A draw against Pompey is a good result - positivity thread

[Revo]

loads of people arguing with dj and **** only knows why.

here are some things we KNEW going into this game

a) pompy are no mugs.
we got ONE POINT off them after two games last season, they beat manu last season and drew manu THIS season, if somehow we had a goldfish like memory only this PRESEASON did we fail to beat them. make no mistake it was PATENTLY obvious pompy was going to be one of our most difficult away matches this season.

b) campbell and disten are quick, strong and EXTREMELY good in the air
we went into the game with crouch and voronin. erm see the flaw there?

basically to have a cahnce of coming away with all three points we need as much pace and goal threat as humanly possible, this is the midfield we played
yossi------alonso------momo------pennant

pennant and yossi are unlikely to score (look at their records for past clubs)
momo next goal will arrive with the next ice age, alonso is the holding midfielder so wouldn't get forwards like he did v derby. then you take into acount the lack of pace from midfield so there would be little or no support for crouch (which is exactly what happened) so crouch who was ALWAYS going to struggle v campbell job was made nigh on impossible (still didn't cover himself in glory though with his half arsed attitude)

we needed pace
we needed power
we needed goal threats

now I'm not going to be a hyprocrite and say I would have started gerrard becasue I wouldn't have but at the very LEAST I would have started torres and babel because

a) they are as fast as all ****
b) they are strong
c) they can create something from nothing

the are 20 and 23 respectively you mean to tell me they can't handle 3 games in a week FIVE GAMES into the season?

make no mistake chelsea, aresnal manu will not be dropping many points at home WAY is where the league will be won (or lost) when you play p'moth/everton/b'burn/bolton/spurs away you need your best or as close to your best to to acheive all three points if we want to win the league and thats whatwe'r talking about not just securing CL qualification then 1 point away just isn't going to cut it.

picking a team deviod of pace and power and match winners is really setting yourself up for a fall. lets be honest here if we were playing manu away gerrard and torres would have started so more than fitness was in rafa's thinking.

hey mate stop making sense will you

[Sir Bob]

loads of people arguing with dj and **** only knows why.

here are some things we KNEW going into this game

a) pompy are no mugs.
we got ONE POINT off them after two games last season, they beat manu last season and drew manu THIS season, if somehow we had a goldfish like memory only this PRESEASON did we fail to beat them. make no mistake it was PATENTLY obvious pompy was going to be one of our most difficult away matches this season.

b) campbell and disten are quick, strong and EXTREMELY good in the air
we went into the game with crouch and voronin. erm see the flaw there?

basically to have a cahnce of coming away with all three points we need as much pace and goal threat as humanly possible, this is the midfield we played
yossi------alonso------momo------pennant

pennant and yossi are unlikely to score (look at their records for past clubs)
momo next goal will arrive with the next ice age, alonso is the holding midfielder so wouldn't get forwards like he did v derby. then you take into acount the lack of pace from midfield so there would be little or no support for crouch (which is exactly what happened) so crouch who was ALWAYS going to struggle v campbell job was made nigh on impossible (still didn't cover himself in glory though with his half arsed attitude)

we needed pace
we needed power
we needed goal threats

now I'm not going to be a hyprocrite and say I would have started gerrard becasue I wouldn't have but at the very LEAST I would have started torres and babel because

a) they are as fast as all ****
b) they are strong
c) they can create something from nothing

they are 20 and 23 respectively you mean to tell me they can't handle 3 games in a week FIVE GAMES into the season?

make no mistake chelsea, aresnal manu will not be dropping many points at home AWAY is where the league will be won (or lost) when you play p'moth/everton/b'burn/bolton/spurs away you need your best or as close to your best to to acheive all three points if we want to win the league and thats whatwe'r talking about not just securing CL qualification then 1 point away just isn't going to cut it.

picking a team deviod of pace and power and match winners is really setting yourself up for a fall. lets be honest here if we were playing manu away gerrard and torres would have started so more than fitness was in rafa's thinking.

spot on mate.

[AFII]

loads of people arguing with dj and **** only knows why.

here are some things we KNEW going into this game

a) pompy are no mugs.
we got ONE POINT off them after two games last season, they beat manu last season and drew manu THIS season, if somehow we had a goldfish like memory only this PRESEASON did we fail to beat them. make no mistake it was PATENTLY obvious pompy was going to be one of our most difficult away matches this season.

b) campbell and disten are quick, strong and EXTREMELY good in the air
we went into the game with crouch and voronin. erm see the flaw there?

basically to have a cahnce of coming away with all three points we need as much pace and goal threat as humanly possible, this is the midfield we played
yossi------alonso------momo------pennant

pennant and yossi are unlikely to score (look at their records for past clubs)
momo next goal will arrive with the next ice age, alonso is the holding midfielder so wouldn't get forwards like he did v derby. then you take into acount the lack of pace from midfield so there would be little or no support for crouch (which is exactly what happened) so crouch who was ALWAYS going to struggle v campbell job was made nigh on impossible (still didn't cover himself in glory though with his half arsed attitude)

we needed pace
we needed power
we needed goal threats

now I'm not going to be a hyprocrite and say I would have started gerrard becasue I wouldn't have but at the very LEAST I would have started torres and babel because

a) they are as fast as all ****
b) they are strong
c) they can create something from nothing

they are 20 and 23 respectively you mean to tell me they can't handle 3 games in a week FIVE GAMES into the season?

