BleedClaretAndBlue Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 3 successive away clean sheets is sort of pleasing on a plus note 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Decent point away at a currently tough West Ham. Both sides similarly spectacularly average but West Ham seem to have spent more than us so have a few more older journeymen. If you can't win a game, just make sure you don't lose it. I think the formation was forced on Lambert today with the lack of Gabby and Delph. Not a lot else he could do really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 We played for the point and got it but this was a game we should have gone for a win from. A point and another clean sheet are the positives. But we cannot hold onto the ball and the goals have dried up. Benteke should have been on target with that header that hit the bar and we missed Delph badly. We need a home win against Cardiff to keep clear of trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillanousOne Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Decent point away at a currently tough West Ham. Both sides similarly spectacularly average but West Ham seem to have spent more than us so have a few more older journeymen. If you can't win a game, just make sure you don't lose it. I think the formation was forced on Lambert today with the lack of Gabby and Delph. Not a lot else he could do really. if that is the case why did he buy Helenius and Tonev? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Decent point away at a currently tough West Ham. Both sides similarly spectacularly average but West Ham seem to have spent more than us so have a few more older journeymen. If you can't win a game, just make sure you don't lose it. I think the formation was forced on Lambert today with the lack of Gabby and Delph. Not a lot else he could do really. What? 5 at the back was forced? Don't be daft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supernova26 Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Don't think we were that bad just need AM to help with ball retention and link up with Benteke...this is painfully obvious for all to see. We can't expect him to do it all on his own...he was unlucky today though did well with the little scraps that fell to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunnski Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Bad game. We are gonna have to keep plugging away, at least we are still creating chances while playing shit. Hopefully things will turn around soon as we have a few of the easier games of our season coming up. Benteke, Vlaar and Baker looked decent. The rest, not so much. Lowton certainly didn't help his chances of getting back in the team as he was terrible defensively but the midfield was as bad as I've seen in a long time, need a leader in there who can control possession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 I think people are underestimating how much the pressing and physical game stifles the opposition. This is what you get when you play a fat Sam team. You can't just go out and say we'll play this way, the style of play and the game is dictated by both sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaIRE Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 (edited) It was a really bad team performance and a boring game to watch today. At times it felt the formation was 8-0-2. While I'm respectful of Lambert, I think he set the team up to avoid defeat today. I still think his post-match interview will go along the lines of "I thought we were terrific today. I can't fault the effort of the players. Christian was unlucky not to score, and on another day we have a penalty and a red card etc etc." but at best, we were clueless today. Edited November 2, 2013 by VillaIRE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Just 3 points off the bottom 3. One more loss could see us in it!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 I remember when McLeish was here i suggested that the reason why he set us up so defensively was that we just weren't good enough to play any other way to get enough points to stay in the Premiership. It looks as though Lambert did the same today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul33 Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Set up for a draw with little ambition for more. If it was McLeish we'd be doing our nuts !!! Defence was solid, forwards not in the game and the midfield had a shocking lack of quality ..... Sylla and KEA looked like League One players and I never knew Westwood was playing until injury time !!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Missed the first half. Kind of wish I'd missed the second too. 0-0 seemed inevitable, even before kick off, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MackHaakon Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 (edited) We rely too much on pace on the counter attack and Benteke's hold-up play. It's fine that we utilise our strengths but it hands over all the initiative to the other team, and mentally we seem to be underdogs whoever we play. IMO, we need midfielders/tactic enabling us to control possesion in the opposition's half. Vlaar MOM. Edited November 2, 2013 by MackHaakon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 I remember when McLeish was here i suggested that the reason why he set us up so defensively was that we just weren't good enough to play any other way to get enough points to stay in the Premiership. It looks as though Lambert did the same today. That doesn't make much sense really as we stayed up last season by being gung-ho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Decent point away at a currently tough West Ham. Both sides similarly spectacularly average but West Ham seem to have spent more than us so have a few more older journeymen. If you can't win a game, just make sure you don't lose it. I think the formation was forced on Lambert today with the lack of Gabby and Delph. Not a lot else he could do really. What? 5 at the back was forced? Don't be daft. Not sure if you saw the game, but West Ham threw lots of balls into our box. All the time. It's what they always do. If you can have 3 physical central defenders in there you'll have half a chance of stopping them due to having more of a chance of getting to loose balls etc first. Then when picking the best players, with Gabby and Delph out of contention, Bacuna pretty much picked himself and we needed to bring Lowton back in as another experienced player. The players available with their respective abilities dictated the formation. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaglint Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 See you later optimism, when shall we meet again? April:May time? Couldn't stop thinking how poor the quality is in Prem this year both sides will probably be relatively safe and yet neither side seem to have a game plan to score let alone win the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Just 3 points off the bottom 3. One more loss could see us in it!!! Only if we have an 11 goal swing with Norwich and Hull, Fulham, West Ham, Stoke and Cardiff all win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villadude Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Meh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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