Playing for a draw

[Juggy 0]

Every team is always in need of an away win, when was the last time you heard a manager say "yeah we couldn''t be bothered to win today because we weren''t really in need of an away win".

We actually have as many away wins this season already as we managed all last season. A couple more would be nice, but today was a decent point against a team who got a great win midweek.

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="JoeyBarton666"]We began the season hoping for 8th[/quote]Who are "we"?  The militant fringe of the delusional overly ambitious?

[Juggy 0]

Anybody who has the username joeybarton666 is going to be a complete tool before they have even attempted to share an opinion, let''s be honest here.

[BarclayWazza 91]

OK then Buh, I''ll make it simple for you. Lambert had the attitude that if you don''t try you don''t win. If we try and win today, do the same and lose next week then we have 1 more point than being conservative. I''m not suggesting a gung ho approach for the win but a sub or tactical change that would improve the chances, maybe Murphy or Hoolahan for Snod.

I''d even make it a bit more advanced - maybe we could be selective about the games we decide not to settle for a point in, you know like the ones where the team played 120 minutes 3 days ago, getting wound up by ref decisions and prone to mistakes perhaps?

[Joanna Grey 0]

And Sunderland go to Everton without Wes Brown. Bonus.

[ricardo 7,347]

[quote user="Le Juge"]Anybody who has the username joeybarton666 is going to be a complete tool before they have even attempted to share an opinion, let''s be honest here.[/quote]Thankfully I''m much too polite to make such an assertion but I agree never the less.[:)]

[Buh 0]

Lambert went for the win today AND LOST. AGAIN.

Doesn''t always work out!

[BarclayWazza 91]

[quote user="Mister Chops"][quote user="JoeyBarton666"]We began the season hoping for 8th[/quote]Who are "we"?  The militant fringe of the delusional overly ambitious?[/quote]

Chops - last season 8th to 18th was tight. We had the 7th highest net spend over the last transfer window after finishing 11th last term. My ambition for the team may not be 8th place but certainly an improvement in league position. In reality I see a team with increased quality but a manager unable to make the most of it.

[Norfolk Mustard 94]

Business-wise, the club objective is to remain in the Premiership and ideally achieve a 10th place to maintain progress. In pursuit of this, entertainment seems to have taken a back seat.

Nowadays, gaining 3 points away from home seems to be seen as unachievable utopia.

The self-induced knock-on effect is our home games then become even more pressurised.

[BarclayWazza 91]

[quote user="Buh"]Lambert went for the win today AND LOST. AGAIN.

Doesn''t always work out![/quote]

I see a team that were losing, got back into the game and conceded pretty much straight after. Net loss in points zero. Also Villa are pretty much toilet at the moment anyway.

[ricardo 7,347]

[quote user="Norfolk Mustard"]Business-wise, the club objective is to remain in the Premiership and ideally achieve a 10th place to maintain progress. In pursuit of this, entertainment seems to have taken a back seat.

Nowadays, gaining 3 points away from home seems to be seen as unachievable utopia.

The self-induced knock-on effect is our home games then become even more pressurised.[/quote]But even more pressurised if we had lost.We''ve played 129 games away in Premier League history and had 27 wins so 2 in 9 is pretty much our par for the course.

[BarclayWazza 91]

Also Buh, please tell me where else Villa have lost points chasing games this season? I don''t remember them settling for a point against Man City earlier in the season. Did I imagine the winner at St Mary''s a fortnight ago? Must have been a different Aston Villa that made 3 subs and then came from 2-0 down against West Brom.

Today was the first game Villa lost this season where they weren''t already losing after 75 minutes. I make that a net return of +4 points.

[nutty nigel 7,509]

[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Norfolk Mustard"]Business-wise, the club objective is to remain in the Premiership and ideally achieve a 10th place to maintain progress. In pursuit of this, entertainment seems to have taken a back seat.

Nowadays, gaining 3 points away from home seems to be seen as unachievable utopia.

The self-induced knock-on effect is our home games then become even more pressurised.[/quote]But even more pressurised if we had lost.We''ve played 129 games away in Premier League history and had 27 wins so 2 in 9 is pretty much our par for the course.[/quote]

 

We''ve also had three clean sheets away from home already. I should think it''s a long time since we had 3 away clean sheets in a whole PL season.

 

 

[BOO 0]

We are doing ok Nutty

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="BarclayWazza"][quote user="Mister Chops"][quote user="JoeyBarton666"]We began the season hoping for 8th[/quote]Who are "we"?  The militant fringe of the delusional overly ambitious?[/quote]

Chops - last season 8th to 18th was tight. We had the 7th highest net spend over the last transfer window after finishing 11th last term. My ambition for the team may not be 8th place but certainly an improvement in league position. In reality I see a team with increased quality but a manager unable to make the most of it.[/quote]We''ve more points at this stage than we had last year, that''s improvement.  The fortunes of other teams are outside our gift, unless we''re playing them, aren''t they?

