, he tends to drift until he's right next to the player to collect the pass. Considering that we have to keep some width, this creates a large seperation from KEA to either flank when he comes to collect the ball, thus making it easier for the opponent to press and clog the lanes. This problem is further expounded by the fact that neither Bannan nor Holman are conventional wide players. While Bannan does have a good foot on him, you'll never expect him to really beat a man on the dribble. Holman...well he's Holman and it's hit or miss when it comes to that. So, on the left side you have Bannan (unable to get past players) and Lichaj (a player with no left foot. You don't really want your LB to be cutting in all the time while Bannan hugs the touchline. A lot of our movements fail this way because neither of them are unable to take on the opponent. This would be all fine and good but when we have Benteke and Bent up front, neither of them likes to come back, collect the ball, and distribute. Benteke, in his short time, likes to play with his back to the defender and as a target man. Bent....well, he's Bent. Never quite good at providing an outlet or collecting the ball. What happens is that Bent, Benteke, and Ireland get stacked up front while Bannan and Holman are too static out wide, leaving KEA by himself in the middle. This just won't work. Weimann would at least come back and present himself as an option and keep the spacing more balanced. He's not perfect, but at least it doesn't become top heavy like it does with Benteke and Bent both in the squad. Anyways, that's a lot of rambling basically to say that I don't think the diamond with KEA should be our preferred formation going forward. If I were to have it my way.... ------------------Guzan---------------- ----Lowton--Vlaar---Dunne----Bennet -----------KEA-------Westwood--------- --------Ireland--------Bannan------------ ------------Benteke-----Bent------------

While it's too early to really make any judgement on whether or not he'll come good, I will say that with him in the squad, there's a disconcerting effort to hoof it up to him. That's not entirely his fault at all but I sincerely hope that we're not being directed to kick it up to him when he's in the squad. It creates bad habits.

I think part of the problem is that they're asking him to play the bottom of the diamond when he's clearly not suited for the role. While I don't know if he would be as good as Ireland in his place in the diamond, he's certainly more suitable for that than the bottom of the diamond. You need a ball winner at the bottom of the diamond, not someone who's the equivalent of Scholes when it comes to tackling.

The problem with pulling out is that one tends to leave behind a hell of a mess with the aftermath of your presence splattered across the landscape. It's often left to someone else to do the cleaning up, too. The problem is that we're already in there without any protection. There is no magical pill that protects all of us so we can either pull out or just let loose in there and 9 months later, we've produced something that we'll have to take care of for the rest of our lives.

Pulling out is always a safe option

Well you know, we need the oil. Can't fully take our hand out of the cookie jar.

I think the problem most Americans have is that we don't know what to do anymore. Should we help? Should we bomb them? Which government is on our side? Do we stay and rebuild or do you want us to get out? Of course, I've always maintained that we should just get out there. We've tried to pick winners and losers in that region for so long that we end up being losers every time. The focus should be on containing expansion and protecting the state, not trying to promote our version of democracy into countries that have no interest in being "like" the West. But then there's that whole Israel problem. Sigh.

I think his attacking is a combination of two things. First, he doesn't link up with whoever plays LM well. I think this is partly due to the inconsistency of Albrighton when plays on that side (woeful crosses) and N'Zogbia can't really cut in when he plays down the left and forces Lichaj to come inside instead. He's also naturally right-footed and he was a lot better vs Chelsea going down the right instead of the left. Thought he played well again but could really benefit from having consistency at whoever plays LM.

Thought he played okay. Is it me though or is his first touch atrocious? So many times he would fumble with it and give it away and doesn't really hold the ball up well. Granted, he can't do everything, but a longer run in the side does open him up to some criticism.

Shit. Almost punched my monitor when I saw that clearing in the woods Young dive. Kudos to Lichaj for giving a shit and keeping Valencia in his pocket for most of the game. True, he got overwhelmed at points but always recovered well and made Valencia cross from deep. It's not a coincidence their first 3 goals waltz from the left. Diabolical performance.

Given Hutton Collins Cuellar Lichaj Carruthers Gardner Ireland N'Zogbia Weimann Agbonlahor