dn1982 Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 We had 3 defensive midfielders on the park and a player who has only really played at fullback under this manager. That is why we didn't create real clear-cut chances from midfield. Midfield players today were starting from too deep, most of the time, to properly support the forward. The few times the midfield did get close to Gestede, the shots he set-up for them, looked like they had been studying at the Gabby Agbonlahor shooting school for strikers. Again our most effective striker was left-winger Scott Sinclair and that was because of his movement, which nobody on the pitch was able to read. We would have done better, in an attacking sense, with Sanchez as the lone DM, Gueye as the box-to-box player, Cole as the attacking player and Gil and Sinclair as the wide midfielders. With his clever movement and ability to be in the right place at the right time, I think Kozak would have been the better choice as striker. Out of interest did you go to the game? We created quite a lot. Joe Cole didn't look the best against County so I'm not sure if he would've been the answer. Gueye isn't a defensive player he can do it because he is good but he can do a lot more. Would you consider Delph a defensive player? We were the better team but sometimes you don't get what you deserve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 The fact that we had seven more points at this stage last season, is more worrying than reassuring to me. Why on earth would that worry you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas_Mike Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 How do you manage to get 11 points from 4 games? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 (edited) I do get a bit worried about his tactics. Sometimes things need a change just like Sunderland did today. I do get sick of playing like shit at home though. Did we play like shit though? The result was shit for sure but the performance wasn't, we could have and should have won comfortably. Yeah, should have won and could have won if he made changes. They made changes and it paid off for them. What changes what have guarenteed us the win then? We made more than enough chances to win, but the players themselves didnt take them. Nothing is guaranteed, but giving O'shea some else to do other than mark a very static Rudy. It's was pretty obvious at the game that Rudy wasn't doing much. Ayew might have put a chance away, who knows. Edited August 29, 2015 by Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 The fact that we had seven more points at this stage last season, is more worrying than reassuring to me. Why? we also had 4 goals this time last season and then we didnt score for 2 months so not really a fair comparison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 (edited) The fact that we had seven more points at this stage last season, is more worrying than reassuring to me. Why? Because we've got less points, against lesser opposition and with what I was hoping would turn out to be a better set of players. Things might improve, but I don't think that we made a good start last year and then struggled should offer any consolation to our poor start this year. Edited August 29, 2015 by useless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 The fact that we had seven more points at this stage last season, is more worrying than reassuring to me. Why? Because we've got less points, against lesser opposition and with what I was hoping would turn out to be a better set of players. Things might improve, but I don't think that we made a good start last year and then struggled should offer any consolation to our poor start this year. It's not been that bad a start. We could very easily have 4 more points than we currently have. And the start last year has nothing to do with how we've started this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 The fact that we had seven more points at this stage last season, is more worrying than reassuring to me. Why? Because we've got less points, against lesser opposition and with what I was hoping would turn out to be a better set of players. Things might improve, but I don't think that we made a good start last year and then struggled should offer any consolation to our poor start this year. Crystal Palace, Man Utd and away to newly promoted Bournemouth are a lot better than 4 teams we played last season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSV Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Toivonen came on, overran Sanchez completely. They created 2 chances directly off the back of Sanchez failing to win a ball against Toivonen - one Defoe blasted wide, one they scored the equaliser from. They only had 6 attempts all game. (To describe Gueye and Westwood as defensive in that game is ridiculous as well.) The changes needed to be made up top. The change Sunderland made that was "the difference" involved the centre of the pitch. There's just no way we should've weakened that. They were overrunning us because Gestede and Bacuna were offering the ball back on a plate and we couldn't get the ball to stick in their half. We invited pressure by playing too deep at home, with too many central midfielders and with a striker who wasn't working and a winger who was making too many simple errors. An extra attacking body would push them back and give us more options for an attacking pass. But right there you've mentioned the players who should've been replaced (and one was) - Gestede and Bacuna. Not one of Gueye/Westwood/Sanchez. We didnt need all three to control this match. We needed an extra attacker/outlet to support the attack. Amavi bombs forward and theres literally noone for miles away from midfield as their all sitting too deep. To Westwoods credit he got forward once or twice but we needed someone sitting outside the area just creating/moving the ball around and supporting the attack. Bacuna shouldnt have played further forward.. I would have preferred Ayew. Anyway.. wasnt to be. We will be alot better with the two 19 year olds back and hopefully a new striker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 And the start last year has nothing to do with how we've started this year. That's precisly the point I was making. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 I'm starting to lose patience with his team selection. More often than not, it's wrong. And not 'in my opinion' wrong. It's just wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 I'm starting to lose patience with his team selection. More often than not, it's wrong. And not 'in my opinion' wrong. It's just wrong. There was only one position that was potentially wrong and as Bobzy said we were 2-1 up at ht and comfortable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 (edited) The fact that we had seven more points at this stage last season, is more worrying than reassuring to me. Why? Because we've got less points, against lesser opposition and with what I was hoping would turn out to be a better set of players. Things might improve, but I don't think that we made a good start last year and then struggled should offer any consolation to our poor start this year. Crystal Palace, Man Utd and away to newly promoted Bournemouth are a lot better than 4 teams we played last season Didn't we play Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, or was that the season before. Either way I don't think our start has been especially tough this year. Edited August 29, 2015 by useless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982am Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Still backing Sherwood 100% but I was baffled with the line up today. Starting with Sanchez, Westwood and Gana was poor imo and thought we should've had Gil on from the start even if for only 60min. Thought Gestede was very static as someone else mentioned and his as well as the rest of the team's off the ball movement was shocking at times. Really thought Kozak should have come on with at least 20 to go as Sunderland were there for the taking. I also thought Bacuna was terrible terrible today, looked like he has spent so long playing at RB that he has forgotten how to move forward with the ball at times, always checking his run to play backwards. Gil's booking also looked an atrocious decision from the Holte. 2 points dropped today instead of 1 point won, imo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Anyone who can't see that we have improved is blind. We dominated today and really should have won but we are looking good. Add a decent striker and we've got a very solid team here with plenty of energy and quality. More than can be said of Lambert's teams and It's still very early days and once everything settles down we will be absolutely fine. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 I thought the midfield 3 was an OK choice, but the Bacuna selection/role was not. Playing a RB in a free midfield role has probably never been done before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 I thought the midfield 3 was an OK choice, but the Bacuna selection/role was not. Playing a RB in a free midfield role has probably never been done before It's not like playing hutton in that position. In fact i'm sure Bacuna played mainly that role before we signed him. We seem to have converted him to a rb as he's not good enough to play anywhere else on the pitch at this level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Barring injuries I think we will hit our stride sooner rather than later. Its still August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Sherwood saying we had 20+ shots on goal today but didn't win which is all well and good but we could have had 50+ today and not won the game We have no out and out goalscorer at the club at the minute which is frightening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 I thought the midfield 3 was an OK choice, but the Bacuna selection/role was not. Playing a RB in a free midfield role has probably never been done before It's not like playing hutton in that position. In fact i'm sure Bacuna played mainly that role before we signed him. We seem to have converted him to a rb as he's not good enough to play anywhere else on the pitch at this level. True But it surely didn't work very well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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