Today's Official Match Thread

[blacky]

as long as Rafa learns the lesson (which he has a habit of doing...) we may count ourselves lucky. That was a very soft penalty - and we failed to press any of our chances.

It was a very disjointed performance (highlighting the intrinsic problem with rotation for rotation's sake?)... the early injuries forced Rafa's hand ( and blunted our sting somewhat - losing two of our main back four with one already missing) ... and prevented him altering our shape as needed.

As most of us agreed, it cried out for Crouch - who was Pennant going to cross to? a tired Bellamy (who had tried all game)...?

Hard to rate many of our players highly today... let's move on?

I understand the need for rotation but don't agree with wholesale changes from game to game. A couple of players in and out per game max where possible to maintain consistancy

[stevenage_kop]

hope rafa chooses the correct team on tuesday

[univofchicago]

I felt we started with the wrong side. Away from home against a battling side we should ALWAYS have a big strong fella up front ( crouch or kuyt). You will get away with 2 little fellas only at anfield or games away at the likes of spurs or west ham where they play football. Kromkamp was ****. Aurelio wasnt ready for a away game against that style of team yet. The biggest problem though was having to use our 2 subs up so early. It was crying out for crouch in the second half, but ONLY if we could have bought pennant on with him. Although stevey G was involved in everything, I wish he could have stayed out wide right more often to keep the teams shape.

On a plus side, were top of the league due to the alphabet. were still unbeaten in the league and god has got a goal ratio of 100%.

Straws.......clutching..........at




I am 100% convinced though that this squad can win the league title

Very well put.

And I agree with your last statement especially.

Just it still feels horrible...Errrrrr.....

[ningnangnong]

Lucas Neill?............................Krompkamps replacement

Ah, just saw this.

I've posted a thread on it.

He sounded pretty sure of it ay Speedy. Had Simon Hill convinced.

[Infadel]

If that had have been Chelski, Man USA or Arsenal who dropped 2 points at Sheff Utd we would have been chuffed to bits.

[blacky]

Anyone's an improvement on KK but I'd prefer Alves for obvious reasons. With Neill there's always the risk of training ground leg breaks!!!!

[FowlerLeftFoot]

so we have to have crouch instead of fowler to accomodate hyypia wayward long range going-no-where passes?

I don't think Gerrard is fit yet.

As for Hyypia's long ball, it isn't much use when you don't have Peter Crouch.

We really missed his presence today...should have started instead of Fowler...

[Kangakop]

I understand the need for rotation but don't agree with wholesale changes from game to game. A couple of players in and out per game max where possible to maintain consistancy

Yeah - tend to agree with that. We always play well once the team is relatively settled (for obvious reasons) - with changes largely forced by injuries/suspensions.

All this early season reshuffling does my tits in! (Leave it for the pre-season friendlies and the early rounds of the Cup competitions... We need to settle the key backbone of the team quickly - and then Rafa can fine-tune it )

Hope Riise and Carra are ok - and what happened with Finnan?

[Guest]

Can't see why we should slate Kromkamp. Didn't have the best of games but didn't play **** either. He had one or two moments when he provided decent width with good movement. He's not a bad player but probably short on confidence at the moment. Could be homesickness i don't know.

[kurtangle01]

True and we were 1 down but that is not a good result in the overall scheme of things.
Lets see what Arse, Scum and the Chavs can do now...

i'm not to dissapointed because we will get better. under the previous manager we'd have lost that game 1-0 so a draw is acceptable. not great but acceptable. it's always difficult to play against a newly promoted team at their place, just ask the chavs. fair enough they beat wigan last year but it wasn't straight forward for them.

if you look at the fact our back4 after 30 mins had never played a game togther as a unit and that made a difference for their goal.

we will get better and i still feel as confident as ever that we will win the league.

[baronvonskidmark]

It was a disappointing result and it did feel like a defeat, but it's far from indicative of where we'll finish up.

I think the injuries were absolutely key to the game. Firstly, I doubt very much that Hulse would have had a free header had Carra and Riise been playing in defence. And, as Andy Gray kept pointing out, there was only one member of our back line that did so well last season that played the majority of the game - and, with all resepect to Sami, he is the oldest, slowest and least vocal of that back line.

But more importantly, the fact that it took up two substitutions really hurt us. If, when Sheffield United were tiring, we could have been able to bring Crouch and Pennant on, switching Gerrard to the centre, we would have been far more dangerous and the result would probably have been different. Gonzalez and Pennant crossing for Crouch, the big man linking with Bellamy, Gerrard buzzing around in the centre making things happen and playing balls through for Bellamy or out wide for Gonzalez and Pennant - all of these things would have been really useful for us but were unavailable because of the injuries.

So I've not changed my mind that we can win it this year. After all, if Chelsea had just drawn 1-1 with Sheffield United would we be writing them off?

[ronan]

Can't see why we should slate Kromkamp. Didn't have the best of games but didn't play **** either. He had one or two moments when he provided decent width with good movement. He's not a bad player but probably short on confidence at the moment. Could be homesickness i don't know.

its his touch,its ****e
he's got 50p's for feet.
letting the ball runaway from you by ten feet,running out of touch ,hoofing the ball back to your keeper from a kickoutwayward passes and a whole lot more have very little to do with homesickness.he's just ****e.
fine to use at home if were stuck but not away from home where you need your wits about you.

[blacky]

It was a disappointing result and it did feel like a defeat, but it's far from indicative of where we'll finish up.

I think the injuries were absolutely key to the game. Firstly, I doubt very much that Hulse would have had a free header had Carra or Riise been playing in defence. And, as Andy Gray kept pointing out, there was only one member of our back line that did so well last season that played the majority of the game - and, with all resepect to Sami, he is the oldest, slowest and least vocal of that back line.

But more importantly, the fact that it took up two substitutions really hurt us. If, when Sheffield United were tiring, we could have been able to bring Crouch and Pennant on, switching Gerrard to the centre, we would have been far more dangerous and the result would probably have been different. Gonzalez and Pennant crossing for Crouch, the big man linking with Bellamy, Gerrard buzzing around in the centre making things happen and playing balls through for Bellamy or out wide for Gonzalez and Pennant - all of these things would have been really useful for us but were unavailable because of the injuries.

So I've not changed my mind that we can win it this year. After all, if Chelsea had just drawn 1-1 with Sheffield United would we be writing them off?

Good post. Positive thinking which is what we all (myself included) should be doing

[rubyred]

If that had have been Chelski, Man USA or Arsenal who dropped 2 points at Sheff Utd we would have been chuffed to bits.

So what? It wasn't - it was us and as a result of it we will probably start the season off with a points defecit compared to them.

Of course we're chuffed if our main opposition lose, the important thing though is that we HAVE to win, and we didn't.

[Guest]

its his touch,its ****e
he's got 50p's for feet.
letting the ball runaway from you by ten feet,running out of touch ,hoofing the ball back to your keeper from a kickoutwayward passes and a whole lot more have very little to do with homesickness.he's just ****e.
fine to use at home if were stuck but not away from home where you need your wits about you.

Ok. You'll be glad to hear that Lucas Neil will be his replacement then.