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Positives from today's game...

Fans did try to get behind the team today. I'm sick of the awful fans guff. I don't expect to win every week but I do expect some passion and effort from our players. Only person who looked interested today was Mason. Our players go missing far to often. Yes the fans mumble and grumble but the club we all love is going backwards fast !! And I for one am not happy about it.

I see where you're coming from. I think in general our fans do get the hump too quickly if we're not winning by say 20 minutes, but most home crowds are the same.

We used to have a fantastic support at home games, but how many years could we not beat Chelsea at home for? 16 years? How about Arsenal? How many years did we go without beating them despite having incredible home support every time we played?

I'm not saying the fans can't improve, but we have FAR bigger problems.
 
Funny, today was one of the few times I actually get to WHL (I'm from N.Ireland). But when I go I like to watch the players warm up, because having played football myself I find it interesting how a pro team approaches a game.

As part of today's warm up there was a little exercise where you had 5 players round the outside and four inside. Each of the players on the inside had a ball. The idea being that there's always a pass available on the outside, you just have to find it without running into a team mate.

A wise old man once told me that you can tell if someone is mentally right by their warm up. Today, both Kaboul and Fazio made all manner of **** ups in that exercise. Real schoolboy stuff like passing the ball to an outside man that already has a ball, mis controlling etc.

Just so happens that these two then carried this onto the pitch.

Only an observation but it certainly looks like we have issues mentally.

Thanks, its nice to hear first hand observations from those at the games. Seems like its going to take a while to get it gelling.
 
Didn't watch the Swansea game today, but this seems descriptive of what I've seen from them in the past.

What they have is an engrained style of play that's been put in place over a long time across several managers. I do think Poch is the kind of manager that wants to similarly put a system in place that makes the team more than a sum of its parts. I think that gives a team drive and impetus, knowing how "we play" despite being disappointed by going behind etc.

Takes time though. We don't have the kind of time Swansea has used, but I would rather see us try to take the time to put a system in place than to just jump on to the next thing as soon as we hit a bad patch.

Totally agree. It will eventually patch together and we will be better for it. Let Poch get his players in Jan and things will change.
 
With the alternative being the owners spending almost nothing on the team they own while charging the fans the second-highest prices in the league to sit and look pretty for the TV cameras so that they can impress whoever they're trying to sell the club to, with their massive profit being entirely built on the backs of the fans themselves.

Thanks, but I know which side of the divide I'd rather be on, and it isn't the one that requires slavish worship of the Pharaohs of ENIC while turning on your own fellow fans in your eagerness to distinguish yourself as 'better' than them. There is nothing wrong with our fans, and until the owners actually match the fans' investments into their club (a thought which no doubt makes cold beads of sweat roll down their nervously quivering cheeks), they have no right to anything other than ridicule and scorn from the ordinary people who put more into their club than these delightful owners have managed to put in over the past decade and a half.

=D>
 
Totally agree. It will eventually patch together and we will be better for it. Let Poch get his players in Jan and things will change.

We'll all be astonished if he's still in place if things continue on the current trajectory though, no?
 
With the alternative being the owners spending almost nothing on the team they own while charging the fans the second-highest prices in the league to sit and look pretty for the TV cameras so that they can impress whoever they're trying to sell the club to, with their massive profit being entirely built on the backs of the fans themselves.

Thanks, but I know which side of the divide I'd rather be on, and it isn't the one that requires slavish worship of the Pharaohs of ENIC while turning on your own fellow fans in your eagerness to distinguish yourself as 'better' than them. There is nothing wrong with our fans, and until the owners actually match the fans' investments into their club (a thought which no doubt makes cold beads of sweat roll down their nervously quivering cheeks), they have no right to anything other than ridicule and scorn from the ordinary people who put more into their club than these delightful owners have managed to put in over the past decade and a half.

Top top post!
 
I see where you're coming from. I think in general our fans do get the hump too quickly if we're not winning by say 20 minutes, but most home crowds are the same.

We used to have a fantastic support at home games, but how many years could we not beat Chelsea at home for? 16 years? How about Arsenal? How many years did we go without beating them despite having incredible home support every time we played?

I'm not saying the fans can't improve, but we have FAR bigger problems.

I agree we do have far bigger problems than the fans. But christ the players are putting in abject performances and it's bloody difficult to get behind it in a positive fashion. Just walking down and around the place there's no buzz it's just flat. It's painful to see. But it all comes from the pitch imo
 
One positive is we are not the only team struggling after playing in Europe. Of the 6 English teams who played in Europe in midweek, only 1 won : Chelsea. And that was because they were playing Liverpool who also played in Europe ! Arsenal, Liverpool and us all lost while ManCity and Everton drew their games.

