The Bright Side of matters

[The Birdman]

I think Hyypia played due to his strength in the air, and it very nearly paid off.

Probably right, he also got regularly raped by Bellamy.
My point being is can't Agger head a ball? don't we regularly hear how important Agger is bringing the ball out of defence in home games when teams just defend? and although it nearly paid off it didn't.
Man U and Chelsea don't rotate/rest Ferdinand, Vidic, Terry or Carvaliho (sp) when thay are fit and available.

[Woobus]

Hyypia?? why play him? do Man U or Chelsea change their centre halfs depending on who the opposition play upfront?? is Rafa saying that Agger, an international centre half can't handle Carlton bloody Cole??

Maybe Rafa noticed they are weak in the air at the back, he nearly scored a couple and I actually thought it was a great bit of managing. He was our most dangerous player of the night, which in itself was disappointing.

[michelmas]

We looked like a team with heavy expectations on our shoulders. Had we played this match on Saturday I think we would have seen a more flowing, less laboured brand of football.

As a team we are better when we're up against it, both in individual matches and in the league. We are not used to being frontrunners - it's a different type of pressure and one that this team will get accustomed to, hopefully sooner rather than later.

But for now we are still on top of the league and if we are still 1 point ahead at the turn of the year I don't think anyone can really be dissatisfied with that.

[SB]

Excuse me how the **** can I be clutching at straws .. the stats do not lie .. we are to of the lg end of story, we are 6 points clear of United, 1 ahead of Chelsea who are arguably playing better football. We have making are way through a section of the season were historically we have been weakest and coming out top and moving into the 2nd half of the season were again historically we are strongest of all teams ...

Does not take a brain surgeon tell you the last few results have not been ideal but we will pull ourselves out of it, we have too much quality all over the park
We are top now, we are in control, it is up to us to stay there

Your right of course. We failed to score a single goal against WH, Stoke and Fulham on our patch. 6 points dropped to crap teams on our patch. The stats indeed don't lie.

We are where we are because scum and chavs are dropping points mate not because we are setting the world alight.

I know your trying to remain upbeat mate but I can only see positives when there are positives to see.

As Resu posted
Quote
My positives after last night:
- Top of the league
- Dossena, hopefully he`ll build on this
- Babel looked lively
- Hmmm, I`m starting to struggle now


Can't argue with that

[Resu]

Probably right, he also got regularly raped by Bellamy.
My point being is can't Agger head a ball? don't we regularly hear how important Agger is bringing the ball out of defence in home games when teams just defend? and although it nearly paid off it didn't.
Man U and Chelsea don't rotate/rest Ferdinand, Vidic, Terry or Carvaliho (sp) when thay are fit and available.

You just had to laugh a couple of times when Bellamy totally out-paced Hyypia.
Your right in that it didn`t pay off, but the reason we didn`t win yesterday wasn`t that Hyypia played instead of Agger.

[Nicey]

I'm generally optomistic but last night left me frustrated more than anything.
On the plus side I thought Dossena was very good, maybe Aurellio being out will allow him a run of games to settle in, he and Riera linked up well and were far more productive than our right hand side.

These are the bits that left me bemused -
Hyypia?? why play him? do Man U or Chelsea change their centre halfs depending on who the opposition play upfront?? is Rafa saying that Agger, an international centre half can't handle Carlton bloody Cole??
Bennyoun was very average, I thought he tried hard but again if a captain of his country can't see that we needed width and for him to hug the touchline rather than getting in Gerrards and Alonso's way through the middle then he is clearly playing for himself and not the team.
Kuyt was back to his headless chicken game - why he shot from 20 plus yards instead of playing Gerrard in again beggers belief, he should have been moved right when N'Gog came on.
Keane - did nothing but then what do we expect? he is being played in a role totally alien to him, asked to stay right up top while Kuyt dropped in to make a midfield 5, why they both didn't roam and alternate who played right up top is a mystery to me.

Perhaps controversally to some on here but Babel was ****e, wandered around dis-interested, sulking and apart from 1 shot did nothing. The worst thing for me was he gave the ball away on the half way line and stood and watched as West Ham broke away to nearly score, he had been on 5 minutes and couldn't be arsed to chase back - that is why he isn't getting picked imo, he doesn't work hard enough, watch how hard Rooney and Ronaldo work for the team then compare to Babel, he is wasting his talent and wasting our time and money at the moment.

I think to be fair, Rafa has promised Sami a number of games this season and as mentioned he is our most dangerous player still from set pieces, he was completely solid last night and for long periods our most dangerous player so I have no complaints. Additionally Rafa's philosophy definitely sides on resting key players when he thinks he can get away with it so we are much stronger at the business end of the season. In the past the only problem being we were well out of the race before Christmas, cant see that happening this season.

I take you point about Benny, did look a little ineffective last night although I think you will find West Hams strength is there ability to soak up cross's into the box I would go further and say they would be more than happy to push Benny and out to the byline, look at the ammount of cross's and corners we had into there box and never caused them too much bother, which is why I suspect Rafa used Benny, expecting him to cut inside a lot which he always does.

