Is it bad luck or is it lack of talent?

[Red Chilli]

I actually think Mascherano would've helped our attacking play against Stoke, he plays at a high tempo and drives forward quickly, as opposed to in a slow, methodical laboured manner.

Maybe, but he's not the kind of player to break down a stubborn defence, he'll drive forward against better teams who are competing on an even footing with us a la SCUM.

Having said all that, we had plenty of chances yesterday, just a lack of composure in front of goal from Keane and Torres.

[the rev leeroy brown]

Agree totally with what you said there. I think two quality wingers were the priority after a left-back and right-back. Right back problem was not solved and neither was the right wing.

neither was left back problem IMO.

[Red Chilli]

neither was left back problem IMO.

Agreed

[Craig_H]

Maybe, but he's not the kind of player to break down a stubborn defence, he'll drive forward against better teams who are competing on an even footing with us a la SCUM.

Having said all that, we had plenty of chances yesterday, just a lack of composure in front of goal from Keane and Torres.

I think the reason we struggled to break them down was that we didnt play with a high tempo, we didnt move the ball quickly enough. We'd switch from left to right, but did it so slowly that they'd all reorganised by the time we'd got there. If we moved the ball quicker and played with a high tempo, they wouldnt have been able to defend as they did. Alonso's good at many things, but he plays at a composed, methodical tempo.

[Craig_H]

neither was left back problem IMO.

If i disagree, should i call you a dick, numbnutts or a ******?

[Red Chilli]

I think we broke them down quite well yesterday, just didn't take our chances.

[the rev leeroy brown]

If i disagree, should i call you a dick, numbnutts or a ******?

by all means do. i ain't some baby who gets upset at a bit of name calling.

[Tee]

FWIW I always maintained during the summer we needed someone like Diego from Werder to unlock these types of teams who park the coach in front of the goal.

I still think that Keane will come good but we certainly need the player who can produce that bit of magic out of nothing - felt sick watching Robinho dazzling for Citeh, even SWP is looking like one we should definitely have gone in for.

All is not lost FFS though, we are 2 points off the top and we beat the Scum last week. Stoke battled hard, got lucky and we wasted lots of decent chances. End of.

[Joe King]

Lack of brains

[Craig_H]

by all means do. i ain't some baby who gets upset at a bit of name calling.

It didnt upset me, more confirmed that you had no valid argument to put across, nor the intelligent mental capacity or vocabulary to disagree without being abusive. Your ignorance and lack of intelligence doesnt upset me.

[MrMichael]

Ok, enough of that people, lets keep it civil eh? I know some get frustrated when the same people repeat themselves ad nauseum, and I know others get frustrated that people disagree with what seems obvious to them, but there's no need for things to get any more tetchy on here than they are already.

I think there is some disrespect shown to how Stoke have played this season. They managed to beat Villa and were unlucky to get beat by the bitters. You could also point out that they are only 1 point behind Scum. No excuses just facts. Yesterday i would put it down to bad luck.

This occurred to me yesterday too. They certainly aren't the best team in the world, but all this stuff about pub teams and the like is pretty disrespectful; of course we should beat them, and 9 times out of 10 we would imo, unfortunately yesterday was that once when we didn't.

[Craig_H]

Ok, enough of that people, lets keep it civil eh? I know some get frustrated when the same people repeat themselves ad nauseum, and I know others get frustrated that people disagree with what seems obvious to them, but there's no need for things to get any more tetchy on here than they are already.

It'd be helpful if abusive posts were dealt with consistently, regardless of who makes them.

[Red Chilli]

It'd be helpful if abusive posts were dealt with consistently, regardless of who makes them.

It'll never happen, just move on mate and let it go

[MrMichael]

True Craig, and that is honestly the aim (difficult though it is to do in practice), but having limited time right now I'd rather ask people to stop, then look in more detail later if things need removing, rather than be removing stuff from one end of a thread while its still carrying on at the other.

There's never any need for name calling, and its never helpful, but it also will tend to happen where people appear overly intransigent - everyone on a forum has some responsibility for the tone of its debate.

[Craig_H]

If posts being removed is the only consequence of abuse and name calling, then that's fair enough - i'll happily join in