make no mistake chelsea, aresnal manu will not be dropping many points at home AWAY is where the league will be won (or lost) when you play p'moth/everton/b'burn/bolton/spurs away you need your best or as close to your best to to acheive all three points if we want to win the league and thats whatwe'r talking about not just securing CL qualification then 1 point away just isn't going to cut it.

picking a team deviod of pace and power and match winners is really setting yourself up for a fall. lets be honest here if we were playing manu away gerrard and torres would have started so more than fitness was in rafa's thinking.

It's time Rafa stop rotating the team in a way that plays in the hand of the opposition. We have a good enough team to make the other team adjust to us instead of us adjusting to them.

I think everyone knows why Rafa is putting the CL first, money.

[spider-neil]

It's time Rafa stop rotating the team in a way that plays in the hand of the opposition. We have a good enough team to make the other team adjust to us instead of us adjusting to them.

I think everyone knows why Rafa is putting the CL first, money.

the league champions will make more than the CL champions.

.

[Red Chilli]

the league champions will make more than the CL champions.

.

Correct

[spider-neil]

well the game after the next internationals is everton, almost certainly rafa will pick who he feels is his strongest (as a close) 11.
lets hope rafa has learned from this weekend and we move on.
fitness and suspention aside away from home (regardless of opposition) rafa should start pepe-carra-gerrard-torres (his world class spine) and then build on that

[Revo]

well the game after the next internationals is everton, almost certainly rafa will pick who he feels is his strongest (as a close) 11.
lets hope rafa has learned from this weekend and we move on.
fitness and suspention aside away from home (regardless of opposition) rafa should start pepe-carra-gerrard-torres (his world class spine) and then build on that

the problem is though neil he is carrying on from where he left off last year. i said it earlier that yesterdays team should have been the team that thrashed derby with the exception of including carra and maybe gerrard for masher

[Shaggy]

well the game after the next internationals is everton, almost certainly rafa will pick who he feels is his strongest (as a close) 11.

Naturally I hope you're right, but I remember his first trip to Goodison with us. Maybe I'm wrong but I think that followed an international break? Anyway, Salif ****ing Diao was preferred to Xabi, amongst other puzzling selections, and we were ****.

Maybe he's learned though.

[spider-neil]

the problem is though neil he is carrying on from where he left off last year. i said it earlier that yesterdays team should have been the team that thrashed derby with the exception of including carra and maybe gerrard for masher

I would have been over the moon with the team that played derby. there would have been pace and ability and goal threat and gerrard would have got his rest. the team that started yesterday was tailor made for midweek, methinks crouch's moaning pushed him up the pecking order for the league, a game he was ill suited for.

[Shaggy]

methinks crouch's moaning pushed him up the pecking order for the league, a game he was ill suited for.

I refuse to believe that for a second. Do you seriously believe Rafa was swayed by any of that tabloid nonsense? He's renowned for his ruthlessness and lack of empathy towards players. No way on this earth did any perceived 'moaning' by Crouch "push him up the pecking order". No way.

[spider-neil]

Naturally I hope you're right, but I remember his first trip to Goodison with us. Maybe I'm wrong but I think that followed an international break? Anyway, Salif ****ing Diao was preferred to Xabi, amongst other puzzling selections, and we were ****.

Maybe he's learned though.

we always make the mistake of decending to everton levels and enter the trenches with them them when we should be picking a side of pace and skill to blow them out of the water.
I when when the midfield was
kewell - smicer - gerrard - diouf
and they didn't get a touch of the ball we completely dominated them.
I'd to see a midfield of pennant - gerrard - masherano - babel with torres and kuyt this is what I consider our top front six.

[spider-neil]

I refuse to believe that for a second. Do you seriously believe Rafa was swayed by any of that tabloid nonsense? He's renowned for his ruthlessness and lack of empathy towards players. No way on this earth did any perceived 'moaning' by Crouch "push him up the pecking order". No way.

to be fair he was the freshest so that is another good reason why he started.

[Shaggy]

Not sure Babel's done enough yet or is ready to be considered to be among our top front six.

[Shaggy]

to be fair he was the freshest so that is another good reason why he started.

Absolutely. He played a total of about 27 minutes during international week. If I'm not mistaken, Torres played 180 minutes?

He picked, seemingly, the freshest available XI players. Mascherano was rightly never even in contention. Some may argue "Tevez played for United" - yeah, he did, but he was miles off the pace.

[spider-neil]

Not sure Babel's done enough yet or is ready to be considered to be among our top front six.

its not what he's done its what he brings to the table, power, pace and goal threat. if pennant isn't going to provide a goal threat then there needs to be one on the other side.