MOTD

[......and Smith must score. 1,334]

37 minutes ago, nutty nigel said:

Most people thought we'd be up against it this season but gave us a chance. Rewind the pre-season predictions to include this ridiculous injury situation and see what we think...

If you include our injury situation in pre-season predictions surely the sensible money would be on relegation.

We've seen teams survive when in far worse early positions so I think we've got a chance providing we can get some of our injured players back and we can hang on the coat tails of the team in 16th spot until the long-termers are back. We'll be doing really well if we can get out of this one though and the odds must be heavily against it.

It's unrealistic to assume that we won't have at least one or two injuries to contend with at any one time but this season it's been unbelievably bad.

[Nuff Said 5,089]

3 hours ago, Making Plans said:

Well there's certainly something odd going on if the players who make up our squad can't mark somebody, can't tackle or make a pass to a team mate.

If you can’t see that marking, tackling and passing are harder against £10m+ players, then it’s plain what is odd.

 

We have recruited the best we can afford at what you call basic skills, but our second and third choices are struggling against what must be on average the most expensive players in world football. It’s not a binary yes or no, it’s that we’ve have stepped up a level and it’s harder. And the amount of injuries we have have made it even more difficult.

[JF 694]

7 minutes ago, Nuff Said said:

If you can’t see that marking, tackling and passing are harder against £10m+ players, then it’s plain what is odd.

 

We have recruited the best we can afford at what you call basic skills, but our second and third choices are struggling against what must be on average the most expensive players in world football. It’s not a binary yes or no, it’s that we’ve have stepped up a level and it’s harder. And the amount of injuries we have have made it even more difficult.

There was nothing clever that couldn’t have been stopped for their first goal.  Atrocious defending and there is no excuses for it. He even had time to bring the ball down between our two centre backs before finishing. 

[lake district canary 4,531]

11 hours ago, JF said:

There was nothing clever that couldn’t have been stopped for their first goal.  Atrocious defending and there is no excuses for it. He even had time to bring the ball down between our two centre backs before finishing. 

I'd agree with that, between them McGovern/Godfrey and Amadou should have been able to command that area but it comes completely from the fact that our defence is makeshift due to injuries.  Not that they are bad players but purely because of the lack of time played together as a back three.  Krul would have been shouting and organising and Zimmermann would have been keeping Godfrey right.  Just a lack of cohesion, mainly because of injuries. 

[Jim Smith 2,314]

The lack of a holding midfielder is hurting us hugely but also Kenny McClean has a touch of the Howson's about him. When on form he's a decent player even at this level, when he's off form though he may as well not be on the pitch as he can be at best anonymous and at worst a liability. That's what you get I suppose with cheaper players.

Mo is also too lightweight for when backs are against the wall. He will probably be very good alongside a Tettey or an Amadou but not alongside anyone else who presses us.

One thing I would say though, second week running we have been on the receiving end of a dubious penalty decision where the defender has handballed it. We weren't at the races generally so who can say whether it would have made a big difference but we were creating a lot of chances so had we got a penalty and taken it to 1-1 it could have changed the game quite considerably.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

16 hours ago, Nuff Said said:

Sorry mate, but that's b******s.  If a third choice player in a just promoted club is as good at marking, tackling and passing as a first choice player at an established club who cost £10m+, then something odd is going on. 

Despite the injuries though probably only 2 or 3 players in that starting line up would have been different sop its a bit of a nonsense to make out that we are playing lots of third or fourth choice players. McGovern obviously is and Amadou as a CB yes but not the rest. Virtually all of them would have started.

Probably of more relevance is the fact we are having to play 3 or 4 players who are not fully fit as we have no replacements for them.

[ron obvious 1,499]

28 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

Despite the injuries though probably only 2 or 3 players in that starting line up would have been different sop its a bit of a nonsense to make out that we are playing lots of third or fourth choice players. McGovern obviously is and Amadou as a CB yes but not the rest. Virtually all of them would have started.

Probably of more relevance is the fact we are having to play 3 or 4 players who are not fully fit as we have no replacements for them.

It's not the number it's the positions those missing players occupy that matters.

We now have one CB & he's been playing with an injury. We are playing our 3rd choice goalie. We are missing our most proven & powerful DM, our alternative (although less powerful)  DM , & our most dynamic forward, one who would give us a genuine attacking alternative.

DM is an enormously important position in our system as we need the FBs to get forward whenever possible.

I said last season that the thing about the PL was the sheer strength & athleticism of the players. I watched some of the Palace v West Ham game on MOTD & just about all the players had that about them - with skill to match - & they were expected to be among the strugglers this season.

I still think we can play exquisite football of such brilliance that it will blow any team apart. But we need players like Alex to complement Todd, Emi, Teemu, Mo & the others to stop the opposition doing just as they please first.

The loss of Zimmerman, Tettey, Klose, Onel is huge. We could probably cope with one being missing, to lose them all is incredibly unlucky & an insurmountable problem.

All we can do in the present circumstances is fight like hell to limit the damage & scrap for whatever points we can get. We didn't do that on Saturday. Now is the time for Daniel to show his mettle & inspire some courage in his depleted squad.

 

[Jim Smith 2,314]

21 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

It's not the number it's the positions those missing players occupy that matters.

We now have one CB & he's been playing with an injury. We are playing our 3rd choice goalie. We are missing our most proven & powerful DM, our alternative (although less powerful)  DM , & our most dynamic forward, one who would give us a genuine attacking alternative.

DM is an enormously important position in our system as we need the FBs to get forward whenever possible.

I said last season that the thing about the PL was the sheer strength & athleticism of the players. I watched some of the Palace v West Ham game on MOTD & just about all the players had that about them - with skill to match - & they were expected to be among the strugglers this season.

I still think we can play exquisite football of such brilliance that it will blow any team apart. But we need players like Alex to complement Todd, Emi, Teemu, Mo & the others to stop the opposition doing just as they please first.

The loss of Zimmerman, Tettey, Klose, Onel is huge. We could probably cope with one being missing, to lose them all is incredibly unlucky & an insurmountable problem.

All we can do in the present circumstances is fight like hell to limit the damage & scrap for whatever points we can get. We didn't do that on Saturday. Now is the time for Daniel to show his mettle & inspire some courage in his depleted squad.

 

Don't disagree. The good thing is the league is tight and we are not being cut adrift. We just have to stay in touch until Christmas and then hope that we can get Zimbo back earlier than expected. There was some suggestion somewhere recently that Zimmerman had told people he was recovering well and could possibly be back in training in November. We just have to pray that is the case.