I think European matches will have a huge say of how the top 6 in England will finish this season.
 
One positive is we are not the only team struggling after playing in Europe. Of the 6 English teams who played in Europe in midweek, only 1 won : Chelsea. And that was because they were playing Liverpool who also played in Europe ! Arsenal, Liverpool and us all lost while ManCity and Everton drew their games.

I think European matches will have a huge say of how the top 6 in England will finish this season.

good point.

when the number of cup games whittle down as the season draws on, hopefully it gives poch more time with the players in training to get his ideas across, and also force poch to keep playing his best players together.
 
I just don't buy it! The EL/CL effect! They are fu**ing (or at least should be) top athletes who should be fu**ing able to run a little about for 90 minutes 2 times per week! But when everyone keeps telling you that playing 2 times per week is too difficult and too exhausting, then it will creep up in your mind that it is! Cross country skiers often do a Sprint race on friday (4 races of ca 1,4km at full speed), a 15 km saturday and a 10/30/50 km on sunday every week!!! And many are able to win all of them despite other top-class opponents have rested and skipped some of the races! Playing a game of football on Thursday is no fu**ing excuse for not being able to put up a performance on Sunday!
 
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One positive is we are not the only team struggling after playing in Europe. Of the 6 English teams who played in Europe in midweek, only 1 won : Chelsea. And that was because they were playing Liverpool who also played in Europe ! Arsenal, Liverpool and us all lost while ManCity and Everton drew their games.

I think European matches will have a huge say of how the top 6 in England will finish this season.

Only 4 players started both games. Kane, Eriksen, Townsend and Fazio. Three of those guys have played so little minutes this season there no way they were tired.
 
I don't think its a fatigue issue, more preparation, Stoke had 6 days to train and scheme for the game, we started Friday
 
Its nothing to do with the bloody EL, we are just shiit! Thats the problem. Why did we lose to Baggies, Saudi Sportswashing Machine and Toke at home? Because they are better than us. Its very simple and straight forward and I can't believe people cant see it.

In terms of playing squads I think the teams are similar - although the others all have a central midfield which we dont have - but they all have more cohesion.

By the end of the season we'll have lost plenty more games at home - Emirates Marketing Project, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton alone would take it to 8.

Nope we are shiit and in deep trouble. The positive from the game? Surely now we can all see that we are no better than the likes of Stoke (who outclassed us today) and start getting used to the fact we are bottom half material.

I just hope we don't get sucked into a true relegation battle because we are also a load of soft bottling pansies, and combined with our lack of tactics and quality that could be a lethal combination.
 
I don't think its a fatigue issue, more preparation, Stoke had 6 days to train and scheme for the game, we started Friday

Very good point Sir. Coupled with Hughes has had a season and almost a half to embed his system whilst for Poch he is clearly having some problems in his first season. What most disappoints me so far this season, apart from playing Capoue and Kaboul is that Eriksen seems to have gone backwards on every part of his game. We need him back because he is one who has the ability to make the team tick. I really think we need a deep lying "Carrick" style play maker, as well as a striker, to shield the defence whilst also getting the ball moving fast. IMO as we do not have Pace we need to get the ball moving faster, unfortunately we have too many players who hold on to the ball too long and fail to see passes quickly.
 
Its nothing to do with the bloody EL, we are just shiit! Thats the problem. Why did we lose to Baggies, Saudi Sportswashing Machine and Toke at home? Because they are better than us. Its very simple and straight forward and I can't believe people cant see it.

In terms of playing squads I think the teams are similar - although the others all have a central midfield which we dont have - but they all have more cohesion.

By the end of the season we'll have lost plenty more games at home - Emirates Marketing Project, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton alone would take it to 8.

Nope we are shiit and in deep trouble. The positive from the game? Surely now we can all see that we are no better than the likes of Stoke (who outclassed us today) and start getting used to the fact we are bottom half material.

I just hope we don't get sucked into a true relegation battle because we are also a load of soft bottling pansies, and combined with our lack of tactics and quality that could be a lethal combination.

someone who can actually see it for what it is! We have an awful squad plain and simple. Any player with any quality(value) has been sold on by the greedy little wrongun and we're left with a squad worst than west hams stokes Hulls etc 3 club who all went out with more ambition then us this summer as far as transfers go may I add.
 
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