01 Dec 2020 00:49:21
One final post following the suggestion I should not be on this forum. Like many genuine fans I was extremely disappointed with many aspects of tonight's outcome, the comments below all have some merit. VAR isn't the panacea that many thought and is on many fronts making the law makers look foolish. Whilst VAR didn't help it didn't lose us the game.
A penalty taker with a poor record should possibly have been taken out of the firing line . No one can legislate for a striker missing a virtual open goal and Trezz is not comfortable in front of goal. With respect to the comments regarding average players, whilst i think some of it is a bit harsh there are some relevant comments. Hourihane is at best a squad player, he is one dimensional and lacks pace If you were out to buy a good left back Targett would not be a choice of any top coach.
Mings still does more good things than bad, but his failings are becoming consistent, I do however think if he concentrates more there is still a starting place for him. Mc ginn needs to be pushed and if we had strength in depth a spell on the bench might work to sharpen his thought precess. God help us if Jack gets injured. Watkins needs competion. Elghazi needs to move on.
Luis is looking more and more like a quality player. Cash, whilst being a tad naive is here to stay, Konza is worthy of his starting place. The start of the season flattered us slightly and it's going to be tough at times for the rest of the season. My personal summary of tonight is the result was self inflicted.
Newcastle is a great opportunity on Friday to get back to winning ways and I will be chearing in front of my TV, if things don't work out and we fall for the fourth home defeat on the trot i think it will have a detrimental effect on confidence. let's all hope for a positive outcome to football and life in general over Christmas.
01 Dec 2020 09:03:36
Spot on SC, totally agree with what you have written. Our squad is unbalanced in terms of quality and that will take another year or two to address.
Targett is a back up left back, 100% agree that both Ming's and McGinn need competition and we need options up front (winger / striker) . I'm convinced these will come over the next few windows.
Currently these are the only positions that are "safe", the rest I think we need competition.
Martinez
Cash, Konsa, XXXXX, XXXXX
Luiz, XXXXX
XXXXX, Barkley, Grealish
XXXXX
I'm convinced this time next year we will be a much more complete side, we just need to stop leaving points on the table, we aren't good enough to dominate games and come away with nothing - Eventually sides below will catch up with us and the last thing we need is another relegation battle.
01 Dec 2020 10:04:48
I agree SC that in certain positions we lack quality, the two that really need addressing for me is left back and wide right Targett and Trez just aren’t good enough I am afraid and certainly need at the very least competition but in Trez case replacing, however I am not sure why Mings gets so much stick I thought the way he brought the ball out from the back and linked up with the midfield was first class he occasionally tries to do things he shouldn’t like a Cryuff turn on the edge of his box but to my mind that’s as much the fault of the coaches and the insistence of playing out from the back all the time,
the one area where I thought West Ham were better than us is they mixed it up when it came to ball distribution from the back some time playing out and sometimes going long given Martinez is accurate when kicking from hand we should try to do this more. A few more observations from me re last night we really missed someone being able to either get up alongside Watkins or to go beyond him Barkley was fulfilling that role without him Watkins looked far too isolated.
Luiz was class in front of the back four composed calm and read the game wonderfully well sadly I think we need to be looking for a replacement now because I am certain City will utilise the buy back clause. We really need to sort out our defending from set pieces Ogbonna lost his man for the first goal but it was either McGinn Luiz or Hourihane picking up. 6’ centre half whether that was zonal or man to man marking that doesn’t seem right to me. The other thing about that goal was that although Antonio was standing next to Martinez I didn’t see him do anything to really impede him so I was a little surprised he didn’t make more of an effort to come for the ball or am I being a little harsh?
However onwards and upwards here’s to a good result against the Geordies on Friday.
01 Dec 2020 10:00:45
Scotcaffu, don't let some of the knuckle heads on here stop you from giving your opinion fella, you make good points and let's be honest, the cats' out of the bag, teams are cottoning on to us, target is a liability as a defender and without captain jack 'daniels' we're out of ideas, imagine if a manager decided to mark jack and watkins out of the game, what would our plan b actually be?
criticism is the highest form of praise in certain circles rather than to behave like a lemming and follow everyone else into submission, so for me, why isn't deano mixing it up more, drop watkins to the bench and play traore up front?
but of course he won't because he's too stubborn, so like you say the bar codes on Friday night at home, if we can't beat a C.V. ravaged mob then you have to start asking questions, we should win, anything else and deano has to stand up and be accountable, but keep on Scotty, anyone who doesn't agree, that's their decision, but naturally their wrong! works for me guvnor!
01 Dec 2020 10:34:52
Cheers 82, we have been on the same page for most of the time, honest opinions that aren't sugar coated.
01 Dec 2020 16:43:16
John, Mings job is to defend mate, most defenders can play to midfield its the defending that is his problem at the moment.
01 Dec 2020 20:28:32
Dave I agree that principally he is here to defend but a lot of his problems relate to us continual playing out from the back it irritates me that we continually try to do this when we aren’t particularly good at it and often at times when it makes no sense to do so but this comes from the managers and coaches. The other thing with Mings at least he does try to play the ball forward occasionally, the rest of the back four go sideways backwards rarely forwards so if we are going to play a possession based game having someone who can bring the ball forward and drag the opposing midfielders out of position is for me an advantage. Perhaps moving to 3 at the back is worth trying but that then creates a problem as one of the central midfielders would have to drop out and I am not sure who that would be.