Kuyt, not his best game but to be fair neither he or Keane got any service what so ever .. Keane recieved the ball to feet in or around the danger area about ths 60th minture ffs .. immediately turned and had a shot narrowly wide ..

Babbs is a worry but he is probally ****ed right off at present ... still he needs to buck up his ideas and force his way back into the team

[PTP]

My positives after last night:
- Top of the league
- Dossena, hopefully he`ll build on this
- Babel looked lively
- Hmmm, I`m starting to struggle now

i can continue -

- i had a bovril and chicken balti pie at half time that was delicious and warmed me up
- the lad doing tricks at half time was good, but the fella behind me who shouted "my bird has better ball control than that" was class.
-i didn't have to pay for the tunnel on the way home as one of the barriers was up, i noticied it, gambled and went for it, and saved myself £1.40

[SB]

i can continue -

- i had a bovril and chicken balti pie at half time that was delicious and warmed me up
- the lad doing tricks at half time was good, but the fella behind me who shouted "my bird has better ball control than that" was class.
-i didn't have to pay for the tunnel on the way home as one of the barriers was up, i noticied it, gambled and went for it, and saved myself £1.40

The night wasn't all bad then ?

[billy_mac]

The bright side of matters is that we are away in the next match, which is where we are playing our best football. If we don't perform on that occasion then the bright side will be dull. Unless other teams keep us in the hunt, which is happening. It pains me to the teeth, but all we are is a counter attacking team. But we're a counter attacking team that is top and through in europe. Positives on the night was that mascherano didn't play when not needed. See how free Gerrard was all night? And we didn't lose which we might well have except for a good linesman and a post.

[Nicey]

Jasus if that Bellers shot had gone in and we lost ... I think would have gone into hibernation .. this place would have lit up like a ****ing radioactive poison Christmas tree

[lfc1394]

What I want to know is where the 'draw ain't good enough' attitude our team showed early on in the season?

[calvoboy]

I know it's not the fashionable position to take, but I thought we played quite well last night. Not brilliantly, but certainly not badly. Their keeper made great saves from Kuyt and Yossi. We had another two cleared off the line, and Sami had two or three great chances with relatively free headers. We kept possession well, and limited them to one great long range strike from Bellamy.

67% possession, 25 shots, 17 corners. 9 times out of 10 we will win that game. We just needed a bit of luck that didn't come our way on the night.

The expectation level has got way out of hand though, and the booing at full time when we've just gone top of the league in December was an absolute ****ing disgrace. Unbeaten at home, 5 points clear of the Mancs and 1 clear of Chelsea after 15 games. On course for 86 points if we carry on our current form, which everyone accepts has not been our best. We've already played many of our toughest away games too. What exactly are people expecting? Wouldn't every single one of us have bitten your hand off if that was offered at the start of the season?

We are not going to play fantastic football and win every single game, we never did that even when we were winning the league every year in the 80s. There are always minor disappointments on the way. We've got to get behind the team though, because all this anxious **** when we are not 1-0 up after 30 mins is not helping at all. As for booing the team as they move top of the league, well, words fail me as to just how moronic and counter-productive that is.

[The Birdman]

The other positives are we will pick up at least 4 points from Arsenal as Rafa has the measure of Wenger now, we'll get at least a draw at Old Trafford as Man U need to beat us after the Anfield result and we'll pick them off and we'll beat Chelsea at home.
All those points are worth double when taken off the other contenders.

Plus, of course get a fully rested, fully fit Torres back around Christmas till the end of the season and we'll turn these draws into wins.

[The Birdman]

I take you point about Benny, did look a little ineffective last night although I think you will find West Hams strength is there ability to soak up cross's into the box I would go further and say they would be more than happy to push Benny and out to the byline, look at the ammount of cross's and corners we had into there box and never caused them too much bother, which is why I suspect Rafa used Benny, expecting him to cut inside a lot which he always does.

Agree with that but my main gripe is if Benny had stayed wide it would have stretched West Ham giving Gerrard and Alonso more space, I lost count of the number of times attacks were stalled because they looked to pass right to find no-one there with benny stood right in someone elses space!

[No9]

I think we will struggle over the christmas period...... Manure will be ahead of us come mid Jan..

We cant cope without Torres, Keane just isnt up to it and although we can try to look on the positive side..... sometimes reality has to bite. We are top of the league, but as someone pointed out only because others dropped points. If Utd or Chelsea were in our position last night then they would have beaten WH, it was the sort of game at the critical point in the season where you need to stamp your authority on the premiership, that is exactly what Utd and Chelsea (under Maureen) would have done.

If we won last night it would have sent the right messages to Chelsea, meanwhile as Manure beat Citeh with 10 men we would have stood up and said "no you dont son". As it stands, Chelsea are thanking their lucky stars and Manure must be thinking this is theirs for the taking... 1/2 the battle for titles is mental strength, im not sure we have it.....