Post match v Reading

[kopash]

We did. Manager shrugged his shoulders.

So I had a word.

The guy kept saying 'useless babboon', 'don't pass to the babboon' etc. etc.
Funny thing was, when I spoke to him he didn't realise he was being offensive

He stopped though, but genuinely I can't believe he didn't see anything wrong with his behaviour (he was some old-ish chap sat on his own)

good man. Old people are sadly set in their ways sometimes.

I've had time to reflect now. Yeserday's results was one of those days when nothing goes right. Just got to forget about it and win on Tuesday and Sunday

Still don't rate Riise or Crouch

[Dan]

Sissoko was genuinely dreadful. Shame when Leiva was around.

Voronin was ok, not great but had a couple of good shots and good assists.

It's a cliche, but it genuinely was one of those days.

Personally, I thought it was the right team for the fixture. Rafa changed it at the right times (brought Kewell on to get the win..... and they scored as the substitution was being prepared - perhaps we lost concentration?!)

And thank god it's taken until December for that to happen, we've been more used to 5/6 of them by this stage

[disco]

May be, but a couple of draws should have been wins.... but then we were lucky vs Everton.

I think we're slightly behind in the 'luck going your way' department this season...

[kopash]

we have had some dodgy pens against us this season. Surely we due one against the Mancs!?!?

[Alpha]

It's more of a coincidence that we play 5(?) matches in a row with 1 defensive midfielder and win those games playing attacking open football then play 2 defensive midfielders and suddenly lose a game, in my opinion.
But I didn't actually blame the defensive midfielders for the result, I merely pointed out the coincidence

Mate, there are a countless things we did during our winning streak that we didn't do yesterday. Playing 2 defensive midfielders, if that is, you consider Momo to be a defensive midfielder, is just one of them.

They can't all be coincidences, can they?

[carlton]

I taped the match as it was on at 4.30am in the morning in Melbourne and as soon as I saw the team I fast forwarded thru the game. It would have been to frustrating to try and sit thru the whole 90 mins. Sending that side out with so little in the way of creativity and skill was mystifing. The squad is deep enough now not to have to pull stuff like this. Why rest Lucas and Yossi? Voronin on the right? Crouch on the left? or wherever it was that they were supoossed to be playing. I know its the first loss etc, etc but gee it was still dissapointing to put out a team like that when we could have closed the gap on Arsenal and Man U. This was a huge game for us despite whats coming up. The CL game now takes on epic like proportions as it seems to be linked to any extra $$ for Rafa to spend on players in January.

[Alpha]

deleted

[Craig_H]

The reasons we lost
Baffling team selection - Voro and Crouch in wide postions, looked like fish out of water
Referee - Was never a penalty for them but equally neither were our 2 Torres claims. Carra was lucky not to get booked which would have put him out of next weeks game.
Unlucky - 2 shots off the woodwork, particulary SG's at 2-1

All in all this performance although unlucky at times wasn't good enough.
As usual we lacked width and as usual our only real goal threats were SG & Torres. Crouch needs good service from wide positions and there was little.
At the back Hobbs did ok on debut but we looked at 6's & 7;s at times.

This defeat, whilst not terminal puts a massive dent in our title assault. 7 points off Arsenal leave us with no margin for error. A massive week coming up. 2 wins and its all systems go, 2 losses and its season over. Massive 2 games.

Every word spot on.

I'd also add that Rafa's 70th minute decision to give up on the game was staggering, i cant get my head around that.

He always says that he takes one game at a time, so why was he thinking of Marseille when the Reading game had 20 mins left to play?

[Craig_H]

We will win on Tuesday if the ref allows us to do it. The ref today didn't.

Your obsession with the ref is ludicrous. Their pen wasnt a pen, granted.

But Sonko got the ball on both occasions when Torres went down. The ref got the decision right both times.

We didnt perform well but we didnt have the rub of the green. Dodgy peno, woodwork hit twice. Cant legislate for that.

More concerning is the fact that Rafa gave up with 20 mins to go.

[Craig_H]

But, for all we know they couldve played this formation all week in training and if we could guess what formation/team Rafa sticks out then so can the opposition and therefore counter it couldnt they?

Yes today it didnt work but sadly at some point Rafa was going to be caught out. Every manager does. They deal with it and move on stronger for it.

Sorry mate, but in most cases, our formation is entirely predictable, by virtue of the fact that we play 4-4-2 far more often than not.

So what if the opposition can guess it? That doesnt automatically mean they would counter it.

They 'can' counter any formation, if they apply themselves properly.

Knowing what's coming and stopping it arent the same thing.

[Craig_H]

Support the ****ing team!

Can i just ask...

Is there any cicumstance by which you can make a critical point and still be deemed to support the team?

This whole 'support the team' thing seems to be the stock answer when someone makes a justified criticism that people can actually argue against.

I support the team 100%.

That doesnt however overtake the logic which tells me giving up on a game with 20 mins to go is shocking.

[Craig_H]

He probably did that.

If we win against Marseille then Rafa can probably spend £15m-£20m more than he can if we don't win.

IMO.

I dont mean to shock you mate, but it WAS possible to win both today's game AND tuesday's...

[AFII]

I dont mean to shock you mate, but it WAS possible to win both today's game AND tuesday's...

You really don't have a clue about football have you?

You can't play with your best players three games in eight days. The Marseille and Man U games are more difficult so the game Rafa could rest the players in was against Reading.

For some reason I think Rafa is a better manager than you but as usual you will think that you are the best manager in the world.

[badpiggy]

i know it's a bit of a generlisation but it seems to me that the rafa supporters blame every defeat on external factors and every win on how spot on rafa is whereas - aside from pointless abusive style posters - there are a number of rafa-sceptics (bigfooty, DJS) whose points of criticism remain the same and are well thought out and constantly explained for the benefit of other posters to understand exactly what their concerns are.

lets not forget that we realistically have 2 games this week which can actually make or break our whole season and it's the first ****in week of december. and no amount of blaming refs, WUMs, half-arsed supporters. cunts, freaks, dogooders, the CIA or ****ing off back to old toilet is going to change that.

[sonsofthedesert]

Sissoko was genuinely dreadful. Shame when Leiva was around.

Voronin was ok, not great but had a couple of good shots and good assists.

It's a cliche, but it genuinely was one of those days.

Personally, I thought it was the right team for the fixture. Rafa changed it at the right times (brought Kewell on to get the win..... and they scored as the substitution was being prepared - perhaps we lost concentration?!)

I had to listen to radio 5 live,I have to say if Stan Collymore had been near me I would have punched him. He spent the entire night having a go at Rafa and insinuating Rafa was clueless. The guy is a joke.