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Annus Horribilis 2011/2012 .............................

colin fishwick said:
1 - Playing Rose - could and should have bought cover, even today's formation with Kaboul there and Livermore in the middle was better.
Rose is clearly not good enough,it was have been easy , to not put us in the position where we had to.

2 - Last weeks substitution , clearly did not work, much more to gain than lose, by bringing Defoe on. Put him on today , 5 mins goal.


3 - Team selection for Arsenal away, Lennon and Defoe left on the bench, starting with Nico and Saha, clearly not our best team.

The 3rd mistake is forgivable all managers do this.

The 1st and 2nd are not so forgivable. One is sloppy and the other is being ultra negative.

Harry has done plenty right, but not lately.

Harry has been off form and that is what has costs us. IMO had we had another manager for the past 3 or 4 months, we would be 3rd.
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But had we had another manager for the 4 or 5 months before that, we might not have been 3rd to begin with.

Of course it's natural to be disappointed with the last few months, and fair to look at why things went wrong, but it's not fair to ignore the success we had before that nor to deny Harry any credit for it.
 
This season:

1) Going mad for 9 games trying to accommodate Defoe/Saha into a 4-4-2, meaning Rafa, Modric and others ended up out of position while our midfield got repeatedly torn new ones.

2) Not using Sandro, Corluka, Krancjar and Pienaar more when we were cruising earlier in the season.

3) Using the media as his personal counsellor.
 
Gutter Boy said:
This season:

1) Going mad for 9 games trying to accommodate Defoe/Saha into a 4-4-2, meaning Rafa, Modric and others ended up out of position while our midfield got repeatedly torn new ones.

2) Not using Sandro, Corluka, Krancjar and Pienaar more when we were cruising earlier in the season.

3) Using the media as his personal counsellor.
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1) Don't think he was trying to accommodate Defoe / Saha; think he was just doing this because Lennon was out.

2) Sandro's been injured a lot, and if we had accommodated those players maybe we wouldn't have had the amazing results that we did.
 
The only teams that should've been fighting for inclusion in next years CL today were the Manchester clubs.

But that's a different discussion.
 
What this season has proven is that regardless of fair or unfair play, is that the game is so tight and fast paced that human split-second judgement can no longer be trusted. The stakes are so high and the nuances so small that we now have to employ video technology at least for offsides, cards and goal lines.
 
1. Not bringing in cover for Lennon either last summer or Jan meaning that he ended up playing that ridiculous 4-3-3 formation, despite us not having 3 CMs suited to it, nor a RW suited to it
2. Moving players out of their best position; Bale and Modric especially should always play in their best positions
3. Working players into the ground. Sandro was under-used, Charlie should never have gone on loan as it meant Walker couldnt have a break, Modric played every minute for our last 27-28 league games!!!!
 
Don't deserve champions league

I'm drunk so this may have been said elsewhere, but if we don't make the champions leagues we should he embaressed.

We had the initiative, lost it. With 2 games to go we could have secured it, bottled it.

If chelsea win, well done to them. They have earnt it, we haven't
 
africanspurs said:
aside from the mid season buys everything else is pure speculation on our parts

you're saying there is no plan B? give us an example of a plan b we DIDNT use?
poor fitness? proof? just cause our players dont know how to press doesnt mean they arent fit
poor squad rotation? if harry rotated players that were winning and we got bad results you would have a field day...what was he supposed to do anyway? tell us how you would have liked him to rotate the squad and with whom?

ease at which teams can nullify us? i'll give you that, but aside from the top two we were the amongst the best of the rest and everyone gets nullified by teams parking the bus....i do agree though that we can let teams come back into games against us and that does need addressing

for me our confidence fell , our form dropped ....thats all that happened. pure and simple
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1) I said a CLEARLY defined Plan B: put it this way, when Lennon or Bale are out of our team all things seem to fall apart. Why is this? I believe beyond this team Harry doesn't have a clear plan as to how to proceed:

GK
Walker CB CB BAE
Lennon, Parker or Sandro, Modric, Bale
VDV
Ade

This Bale playing right wing when it CLEARLY isn't working does not count as a plan B for me.

2) Did you think our players knew how to press in the first half of the season, when we WERE pressing well? If they haven't been recently either a) they don't really know how to press and weren't pressing before or b) there were fitness issues

3) Yes poor squad rotation. See the declines of Pienaar, Krancjar and Bassong for exhibits.
Pienaar could have at least covered the right wing to give us balance when Lennon was out (Walker also had poor protection). Why was he not used when Lennon was injured?? Probabaly would have been better him there than Bale.
Krancjar. He is the type of creative player who can unlock a defence when they are parking the bus, with a rasping shot or a deft flick here or there that can draw them out. His lack of fitness is a much an issue with generally poor squad use as well as perhaps his own issues.
Bassong. He was part of the team that got us 4th and I donÔÇÖt believe he has turned bad overnight. I think there are confidence issues, not helped by the public lambasting after he conceded the penalty against Blackpool last season. Again, could have been very useful as part of the squad. Good pace too.
They are not poor players, but due to inadequate squad rotation they become either unfit, lacked confidence or become very rusty. Better involvement beyond just Europa league games may have helped them augment our squad.

Overall, I think Harry has us playing very good to watch progressive football, but the problem is there is a lack of structure, good SQUAD management and planning. It all things very off-the-cuff to me. Sooner or later this approach (both on and off the field) will be easily nullified and will only get us so far.
This season was a BIG opportunity to stamp our place in the position to build a good base to challenge. We did very well in the CL last time with this method of approach; do you think itÔÇÖll get us as far again ÔÇô assuming Chelski donÔÇÖt win and we get through a qualifier? Sadly, I very much doubt it
 
Completely agree. If Chelsea win it then as much as I dislike them, they deserve it and we don't.

CL qualification was the target when we were playing weakened teams in EL and domestic cups....and that's how our season will be judged. It should never have come to this anyway.
 
We don't deserve Champions League. Neither do Arsenal. Neither do Man Utd. None of us are CHAMPIONS. Simple as that. But for some reason, the top four in our country are allowed to participate in it because we are recognized as one of the top four clubs in the country, that alone makes me think, fudge it. LETS GO AND ENJOY OURSELVES IN EUROPE NEXT YEAR
 
tommysvr said:
I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if UEFA caved in and gave us a spot if Chelsea win it.
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It would be HIGHLY embarrassing if this were to happen. We would become the most laughed at/hated club in Europe.

UEFA, will just give us the hardest possible draw for the qualifier anayway.

We knew the rules!!
 
Richie said:
I'm drunk so this may have been said elsewhere, but if we don't make the champions leagues we should he embaressed.

We had the initiative, lost it. With 2 games to go we could have secured it, bottled it.

If chelsea win, well done to them. They have earnt it, we haven't
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Utter gonads, were 4th after 38 games, they have spawned their way to the final only winning 1 away game, like fudge they deserve it
 
Mumorn said:
We don't deserve Champions League. Neither do Arsenal. Neither do Man Utd. None of us are CHAMPIONS. Simple as that. But for some reason, the top four in our country are allowed to participate in it because we are recognized as one of the top four clubs in the country, that alone makes me think, fudge it. LETS GO AND ENJOY OURSELVES IN EUROPE NEXT YEAR
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Yes...if we get there...

..or are you talking Europa League as well?????8-[
 
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