Yellow Shirt

I’m worried that he seems to think we were good. Spurs never had to get out of second gear and although we had chances and a lot of the ball we really never looked a serious threat after they got the first.

What led to that press was OUR passes from the CBs and the woeful Gunn. The ball that has exposed gaping holes in our midfield and defense so far this season was not on tonight for Liverpool. defensively we simply do not have players capable of covering the spaces created by playing attacking full backs in a four. Seeing as we only have attacking full backs (apart from Byram who isn’t fit) we need to stick with the 3 at CB.

Couldn’t disagree more. I thought the shape tonight allowed for more press in midfield, more width, fewer spaces for opponents to run into and more options when the ball went forward. What the shape didn’t change was that our center backs are all prone to errors, our central midfielders are too alike and we only have one natural finisher in the squad. What I struggle to see is how to play a good first 11 to their strengths when there are so many shared weaknesses.

I thought people were shouting ’shoooooot’

Seemed to be 4 with the ball and 3 against it. I’d rather see us stick to 3

Tonight’s performance was very poor in the second half but I saw enough to make me feel that a back 3 helps us all over the pitch. I really hope we see this shape again on Saturday. Omabamadele and Kabak have to be two of the three and at the moment I don’t care who goes with them.

Tonight Gunn=Theoklitos

I can’t disagree. I would have liked to have seen Sargent tonight

I thought he was good for most of the first half but absolutely woeful in the second. I would send him back now. We do not have room for him in our midfield.

Lovely insights throughout the thread Parma, thank you. However, does your OP not overlook the possibility that AN will take the line that you cannot force a move and so will not sell? If his message to players has been that either you get on board or you get to train with the youth squad in the past then the what happened this past week will be the one thing that ensures Grabban will not be sold.

I was watching that game and the commentator said something about the new rule regarding overhead kicks didn''t apply... Was that a sarcastic remark or is there some directive this season I hadn''t heard about???

Interesting line from AN in the front page article I thought.

From watching on TV it seemed to me that we struggled to contain them, particularly Shakiri in the first half. He made Brady look very ordinary going forward and weak defensively. Tettey always looked half an inch off a yellow but we worked hard, fought well and just about deserved to be level at half time. I have no idea how he did it but AN must have given one hell of a team talk because after half time we were quicker, more creative, more confident and at times just plain outstanding, finding holes that weren''t there in the first and making space all over. Shakiri vs Brady was a 180 switch in the second half. Hoolahan was the best I''ve ever seen him today, Howson looked good, Dorans was dangerous, Redmond was slippery and seemed to have tighter control of the ball and when BJ came on he looked like last years POTS again! There can be no argument that Butland was man of the match as without him it could have been 4 or 5 by the end. I would struggle to pick anyone for Norwich as there was not one weak performance... Some moments in the first half (Ruddy, Bassong, Tettey, Brady all made mistakes of varying severity) but overall it was a wonderful display. We do need a striker and a center back... But on today''s performance we need them as cover. I worry if Jerome gets injured.

Hooper is a lot better than Griffiths and I''m not a big fan of Hooper.

Antonio as a straight swap for Grabban would be coup if that were an option!