Post match v Reading

[AFII]

when you make contact with the ball your tendons tighten then relax......... pulling your leg into its normal shape.............. the muppet clearly left his leg in

the slight touch he got still left the ball within playing distance of Torres

therefore his leaving his leg in means a penalty and as the last defender within any chance of tackling Torres a red card

Spot on.

[Kopite_Colin]

when you make contact with the ball your tendons tighten then relax......... pulling your leg into its normal shape.............. the muppet clearly left his leg in

the slight touch he got still left the ball within playing distance of Torres

therefore his leaving his leg in means a penalty and as the last defender within any chance of tackling Torres a red card

Which incident you talking about mate? 1st one? Cos if you are there were still plenty of defenders around to deal with it. And I don't agree Torres still was within range of playing the ball - it was diverted away from the direction in which Toirres was running. The fact remains he got the ball in a sliding challnge. Just because Torres then fell over his leg doesn't make it a pen. If you're talking about the 2nd one...then I'd say we had more of a case.

[Joe King]

it is frustrating to have to rely on miracles like that

Fact remains if we don't lose to Man U next week I say we're still in this race. We just need to win away at one of the other big clubs. No one looks much better than anyone else

We have to beat , nothing less

[Kopite_Colin]

Chelsea have less chance of beating Arsenal without Drogba too.

[Joe King]

Chelsea get beaten would mean one less team for the title race if we beat Man U

[Kopite_Colin]

It also means Arsenal woul be even further ahead if they beta the Chavs and if we don't beat Utd.

[Sir Bob]

That is the underlying problem. We are head and shoulders above the Eufa Cup sides but still behind the Mancs and Chelsea in terms of cash. There are still journeymen in the squad. So when SG and Torres go off, we look pretty ordinary.
That said, the disparity could be better disguised by not playing Voronin and Crouch a swingers, or Sissoko on his current form.

Crouch and Voro looked out of place today, we really shouldn't have to resort to playing those players out wide.

We are short of cash compared to Man U & Chelsea and Rafa needs to try to generate his own funds through selling players for vastly more than we bought them for. Its very difficult of course, but Carson is a great example for us to follow. Wenger did it countless times so it can be done.

Overall Rafa's bought and sold pretty well but if I had 1 criticism, it would be quantity over quality.
For example, we should sell Crouch & Kuyt and buy 1 top notch forward in their place. This would still leave us with Torres, the new striker, Voro with Babel, Kewell filling in as & when needed. Man U, & Chelsea only use 3 main strikers with attacking wide players filling in, so why can't we. It would also allow us to rest Torres as we'd have someone of an equal level to replace him with.

[Joe King]

It also means Arsenal woul be even further ahead if they beta the Chavs and if we don't beat Utd.

Thats the worse case scenario

[Iceman]

in the 2nd incident he commited a further foul after touching the ball

the first incident ............. while there were other defenders funneling back they had no chance of getting a tackle in

[tomasjj]

We were crap and Rafa must be under serious pressure to get a result on Tuesday. He underestimated Reading today. That is unforgiveable when you are chasing a first title in 18 season.

What?

How did Rafa underestimate them?
I don't think the team selection was bad at all.

I think the ref played a significant part. I am with AFII on that.
Torres could have had 2 penos, and theirs was outside. Carra was however lucky not to get booked for that pub league challenge. No need to tackle there. The player was running away from the goal.

[tomasjj]

Papering over the cracks.

Hi you are new here it seems. Are you just on a wind up?

[Johnny]

Best start to the Premier League ever stopped by a team we play before a very important CL game followed by ManU.It happens,ManU got beat by Bolton,swings and roundabouts!!!!!!!!

[bigfooty]

People need to understand the financial resources we have compared to Man U & Chelsea in particular.

Was it financial resources that lead to him picking Crouch as a left-winger today?

He tried the same sort of rubbish tactics against Arsenal with Kuyt and Voronin playing in wide positions and we got passed off the park at times - AT HOME - by a team that cost far less than ours to assemble. Ripped apart down the wings too.

We are a better side when we play 4-4-2, even with forcing players like Babel and Yossi to play in wide positions that they aren't used to.

The fact is the "formation" limited us and when the changes came we completely lost our shape as people seemed to be half sticking to the formation, half doing their own thing.

[AFII]

What?

How did Rafa underestimate them?
I don't think the team selection was bad at all.

I think the ref played a significant part. I am with AFII on that.
Torres could have had 2 penos, and theirs was outside. Carra was however lucky not to get booked for that pub league challenge. No need to tackle there. The player was running away from the goal.

We mad scandos must stick together.

Riise out of position again by the way in the Carra penalty decision.

[AFII]

Was it financial resources that lead to him picking Crouch as a left-winger today?

He tried the same sort of rubbish tactics against Arsenal with Kuyt and Voronin playing in wide positions and we got passed off the park at times - AT HOME - by a team that cost far less than ours to assemble. Ripped apart down the wings too.

We are a better side when we play 4-4-2, even with forcing players like Babel and Yossi to play in wide positions that they aren't used to.

The fact is the "formation" limited us and when the changes came we completely lost our shape as people seemed to be half sticking to the formation, half doing their own thing.

We controlled the Arsenal game until Xabi had to go off so the tactics worked very well until that point.