[ricardo 7,347]

[quote user="BarclayWazza"]Also Buh, please tell me where else Villa have lost points chasing games this season? I don''t remember them settling for a point against Man City earlier in the season. Did I imagine the winner at St Mary''s a fortnight ago? Must have been a different Aston Villa that made 3 subs and then came from 2-0 down against West Brom.

Today was the first game Villa lost this season where they weren''t already losing after 75 minutes. I make that a net return of +4 points.[/quote]However, despite this gung ho attitude they have the same number of points that we do. Also they have only managed to score in 3 of their 8 home games and losing 5 of them. I hate to think what would happen at CR if Hughton had that record.

[BarclayWazza 91]

We clearly have a better squad. Regardless, I''m comparing ability to change a game and the value in going for the win rather than setting up to win the point.

[BarclayWazza 91]

Which seems to have worked as Buh''s gone quiet ;-)

[ricardo 7,347]

[quote user="BarclayWazza"]Which seems to have worked as Buh''s gone quiet ;-)[/quote]So how did his changes work in those 5 home defeats, 4 of which they failed to trouble the scorer?I think you see what you want to see and not what actually has happened.

[Yellowbeagle 0]

Normally I''d feel abit non plussed about a point at any side in the bottom three. But today was different, Sunderland saw this as must win, getting a draw keeps them off getting on a run after midweek, stops them closing a gap and seeing as most of the pundits today had Sunderland down as getting the win I don''t think it was a bad result in the circumstances.

[nutty nigel 7,509]

A point has the same value wherever it''s gained. Each and everyone of them will be part of the final total.

 

 

 

 

[BarclayWazza 91]

[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="BarclayWazza"]Which seems to have worked as Buh''s gone quiet ;-)[/quote]So how did his changes work in those 5 home defeats, 4 of which they failed to trouble the scorer?I think you see what you want to see and not what actually has happened.[/quote]

Simple really - they didnt. But they were already losing from 1st half goals so it didn''t cost them any points. But you know what, it did work for them other times and the net points gain is positive (and I hate using this term but here goes....) FACT!

[The Big Bad Wolf 0]

A point is OK - but I wouldn''t say it was a "good point" it was satisfactory. The table doesn''t lie - Sunderland deserve to be bottom. If we are just happy to survive in this league then great! Personally I think we should be aiming higher than that. Yes, we are currently 14th but I am hoping to see better performances than today. On to the next one! If we can beat Fulham then everything looks much better.

[Beefy is a legend 224]

To suggest you would rather play open and lose than get an important point is frankly embarrassing. A true supporter wants what is best for NCFC which is to get results rather than play heroically and lose.

In my experience people only say such things in sotuatikms like this. When the Texan does play well and lose, such as v Chelsea this season, it''s Hughton out.

Get a grip

[Beefy is a legend 224]

Sorry for the typos, I meant ''situation'' and ''team''

[The Great Mass Debater 1,078]

I think the point he was trying to make was that he''d rather we risked the game to risk a win. It all comes down to risk again. Noone would say they wanted us to play in a way that would guarantee a defeat and to suggest otherwise I think is being a bit silly. People who are of the opinion they would prefer us to go for it accept it means we might lose, but also that it increases our chances of winning as a trade off. Sometimes it will cost us the game. Sometimes it will get us three points. With the 3 points for a win system, from a drawing position, if half the time we threw caution to the wind we lost, and half the time we wone we would end up with more points than protecting a draw. Surely more points is better for the club? People talk about an important point today which could mean the difference between relegation and survival. Whilst thats true, it is all ifs and maybes, and is also true of any time we gambled and got the bonus of two extra points. I think todays point was a decent one, but I do wonder with 3 points for a win if we should be a little more ambitious sometimes

[Highland Canary 76]

Yes, a game again there for the taking, much like Swansea last week, much like many games we''ve witnessed on the road for the last couple of years. Sunderland fans in the stand to our left entertainment in themselves, somewhat cross with the referee, life, the universe and everything. Really can''t see them staying up this season.

[BOO 0]

I only watched it in the pub Highland, looked like we cancelled each other out.

Sub RVW at 70ish, what more do you recon we could do?

[Barry the boy 0]

I am happy with a point. Had we have mirrored our first half performance we may well have got 3.

I would like to have seen Wes or josh Murphy come on as well as Ricky. Just to freshen it up.

The disappointing this regarding the last two games is that the opposition have come off the back of two midweek performances, yet looked more dangerous in the closing stages of the game than we have.

Are we fit enough?

[CambridgeCanary 0]

I am happy with a point because apart from anything else, we are three points further away from Sunderland than if we had lost.